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Qatar Tribune
27-05-2025
- Business
- Qatar Tribune
Bangladesh's tax workers end strike as govt backtracks
Agencies Bangladesh's tax authority workers ended a two-week partial strike on Sunday after they said the interim government would address their demands to stop an overhaul of the body. Earlier on Sunday, security forces had surrounded the national tax authority headquarters, after government orders to reform the National Board of Revenue (NBR) sparked fury from employees. Joint Tax Commissioner Monalisa Saha Sushmita told reporters at the main NBR building in Dhaka, where police and armed security gathered, that the workers would begin a 'complete' shutdown. Hours later, NRB senior official Abdur Rouf said the strike had ended. 'The government assured to take care of our demands, and that's why we have called off our strike,' Rouf told AFP. 'Our next step is negotiation.' NRB officials had said their strike had resulted in the revenues not being collected that totaled $122-163 million per day. It was not possible to verify those figures. Bangladesh has been in turmoil since a student-led revolt ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, ending her 15-year iron-fisted rule. The interim government - led by Nobel Peace Prize-winning microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus - is trying to enact sweeping reforms. The tax board protest reflects the divisions, rival loyalties and confusion between government branches and the caretaker administration. The government proposals would have allowed civil servants from outside the NRB to take top roles. Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garment manufacturer, while textile and garment production accounts for about 80 percent of the country's exports. The industry has been rebuilding after it was hit hard by last year's unrest. In separate protests on Sunday, hundreds of civil servants demonstrated in Dhaka against a government order giving it greater power to sack employees for disciplinary breaches. 'If the government proceeds with the amended ordinance, the interim government will face severe criticism,' said Mohammad Nazrul Islam from the Inter-Ministerial Employees Association.
Kuwait Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Kuwait Times
Bangladesh's tax workers end strike as govt backtracks
DHAKA: Civil officials stage a demonstration inside the Secretariat building in Dhaka, demanding the repeal of a government order giving it greater power to sack employees for disciplinary breaches. – AFP DHAKA: Bangladesh's tax authority workers ended a two-week partial strike on Sunday after they said the interim government would address their demands to stop an overhaul of the body. Earlier on Sunday, security forces had surrounded the national tax authority headquarters, after government orders to reform the National Board of Revenue (NBR) sparked fury from employees. Joint Tax Commissioner Monalisa Saha Sushmita told reporters at the main NBR building in Dhaka, where police and armed security gathered, that the workers would begin a "complete" shutdown. Hours later, NRB senior official Abdur Rouf said the strike had ended. "The government assured to take care of our demands, and that's why we have called off our strike," Rouf told AFP. "Our next step is negotiation." NRB officials had said their strike had resulted in the revenues not being collected that totaled $122-163 million per day. It was not possible to verify those figures. Bangladesh has been in turmoil since a student-led revolt ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, ending her 15-year iron-fisted rule. The interim government - led by Nobel Peace Prize-winning microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus - is trying to enact sweeping reforms. The tax board protest reflects the divisions, rival loyalties and confusion between government branches and the caretaker administration. The government proposals would have allowed civil servants from outside the NRB to take top roles. Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garment manufacturer, while textile and garment production accounts for about 80 percent of the country's exports. The industry has been rebuilding after it was hit hard by last year's unrest. In separate protests on Sunday, hundreds of civil servants demonstrated in Dhaka against a government order giving it greater power to sack employees for disciplinary breaches. "If the government proceeds with the amended ordinance, the interim government will face severe criticism," said Mohammad Nazrul Islam from the Inter-Ministerial Employees Association. - AFP
Observer
06-05-2025
- Business
- Observer
Tariffs could wreck Bangladesh's garment workers
DHAKA, Bangladesh — It was always going to be a hard year for Bangladesh. Last summer, amid an economic collapse, protesters toppled a tyrant and pushed the country to the brink of chaos. Then a month ago, as a new government was still working to steady Bangladesh's economy, came the devastating news that the United States was placing a new 37% charge on the country's goods. Bangladesh relies on revenue from its exports to buy fuel, food and other essentials. President Donald Trump soon paused those tariffs on Bangladesh and dozens of other countries after the world recoiled. But the possibility of their being reinstated worries the workers who make a living in Bangladesh's garment factories. Murshida Akhtar, 25, a migrant from northern Bangladesh living near Dhaka, has been supporting her family with sewing machines for the past five years. One day recently, she and 200 other workers, 70% of them women, signed on for new jobs at 4A Yarn Dyeing, in the industrial hub of Savar. Akhtar conceded feeling apprehension about the tariffs. But she was excited about the change in jobs. She expected to be paid $156 a month at 4A — slightly more than at her previous job and with a shorter commute and a nicer work environment. 'I worry that orders will be reduced,' she said. 'Then there is less work.' Bangladesh, a country of 170 million people crammed onto a delta the size of Wisconsin, was derided as an economic lost cause after its violent birth in the 1970s. It has grown steadfastly since the 1980s on the back of its garment industry. Bangladeshi workers, and women in particular, made the country a seamstress to the world. In the process, the average Bangladeshi has become better off than the average citizen of even India, the giant country next door. Akhtar is one of about 4 million Bangladeshis directly employed in the making of garments for export. Perhaps five times as many, including her husband and their son, depend on jobs like hers. A tariff like the one Trump has planned, along with side effects like the 145% tariff that he applied to Chinese goods, would break the very engine of Bangladeshi growth. Before Trump paused the tariff, Bangladesh's interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus, wrote him a letter asking for a 90-day reprieve. Yunus promised that his country would buy more U.S. cotton and other goods to help reduce its trade surplus, which last year was $6 billion. Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, an economist at the University of Dhaka, was less deferential. He called the tariff threat 'an ugly display of power.' It came just as the country, after decades of enviable growth, was facing a recession and was vulnerable, he said. A currency crisis in 2024 weakened the government of Sheikh Hasina, who had come to rule with an iron grip for 15 years. Her ouster caused an immediate security vacuum. Nine months later, Bangladesh has yet to come up with a plan to restore its democracy. Nearly 85% of Bangladesh's exported goods are garments, and more are shipped to the United States than to any other country. Even if Trump does not bring back the 37% tariff when his self-defined grace period ends in July, Bangladesh will face the 10% tariff that he levied on virtually the entire world. Even 10% is hard to swallow in a low-margin business like the clothing trade. Competition is fierce from China, the only country that exports more, as well as from India, Vietnam, Cambodia and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh's political upheaval was viewed as a sign of hope by Western proponents of liberal democracy. India was annoyed at the demise of an alliance it had built with Hasina. But the administration of former President Joe Biden welcomed Yunus. Bangladesh's central bank scrambled to contain the fallout from a plundering of the financial system by Hasina's regime. It anticipated a year of reduced growth but believed that business would perk up to normal by 2026. Tariffs put an end to that hope. The World Bank has already lowered its expectations for Bangladesh's next two years of growth. The country is feeling the heat from the International Monetary Fund, which cleared a $4.7 billion loan last year. 'We are under tremendous pressure from the IMF to reduce subsidies and hike the prices of fuel, said Fahmida Khatun, the director of the Center for Policy Dialogue, a think tank in Dhaka. The 10% tariff and the prospect of more strikes at the heart of a garment sector that has transformed itself. In 2013, a gigantic sweatshop called Rana Plaza collapsed, killing more than 1,100 workers. The grotesque loss of life made foreign buyers, major Western clothing brands among them, doubt that they could stick with their local partners. But the industry rallied, understanding that it needed to change to survive. There is still a vast space where Rana Plaza once stood, on the main road from Dhaka into Savar. The grim conditions the site represents have guided the future of Bangladeshi manufacturing. The industry has consolidated. While the number of companies making garments has shrunk, the value of their exports and the number of people employed has grown. Bangladesh is home to 230 garment factories certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, a U.S.-led protocol of best practices policed by inspectors who make periodic visits. That is more than any other country in the world. Among them is 4A Yarn Dyeing, where Akhtar works. Despite its name, it hasn't dyed yarn for years. It concentrates on higher-value outerwear, mostly jackets with fancy zippers, waterproofing and other hard-to-make bits. It proudly lists buyers from American brands ranging from Carhartt to Calvin Klein, but has even more European customers than Americans. The five working floors of 4A Yarn Dyeing's factory heave with workers cutting, sewing, and stitching the latest for Costco's Jachs New York series. Giant wall-mounted fans hum against the sewing needles and piped-in music. The space is well lit, airy, and pleasant, even in Savar's pre-monsoon seasonal swelter. Signage around the factory floors is in English first, not the local Bangla. Like other Bangladeshi factories, 4A Yarn Dyeing is used to the prying eyes of foreign inspectors. The exterior of the factory is fronted by a cascade of hanging greenery. The rooftops hold solar panels that help power the operations. In August, the factory fell under attack during the uprising that took down Hasina. Khandker Imam, a general manager, recalled with pride how his factory kept operating. Mobs had gathered outside his factory, as they had at nearly every other; many of Bangladesh's businesses fell under suspicion of having collaborated with Hasina. 'One thousand people came to attack our factory,' Imam said. He donned a helmet and joined his workers to hold back the crowd outside the gate. In the end, no one was seriously injured, and not a single day of production was lost, Imam said. The company, like the country, has gotten used to surviving life-threatening disruptions. 'The whole economy of this country depends on this sector,' said Mohammad Monower Hossain, the company's head of sustainability. The people's movement that overthrew Hasina understands this, too. As a country, he said, 'We have only our labor.'
