International conference on autism live webcast at globalautism.org

The leading website on Autism www.globalautism.org will webcast live International conference on autism on 25-26 July 2011. Comjagat Technologies is providing support for live webcast of the event.

The Government of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University’s Centre for Neurodevelopment & Autism in Children and Autism Speaks Global Autism Public Health Initiative, supported by World Health Organization and The South Asian Regional Office of WHO, is organising a conference on “Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities in Bangladesh and South Asia” from July 25-29, 2011.

The conference will include professional training sessions; stakeholder and panel discussions on awareness and advocacy, education, services and research on autism spectrum disorders and developmental disabilities with the objective of addressing the autism challenges in Bangladesh and South Asia.

Autism Speaks’ Global Autism Public Health Initiative is the largest autism science and advocacy organisation in the USA, committed to increasing awareness, funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families.

Location: Ruposhi Bangla Hotel, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Among the notable dignitaries who will be present in the International Conference are Bangladeshi Prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza, Sri Lankan first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa and the Maldives second lady Ilham Hussain.

Press release

Bangladesh Sees huge Export Revenue Growth in July-November 2010

Bangladesh export has witnessed tremendous growth in the July-November 2010 period (first five months of the 2010-11) fiscal year. According to Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh, compared to the same period of 2009 (July- November 2009), 36% increase in export revenue has taken place.

Of course, last year, during this time, the whole world was suffering from economic recession. During July-November 2010 period, Bangladesh has earned nearly $8.27 billion of export revenue. The lion’s share has come as usual from the ready made garments (RMG) sector. Then it was frozen fish (mainly shrimp) and agricultural products.

There is a good news for the RMG sector: Knitwear may get Japan's zero tariff

The increase in export figure shows that Bangladeshi economy is moving in the right direction. The country also earns a lot of money from remittance sent by workers living in different countries of the world.

What is needed is diversification of export products and services. Secondly, this money should be utilized properly to generate jobs. 

26th International Service Organizers’ meeting and International Inner Wheel District 328 website launching ceremony

On November 12, 2010, the 26^th International Service Organizer’s meeting of International Inner Wheel District 328 Bangladesh took place at the Novo Convention Center in Dhaka. At the meeting, spouses of Rotary club members came together.

Famous Bangladeshi writer and scientist, Professor Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and the Head of the department was the chief guest of the show.

The biggest attraction of the show was the unveiling the website of the Inner Wheel District 328 Bangladesh. With cheerful members, amid songs and recitation, Mr. Zafar Iqbal unveiled the website of International Inner Wheel District 328 Bangladesh.

Among others, Tahera Muzaffar, District Chairman, Inner Wheel District 328, Bangladesh was present in the show. Inner Wheel Bangladesh has been continuously working on various humanitarian projects over the years. Its motto is “Commit with conviction compassion consistency” and the club members are working hard to uphold that motto.

The official website of Inner Wheel District, 328 Bangladesh www.innerwheelbangladesh.org gives the opportunity to connect with IIWD 328, Bangladesh to the rest of the world and share each other’s thoughts and views and provide encouragement for various charitable projects.

The website has seven main sections- Home, About Us, Who is Who, Projects, Publications, Photo gallery, Feed back- that are further divided into sub-sections. It provides an over all picture of Inner Wheel District Bangladesh, its members and activities.

Tahera Muzaffar, District Chairman, Inner Wheel District 328 Bangladesh, expressed her gratitude to the District editor, Sharmin Hossain for preparing the website. Dilruba Ahmed, I.I.W.R./Board Director (1995-1996) provided encouragement and guidance to build the website.

Prem Chand of Nokia: Bangladesh has huge potential for mobile application

On October 27, 2010 at the Westin Hotel in Gulshan, Nokia and The Daily Star launched the first local news widget in the South East Asia Pacific region. Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher, The Daily Star, Prem Chand, General Manager, Nokia Emerging Asia, attended the event and interacted with the media people and talked about various aspects of the widget. I had the opportunity to have a one-on-one interview with Mr. Prem Chand. Here is the excerpt of the interview:

SAB: Why Nokia chose to collaborate with an English newspaper? Majority of the Bangladeshi people in Bangladesh speak Bangla and number of English language speakers is very small.

