Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Obama, Rohani vie for UN spotlight

US President Barack Obama speaks at the 68th United Nations General Assembly in New York City yesterday. Over 120 prime ministers, presidents and monarchs are gathering this week for the annual meeting at the temporary General Assembly Hall at the UN headquarters while the General Assembly Building is closed for renovations.

US President Barack Obama and his new Iranian counterpart Hassan Rohani were to battle for the spotlight at the opening of the UN General Assembly yesterday, with all eyes on a possible historic meeting between the two leaders.
While the war in Syria is expected to dominate discussion, the world was watching to see whether a handshake or some other gesture would signal a possible thaw in ties between the arch foes.
The two will not be in the assembly hall at the same time, and the Iranian foreign ministry said there were no plans for a meeting, which would be a first contact between the two countries’ presidents since the 1979 revolution in Iran.
Obama will be the second speaker yesterday to take the podium before more than 130 kings, heads of state and government leaders gathered at the UN headquarters in New York for a week of addresses and negotiations.
Rohani, who was elected in June and has indicated he wants better ties with the West despite a nuclear showdown, will follow several hours later.
But they could cross paths at a lunch UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is holding for leaders.
High level contacts between top Iranian and US officials have been rare since the United States broke off relations with Iran in 1980 in the tumultuous events after its Islamic revolution.
But new Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who will have a landmark meeting with his US counterpart John Kerry later in the week, said there was a “historic opportunity” to resolve Iran’s decade-long nuclear showdown with world powers.
Zarif and Kerry will be the first US and Iranian ministers to meet as part of talks between the major powers — United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China — and Iran over its contested nuclear program.
Obama, like most leaders, was to devote a lot of his speech to the 30-month-old Syrian war that has left well over 100,000 dead, according to the UN.
Obama’s speech “will address three major diplomatic priorities,” a White House official said, naming the conflict in Syria, Iran and the nuclear issues, and the ongoing Middle East peace process.
“The president will also step back and discuss the events that have unfolded since the Arab Spring, and how the United States plans to engage the region going forward,” the official said.
Obama’s call for action on Syria against the use of banned chemical arms comes as the UN Security Council struggles to agree a resolution to back a Russia-US plan to destroy Assad’s arsenal.
The United States, Britain and France want a resolution that uses Chapter VII of the UN Charter to give legal force to the plan.
Having first called for Chapter VII, Moscow now opposes the measure. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accuses the West of using “blackmail” to get a resolution that approves military force.
But in a sign of a possible compromise, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov yesterday said the resolution could mention the article, which could only be invoked if the Russia-US chemical weapons deal was breached by either side in the conflict.
Ban will call a meeting today of the foreign ministers of the Security Council permanent members — Kerry, Lavrov, Hague, Fabius and China’s Wang Yi — to press for united action on the Syria crisis.
Meanwhile, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is to be the first world leader to address the General Assembly, and is expected to refer to a row between Brazil and the US following leaks about Washington’s cyber-spying operations.
The US National Security Agency (NSA) is alleged to have targeted Rousseff’s emails and phone calls as well as carrying out widespread surveillance of other Brazilian citizens.

I Have a Dream

'The moment we'd all been waiting for': March attendees remember King's historic 'dream' speech

By Tracy Jarrett, NBC News contributor

Fifty years ago, more than 200,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. NBC News asked six African-Americans who attended the march to share their memories of that day and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s "I Have a Dream" speech – and how they’ve passed on King's message to the next generation.

Jack White, 67, Journalist

Richmond, Virginia

In August of 1963, I was just out of high school and had a lot of curiosity about the civil rights movement. I grew up in Washington, a segregated city, and until 1954, I’d attended segregated schools.

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On the day of the March on Washington, I put on a sport coat and a tie; it was sweltering hot. People were just more formal then.

The powers that be were afraid of violence – can’t have all those Negroes there without trouble! – but it was the opposite. People were peaceful, respectful. Joyous and reverent would describe the mood.

When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his famous speech it was all echoes to me. Still, I knew it was a historic moment because I could feel it in the crowd – this was the moment we’d all been waiting for.

Looking back, the point that resonates with me most is when he talked about the Declaration of Independence being a promissory note that all Americans should be treated equal, but America had given a check to citizens of color saying “insufficient funds.”

That’s what bedevils us today, the contradiction between the magnificent visions that Dr. King outlined and the reality that we have still yet to deliver on that promissory note. How are we going to make America America for everybody who lives in it? That was always the issue.

I started having conversations with my kids about the notion of battling for justice as soon as I thought they were old enough to understand that whatever opportunities they enjoy come about as a consequence of what people did before them.

On one hand, my children and grandchildren have opportunities somebody my age could never conceive. There’s nothing they can’t do. On the other hand, what they don’t have, that people my age had, is this sense of a historic moment when everything is changing.

Anne Ruth Borders-Patterson, 73, Civil rights activist and retired professor

Atlanta, Georgia

As a little girl in Atlanta, I went to segregated schools. We got all our books and desks second-hand from the white schools. I thought, why do we have to have books like this, all torn and tattered? There were all these rules that were supposed to make us think we were second-class citizens, though I never believed that.

In 1960, when I was a junior at Spelman College, I was one of the organizers of the Atlanta student movement. When we sat in at numerous “whites-only” restaurants, I was one of those who went to jail. Three years later, I drove to the March on Washington from Boston University, where I’d attended graduate school.

I never imagined a crowd like that. It looked magical, unbelievable. I remember not being able to move in the crowd. I remember children on their parents’ shoulders. And the number of white people out there -- to see all of them amongst the crowd of black people was amazing.

When King talked about looking forward to his little children being able to grow up in a society where race was no longer defining who they were or who they would become, that stood out to me a lot. I could begin to dream as he dreamed.

To my kids I have said, don’t be lulled by the fact that you can sit where you want on a bus or go to hotels, these are rights that you take for granted. You stand on the shoulders of many people. I think we’ve made progress but I still feel racism is alive and well in the United States today, and that is unfortunate and disappointing. We must continue to be committed to fighting for King’s dream.

Lurline Jones, 68, Basketball coach and educator

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

My mother had told me not to go to the march because she was scared of violence, but I just had to go.

At the time, I was part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at Morgan State College in Baltimore and had been on freedom rides to Cambridge, Maryland. I'd also participated in a sit-in with other students at a segregated movie theater in Baltimore. Some of us ended up arrested. I spent five days in jail. Afterwards, they integrated the theater.

The day of the march, the streets of Washington were filled with people coming from every direction, and everybody was going to the same place. We were arm in arm, singing, “We shall overcome.”

The line from Dr. King’s speech that really resounded with us, what we could hear loud and clear, was “free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last.” The whole place erupted in cheers, people were jumping up and down, hugging and kissing.

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I knew that I was doing something to let the people in this country know that you can’t continue to treat us the way you’ve been treating us, because we are Americans. We believe in the preamble and the Constitution. We fight in wars. We should be treated right. I felt very strongly that that’s what would happen. I really <HTML><META HTTP-EQUIV="content-type" CONTENT="text/html;charset=utf-8">believed the dream_

I was with my grandchildren the other day, and I was telling them about the march. I wanted them to know about it, and about Dr. King. I told my son, “Please make sure that my grandchildren will always remember that their grandmother was there, and that their grandmother has always been a fighter and continues to be a fighter for equality.”

All the things that we marched for in 1963 are basically the same problems we face in 2013. In some instances, doors have opened, some doors have been shut, and some doors have been left ajar, but it’s still a process. I don’t think we are all the way there.

Obama renews call for gun law change

President Barack Obama used a memorial service for the victims of America’s latest mass shooting on Sunday to make another impassioned appeal to reform gun ownership laws.
“No other advanced nation endures this kind of violence. None,” he declared, at a ceremony in the Washington Navy Yard, where a contractor killed 12 people in a gun rampage on Monday.
There have been several mass shootings in the United States in recent months, and after each, Obama has pushed the case for tighter controls on gun ownership, to no avail.
Lawmakers have thwarted attempts by Obama and his supporters to strengthen background checks for gun permits, citing the right to bear arms enshrined in the US constitution.
But Obama, while admitting that the message was far from new, said the latest bloodshed should be a wake-up call for Americans.
“Our tears are not enough. Our words and our prayers are not enough,” Obama said. “If we really want to honor these 12 men and women, we really want to be a country where we can go do work and go to school and walk our streets free from senseless violence without so many lives being stolen by a bullet from a gun, we are going to have to change.

