Digital RMG factory mapping launched

    

a view to providing real-time and credible factory data to the industry stakeholders through an interactive online platform (like Google Maps), a project for framing digital RMG factory mapping in Bangladesh (DRFM-B) has been launched yesterday.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed inaugurated the DRFM-B project as the chief guest at the Apparel Club in BGMEA headquarters in the city, said a BGMEA press release.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED) of BRAC University are jointly implementing the project with the cooperation of C&A Foundation.

Under the DRFM-B project, all the factories situated in 104 upazilas of 20 districts will be brought into the map by 2021.

All the information of the factories will be included in the digital map.

The project will also work to enable greater accountability, transparency in supply chains, and enhancing confidence in the ability of the sector to contribute to equitable development in Bangladesh.

BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman, CED Adviser Professor Dr Rahim B Talukder, C&A Bangladesh Unit leader Shantanu Sinha and BRAC University Vice Chancellor Professor Syed Saad Andalib, among others, spoke on the occasion.

Lankans to tour India this year

    

India will host Sri Lanka for a full series later this year, with the cricket board adding nearly two dozen matches to the tail-end of a packed home schedule for Virat Kohli’s team.
India will now host Australia, New Zealand and SriLanka back-to-back at venues across the country between September-December.
Australia, who went down 2-1 to hosts India in the Test series earlier this year, will return for five one-day internationals and three Twenty20 matches.
India will then welcome New Zealand for three ODIs and three T20 matches, followed by Sri Lanka for a return series with three Tests, three ODIs and three T20s.
India are currently touring Sri Lanka. The two sides meet Thursday for the second of three Tests after the hosts were thrashed in the first, and they then play five ODIs and one T20.
Sri Lanka had previously been expected to tour India next March. But the Board of Control for Cricket in India adjusted the schedule because the island is hosting the Independence Cup over that period.
“Sri Lanka has always co-operated with India and therefore India will be making a reciprocal short visit only to play the Independence Cup,” BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary told reporters on Tuesday.
“Another reason being there are six proposed exchange of tours between India and Pakistan which did not happen, so those spaces had to be adjusted.”
India are slated to tour South Africa for a full series after completing their matches against Sri Lanka.
Schedule:
Australia: 5 ODIs in Chennai, Bangalore, Nagpur, Indore, Kolkata; 3 T20Is in Hyderabad, Ranchi, Guwahati
New Zealand: 3 ODIs in Pune, Mumbai, Kanpur; 3 T20Is in Delhi, Cuttack, Rajkot
Sri Lanka: 3 Tests in Kolkata, Nagpur, Delhi; 3 ODIs in Dharamsala, Mohali, Vizag; 3 T20Is in Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram, Indore, Mumbai

We are not your enemy: Tillerson to North Korea

    

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson promised Tuesday that the United States is not trying to topple Kim Jong-Un’s North Korean regime, but warned it must halt its nuclear missile program.
Briefing reporters on diplomatic efforts to pressure Pyongyang, Tillerson said Washington would be willing to talk to the North if its leaders accept that they must disarm.
“We don’t think having a dialogue where the North Koreans come to the table assuming they’re going to maintain their nuclear weapons is productive,” he warned.
But he sought to reassure the isolated authoritarian regime that it does not need a nuclear arsenal to defend itself from a US attack.
“We do not see a regime change. We do not seek the collapse of the regime. We do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula,” he promised.
“We do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th parallel. And we’re trying to convey that to the North Koreans.
“We are not your enemy. We’re not your threat, but you are presenting an unacceptable threat to us, and we have to respond.”
US President Donald Trump has demanded that China, North Korea’s neighbor and biggest trade partner, rein in its nuclear ambitions—angrily tweeting over the weekend that Beijing is not doing enough.
But here too, Tillerson was more diplomatic.
“We certainly don’t blame the Chinese for the situation in North Korea,” Washington’s top diplomat said.
“Only the North Koreans are to blame for this situation, but we do believe China has a special and unique relationship, because of this significant economic activity, to influence the North Korean regime in ways that no one else can.”
Last week, Kim boasted that North Korea could now strike any target in the United States after carrying out its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test.
Republican foreign policy hawk Senator Lindsey Graham said Trump is ready to launch a devastating military strike if diplomacy fails to stop the nuclear missile threat.