Prem Chand: Well as I have already mentioned in my introductory speech that this news widget is the first of its kind in South East Asian region. So, you can see that we are venturing into a new area of business. There are multiple phases. Of course, we do believe in Bangla language and we have plans to introduce Bangla news service but this is the first phase of our project and we focused on smartphone users of Bangladesh. The number of smartphone consumers is small in Bangladesh and our research revealed that these users prefer English over Bangla. Obviously, they speak Bangla but they like to be seen to be English speaking and English news is relevant to them and Daily Star, certainly we felt, was the right publication for us to use in terms of the circulation and in terms of a brand. So it makes a lot of sense.

In the second phase, Nokia will start in the next two months, we are going to introduce this widget at the mass level, on more affordable handsets, which we refer as Series 40 handsets.

There are some major issues that need to be worked out to roll out this news service in mass. For example, we have to consider the data plan because users will download the news via a cellular network. Affordability is another big issue. So we need to work through all that because it is one thing to make these things available to people but you need to make sure that they can afford this service and do not end up paying significant amount of their disposable income in accessing that.

SAB: You talked about the local developers’ community. So have your company worked out any policy on how to pay the local developers for their applications?

Prem Chand: Yes, certainly, I think the developers’ community is very important for us. One thing that we have done in September 2009 we arranged a widget competition where we brought together some of the major software developers of Bangladesh and we provided them some training on developing widgets as well as identifying the opportunities in developing mobile applications. We then chose two of the best widgets and the developers then participated in a regional meeting.

Forum Nokia is the organization that is working on app development for Nokia and also looks after developing the community. It has been in assistance for about ten years. I think the key in working with developers is to ensure that they get remunerated for their efforts. We have devised few business models. For instance, the developers can get a one time upfront fee for developing an application. For instance, the Daily Star widget is free and the developers had been paid a one time upfront fee.

The other business model is revenue sharing. When we move towards applications where consumers are required to purchase, we will have a revenue sharing market. Let’s say that we put an application in our Ovi Store which costs € 3. A percentage of that price would go to the developers each time a buyer downloads the application. Now, the challenge we are facing in Bangladesh is that you do not have an online payment system. At the moment, we are working with the government to overcome this problem. A lot of the regulatory framework has not been upgraded. The E-commerce, M-commerce, regulations needs to be updated and then of course the other issue is the exchange-control regulations. We could easily, for instance, put on application in the Nokia Ovi store which Bangladeshis can purchase but the problem is they can not use credit card to purchase online. So, we need to work through all that. Get the regulatory frame work right and then we will work towards having online purchases and then a percentage of the revenue can go to the developers.

SAB: My last question is, the Ovi store is in English language. Does Nokia have any plan to introduce a Bangla language interface in Ovi store to cater Bangladeshi consumers?

Prem Chand: Well, this is a very good suggestion and I will keep that in mind. Bengali is not only limited to Bangladesh but people of West Bengal also speaks the same language. It is a huge opportunity no doubt. You know that we developed Bangla language keyboard for our mobile devices. You see, the Nokia Ovi store also supports other languages but it all depends on the user base. If there is a significant amount of download from Bangladesh and other Bengali language speaking regions then we would build a Bangla language interface for Nokia Ovi app store. It is a “Chicken and egg” situation in some way because if you have a Bangla language user interface then the Ovi store would become more popular in Bangladesh and more people would visit our store to download apps but first and foremost, we need to have a sizable number of applications that will be relevant to Bangladeshi people. So if we can have a large number of applications for Bangladeshi users and if there are significant amount of hits from Bangladesh in our sites then we will definitely look into this matter.

