In the time it takes to read this email, two women - most likely living in poverty - will die from childbirth. Help us send more than 10,000 signatu

In the time it takes to read this email, two women - most likely living in poverty - will die from childbirth.
Help us send more than 10,000 signatures to world leaders next week to stop these preventable maternal deaths.












Dear MUKTI,

Last week, more than 6,800 women died as a result of childbirth. This week - more than 6,800 more will needlessly die, the vast majority from the same preventable causes.

Is this is the price of poverty? Most women who die from childbirth live in developing countries and low income communities.

In the ten years since world leaders first gathered and pledged to meet eight global benchmarks called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at eradicating poverty by 2015, some progress has been made, but it's been uneven.

Despite the good news released by the UN earlier this week that the total number of maternal deaths has dropped1, the annual rate of decline is still less than half of where it needs to be to meet the MDG target of cutting maternal mortality by 75% by 2015.

Tell the UN to get back on track! Add your name to our growing petition to stop maternal deaths.



Every 90 seconds, a woman dies giving birth.

On Monday, when world leaders meet in New York for the start of the MDG Summit, the Maternal Death Clock on our website will begin to tick - keeping track of the total number of maternal deaths in the world.

Share the Maternal Death Clock on Facebook and across the web - help us amplify our message to MDG summit leaders.

While the Maternal Death Clock is keeping count online, visitors to New York will also be reminded of the UN's obligation to protect every woman's right to a safe pregnancy and childbirth. Throughout the week, a giant screen in Times Square will display Amnesty's powerful video about maternal death.

If world leaders don't see our Maternal Death Clock online or our billboard in Times Square, then we're sure they'll hear about it!

The promise of protecting the world's mothers is much too important to let it slip through the cracks. If we don't do all we can to turn back the clock now on maternal deaths, then we've not just missed a deadline, we've missed our chance to save thousands of women's lives.

Giving life should not mean risking death! Please take a moment to make a difference for mothers around the world.

Thank You,

Mukti M Majid

On behalf of

Myisha Patterson Gatson
Demand Dignity Campaign
Amnesty International USA

Dacca : + 880 182 597 3484

Release of 2010 Social Watch Report

REQUEST FOR COVERAGE



Release of 2010 Social Watch Report



Social Watch, an international network of non-governmental organizations that monitors how far governments are fulfilling their commitments to end poverty and gender discrimination, will release its critical report: AFTER THE FALL: TIME FOR A NEW DEAL on Friday, Sept. 17 at the United Nations.



It is presented in the framework of the 65th period of sessions of the UN General Assembly, which this year is promoting a review of the Millennium Development Goals, five years before the 2015 deadline.



According to Social Watch, most countries are a long way from attaining these goals in the time frame established. What is more, according to the Basic Capabilities Index (BCI) designed by Social Watch as an alternative way to monitor social development in the world, poverty reduction has slowed down since 2000.



“The less privileged in both rich and poor countries are not only suffering the direct consequences of the crisis in that they are losing their jobs, savings and even their homes, they are also being made to pay for the economic rescue and stimulus packages in the form of higher taxes and reduced wages and social benefits... observes Roberto Bissio, Social Watch coordinator. “In this context, to issue a call for ‘more of the same’ is not the solution…”



The 2010 Report by the international Social Watch coalition will be officially presented on Friday, Sept. 17, at the United Nations in New York, just before the UN summit scheduled for Sept. 20-22 in which progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be evaluated. The MDGs are eight targets to combat poverty and gender inequity that the governments of the world committed themselves to at the Millennium Summit in 2000.



Social Watch consists of a network of members in more than 60 countries throughout the world. It was founded in 1995 as “a meeting point for non-governmental organizations concerned about social development and gender discrimination” in response to the need to promote the political will required to keep the promises made at and by the United Nations.



Since then this network has been growing steadily, both qualitatively and quantitatively, it has published 15 annual reports about progress and regression in the fight against poverty and to promote gender equality, and these have been used as tools at the local, regional and international levels.

