BPL auction on Dec 20

The second edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), which is scheduled to begin on January 17 and hold the players' auction on December 20, will go ahead despite the fact of non-payment to players in the league's first edition.

In a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium yesterday, Afzalur Rahman Sinha, chairman of the BPL's Governing Council, stated that the committee wanted 'to get the ball rolling' since the board wouldn't get a free slot to host the competition later in the season.

He further claimed that while the irregularities with regard to payment of the foreign players have been resolved, payment to all the local players though hasn't yet been completed. The board has provided the franchises with yet another deadline -- December 30 -- to clear the dues.

"We will definitely solve the disputes with the franchises, but as of now the tournament has to go on," said Sinha. "We have been given the responsibility [to organise the tournament] just around 10-12 days back and that time is not enough to organise a league," he added.

Meanwhile, the league might also witness an additional team this year. "Event management company Game On is handling the new team's auction. We will probably get it finalised tomorrow [Saturday]. As the seventh team we will bring on board Rangpur," said IH Mallick, member-secretary of the council.

In another change in the rules of the league, the governing council has decided that no employee of the board would be allowed to be a part of the teams. "There can't be any direct involvement, the coach, board's physio or even the selectors; none can be a part of any team," informed Sinha.

Furthermore, members of the governing council stated that official agreements between the franchises and the board would be signed by December 20. "We didn't have any agreement with the franchisees in the previous edition," said Mallick.

"There will be a few guidelines regarding players' payment in the agreement. For instance, after the auction and before the tournament begins, 25 per cent of the money have to be paid. Before the last match, another 25 per cent should be paid and the rest of the money will have to be paid within six months from the end of the last match," he added.

It was also stated that the payment of the players in the second edition would be done through the board. "The franchises will pay us and we will pay the players, unlike last time," informed Sinha.

President of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, Nazmul Hassan Papon, who was also present in the press conference, said that while the financial disputes haven't seen a clear cut solution, majority of the problems have been resolved.

"One of the biggest problems during the previous edition was that Game On, the franchises and the players didn't have much to do with the BCB. Whether people agreed to the rules or not, whether the players got paid or not, we didn't have any control over anything since there weren't any written agreements between the parties. We didn't have a clear cut agreement and therefore couldn't take any action," said Papon.

The president however stated that such problems would not recur, once the board has a written agreement with the franchises. "If any party doesn't go by the rules this time, we can always take a action against them," said Papon

Top criminal Bikash freed on bail

Top terror Bikash Kumar Biswas was secretly released from Kashimpur jail-2 yesterday upon a bail order.

Jail sources told The Daily Star last night that Bikash, 46, was released around 9:00am.

A resident of Mirpur, Bikash and his brother Prokash Kumar Biswas, also a top terror, are accused of several murders in the capital, especially in Mirpur and Agargaon areas.

Bikash has served 15 years in several cases since 1997 while Prokash is on the run.

Tearful Obama calls for 'meaningful action' after school shooting

President Obama: "Heal the broken heated and bind up their wounds". 

Choking up and wiping away tears, President Barack Obama said on Friday that "our hearts are broken" for the victims of a deadly shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school and called for "meaningful action" to curb gun violence.

"We've endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years," Obama said during a somber televised appearance in the White House briefing room just hours after one of the worst mass shootings in US history.

Pausing to collect himself as he expressed "overwhelming grief" as a parent, Obama deplored the "heinous" attack by a heavily armed gunman who killed at least 27 people, including 20 children and himself, at a school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Obama, who has responded to previous shooting massacres by citing the need for a national conversation about gun violence, again stopped short of calling for tougher gun-control laws, considered politically risky in a country known for its flourishing gun culture.

But, little more than a month after his decisive re-election to a second term, he suggested that in the aftermath of Friday's tragedy he might be open to considering a less cautious approach.

"As a country, we have been through this too many times," Obama said, ticking off a list of recent shootings.

"And we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics," he said, in an apparent reference to the influence of the National Rifle Association, a powerful pro-gun lobby, in Congress.

Obama avoided making direct calls for gun control during his bitterly fought campaign for a second term, which he secured in the November 6 election.

But New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who co-chairs a coalition of mayors on gun-control policy, urged the Democratic president to tackle the issue despite likely opposition from Republicans who control the US House of Representatives.

"We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is leadership - not from the White House and not from Congress. That must end today," Bloomberg said in a statement

Outside the White House gates, about 200 people rallied Friday evening in favor of gun restrictions. "No more lives shattered by gun violence," read one placard.

PAUSE IN PARTISAN BICKERING

Meantime, partisan bickering in Washington, divided as much as ever before by a battle over a looming "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts, was put on hold on Friday amid mourning for the dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Obama ordered flags at federal buildings to be lowered to half-mast and he canceled an official trip to Maine scheduled for Wednesday. There was no immediate word from the White House on when the president might visit Connecticut to console grieving families.

"Our hearts are broken today, for the parents, and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children and for the families of the adults who were lost," Obama said, his voice cracking with emotion.

"Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children's innocence has been torn away from them too early and there are no words that will ease their pain," he said.

Obama, who has two young daughters, looked grim when he entered the briefing room, and he paused and blinked hard after mentioning the ages of the dead children - from 5 to 10 years old.

"I know there's not a parent in America who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that I do," he said.

Obama raised a finger and dabbed at the corner of his eye on several occasions. While speaking, he set his jaw several times. At the end of his statement, there was a tear visible below his left eye and that side of his face was slightly wet.

Obama has issued public statements before in the aftermath of shooting massacres.

Following the killing of six people at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin in early August, he said such incidents should prompt soul-searching by all Americans.

But when asked then whether he would push for further gun-control measures in the wake of the shootings, Obama said only that he wanted to bring together leaders at all levels of American society to examine ways to curb gun violence.

The president has said he supports the reinstatement of a ban on assault weapons sales, but he did little in his first term to advance it.

Asked about gun control on Friday, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that the immediate aftermath of the Connecticut shooting was not the right time for policy debates.

Bishwajit killer Shakil held

Shocked, his father dies of cardiac arrest

Ansar Ali Khalifa, father of Rafiqul Islam Shakil, a key accused of Bishwajit Das killing, died Saturday morning due to cardiac arrest an hour after police arrested Shakil in Barguna.
In spite of being his father, Ansar outspokenly demanded punishment of Shakil who brutally chopped the innocent tailor with a machete during opposition’s blockade on December 9.
“But he breathed his last early in the morning. He was too shocked to tolerate it. Shakil was arrested around 5:00am and he (Ansar) expired around 6:00am,” a relative of Shakil told The Daily Star at the Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and Hospital, Barisal where doctor pronounced Ansar dead.

Stray violence marks hartal

Vehicles set on fire, vandalised

 

 

 

Pickets throw brickbats at a bus in the capital's Tejgaon yesterday morning during the dawn-to-dusk hartal protesting the disappearance of BNP leader Ilias Ali.Photo: STARStaff Correspondent

Sporadic violence and detention of opposition activists marked the first day of the back-to-back shutdowns by the BNP-led 18-party alliance to continue pressure on the government to trace missing BNP leader M Ilias Ali.
The presence of opposition leaders and activists was thin in the streets of the capital during yesterday's dawn-to-dusk hartal across the country.
More vehicles were seen plying city roads compared to last week's hartals.
Police barred opposition activists from bringing out processions in different parts of the city. Pro-hartal pickets also tried to stop vehicular movement in many areas.
Despite tight security, handmade cocktails went off in and outside the Secretariat, the country's administrative centre, much to the embarrassment of law enforcement agencies.
Acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir threatened to go for tougher agitations if Ilias is not “returned” by today.
“The government has failed to locate Ilias Ali. It is playing a new game. I would like to make it clear to the government that tougher programmes will be announced if Ilias is not returned by Monday,” he told journalists at the party's Nayapaltan office.
Meanwhile, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, joint secretary general of ruling Awami League, said it would not be possible to oust the government through hartal and agitations.
Intra-party feuds might have led to Ilias' disappearance, he said.
Hanif urged the opposition to avoid calling shutdowns that are “aimed at thwarting the war crimes trial and saving Khaleda Zia's two sons from corruption charges.”
M Ilias Ali, BNP central organising secretary and its Sylhet unit president, along with his driver went missing on April 17 and his car was found abandoned near his Banani residence in the capital the next day.
Three handmade cocktails exploded near a procession, led by BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, in front of the party's Nayapaltan office yesterday morning.
Police picked up Mostafizur Rahman Iran, the chairman of Labour party, a component of the BNP-led alliance, when he tried to enter the BNP office. Three female activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal were also detained but released a few minutes later.
At least 17 people were arrested at different spots, as pro-hartal activists vandalised four vehicles and exploded cocktails during the shutdown, said an official of the Dhaka Metropolitan police.
Two buses were torched in the evening -- one at Gulistan at about 7:30pm and another near the Public Service Commission nearly an hour later. No casualty was reported in the incidents.
Twenty cocktails went off in six parts of the capita -- five at Tollarbagh, two near BNP's Nayapaltan office, two more at Nazirabazar in Old Dhaka, five at Mohakhali crossing, five on Mugda-Bishwa Road and one at Malibagh.
All the explosions happened between 6:30am and 9:00am.
Activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal's Titumir College unit vandalised several vehicles, including an ambulance, in Mohakhali area at about 8:20am. They put blockades on the road in front of the college for a while.
Law enforcers barred a procession of around 10 opposition lawmakers from marching towards Manik Mia Avenue from South Plaza of the parliament complex.
Pickets threw brickbats at buses and human haulers at many points, leaving a number of passengers and pedestrians injured.
A bus came under attack in front of the Dhanmondi Government Boys' High School on Mirpur Road. Several people, including a woman, were injured in the incident.
Pro-hartal activists also attacked vehicles in front of the Dhaka College, English Road in Old Dhaka, Green Road, Shahjahanpur and Golapbagh.
The total number of injured could not be verified.
Police and Rab personnel patrolled the streets and the key points in the capital.
Educational institutions, most shops and shopping malls remained closed. However, government and private offices were open.