SAB: Even if you consider the people of Dhaka city and all other major cities of Bangladesh then it is a big market for your company and you can earn lots of revenues from this market.

Prem Chand: Definitely, Bangladesh has huge potential for mobile application. This is a great start for us. We have first launched the Daily Star widget which we would roll out the widget in mass in the next two months. Then we would go for introducing Bangla language newspaper widget and if that becomes successful then we will have a Bangla language interface in our Ovi app store.

SAB: Have you talked with any Bangla language newspaper regarding developing Bangla news widget?

Prem Chand: No, we are not talking with any Bangla newspaper. We need to be focused right now. It is of no use to go and talk with tens and millions of people about different opportunities. This is a new field. You learn as you go. So, the first phase, The Daily Star is our partner and we are going to work with them and learn from that and look at different opportunities and the number of downloads. We will then move on to Bangla newspaper. Certainly, this makes lots of sense but first we have to see how the Daily Star widget does in Bangladesh.

SAB: Thank you very much for your time.

Prem Chand: Thank you.

Interview of Sajid Rizwan Matin of Nokia Bangladesh about Daily Star News Widget

On October 27, 2010, Nokia and Daily Star, one of the most popular English dailies of Bangladesh, jointly launched the Daily Star news widget in the Nokia Ovi store. It is the first local ews widget launched in South East Asia Pacific region. The news widget is now available for free to all the Nokia Ovi store users of Bangladesh and abroad as well.

To celebrate the occasion, Nokia and Daily Star arranged a press conference at Westin Hotel in Gulshan. From South Asia Blog, I (S. M. Mehdi Hassan) had the opportunity to talk with Sajid Rizwan Matin, Acting Head of Marketing, Nokia Bangladesh. Mr. Matin, talked about various aspects of the Nokia App store and the news widget. Below is an excerpt of the interview:

SAB: You said that that Daily Star News widget is the first news widget in the South Asia Pacific region.

Sajid Rizwan Matin: Yes, we already have news widgets for CNN, BBC, Reuters in the Nokia Ovi store but Daily Star is the first local news widget in the South Asia Pacific region.

SAB:Why did Nokia launch an English newspaper widget? The number of English language speakers is very small in our country.

Sajid Rizwan Matin: First of all, the Daily Star and us, we have talked about it for a long time and one of the potential of this widget is for the people who use smartphones (Symbian 3 and S60 series phones) and they are accustomed to using English language. In addition, there is also the international market where English language is the most preferred medium of communication.

SAB:Would you expand this news service to other mobile handsets?

Sajid Rizwan Matin: Yes, we are going to expand this service to low-end handsets as well. By the end of this year, the service will be introduced among the users of Series 40 devices. I believe that language barrier would not be a big problem for the users of Series 40 devices. We are also looking into some other Bangla language based applications but there is a major technical obstacle. We have to create an Internet feed based on Bangla language. First, we need to have a proper solution and then we can have Bangla language news services.

SAB:Have you included text-to-speech feature in the Daily Star news?

Sajid Rizwan Matin: No, we have not offered such feature with this application because it is too much data. Already there is text and adding voice would make the application data heavy and more complicated. For the Daily Star widget, our main focus was on creating a user-friendly application. Ovi store users can easily locate, download and customize the app as per their needs. For example, users can pinch and zoom the text to read clearly. Also there is an application in our Ovi Store which enables users to magnify the text so that they can read clearly.

SAB:Do you have any future plan to include such features?

Sajid Rizwan Matin: Well, we have many future plans in terms of application development but at this moment we are not focusing on this matter but this is a very good input and we will definitely look into it.

SAB: About the Nokia Ovi store, do users have to pay any kind of registration fee?

Sajid Rizwan Matin: No, Ovi Store registration is free of charge. The user is required to subscribe to https://store.ovi.com and create an account or have an Ovi Email ID and they can access Nokia Ovi store through any Ovi store supporting handsets. Currently, we are offering free apps such as the Daily Star widget that we launched today. There are also some gaming apps and some of them are “for payment” apps which require credit cards and at present Bangladeshi users can not download these apps due to restrictions imposed by the Bangladesh government.