REQUEST FOR COVERAGE
Release of 2010 Social Watch Report
Social Watch, an international network of non-governmental
organizations that monitors how far governments are fulfilling their
commitments to end poverty and gender discrimination, will release its
critical report: AFTER THE FALL: TIME FOR A NEW DEAL on Friday,
Sept. 17 at the United Nations.
It is presented in the framework of the 65th period of sessions of the UN
General Assembly, which this year is promoting a review of the
Millennium Development Goals, five years before the 2015 deadline.
According to Social Watch, most countries are a long way from attaining
these goals in the time frame established. What is more, according to
the Basic Capabilities Index (BCI) designed by Social Watch as an
alternative way to monitor social development in the world, poverty
reduction has slowed down since 2000.
“The less privileged in both rich and poor countries are not only
suffering the direct consequences of the crisis in that they are losing
their jobs, savings and even their homes, they are also being made to
pay for the economic rescue and stimulus packages in the form of
higher taxes and reduced wages and social benefits... observes Roberto
Bissio, Social Watch coordinator. “In this context, to issue a call for
‘more of the same’ is not the solution…”
The 2010 Report by the international Social Watch coalition will be
officially presented on Friday, Sept. 17, at the United Nations in New
York, just before the UN summit scheduled for Sept. 20-22 in which
progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be
evaluated. The MDGs are eight targets to combat poverty and gender
inequity that the governments of the world committed themselves to at
the Millennium Summit in 2000.
Social Watch consists of a network of members in more than 60
countries throughout the world. It was founded in 1995 as “a meeting
point for non-governmental organizations concerned about social
development and gender discrimination” in response to the need to
promote the political will required to keep the promises made at and by
the United Nations.
Since then this network has been growing steadily, both qualitatively
and quantitatively, it has published 15 annual reports about progress
and regression in the fight against poverty and to promote gender
equality, and these have been used as tools at the local, regional and
international levels.
For further information, contact Lisa Vives, 212-244-3123,
Roberto Bissio, +33 621983 661
For background on Social Watch, see: www.socialwatch.org

On Behalf of Amnesty the lives in Bangladesh

SOS....

Bangladesh Brand Forum promises to take Bangladesh Global/INDO-CHINA RIVALRY INTENSIFIES/

Bangladesh Brand Forum promises to take Bangladesh Global

The promise
The Two-day long Bangladesh Brand Forum seminar concluded with a promise to transform Bangladeshi brands to a strong one to global market. The seminar was started on April 26 at Grand Ball Room of Hotel Radisson and concluded on April 27 at the same place. More than three hundred participants participated from the various corporate houses.
Speakers 2008
The key speakers of the auspicious seminar were Shraman Jha-Vice President, The Telegraph, Enam Ali-Director, Bangladesh British Chamber of Commerce, Founder, British Curry Award; Allein G. Moore- CEO/Publisher Ad Asia, Designer; Karthik Siva- Chairman, Global Brand Forum; Tom Darlow-Brand Consultant, Singapore; Manoj Mathew Vice President Marketing & Corporate Communications
Zee TV Dubai; Chandran Dharmarajan, Co Founder, I-morph; Vikas Malkani Founder, SoulCentre.
Brand, brand and brand
More than three hundred professionals from the various business sectors of the country filled up the seminar. During those two days the only word that dominant all is Brand. Manoj Mathew Vice President Marketing & Corporate Communications in his speech told about 360 degree of brand. He started his session through a little exercise that put all to visualize his or her brand in future. Referring the famous Hindi music that hit all india sang by our James that was originally created by another singer- he put forward the idea of revitalization. He said brand is a real state in the consumers mind space. He said that every brand should have a promise. "A great brand contains consumer's vision not the company's" said Manoj Mathew. Chandran Dharmarajan, Co Founder, I-morph lectured on Innovation. He showed various theories of innovation. Enam Ali-Director, Bangladesh British Chamber of Commerce, and Founder, British Curry Award came forward with the thought of brand marriage. He depicted the dominance of Bangladeshi Curry restaurant in England. With the Enam Ali's presentation the two day long seminar came to an end with the following of the last panel discussion.
The panels
There were four panel discussions. Participants of the Panel 1 were Tom Darlow, Brand Consultant, Ex, Brand Director, Unilever Pakistan ; Dr Ferhat Anwar, Advisor, Bangladesh Brand Forum, Prof, Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka; Shariful Islam, Founder, Bangladesh Brand Forum, CEO, Brandzeal; Shraman Jha, Vice President, the Telegraph India
Aly Zaker, MD & CEO, Asiatic Marketing & Communications Limited and the discussion was moderated by Mushtaq Ahmed, Advisor Bangladesh Brand Forum.
The topic for the second panel was unleashing creativity in chaos. Asif Iqbal, COO, Corporate Coommunication, ACI Limited, Vikas Malkiny, Founder, SoulCenter; Karthik Siva, Chairman, Global Brand Forum, Singapur, Sally were the panelists of the session
Panel 3 participants were Manoj Mathew, Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Real Media - Zee Network, Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP).
Toffael Rashid, Global Strategy Director, Lowe & Partner
Dharmarajan Chandran, Co-founder, I-morph Consulting Pte Limited
Allein G. Moore, CEO /Publisher, AdAsia Magazine Singapore
Dr K. Anis Ahmed, Director, Gemcon Group's Kazi and Kazi Tea, Founding Director, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh and the session moderated by Nazim Farfan Chowdhury, DMD Adcomm Ltd. The topic for the discussion was taking Bangladesh to global.
At last but not the least panel 4 were constituted with Prof. Forhat Anwar (Advisor, Bangladesh Brand Forum, IBA, University of Dhaka); Anwar Chowdhury (British High Commissioner, Bangladesh); Mamun Rashid (MD, Citi Country Officer, Bangladesh)
Khaled Hossain (President DCCI), Enam Ali (Director, Bangladesh British Chember of commerce, Founder, the British Curry Award). The topic for this panel was branding Bangladesh. Toffael Rashid was the moderator. Anwar Chowdhury-British High Commissioner, Bangladesh was the surprise visitor of the program.
The Bangladesh Brand Forum organized the seminar while Shariful Islam-Founder, Bangladesh Brand Forum, CEO, Brandzeal was the man behind the whole program. Prof. Forhat Anwar, Mushtaq Ahmed, Toffael Rashid worked around the clock with the stake holders of the program to make the program a grand success. Nazim Farfan Chowdhury was the host of the program.