Daily Mail
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Ellie Bamber cuts a typically chic figure in a light grey skirt co-ord at the New York premiere of Words Of War
She never puts a foot wrong when it comes to fashion. And Ellie Bamber cut a typically chic figure at the New York premiere of Words Of War held at the Village East Cinema on Wednesday night. The actress, 28, opted for a light grey skirt co-ord which highlighted her toned physique. She boosted her height with pointed black heels and completed the outfit with an oversized matching jacket. The beauty wore her blonde tresses in loose waves over her shoulders and sported a glowing make-up look. Words of War is an upcoming biographical drama film about the late Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Directed by James Strong, it is set to star Maxine Peake as Politkovskaya, Jason Isaacs as her husband Alexander Politkovsky, and Ciarán Hinds as her Nobel Peace Prize-winning editor at the Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov. Variety reported that Words of War is scheduled to be released in U.S. theaters starting on May 2, 2025. Anna Politkovskaya was one of Russia's most acclaimed journalists and a vocal critic of the Kremlin. She was murdered in 2006. Ellie will also soon star in an upcoming Kate Moss biopic focusing on her now iconic collaboration with celebrated figurative painter Lucian Freud. Kate was 28-years old and well established as one of Britain's most successful fashion models when Freud painted her in the nude, an arduous nine-month project carried out at the artist's Holland Park home in 2002. The painting would be sold privately for £3.5million some three years later, but its waif-like subject and her relationship with Freud will be reenacted for a wider audience in a forthcoming film. Directed by James Lucas, the appropriately titled Moss & Freud will feature rising star Bamber as the supermodel in what could arguably be her most challenging role to date. The task at hand is all the more daunting given she was handpicked by Kate, but those charting her career - including the supermodel, a self-confessed fan - will know the role is in safe hands. Born in Surrey to investment banker father David and mother Zoe - who now works as her manager - Ellie developed a keen interest in acting from the age of 12 after being inspired by her drama teacher at Hawley Place School, now Hurst Lodge School, in Berkshire. Mainstream success would soon follow, with the then 15-year-old starring alongside Cold Feet star Hermione Norris and Martin Clunes in 2012 miniseries A Mother's Son. It would be the first of many carefully chosen TV roles, with Ellie taking another small part in The Musketeers before emerging as a star in her own right with the lead in a 2018 adaptation of Les Misérables. The actress would play Cosette in an ensemble cast featuring Dominic West, David Oyelowo, Lily Collins and Derek Jacobi - who reunites with Ellie by playing the enigmatic Freud in her latest film. By then her personal life was winning as many headlines as her professional endeavors, with Ellie embarking on a relationship with Scottish actor Richard Madden in 2017. Richard had already established himself as a household name thanks to a prominent role as the ultimately doomed Robb Stark in HBO drama Game Of Thrones. It was inevitable that the spotlight would intensify as Ellie made sporadic public appearances with the actor during an 18-month romance, during which he enjoyed further success in BBC drama Bodyguard. By January 2019 her relationship with Richard was over after the couple experienced a rocky patch during which they 'argued every day'. A source told The Sun: 'They were arguing almost daily towards the end and, despite considering couples' therapy, it became evident there were far too many issues that could not be fixed. 'Richard is the toast of Hollywood at the moment, and understandably wants to let his hair down. 'Ellie is a bit quieter, and wants to focus purely on her work. It felt like their day-to-day lives were increasingly becoming worlds apart.'