SAB:You also talked about application developers for Nokia Ovi app stores. Have Nokia developed any tools or policies to enable third party app developers of Bangladesh to upload applications in Nokia Ovi app store and sell them?

Sajid Rizwan Matin: This is why we have Forum Nokia. Forum Nokia is a community of developers and one of the major focuses of this community is to enable app developers to develop applications for Nokia Ovi app store. They publish tutorials and codes which anyone can download and use. Any developer whether individual or company, who is interested to develop applications for Nokia, can visit Forum Nokia and get all necessary information on developing applications for Nokia Ovi app store.

Already there are business models where developers get paid for their products but these are not introduced in Bangladesh. For example big publishers such as EA games have a business model with us and if you visit the Ovi store for Bangladesh you will see paid apps but Bangladeshi users can not buy these apps at present due restrictions posed by Bangladesh government.

SAB:Have you developed any policies or tools for developers who are interested to create apps for Bangladeshi consumers?

Sajid Rizwan Matin: Yes, we are currently working on this matter. It is not established yet because Nokia Ovi app store is very young, only one year old, and we have just stepped into the Bangladeshi market and we are exploring various possibilities of monetizing the revenue stream. For example, there can be a one-time upfront fee for the developers, there are applications where users can be charged based on download or use. We are now trying to establish such models within the legal structure of Bangladesh and this has to be a collaborative effort. Different government agencies and network carriers will have to work together with us.

SAB:You mentioned JadeWits Limited, the local company that developed the Daily Star widget, currently how many local third party developers are working with Nokia?

Sajid Rizwan Matin: JadeWits Limited is the first company we are working with in Bangladesh. We just finished another campaign. It is actually about the developers coming into our network. JadeWits actually worked with us in last year’s campaign and they were registered during last year’s campaign. The application they developed won some awards and now we have started to use it. Currently, we have 200 registrations with us including independent developers and companies and we are in a process of getting some demo applications from them. I am not sure about the number right now but there are twenty applications submitted to us. We will review each application and see which best meets our consumers’ needs. We also have some applications in mind that we would like to give to these 200 developers so that they can work on it.

SAB:You also said that your company is now working on some Bangla language applications. Can you tell us a bit about them?

Sajid Rizwan Matin: I can not give you all the details but we are actually trying to develop a phonetic keyboard where people can provide input in Bangla using the English language keyboard.

SAB:You talked about revenues. Can you tell us a bit about the revenue sharing system?

Sajid Rizwan Matin: As I have mentioned, it is still in the conceptual phase. We need to work out who should be the partners in this endeavor like how much partnership should the operator have, do we need to have a content partner, do we need to have a payment partner. Once we make sure who are the shareholders in this eco-system we will definitely have the business model which will obviously have win-win situation. At this stage, we can not say how much percentage would go where.

SAB: Thank you very much for your time.

Sajid Rizwan Matin: Thank you.

Earthquakes in Dhaka Bangladesh on 10 September 2010 Night

It is now 11:40 PM on 10 September 2010 in Dhaka Bangladesh. In the last one hour, two earthquakes hit the city and most probably most parts of the country. The first one was mild and it on around 10:30-40 PM Dhaka Time. I did not touch it but Mehdi (another blogger of this blog) touched it and called me. The second one was massive and it was perhaps the strongest earthquake that I felt in my life. The second quake was felt on 11:25 PM.

I was sitting in a chair. The chair was shaking, the table and the computer monitor were shaking. It was really a scary feeling and I cannot think of any other time in my life similar to it. I remembered God and I think that many people here did the same.

Tomorrow is Eid-ul-Fitar and it is the largest celebration in the country. So, Dhaka is much quiet and empty tonight. All the newspaper offices are closed. People got scared and many of them called newspaper offices and wanted to know about the condition.

After both the earthquakes happened, I took a look at the Bangladeshi community blogs and found in Somewherein Blog at least 20 posts about the earthquake. I am now watching the Bangladeshi TV channels and they are also giving the news as news flash.

What I can find is the earthquakes hit not only Bangladesh but a wide area of the world.

For some more information, visit this link: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/us/2010baa1/us/index.html

So, pray for us and hopefully, we remain safe from any earthquake in Bangladesh. The worst part is that Dhaka is perhaps the most crowded city in the world and any strong earthquake can claim thousands of lives. 

Wimax Internet in Bangladesh: Facilities, Problems and Potentials

Compared to most countries even in South Asia, Bangladesh had late entrance in World wide information super high way  through submarine cable. Internet in Bangladesh was opened in 1996 but until 2006, the country carried out its internet activities mainly through VSAT. Still, most people in the country do not have access to high-speed internet. In 2009, there was Wimax and for the first time, Bangladeshi consumers had taste of better high-speed internet. Right now, two companies are providing Wimax facilities for consumers. They are Banglalion and Augere and the product name of Augere is Qubee and in this article we will from now on refer to the serviced as just Qubee.

Life Before Wimax:

I first got taste of using internet in 1997 in British Council, Dhaka. At that time, it was very expensive and there was hardly any cyber café. Things did not move that much until the end of 2001 when cyber café business became very popular in Dhaka. I remember that in 2002, in every part of Dhaka city, there were several cyber cafes. From 2003, people could take internet connections at home from these cyber cafes in their local areas. Big Internet Service Providers (ISP) were not interested to give connections to the ordinary people. The ISPs were and perhaps still are more concerned about the corporate or business clients.

The connections from cyber cafes were not that bad but there was one very big problem. It was not reliable. When it rained or there was an electricity problem in the cyber café, the consumers were forced to suffer. Second problem was that the cyber cafes were very small players and they could not ensure good customer service. For the ordinary users, Grameenphone made a big impact on at the end of 2006 by providing internet service through mobile phone. Later Citycell also joined the market and rapid expansion of internet happened.

Both Grameenphone and Citycell were reliable but their speed was always a big factor. That is why, when I got the taste of Qubee in October 2008, at last I felt that my prayers for a reliable and fast internet was at last answered. I have not used Banglalion’s service, but whatever I have heard from the users is good. Because of good speed and wireless connectivity, both Qubee and Banglalion are becoming popular.

Qubee Wimax:

Now, I like to say some few words about the two players. Qubee started its operation on October 21, 2009 and I wrote about its inaugural ceremony here. At that time, there were mainly two packages and it was rather expensive. For example, I can see that Qubee 512 had 512 Kbps speed and download capacity was limited to 6GB and the price was 3400 taka. Anyway, right now, Qubee offers three packages and I am giving the list here:

	Monthly Usage Allowance*
Speed	5GB	10GB	Sky **
256 Kbps	BDT 850	BDT 950	BDT 1,250
512 Kbps	BDT 1,250	BDT 1,450	BDT 2,250
1Mbps	BDT 2,250	BDT 2,750	BDT 5,250

 **Fair Usage Policy is applicable for Sky packages.

The initial expense for Qubee is Taka 3,000 for the modem and if you just call them they will come and install the modem at free of any additional cost.

Banglalion Wimax:

On the other hand, Banglalion has seven packages. Three of the packages have unlimited usage facility whether four others have restrictions or limited download. I am giving the full list of package and pricing here of Banglalion:

 Banglalion Packages & Pricing:

NO	PACKAGE	SPEEDS	MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION (TK)	MONTHLY USAGE
		Lion infinity*
1	Lion Starter	128 Kbps	600	Unlimited
2	Lion Value	256 Kbps	1000	Unlimited
3	Lion Value Plus	512 Kbps	2150	Unlimited
		Lion Regular
4	Lion Gold	1 Mbps	4750	20 GB
5	Lion Mega	2 Mbps	7000	25 GB
6	Lion Jumbo	5 Mbps	15000	30 GB
		Lion student
7	Lion Student	256 Kbps	800	5 GB

* Fair Usage Policy Applicable

Banglalion has USB dongle, indoor unit and out-door unit type of connection devices and they have different prices.