(Source: ET)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


New clothing makes the Eid festival something special for children. However, families with limited income cannot afford to buy costly dresses for their children in these days of economic hardship. With the advent of Eidul Fitr, the biggest festival of the Muslim community, people of the moderate income group preferred the city's footpath market for readymade garments within affordable price. - Bulbul Ahmed (Photo)


INDO-CHINA RIVALRY INTENSIFIES
Time to redraw nation's defense strategy
M. Shahidul Islam
A number of glaring testimonies of looming military danger make it incumbent upon our defence policy makers to update the nation's war book, or re-write a new one altogether in light of the intensified Indo-Chinese rivalry and the Indian distinctive strategic alliance with the USA.
The security ambiance of the region plunged deeper into a danger zone lately with reports in the US and the Indian media of Islamabad's handing over of the Gilgit-Baltistan region of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir to China and China's deployment of 11,000 troops in that region.
Coupled with other recent geopolitical developments, these reports indicate the re-shaping of the regional strategic landscape and of Delhi's dogged determination to challenge Beijing's pre-eminence in regional and global politics, with help from Bangladesh.
Besides, the intensified Indo-Chinese tension seriously undercuts efforts by people of India, China and Russia for greater regional collaborations; despite the foreign ministers of the three nations slated to meet in Bangalore on October 26-27.

Denial unheeded
Reacting to the reports that started to make headlines in late August, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Jiang Yu said on September 2, "We believe these attempts of some people to fabricate stories to provoke China-Pakistan or China-India relations are doomed to fail."
Pakistan too issued similar rebuttal. A Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman, Abdul Basit, strongly denied the news being circulated in the American and Indian media and said on August 31, "The Chinese were working on landslide, flood hit areas and on the destroyed Korakoram Highway with the permission of Pakistani Government."
All such denials did little, however, to assuage


Indian concerns. India's ambassador to China, S. Jaishankar, met with the Chinese vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Zhang Zhijun, on September 3 in Beijing and conveyed New Delhi's concern over the presence of Chinese troops in Gilgit-Baltistan. India also further reinforced its military capability along the 2,521 mile China-India borders.

Historical animosity
Although a recent New York Time report had linked the Chinese military presence in Kashmir to China's plans to gain a "grip on the strategic area to ensure unfettered road and rail access to the Gulf through Pakistan," the animosity is rooted in historic claims and counter claims made by the two nuclear armed neighbours on each other's territories. The New York Times report said there were two important new developments in Gilgit-Baltistan; a simmering rebellion against the Pakistani rule and the influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the area.
In reality, these reports are tied with recent Indian war preparation and entrenchment of military capability along mutual borders on which the two nations had fought a brief but bloody war in 1962.
The border dispute dates back to 1914 when the colonial Britain hosted a conference with the Chinese and the Tibetan governments to demarcate the Tibetan border along the so called McMahon line. China never recognised the McMahon Line and claims 90,000 sq km, nearly all of what India now calls Arunachal Pradesh (about 2000 sq kms), its own territory. Besides, India accuses China of occupying 8,000 sq km of its territory in Kashmir.
The latest spark also emanated from Delhi's upping the ante on August 26 following Beijing's refusal to grant a visa to Indian army's Northern Command Chief, Lt. Gen. BS Jaswal, to visit Beijing as an Indian military delegation member, saying the officer oversees Jammu and Kashmir which 'is a disputed area.'
The incident left Delhi snubbed, insulted and injured; more so when Beijing asked to replace Lt. Gen. Jaswal, something India refused to comply and ordered instead a demarche by cancelling a scheduled visit by a Chinese military delegation to India's National Defence College. Delhi also ordered cancellation of another scheduled visit by Indian military officials to China.