Mullah Omar sent letter to Obama to end war

 

 

Reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar wrote to President Barack Obama last year indicating an interest in talks key to ending the war in Afghanistan, current and former US officials told The Associated Press.

However, the Afghan Taliban yesterday denied the report.

"Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan rejects this baseless rumour with the strongest of words," a statement on the Islamist group's website said, using the name by which the Taliban often calls itself.

Omar is the spiritual leader of the Taliban movement, and directs the organisation's guerrilla military campaign. He was the de facto head of state in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan prior to the US invasion that toppled the Taliban government in 2001.

The letter, intended for President Barack Obama, reportedly complained that the United States had not done enough to establish good faith for negotiations, such as arranging the release of Taliban prisoners held in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The White House itself was "skeptical" the letter was actually from Mullah Omar, the official said, though others within the administration believed it was authentic.

Preliminary, clandestine meetings between US and Taliban representatives began last year, after the Obama administration shifted course and decided to explore peace talks while fighting was still fierce.

The message arrived when those early contacts had gone all but dormant, however, because of leaks to the press that sent the chief Taliban emissary briefly underground.

Those preliminary sessions opened the way for more formal talks that the US officials now publicly welcome. The Obama administration is now considering release of five top Taliban leaders from Guantanamo as a starting point for negotiations.

The five would be sent to custody in the Gulf nation of Qatar, where the Taliban plan to establish a office.

The Taliban last month said it would open a political office in Qatar, suggesting the group may be willing to engage in negotiations.

Manning to face court martial

 

 

A US army officer has ordered a court martial for Bradley Manning, the soldier charged in the biggest leak of classified information in American history.

Military district of Washington commander Major General Michael Linnington referred all charges against Manning to a general court martial on Friday, the army said in a statement.

The referral means Manning, 24, will stand trial for allegedly giving more than 700,000 secret US documents and a classified combat video to WikiLeaks for publication. He faces 22 counts, including aiding the enemy, and could be imprisoned for life if convicted of that charge.

A judge yet to be appointed will set the trial date.

At a preliminary hearing in December, military prosecutors produced evidence that Manning downloaded and electronically transferred to WikiLeaks nearly half a million sensitive battlefield reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables.

In the December hearing at Fort Meade, Maryland, prosecutors also presented excerpts of online chats found on Manning's personal computer that allegedly document collaboration between him and the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.

Qaddafi’s Weapons, Taken by Old Allies, Reinvigorate an Insurgent Army in Mali

 

Hundreds of Tuareg rebels have recently stormed towns in Mali's northern desert.
After fighting for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, hundreds of Tuareg rebels helped themselves to some of his weapons and returned to Mali to continue a longstanding rebellion.

Syrian embassies in Europe, ME stormed

A protestor holds a sign during a demonstration against the Bashar al-Assad regime's crackdown on pro-democracy protests, outside the Syrian embassy in central London yesterday.Photo: AFP

Dozens of Syrian protesters were arrested yesterday after storming their country's embassies in cities in Europe and the Middle East, smashing windows and setting fire in one case.
Missions in London, Athens, Cairo, Kuwait City and Jeddah were targeted in protests yesterday, following a similar raid on the regime's embassy in Berlin the previous day.
The attacks came as Syria's opposition said troops had committed a "massacre" overnight, killing more than 200 people in the central city of Homs, and as the UN Security Council readied for a crucial vote.
Demonstrators smashed windows and tried to break into the Syrian embassy in London, hours after six protesters were arrested for entering the building overnight.
Scuffles broke out between riot police and around 200 protesters outside the plush property in London's Belgrave Square, which is home to a string of embassies.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said five people had been arrested for gaining access to the building after the demonstration started around 2:00 am. A sixth person was arrested for assaulting an officer.
In Athens, about 50 mostly Syrian protestors broke into their country's embassy, smashing windows and painting anti-government slogans on the walls, a police source said. Police detained 12 Syrians and an Iraqi.
In Cairo, dozens of activists tore down the gate to the embassy in the upscale Garden City neighbourhood, ransacked the mission and set fire to its ground floor.
An AFP correspondent said the embassy's walls were charred and broken glass littered the ground, along with damaged furniture and computers.
In Kuwait City, hundreds of angry Syrians and local activists stormed the embassy, removing the flag and destroying utilities, the interior ministry said, adding that some 40 people were arrested.
In Jeddah, dozens of Syrians demonstrated outside the consulate, chanting "with our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice ourselves for the martyrs," before being dispersed by security forces.
A day earlier in Berlin around 20 protesters broke into the Syrian embassy and "destroyed furniture, hung a flag from a window" and wrote slogans on the walls. All were arrested but released after police took their details.