Facilities of Wimax

After Wimax has come, it is providing some great facilities for internet users in Bangladesh. First of all, for the first time we at home have really high speed internet which is consistent. I do not know about others but I really have hardly any complain against Qubee and one of my students is using Banglalion in another part of the city. He is also totally satisfied with Banglalion.

We are the kind of people who use internet all the time because both of us are professional Bloggers and web-based professionals. So, we need to do a lot of browsing and internet speed is really important for us. Before the arrival of Qubee, I could hardly dream of watching a video in YouTube, but now I can really enjoy YouTube videos and it is not only for entertainment. For example, just yesterday we were writing about the upcoming Apple music event 2010 and we found that we needed to watch a number of videos in Youtube.

It was in fact, in yesterday Mehdi (another blogger of this blog) and I watched at least 20 videos in Youtube. It was simplly impossible before the coming of Wimax at least in my home. Wimax is also quite reliable. Except the submarine cable problems, I hardly faced any outage in the last ten months from Qubee. I am not one of those persons who are crazy for downloading 2GB or 3GB movies for whole night and that is why I hardly face any problem with Qubee. However, if you are one of those persons who are crazy for downloading movies and videos all the time then perhaps Wimax is not a very good option for you as when I bought it they clearly mentioned that Wimax is not for continuous download of videos and movies for large files.

I agree to their idea because as far as I am concerned, internet is still a very important facility in our country and it should be used more for our business and professional activities rather than entertainment and enjoyment.

Problems:

I earn money with internet as a professional blogger and that is why I do not mind the Wimax charge. However, I have to admit that the price is still some expensive for ordinary people. For example, I want to take a connection of Qubee 1mbps unlimited or sky package, but the price is around 6000 taka (including VAT) per month and it out of my ability. If I could get that package it would have been very good. If that package had a charge of taka 3,000 then I happily would take it.

So, price is still an issue and the two Wimax companies should try to cut back at least 20 percent on the existing charge as soon as possible. However, you have to understand that the decrease in Wimax charge is more or less dependent on the bandwidth charge by the government. I really wish that the government decreases bandwidth charge substantially and brings it to 10,000 taka per Mbps. Another problem is that Wimax facility is not available in most areas of the country. In fact, except Dhaka, Wimax is available only in two or three cities. This has to change as soon as possible.

Potentials:

Wimax has enormous potential in Bangladesh. Dhaka is a very small city with more than 10 million population. Thus, it can become a lucrative market for Wimax companies if they can make the best use of it. On the other hand, Bangladeshi students and young people are now trying their luck in the field of freelance outsourcing. Sooner or later, there will be a huge demand for Wimax. I really believe that Wimax companies should help freelancing professionals who are trying to make their mark and they should arrange or sponsor events especially targeted for the online freelance workers.

Wimax also has potential for people living outside of Dhaka. Most ISPs are not interested to take internet there as it is not economically feasible. However, since Wimax uses wireless technology, small cities and rural areas can be covered quite easily.

The government has an important role to play in this regard. Outside of Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet, the private sector has not flourished enough. Government is still the biggest player in the economic activities in most other cities and towns. So, the government should encourage spread of Wimax in small cities specially can arrange Wimax connections to government colleges and schools.

Bangladesh Targets $31 billion from Remittance by 2015

Right now, according to government estimate, nearly seven million Bangladeshi people are working abroad. They send around 10/11 billion US dollar as remittance earning for the country. Bangladesh government has set a target of earning 31 billion dollar  by 2015. This information was stated in a seminar on "Prospect of Manpower Export and Search for New Labour Market" in Bangladesh.

Eng Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Minister for Ministry of Labour & Employment , Anisul Islam Mahmud, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on expatriates welfare ministry, FBCCI President AK Azad and Mustafizur Rahman, Executive Director of CPD were among the notable speakers present in the seminar.

The speakers discussed about the problems that Bangladeshi workers are facing while going abroad. One of the major problems is that on an average, a worker of Bangladesh has to pay much more than a worker in India to go and work in another country. The second problem is that most of these 7 million workers are mainly staying in the Middle Eastern countries. The prospect of increase in jobs for Bangladeshi workers in the Middle East is not that bright at the moment because Bangladesh has almost filled its quota of workers. So, Eng Khandker Mosharraf Hossain called to look for other markets.

Mustafizur Rahman of CPD stated that if the government wanted to get its $31 billion target of remittance earning by 2015, the government should try for the sector more. He also stated that the government had to invest in this market so that the skill of workers can improve.

It is not impossible to get this target of $31 billion by 2025. There is indeed a lot of potential for growth because many people still send money in illegal channels rather than the banking channel. So, if government can take necessary steps to encourage and motivate Bangladeshi workers living abroad to send money in the proper and legal channel then remittance earning can increase substantially.

Perhaps, even a bigger challenge is to ensure that after the money comes to Bangladesh to families and relatives, the money is properly utilized. This is a huge amount of money and this money should be used in the productive sector as much as possible. If this money is mainly used in unproductive sectors like buying lands and apartments or making shopping malls, then it will only contribute to increase the inflation rate. On the other hand, if this huge money can be used in productive sectors like setting up factories and high quality educational institutes then it can really make a difference for the country in a very short time. 

Bangladesh wins by 6 Wickets against Ireland in Second ODI Match 2010

Winning the second and final ODI match by 6 wickets, Bangladesh cricket team could level the 2 ODI series against Ireland 1-1. Bangladesh could also take their revenge of losing the opening match against the host country on Friday. Because of some rain, the match was reduced to 46-over in each side.

Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal and Shafiul Islam played an important role behind this victory. With the bat, Tamim Iqbal scored 91-ball 74 that helped his team to ensure victory. On the other hand, seam bowler, Shafiul Islam, took his career best 4 wickets for 55 runs that did not allow Ireland to make enormous score.

In a rain interrupted ODI match, Irish captain decided to bat first after winning the toss. They scored 189 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in their allotted 46 overs.

Ireland captain, William Porterfield, who scored century in the first ODI, got dismissed early scoring only 6 runs from 19 balls. Ireland was put under huge pressure after losing three wickets for 28. Niall O'Brien inspired them hitting some boundaries, but he was soon dismissed.

A big innings from Gary Wilson helped his team to make a semi-respectable score. He made 44-run partnership with Andrew White in the sixth wicket. However, Gary Wilson was the highest run scorer in the Ireland team scoring 60 from 64 balls.

John Mooney played a quick innings of 28 but he could not make it longer as he was dismissed early.

After coming to chase, Bangladesh cricket team scored 191 runs for 4. They reached the target with 50 balls remaining at hand. Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim remained not out and led the team to a victory.

Bangladesh will play against Scotland on 19 July and against Netherlands on 20 July.

For Bangladeshi fans World Cup Football 2010 Finished Tonight

Officially, FIFA World Cup 2010 will finish on 11 July (Sunday) with the final match at Soccer City, Johannesburg. So, there are, still 8 days left. However, for football fans in Bangladesh, all the excitement of this tournament has finished tonight with Argentina losing to Germany by 0-4.

Just one day earlier, Brazil lost to Netherlands by 1-2. Almost all the football fans in Bangladesh support these two teams. Everywhere, people get divided in supporting Argentina and Brazil and for one month, there are endless arguments and discussions. Flags of these two countries have been hoisted everywhere in Dhaka city.