Offensive postures
The ongoing rivalry may end up with another war, according to many analysts. Since 2007, India has been aggressively racing to match China for regional and global power, building and bolstering airstrips and army outposts along the common borders and rebuilding run-down roads and infrastructures. In June 2009, it started building a tunnel to bypass the virtually impassable Rohtang Pass to ensure all-weather access to Ladakh, which abuts the Tibetan Plateau.
Coupled with recent procurement of huge state-of-the-art military hardware and Delhi's strategic alliance with the USA, these moves kept Beijing busy in shoring up its own deficiencies, tactically and strategically, while Delhi replaced its 'cold start' strategy with an aggressive doctrine to confront both China and Pakistan simultaneously. These bellicose postures are heading toward the outbreak of another major war among the two regional giants.
Besides defending the sovereignty of the Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi wants to recover the Chinese-administered Aksai Chin, which India claims as part of its territory. Along the Kashmir frontier, north of Ladakh stands the disputed Siachen Glacier, an ice-capped river basin that had provoked both India and Pakistan to claiming and fighting over, almost frequently since the 1980s. Both India and Pakistan maintain military outposts on the 20,000 feet high altitude of the Siachen's glacier- capped ranges.

Bangladesh's concern
Having lost Tibet to China in 1959, India took over Sikkim's sovereignty in 1975, but the predicament posed by the Siliguri Corridor in West Bengal, with an average width of 21 km to 40 km only, in connecting the north eastern region with the Indian mainland could not be reconciled as yet. That is what makes Bangladesh an integral part of the Indian and the Chinese defence priorities and makes it extremely difficult for Dhaka to maintain either a neutral stance, or align militarily with either of the protagonists.
It also gives birth to a cliché, if not a strategic doctrine, that "He who controls Bangladesh will control north east India," making Bangladesh susceptible to pre-emptive military invasion by either of the protagonists.
Geopolitically, China has two major claims over territories that India claims to be its own. The claim in the western sector involves Aksai Chin in the northeastern Ladakh District in Jammu and Kashmir. The eastern sector claim involves the territory belonging to the British era North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) abutting Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar; including the Tibetan-Naga-inhabited Arunachal Pradesh which Delhi has turned into its 24th state on 20th February, 1987.
These lands were fought over before. During the 1962 Indo-China war, the well-trained and well-armed PLA troops overpowered the ill-equipped Indian troops, who found themselves not properly acclimatized to fight at high altitudes. Following initial setbacks, Indian troops desperately sought to regroup and the Indian army strengthened its defensive positions in the NEFA and Ladakh to repulse possible Chinese attacks through Sikkim and Bhutan.
The Indian attempt failed and the war reached close to Bangladesh frontiers (then East Pakistan), despite many Indian army units having moved from Calcutta, Bihar, Nagaland, and Punjab to guard the northern frontiers of West Bengal and Assam. The western NEFA witnessed deployment of three Indian brigades while two other brigades were deployed in Sikkim and the West Bengal border with Bhutan. Light Stuart tanks were drawn from the Eastern Command headquarters at Calcutta to bolster such deployments.
Yet, an unrelenting Chinese onslaught wiped out virtually all Indian resistance in Kameng and, by November 18, the PLA had penetrated close to the outskirts of Tezpur, Assam, a major frontier town within the artillery range from Bangladesh and barely 50 kilometres from the Assam-NEFA border. Sensing Indian helplessness, China declared a unilateral ceasefire on November 21. Beijing also respected the McMahan line and withdrew troops beyond what it regards as 'unaccepted' Line of Actual Control (LoAC).

The big picture
There are those who blame the USA for the latest escalation in tension and military preparedness in Asia. They say the US department of defence annual report's claim that 'the pace and scope of China's military modernisation have increased over the past decade' has scared Delhi. The report cautioned that 'extreme secrecy is increasingly difficult to reconcile with China's role in the integrated global economy, which depends on transparency.'
That is perhaps part of the story. Beijing's quest for access to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf regions for much needed energy resources lay at the centre of its alliance making in the region, although the Indian story is rooted more in geopolitical quest for land.
Although other intelligence reports indicate Beijing is constructing over 22 tunnel and a rail link between Pakistan administered Kashmir and China, and further extending the Karakoram Highway that connects China's Muslim predominant Xinjiang province with Pakistan, the tunnel construction is related to a projected gas pipeline from Iran to China that would cross the Karakorams through Gilgit. India, however, fears they could be also used for missiles storage sites.
They plausibly could, but such Indian fear is grossly misplaced. Given that Beijing has financed the construction of Pakistani naval bases at Gawadar, Pasni and Ormara in Balochistan, such connectivity aims mainly at transporting cargo and oil from the Persian Gulf to eastern China within 48 hours.
While those could be least of our concerns, Bangladesh must prepare not to get overrun by any of the contending armies of the region in the instance push come to shove. That is why it must devise a full spectrum defence capability of its own as a sovereign nation state of 150 million strong.

(Source: The Holyday)in favor of Mishuk....
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX