Bangladesh's paceman Mashrafe Mortaza bowls during the first one-day
international (ODI) cricket match between New Zealand and Bangladesh in
Napier. Photo: AFP
Star Online Report
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said that having lost
the first two ODIs by big margins, the team had looked to do something
different but in an attempt to do something different, they lost sight
of sticking to the basics during the third ODI which his side lost by 88
runs.
New Zealand completed a series whitewash as top-order batting debacle
was once again the issue for the Tigers in the third ODI. “What
happened in the first two matches also happened today. Maybe we did not
think about this since we have to be positive every day. Tamim [Iqbal]
scored runs in West Indies but during Asia Cup we also felt what we felt
today. We had lost two or three wickets early there too,” Mashrafe said
in post-match press conference today.
There was the urge to stay positive but it cost the Tigers even as
they had talked about not losing wickets early on after the first two
matches.
“Not only me, but the whole team was positive. I think we tried to do
something different. It’s normal for there to be bounce and swing in
these wickets but we could not stick to the basics,” he said.
The series was crucial to gauge their performances and strengths
before the World Cup but the Tigers will once again have to focus on
top-order issues. The conditions in Ireland and the World Cup in England
could be quite similar to what they faced in England and Mash talked
about ‘finding a way’.
“There is two months left before the next tournament. Conditions will
be similar in Ireland and we have to find a way. Last year there were
grassy wickets and the conditions there do not favour us and we have to
figure out how we will score runs there. Not to give away too many
wickets early since batting becomes easier later on,” he said.
That last sentence certainly was true for the Tigers in this series.
While top-order was an issue, the lower middle-order had contributed to
the score, with Sabbir Ahmed, Mohammad Mithun and Mohammad Saifuddin
amongst the runs. But Mash knows it very well that without the top-order
firing, winning matches will be near impossibl.
Crossing the Meghna Bridge is a hurdle; the Gomti is another feat in
itself, but once these obstacles are left behind, you are greeted by the
fields full of green paddy and canary yellow mustard, swaying in the
mid-morning breeze. It's an overwhelming sight. The early morning fog
has just been dissipating and the golden rays from the sun shine over
the lush fields in their majestic diagonal slants. It's bliss on the
Dhaka-Chittagong highway leading towards Chandina, Cumilla.
The road carries you over bridges and over passes, and
under-construction sites, and by-pass alleys and quaint villages. A
little short of Cumilla, you take a left turn for Chandina. A narrow
muddy lane snakes through tea stalls, 'khadi gaddis' or showrooms, and
men playing carom, and takes you right in front of Chintaharan Debnath's
front yard.
A small pond layered by moss and weeds; steep bamboo steps make the
downward pier, from where, villagers are diving in without fear.
Beautiful women, half immersed in the water, are either bathing or
washing clothes, and having a quick morning chit-chat in this typical
village sight. This, however, is a sideshow to our main purpose of the
visit — to see the famous handlooms of Chandina.
This lively pond is the view you get from Chintaharan babu's front
yard, and in fact, the pond is separating Ranjit Debnath's homestead
from his. These two partners are now two of the few khadi dealers still
in business.
His spick and span house is divided into bedrooms, kitchen, the puja
ghor and the loom-room. The open space between two rooms is where cotton
balls are spun into coarse threads. Sitting in Chintaharan babu's yard,
women used to work the charka to spin khadi yarns. But that’s in the
distant past; now in the empty space sits a lone charka and a thread
separator.
His loom-room is also empty, and has a desolate feel to it. As if the dusty looms are trying to scream ‘let us weave again.’
The era of power looms has most certainly pushed the handlooms to
near extinction, but a few people like Ranjit Debnath and Chintaharan
Debnath are trying to keep the charka spinning for the khadi trade in
Bangladesh.
Chintaharan is sceptical about the future, and expresses his
disappointment as he walks us through his coconut grove towards Ranjit's
house, where yarn is laid for weaving women's shawls. All things that
are now used are different, devoid of the rustic feel of khadi.
The hand-spun yarn is replaced by fine mill-spun thread, the combs
are replaced by steel rods and weaving rooms without working men. In
fact, the entire village is quiet and eerily barren of the clucking
sound of weaving.
We are not naysayers of the power looms as they help the ultra-poor
earn better wages, but we want handlooms to survive, if not flourish.
There is romance in that coarse fabric that speaks equally of revolution
and haute couture. The yards coming out of such remote villages
definitely deserve the fair-trade patronage, and we as consumers must
acknowledge them as exclusive textile and wear them with pride.
Being 'deshi' should be the tagline this year, and in the years to
come till we see all our heritage textile producers working in a buoyant
market. Perhaps, there is a need for a second Swadeshi Andolon after
all.
For more on khadi and loads of other interesting reads that the Star
Lifestyle team has so diligently put up for our esteemed readers, please
ask your hawker for the 28th The Daily Star Anniversary Special
Supplements hitting the stands on 23 February and 24 February.
On a different note, on this 21st February vow to patronise 'deshi' garbs. Happy read!
'Twitter' users furious at Ranveer for his irresponsible dive.
Bollywood actor, Ranveer Singh had attended Lakme Fashion Week in
Mumbai to promote his upcoming film, Gully Boy, but things didn't quite
go according to plan. While he had made quite the show with his amazing
performance on the ramp, what followed was not anticipated in the least.
He had dived straight into the cheering fans and reportedly, injured a
few. A newspaper clipping of a woman getting hurt because of his
shenanigans has gone viral on social media. Twitter users were fuming,
calling Ranveer immature and irresponsible, but fans came to his
defence, saying that he meant to cause no harm. He even messaged a
Twitter user to explain, “I will be mindful henceforth. Thank you for
your love and concern.”
Putting the 'fun' in functional The plane's distinctive bulbous shape has earned it the nickname "the flying whale," due to its strong resemblance to the white-colored Arctic-dwelling mammal, the beluga. The XL's twinkly-eyed, smiling-faced livery capitalizes on this. The whimsical design was chosen by Airbus staff following a poll in which 20,000 employees were given six options and asked to choose their favorite. With 40% of the vote, it was the clear winner. "We used to say that in Toulouse or in Hamburg, the kids recognize the Beluga," Bertrand Grosse, head of the Beluga XL program, tells CNN Travel. "They love this very special plane." However, the design is functional as well as cute. The enormous cargo bay is large enough to carry two A350 wings at a time (the old Beluga could transport only one), and the whale-like nose improves the craft's aerodynamic efficiency. Nature, after all, perfected the beluga whale and, explains Grosse, "flying in the air is a little bit like swimming in the sea." Pilot training So how does one go about steering a machine like this through the skies? Well, says Grosse, despite the plane's unusual appearance, "for the pilots this is really an A330. Our pilots will be trained on the A330 and then they will get a Delta qualification to enable them to fly the Beluga XL." While you might think the aircraft would run slower, "the drag is about the same," says Grosse. "What changes really is the behavior of the aircraft at the rear, at the bottom of the cargo bay. "This is why we have lifted the vertical tail plane by more than two meters to get it out of the flow behind the cargo bay and we have also the special acceleration on the horizontal tail plane to give stability to the aircraft." The Beluga XL is powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, which, as with its wings, are also used on the A330. Related content Airbus A380: Where to fly in a superjumbo before they go away Preparations for a very special guest Airbus manufactures its wings in a large factory at Hawarden Airport. The facility has undergone special modifications for the arrival of the Beluga XL, such as creating two sets of doors for the Beluga Line Station -- one to fit the Beluga and one to fit the Beluga XL. Airbus also resurfaced the landing strip, erected blast fences (to safely redirect the engines' high-energy exhaust) and installed new turn pads -- necessary for when the Beluga XL turns around on Howarden's relatively short runway of around 1,600 meters. Plane-lovers from across the UK gathered in Wales to see the arrival of the Beluga XL on Thursday, and again to see it depart for Toulouse, France, on Saturday. "This plane is, I would say, iconic for our company," Grosse tells CNN Travel. "This is the workhorse for Airbus. So it is more than a plane. It is what enables Airbus to build aircraft every day."
Tamara Hardingham-Gill and Howard Slutsken contributed to this
Ford exiting heavy truck business in South America
DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co on Tuesday said it would exit its
heavy commercial truck business in South America and cease production at
a Brazilian plant this year as a result.
The No. 2 U.S.
automaker expects to record pretax special charges of about $460
million, with most of that recorded this year, it said in a statement.
Reporting by Ben Klayman; editing by Jonathan Oatis
A suicide bomber killed more than 40
paramilitary police in Indian-administered Kashmir last week in what
was the deadliest attack on Indian forces in the region for decades.
Pakistan denies any role in the attack by militant group
Jaish-e-Mohammad, which is based on its soil.
With
Indian general elections around the corner, the government is under
pressure to respond, or at least demonstrate that such actions are not
without consequences. Dhruva Jaishankar weighs in with the options
before India - diplomatic, economic and military.
Days after Mr Modi and Mr Sharif met in Lahore to launch a peace initiative, six soldiers were killed in an attack on an Indian air force base in Pathankot.
Indian officials blamed the attack on the Pakistan-based
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a militant group close to Pakistani
intelligence.
By July 2016, Delhi's patience dried up and its position on a number of issues hardened.