“Here in America, the murder rate is three times what it is in other developed nations,” he warned, citing Britain and Australia as countries that tightened gun law after mass shootings.
“The murder rate with guns is 10 times what it is in other developed nations. What is different in America is that it is easy to get your hands on a gun,” Obama added.
Obama admitted that it looked unlikely that change would come from Washington, but called on American voters to insist on reform.

Garment Factory Workers In Bangladesh Take To The Streets For Rights And Better Working Conditions

Amid violent protests about 300 garment factories in Bangladesh shutdown on Monday. Over 50,000 Angry Workers blocked roads, set vehicles on fire and rioted with police for a third day over their demands of a minimum monthly wage of $103.
The last time workers fought back for their rights was in 2010 when months of demonstrations forced the government and factory owners to agree to a minimum monthly wage of $38.
Bangladesh has a $20-billion garment export industry accounting for 77% of Bangladesh's exports, making it the world’s second-largest garment exporter. The industry employs roughly 4 million workers who are over worked and underpaid.
In June 2013 the government set up a panel to review salaries and the unions’ demand to have a $100 minimum monthly wage. The factory owners refused the proposed changes claiming they could only raise wages by 20 percent due to the uncertain global economy.
The European Union (EU) and the United States threatened punitive measures in order to press Dhaka to improve worker safety standards after a deadly building collapsed killing over 1000 people in April 2013.
Take a look: Woman Pulled Alive From Rubble Of Bangladesh Factory
It is considered to be the deadliest garment-factory accident in history.

There is a heated international debate about who is to blame for the deplorable conditions that workers in these factories face. One side argues that the low overheads keep the cost price competitive even though much of the final product is sold at a considerably high profit margin – sometimes under expensive brand names.
Despite these deadly incidents and numerous warnings from the international buyers, business continues as usual and the countries garment sales have soared.
There have been fires at 50 factories in Bangladesh in the last ten months and there is evidence that factories forge records to conceal the long hours and dangerous conditions workers must endure.
The poverty level in Bangladesh (with 31.51% of the population below poverty level) is one of the reasons why the people are bound to work in these factories.
For the workers themselves, tragic accidents are viewed as part of the job, which is why most of them return the next day to clock in their punch cards.
But not any more it seems.
With increased pressure from buyers and the workers taking a stand for their rights we hope that the fate of the Bangladeshi garment worker takes a different path.

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DHAKA, Bangladesh—Tensions rose in Bangladesh's garment industry over the weekend as factory owners and workers squared off over a new minimum wage for the South Asian country's largest export industry.
Tens of thousands of garment workers took to the streets in the capital of Dhaka on Saturday, demanding the government set minimum monthly pay at 8,000 taka, or about $100. Today an unskilled sewing-machine apprentice earns a minimum monthly wage of just 3,000 taka.
The factory-owners' association said a higher minimum wage could hobble the industry as costs of other inputs to clothing production are also rising, even as demand from many Western markets is weak.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Bangladeshi garment workers protesting over wages in Dhaka Saturday.