IOL News
29-04-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
The untold story of a young operative in the liberation struggle: Nozizwe Mabaso-Mhlongo's testimony
The NPA has reopened the inquest into the death of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Albert Luthuli. Image: File In a testimony at the Pietermaritzburg High Court, Nozizwe Mabaso-Mhlongo, 62, recounted her extraordinary childhood experiences as an unknowing participant in South Africa's liberation struggle, revealing how she became a secret operative for none other than the legendary Albert Luthuli. Mabaso-Mhlongo, whose parents were closely connected with the Nobel Peace Prize-winning ANC president general, shared her memories during the ongoing inquest into Luthuli's mysterious death She said the struggle icon, her parents, her primary school class teacher, and an Indian shopkeeper were her handlers who used her to transport sensitive and incriminating political documents. She read an affidavit, which she prepared five years ago. Luthuli was killed on July 21, 1967, in Stanger, north coast, in what an inquest presided over by Magistrate CI Boswell held the same year revealed was a goods train accident. Mabaso-Mhlongo joined several witnesses whose testimony since the start of the inquest disputed the findings of Boswell. The Tuesday proceedings were adjourned abruptly when witness Mahomed Manjoo, who followed Mabaso-Mhlongo, became emotional and cried. Manjoo worked at the Stanger Hospital as a patient admission clerk when Luthuli was brought in. He said that when he realised that the person who was sleeping unconsciously on the stretcher was the world-renowned Peace Prize winner, he immediately phoned an ANC office in Stanger. Mabaso-Mhlongo's family relocated from Ladysmith to Stanger before she was born, after her father survived several attempts to kill him by white owners of a farm he worked for. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Her father, Stimela Mabaso, left the farm with the help of a generous white man to secretly ride a goods train to Stanger. Luthuli gave him accommodation in a shack and also employed him as a manager at Luthuli's Nonhlevu general dealers. This was the same shack, which was situated next to Luthuli's shop, where Luthuli and other freedom fighters, including the late IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi, would use as their strategic venue to hold secret political meetings, believing that the apartheid special branch members would not suspect what it was used for. She said her father became part of the meetings, which often took place at night and on rare occasions during the day. She said during the many meetings held, her mother would not only provide meals for the attendees, but she would also be on the lookout for special agents and alert the attendees. She was relating to the court what her mother had told her when she was grown up. 'At one stage, my mother spotted a vehicle approaching, which she thought was police who might have been aware that a meeting was held in the shack. 'She grabbed all the papers that were being discussed and put them in a pack and put them on her back and because I was little, she also put me on her back (to conceal the papers), she picked up a hoe and proceeded to the sugarcane fields to work,' said Mabaso-Mhlongo. Mabaso-Mhlongo said it often happened that when she was a learner at Lloyd Primary School, she would secretly transport minutes of political meetings to Nyuwane shop, which was owned by an Indian businessman she only knew as Mr Goolams. In the morning, her mother would pack her brown school bag and lock it with a padlock and instruct her to take it to school without a key to open it and hand the bag to her class teacher. The class teacher would keep the bag without opening it and give it back to her after school. She would then take a bus to the Stanger CBD to meet Goolam. This was something that Luthuli could not do as he was banned from leaving the Groutville area and was under heavy police surveillance. She said Luthuli would give her a strict instruction not to open the bag and not to tell anyone about the secret meetings. 'After school, I would be told to take the bag to KwaNyuwane shop, which belongs to Mr Goolam, who would buy me fish and chips and give me sweets, and I would be very happy,' he said. The remains of a railway line where Inkosi Albert Luthuli was injured before succumbing to death at Stanger Hospital in 1967. Image: SABC News screenshots Goolam would then hand the locked bag back to her to take to her father. 'This went on until Luthuli passed away,' she said. She said she was very close to Luthuli, who would often make her read the newspapers. She said Luthuli also loved children but would irritate them by stopping them from playing their favourite games to make them read the bible, sing and pray. She said she knew Luthuli as her grandfather and it was only many years later, after Luthuli had died, that she learned that they were not related. She said on return from school on the fateful July 21, she first learn that Luthuli, whom she referred to as Mkhulu or grandfather, had died. She heard her father telling the curious elders that he had been struck by a stick or a steel bar. I heard that people who worked in the sugarcane fields saw him approaching the field along the railway line, but after a goods train had passed, they could not see him. 'They rushed to the spot where they last saw him, only to find him lying there in a pool of blood,' she said. Luthuli died at the Stanger hospital a few hours later after the accident. 'The death of Mkhulu left me traumatised and I stopped going to the railway line because I feared that people who went there would be hit by the boers to death. 'We used to love going to the line to pick up sugarcane, but we stopped after Mkhulu's death,' he said.
