Wednesday, 11 November 2015

Prison guard attacked in Faridpur

Star Online Report

A prison guard was attacked by unidentified miscreants on his way to the post office with official documents in Faridpur today.
Addressing a press conference in Dhaka, IG of Prisons, Brig Gen Farid said Prison Guard Asaduzzaman Asad along with one of his colleagues was going to the post office on a motorcycle when unidentified miscreants slashed Asad with a sharp weapon and fled the scene.
No one was detained in this connection yet.
Suspecting a connection between today’s attack with yesterday’s attack on a military police in Dhaka’s Kochukhet area, the IG of Prisons ordered all prison workers to wear civil attires when carrying out a task outside the jail premise.
Further details could not be known immediately.
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Alibaba breaks record!!!

Employees work at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province in China on November 10, 2015. Photo: Reuters
BBC Online

E-commerce giant Alibaba has broken its own record for sales on China's Singles Day, the world's biggest online shopping event.
The firm said sales surpassed the record amount of $9.3bn (£6.1bn) made last year in just over half the time.
Singles Day, also known as Double Eleven because it is held on 11 November, has become a major annual event for Chinese retailers.
Alibaba said more than $1bn was spent within eight minutes of midnight.

Just surpassed last year's Total GMV in USD! #1111Fest Read live updates on Alizila https://t.co/GHXuw1MOTz pic.twitter.com/kEuQ7dOrFL
Within the first hour, it had made $3.9bn (£2.bn) in sales, almost double the amount spent in the same time period of the event last year.
In comparison, sales on Cyber Monday, which is the biggest online shopping day in the US, hit $1.35bn, according to data analytics firm ComScore.

Alibaba Group's president Michael Evans speaks at a round table event of Alibaba Group's 11.11 Global shopping festival in Beijing, China, November 11, 2015. Photo: Reuters


Analysis: Celia Hatton, BBC News, BeijingThe reaction to China's Singles Day shopping bonanza reflects the drama and excitement of China's capitalist holiday.
"I wanted two different coats, but they both sold out in the first three minutes of the sale!", complained one young woman online.
"I spent 2,000RMB last night ($315; £207)" exclaimed another. "Now I'm going to have to eat dirt if I'm hungry because I'm broke!"

But don't mistake the rush to spend as a sign the Chinese economy is turning around.
Many shoppers are well aware the economy is slowing. It is common for people to wait to spend on Singles Day to save money.
New data supports nagging concerns about the economy. Inflation is down: non-food prices dropped 0.3% in October, indicating that consumption continues to fall in China - a long-term trend that Singles Day won't fix.

Employees work at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express ahead of the Singles Day shopping festival, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. Photo: Reuters


'Power of Chinese consumption'
Singles Day has grown tremendously since Alibaba began promoting it as a shopping day in 2009, and now includes many retailers such as rivals JD.com that stage sales promotions.
This year, Alibaba said there would be more than 40,000 merchants and 30,000 brands from 25 countries selling goods on its platforms.
More than 130 million users have already visited its marketplace app, Taobao, which exceeds the peak from last year.
In the lead up to the event, the firm hosted a four-hour TV variety show featuring Chinese celebrities and Western entertainers such as British actor Daniel Craig of James Bond fame.
American actor Kevin Spacey appeared as his character President Frank Underwood from the Netflix series House of Cards to wish shoppers a "happy Singles' Day" in a two minute video.
Alibaba chief Executive Daniel Zhang had said in a statement that the event would mean "the whole world will witness the power of Chinese consumption".
He promised consumers "a new surprise every hour" over the 24-hour marathon, especially mobile users.
The firm said more than 27 million purchases came via mobile devices in the first hour.
Although its competitors offered attractive discounts, Fangting Sun, China-based analyst at market research firm Euromonitor International said that consumers' attention was still focused on Alibaba's online marketplace Tmall.com.


"[It's] not only due to the wide choices and competitive prices, but also the heavy marketing campaigns especially the successful gala evening which invited lots of famous entertainment stars," she said.
Kitty Fok, China manager for market research firm IDC said online shopping had become a comfortable channel for most consumers.
"China is a big market with close to one billion smart connected device users - it is a good news for both Alibaba and their competitors," she said.

Workers listen to their line manager as he prepares them for the upcoming Singles Day shopping festival, at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. Photo: Reuters


Massive scale
Alibaba accounts for more than 80% of China's internet sales market.
It predicts that 1.7 million couriers, 400,000 vehicles and 200 planes will be making deliveries of products that range from electronics goods to cosmetics despite slowing growth in China.
Economists will be looking for clues about domestic consumption in Wednesday's sales as the world's second-biggest economy heads for its slowest growth in nearly a quarter of a century.
Ms Sun of Euromonitor said the shopping event would not only stimulate domestic demand but also trade.
"Alibaba aims to both attract more international players selling products to China and the domestic players to expand to the overseas markets," she added.
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Bangladesh 'hands over' Ulfa leader Anup Chetia to India

He was freed on completion of jail term and expression of interest to leave Bangladesh, says home minister

File photo of Anup Chetia, second from the right with pink shirt.
Star Online Report
In a major boost to bilateral security cooperation, Bangladesh today handed over to India Anup Chetia, leader of India’s top insurgent group United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), 18 years into his arrest in Dhaka for trespassing.
Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal denied it primarily, saying he was not aware of any such development. But around one and half hours later, he said the government “freed” Chetia on completion of his detention order.

“Anup Chetia was detained under the law of the country and his jail term was completed. As he is a foreigner and expressed his interest to leave the country, we have freed him,” the minister told reporters at a programme organised to mark annual Fire Service and Civil Defence Week in Mirpur in the capital. 
READ MORE: India may swap Subrata Bain, Sajjad for Anup Chetia
Chetia, who was in Bangladesh since his arrest in Mohammadpur area of Dhaka on December 21, 1997, was handed over to a team of India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at the personal intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and through active involvement of India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
The hand over took place this morning, according to highly-placed sources.
Meanwhile, the home minister, talking to the reports at the secretariat, said the members of Border Guard Bangladesh handed Anup and his two prison mates– Babul Sharma and Shakti Prashad who were arrested with Anup —to the members of Border Security Force of India.
However, he did not elaborate on the issue.
He further said they have been handed over after communicating with Indian embassy in Bangladesh.
The development follows the deportation to India of underworld don Chhota Rajan, one of country's most-wanted persons who was on the run for 27 years, by Indonesia.
Chetia, one of the founding members of Ulfa and its general secretary, is wanted for murder, abductions and extortion in India.
He had sought political asylum in Bangladesh thrice in 2005, 2008 and in 2011 after Bangladesh police arrested him in December, 1997 and was subsequently handed down seven years of jail terms by two courts for cross-border intrusion, carrying fake passports and illegally keeping foreign currencies.
Despite the expiry of his prison term, Chetia was in jail under a 2003 Bangladesh High Court directive asking authorities to keep him in safe custody until a decision was taken regarding his asylum plea.
India had been pressing Bangladesh for deportation of Chetia for several years.
The Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Pankaj Saran was in Delhi for the last two days as details of the handover were being worked out, sources said.
Earlier, Bangladesh had handed over some other top leaders, including Arabinda Rajkhowa, on December 2, 2009 along the border with northeastern Indian state of Assam. They have joined peace talks with the Indian government.
Another top Ulfa leader Paresh Barua, who heads the insurgent outfit’s armed wing, remains on the run and is believed to have taken shelter in Myanmar.
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