Despite a new government in Pakistan under Imran Khan, a meeting
between the two countries' foreign ministers at last year's UN General
Assembly was cancelled. Normal diplomatic channels have, however,
continued.
After the attack in Pulwama on Thursday, India has
renewed its diplomatic efforts to make the case against what it says is
Pakistan's state support for terrorism.
This builds upon many
years of India condemning Pakistan in diplomatic pronouncements made
with friendly countries. In India's joint statements with the US and
others, they now name specific Pakistan-based terrorist groups such as
JeM, Lashkar-e-Taiba and D-Company, a criminal syndicate led by the
Pakistan-based Indian fugitive Dawood Ibrahim.
Mr Modi invited his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to his inauguration in 2014
India has also linked Pakistan to the primary security challenges of
its partners: for example, Japan's concerns about North Korea.
Such
moves have sensitised others to India's concerns about Pakistan,
facilitated intelligence cooperation on Pakistan-based terrorist groups
and encouraged crackdowns on their financing in many countries. Delhi's
continued efforts also increase acceptability for any economic or
military costs that India might impose at a later date.
The
challenge facing India is that other countries, however sympathetic,
will continue to see value in retaining their ties with Pakistan.
Although the US
has become increasingly frustrated with Pakistan "tolerating and
encouraging groups which use violence against Pakistan's neighbours", China remains Pakistan's closest ally, as it has for decades.
It
has provided Pakistan with nuclear and missile technology and
equipment, conventional arms and - under the China-Pakistan Economic
Corridor - billions of dollars of investment in strategic projects.
Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates too have continuing economic and
security ties with Pakistan, although both have also been warming their
relations with India over the past few years.
The US and European Union continue to offer Pakistan preferential
trading benefits, in some cases resulting in lower tariffs on imports
compared to India.
Some EU officials have privately blamed the
United Kingdom for Brussels' accommodative approach towards Pakistan -
and have suggested that they may take sterner measures after Brexit.
Can India hurt Pakistan economically?
The
day after the Pulwama attack, India revoked Pakistan's Most Favoured
Nation (MFN) trading status, raised customs duties to 200% and vowed to
isolate it in the international community.
The absence of MFN
will significantly raise customs duties on Pakistani exports to India,
effectively resulting in unilateral Indian sanctions. Given that direct
trade between the two countries is negligible, this move is largely
symbolic.
In some ways, India has been implementing punitive
measures against Pakistan for years. For instance, India has not played
Pakistan in a bilateral Test cricket series since late 2007, in part
because such a series would result in a financial windfall for the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Other, more severe, measures such as abrogating the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty have been suggested.
Such
a step would have significant costs, including eroding India's
relations with other countries - China, Nepal, and Bangladesh - with
which it has water-sharing arrangements.
India will also likely continue to apply diplomatic pressure to raise the costs of economic ties with Pakistan.
It is expected to advocate adding Pakistan to the black list (which
includes Iran and North Korea) of the Financial Action Task Force, an
intergovernmental body that combats money laundering.
This would
raise scrutiny on financial transactions involving Pakistan and effect
its currency inflows, credit rating, stock market and banking sector.
However,
China will likely resist such a move - it only dropped its opposition
to Pakistan's "grey listing" last year in exchange for India's support
for Beijing's vice presidency of the task force.
Other
multilateral efforts may extend to leveraging India's position at
various export control groups in which it recently acquired membership.
What are India's military options?
The
biggest challenge for India is that Pakistan possesses a nuclear
deterrent - including possibly one of the fastest growing nuclear
arsenals - and a potent military.
For all the sabre-rattling in the Indian press and public, these are realities that the Indian leadership must keep in mind.
However, both Pakistan and India have explored options below the nuclear threshold.
In 1999, Pakistani forces made an incursion onto
India's side of the de facto border (also know as the Line of Control)
resulting in the limited Kargil conflict. On several occasions after
that, India retaliated to Pakistani provocations with coordinated
small-scale raids across the Line of Control. The 2016 attacks, in response to the Uri base attack, became widely known as "surgical strikes".
Other military options would be long-term in nature.
Indian
efforts against cross-border infiltration from Pakistan have already
benefited from new security technologies as well as intelligence
partnerships with other countries.
Improvement in this area -
such as buying unmanned aircraft and enhancing technical intelligence
cooperation - would count as a major investment in countering
cross-border terrorism from Pakistan.
Of course, these are only
some of the many ways in which India might choose to respond. If recent
history is any guide, we may witness something entirely unprecedented
and unexpected. Dhruva Jaishankar is Fellow in Foreign Policy
Studies at Brookings India in Delhi and a Non-Resident Fellow with the
Lowy Institute in Australia.
Karl Lagerfeld, iconic Chanel fashion designer, dies.
Iconic fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld has died in Paris following a short illness.