Workers blocked a key highway leading north out of Dhaka on Saturday and clashed with police, demanding factories in the area be closed for the day to allow workers to attend the Dhaka rally. Several people were injured, the police said.
Labor leaders at the rally held in central Dhaka rejected an offer from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association to raise wages by just 20%.
Labor leader Sirajul Islam Rony, president of Bangladesh National Garment Workers Employees League, said there could be more protests if the workers' demands aren't met.
"The industry is the top foreign-currency earner in the country, but the workers are not getting the benefits," Mr. Rony said. "If the owners don't listen to our demands, there will be more unrest in the garment sector."
Shahidullah Azim, vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the industry cannot afford to more than double wages.
"We are facing many challenges. The buyers are driving down the price. The cost of production is going up. Some of our traditional markets in Europe and America are still struggling to come out of an economic downturn," he said. "We must take care not to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs."
In June, Bangladesh's Ministry of Labor and Employment formed a committee with factory owners, workers and government representatives to review wages in the garment sector. The committee is supposed to report back with a negotiated solution by December.
Bangladesh's garment industry exported more than $20 billion of clothes in the fiscal year ended June 30 and employs roughly four million workers. About 80% of the people in the industry are women and most of them are from poor, rural areas.
The minimum wage was fixed at 3,000 taka a month in 2010. Labor groups are now demanding a big increase to offset the impact of a high inflation rate that has often climbed above 10% in Bangladesh.
PLC that source clothes from Bangladesh have been pressuring the country to improve pay and working conditions in its factories after high-profile and deadly factory accidents over the past year. In April a collapse at a building full of garment factories killed more than 1,100 people, while last November a fire at another factory killed at least 110 workers.
In June the U.S. stopped giving Bangladesh duty-free access to its markets, saying the country hadn't done enough to improve workers' rights. Meanwhile, Bangladesh's largest apparel importer, the European Union, also has threatened to revoke its preferential treatment of imports from the country if factory conditions don't improve.

Saturday.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Dr Yunus to face legal action

BB, NBR to take action if irregularities found

Dr Yunus to face legal action

Dr Yunus' remuneration, royalties and awards while serving as managing director of Grameen Bank were illegal, NBR chairman said on Monday

The government on Monday decided to take legal action against Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus for “enjoying tax exemption illegally.”
The privileges enjoyed by Yunus on the money he received as remuneration, royalties and awards while he was the managing director of Grameen Bank were illegal, National Board of Revenue Chairman Md Ghulam Hussain said on Monday.
In a report presented at the cabinet meeting, the NBR chairman also said the fund transfer from Grameen Bank to Grameen Kalyan and his other family stakes was not in accordance with the law.
He added that the facilities and privileges Yunus enjoyed as Grameen Bank MD after his 60 years of age would also be included in this list.
The regular cabinet meeting was held on Monday at the secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The cabinet recommended that Bangladesh Bank, NBR and other financial institutions concerned take action if irregularities were found.

Allegations baseless: Yunus Centre

'He has not been a public servant from the year 2000, all the laws that are applicable to a private citizen should apply to him as well'

Dr Yunus' remuneration, royalties and awards while serving as managing director of Grameen Bank were illegal, NBR chairman said on Monday

The allegations, which the National Board of Revenue brought against Nobel Laureate and Grameen Bank founder Dr Muhammad Yunus, are baseless, the Yunus Centre has said.
Yunus Centre said as Dr Yunus had not been a government servant since the year 2000 as per a Supreme Court Order, he did not need to take the government’s permission for earning income from foreign organisations.
According to a SC order, Dr Yunus’s tenure after 2000 as the managing director of Grameen Bank was illegal.
Therefore, he did not need to take permission for accepting gifts, royalty and other incomes from abroad during or after that time, a Yunus Centre statement read.
“Since he has not been a public servant from the year 2000, all the laws that are applicable to a private citizen should apply to him as well; and thus, the allegations against him are ‘baseless’,” the statement said.
It also said Grameen Bank ran its activities following a special act where the management of the bank was the sole authority for making any decision.
“Dr Yunus has always taken concerns from GB management while doing something and he did not violated any rule.”
The statement also said Dr Yunus earned foreign money by delivering speeches; as royalties for the books that he had authored; and as gifts. He could show them as “tax free incomes” since the money were being brought through proper banking channels.
“Dr Yunus has always transferred such incomes through banking channels and submitted his tax returns to the NBR showing all his incomes. Now, it is up to the revenue body to decide what income will enjoy tax exemption and what will qualify for tax payment. However, tax authorities have never raised any question regarding his income, nor have they ever served any notice to him,” the statement added.