There is official estimate but it is assumed that several million US dollars have been spent by people in making the flags. In the capital city Dhaka, many big projectors were arranged in open spaces so that thousands of people could watch the matches live in the evening and midnight.

Passion ran so high that the authorities of Engineering University in Dhaka were forced to close the university so that the students could enjoy the matches.

In the Bangladeshi community blogs, more than 100 entries were posted in the last 24 hours about the two quarterfinal matches involving Argentina and Brazil.  

The excitement of FIFA 2010 ended for Brazil supporters in Bangladesh yesterday and today, it finished for Argentine fans. Bangladesh has never been able to qualify for World Cup Football. Its national football team is weak and has hardly any memorable record. Still, millions of people are crazy for World Cup football.

Perhaps it is time to move on and support some European countries like Germany, Netherlands and Spain. However, it wont happen and people in Bangladesh will again come back even in larger number to support Argentina and Brazil after 4 years.  

Schedule of Bangladesh Tour of England, Scotland and Ireland 2010

Bangladesh cricket team is now in England to take part in a 2-match test series and 3-match ODI series against host England. Besides, Bangladesh will also play 4 ODI matches on the tour- 2 against Ireland in Belfast, 1 against Scotland in Glasgow and 1 against Netherlands in Glasgow. Bangladesh’s tour also includes 5 warm-up matches against county teams.

The tour kicked off on 9 May with the 3-day match against Surrey at the Kennington Oval in London. Test series commences on 27 May with the first test being underway at the historic Lord’s ground in London. The second test will take place at Old Trafford in Manchester. ODI series begins on 8 July with the first match being scheduled to take place at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham.

Bangladesh’s previous tour of England was not very successful as they lost both the test matches by innings. However, Bangladesh showed improved performance earlier this year when England toured Bangladesh, even though the home side lost both the games. Bangladesh would definitely like to show better performance in the ongoing tour.

England, on the other hand, will look to continue their dominating performance against Bangladesh. Following their Ashes success last year, England played 3 test series including the 1-0 defeat to West Indies and 1-1 draw in South Africa with the other being 2-0 win in Bangladesh.

Here is the schedule of the whole tour:

Date	Competing Teams	Time	Venue
9-11 May Sun-Tue	Surrey vs Bangladeshis	GMT 10:00; Local 11:00	Kennington Oval, London
14-16 May Fri- Sun	Essex vs Bangladeshis	GMT 10:00; Local 11:00	County Ground, Chelmsford
19-22 May Wed-Sat	England Lions vs Bangladeshis	GMT 10:00; Local 11:00	County Ground, Derby
27-31 May Thu-Mon	England vs Bangladesh (1st Test)	GMT 10:00; Local 11:00	Lord's, London
4-8 June Fri-Tue	England vs Bangladesh (2nd Test)	GMT 10:00; Local 11:00	Old Trafford, Manchester
3 July Sat	Sussex vs Bangladeshis	GMT 09:45; Local 10:45	County Ground, Hove
5 July Mon	Middlesex vs Bangladeshis	GMT 09:45; Local 10:45	Lord's, London
8 July Thu	England vs Bangladesh (1st ODI)	GMT 13:30; Local 14:30	Trent Bridge, Nottingham
10 July Sat	England vs Bangladesh (2nd ODI)	GMT 09:45; Local 10:45	County Ground, Bristol
12 July Mon	England vs Bangladesh (3rd ODI)	GMT 09:45; Local 10:45	Edgbaston, Birmingham
15 July Thu	Ireland vs Bangladesh	GMT 09:45; Local 10:45	Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont, Belfast
16 July Fri	Ireland vs Bangladesh	GMT 09:45; Local 10:45	Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont, Belfast
19 July Mon	Scotland vs Bangladesh	GMT 09:45; Local 10:45	Titwood, Glasgow
20 July Tue	Netherlands vs Bangladesh	GMT 09:45; Local 10:45	Titwood, Glasgow