The German designer, who was the creative director for Chanel and Fendi, was one of the industry's most prolific figures and worked up until his death.
His signature ponytail and dark glasses made him an instantly recognisable figure around the world.
Industry heavyweights, including Italian designer Donatella Versace, issued heartfelt tributes.
"Today the world lost a giant among men," said the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, Anna Wintour.
Lagerfeld's website says his year of birth was 1938 - though most placed his age at five years older.
Rumours of Lagerfeld's ill health had swirled for several weeks after he missed a number of events - including Chanel's spring/summer show last month.
He died on Tuesday morning after being admitted to hospital the night before, French media report.
Obituary: Lagerfeld, Chanel's iconic designer
The life of a design icon in pictures
Lagerfeld's life in quotes
As a designer he transformed the fortunes of Chanel, one of the leading names in high fashion, but his work also filtered down to the high street.
Away from his work, Lagerfeld made headlines for a range of provocative, and sometimes offensive, statements.
Who has paid tribute?
Members of the fashion industry have been lining up to praise Lagerfeld's work.
Donatella Versace said his genius had "touched so many" and was a source of inspiration for her and her late brother.
Skip Instagram post by donatella_versace
IS 'trapping 200 families' in last bastion in Syria
The UN has expressed concern about the fate of some 200 families reportedly trapped in the last tiny area of Syria still held by the Islamic State group.
Human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said they were apparently being prevented from leaving by IS militants.
They were also being subjected to intense bombardment by US-led coalition and allied Syrian forces, she added.
On Tuesday evening, dozens of lorries reportedly arrived on the outskirts of the IS enclave to evacuate civilians.
Could a defeated IS rebound?
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, cited its sources as saying wives and children of militants would be taken to an undisclosed location as part of a deal with the coalition.
Earlier, it reported that a request by militants to be given safe passage to the opposition-held Syrian province of Idlib or neighbouring Iraq had been rejected by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance.
Image copyright Reuters
Image caption IS militants are reportedly confined to tents pitched on top of a network of tunnels and caves
SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali appeared to dismiss such an idea on Tuesday morning, insisting the militants had "only two options - either they surrender or they will be killed in battle".
"We are working on secluding and evacuating civilians and then we will attack. This could happen soon," Mr Bali was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
After the caliphate: Has IS been defeated?
How many IS foreign fighters are left?
Five years ago, IS controlled 88,000 sq km (34,000 sq miles) of territory stretching from western Syria to eastern Iraq. It proclaimed the creation of a "caliphate", imposing its brutal rule on almost eight million people and generating billions of dollars from oil, extortion, robbery and kidnapping.
Now, an estimated 300 militants and hundreds of civilians are surrounded inside about 0.5 sq km (0.2 square miles) of land in the Baghuz area, which is in the Middle Euphrates River Valley, near the border with Iraq.
"Civilians continue to be used as pawns by the various parties," Ms Bachelet said.
"I call on them to provide safe passage to those who wish to flee, while those wish to remain must also be protected as much as possible.
"They should not be sacrificed to ideology on the one hand, or military expediency on the other. If protecting civilian lives means taking a few more days to capture the last fraction of land controlled by [IS], then so be it."
Image copyright AFP
Image caption US-backed SDF fighters launched an assault on Baghuz this month
Although no-one has reportedly made it out of Baghuz in the past three days, some 20,000 civilians have been taken by the SDF to a makeshift camp for displaced people at al-Hol, in Hassakeh province, in recent weeks.
Among them are the wives and children of IS militants and many foreign nationals, including the British teenager Shamima Begum, who was 15 when she ran away from her home to join IS four years ago.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said on Monday that at least 62 people had died on their way to al-Hol, two thirds of them children under the age of one. Exhaustion and malnutrition were the principal causes of the deaths.
Media captionShamima Begum: 'The poster girl thing was not my choice'
Ms Bachelet also said she was alarmed by an upsurge in attacks and civilian casualties in Idlib province, where a takeover by a jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has jeopardised a truce brokered by Turkey and Russia in September.
The Syrian government's bombardment of a demilitarised buffer zone, which runs along the frontline in Idlib and areas of northern Hama and western Aleppo provinces, started to escalate in December and has further intensified in recent days, according to the UN.
Islamic State group: The full story
At the same time, there has been an increase in fighting among rebel and jihadist factions, and also in the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in areas they control.
On Monday, at least 16 civilians, including women and children, were reportedly killed by two bomb explosions in the Qusour district of Idlib city. The second blast appeared to have been designed to kill those, including medical workers, coming to the aid of victims of the first.
Another nine civilians, including four women and two boys, were meanwhile reportedly killed by government strikes on Khan Sheikhoun on Friday and Saturday.