Neymar in Dubai, but where next?

    

Brazil’s Neymar triggered a guessing game on his return from China on Tuesday, posting a video on social media apparently from Dubai but leaving his final destination-Paris or Barcelona-a mystery.
As speculation mounts of an imminent record-busting transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain, Neymar’s video appeared to be from the first class lounge at Dubai airport.
The 25-year-old forward, who was in Shanghai on Monday fulfilling a sponsor’s engagement, also posted a photo with the caption in Portuguese: “Lunch at half-way”.
In another video posted from an aeroplane, Neymar jokes around with an image messaging app that superimposed a Spanish flag and a small plane on his tee-shirt-suggesting he is indeed headed home to Barcelona.
The decor in that video was identifiable as from an Emirates aeroplane.
Earlier reports claimed that he was headed from China to Doha, to meet PSG’s Qatari owners and pass a medical before his reported 222-million-euro ($260 million) move from Barca.
But his being on an Emirates plane rules out Doha as a possible destination given the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and its Gulf neighbours.
Other reports had said the Barcelona forward could be headed directly to Paris after deciding to quit the Spanish club.
BeIN Sport, like PSG backed by Qatar, said in a tweet in Arabic on Monday that Neymar had decided to leave the Catalan club, citing a club management source at Barcelona.
However, following his latest social media postings, some Spanish media were reporting that Neymar is headed home to Barcelona and is expected to arrive on a flight from Dubai at 8.55pm (1855 GMT).
While Neymar has studiously remained silent about his future, Barca coach Ernesto Valverde is expecting him back at the club on Wednesday for the resumption of training, although Spanish sports media claim he won’t turn up.
Nasty surprise -
Neymar, though, has a nasty surprise awaiting him upon his return as Barcelona have blocked payment of a 26-million-euro ($31-million) bonus he is due, a source at the club said.
“These 26 million euros have been placed with a notary pending to see if the player continues,” the source, who refused to be named, told AFP.
The renewal bonus was agreed on a year ago when Neymar extended his contract with Barcelona until 2021, and was due to be paid to the player after he completed a year.
But the club has decided to put it on hold while waiting to see how his transfer situation evolves.
The contract Neymar signed also increased an early termination clause from 200 to 222 million euros, which PSG are reportedly willing to pay.
Neymar first made his name at Santos, the former club of Brazil legend Pele, with whom he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup.
A big-money move to Barca followed in 2013 as 56,000 fans turned up for his official unveiling at the Camp Nou.
In his four years with the Catalans he has won the Champions League in 2015, La Liga twice, the Spanish Cup three times and one FIFA Club World Cup.
Last year he also helped Brazil on home soil win the Olympic title for the first time.

Silicon Valley sees slowdown in seed funding

    

The bloom is off seed funding, the business of providing money to brand-new startups, as investors take a more measured approach to financing emerging US technology companies.
Seed-stage financing has been sliding for the last two years, with the number of transactions down about 40 per cent since the peak in mid-2015, data show. Dollar investments in fledgling companies have also declined, although less dramatically, dropping more than 24 per cent over the same period.
The slowdown comes despite an explosion of interest by wealthy individuals and foreign investors looking to park money in the next big thing.
And it has potentially big implications for Silicon Valley.
Early-stage funding is the lifeblood of a technology ecosystem built on risk-taking. Denied critical resources in infancy, companies can't hope to scale quickly enough to unseat incumbent industries and grow into the next Uber Technologies Inc or Airbnb.
"The reason why startups are disrupting companies in the 21st Century is not because they are smarter. It's because they have capital to do so," said Steve Blank, a serial entrepreneur, startup mentor and adjunct professor at Stanford University.
Early-stage investors, known in Silicon Valley vernacular as seed and angel investors, often act as farm teams do in sports. They provide the first significant money and mentoring to help entrepreneurs prove their technology and hit milestones needed to attract even bigger investments from venture capitalists later on.
But the zeal that prevailed just two years ago has faded. Seed and angel investors completed about 900 deals in the second quarter, down from roughly 1,100 deals in the second quarter of 2016 and close to 1,500 deals during that time period in 2015, according to a report released last month by Seattle-based PitchBook Inc, which supplies venture capital data.
The dollar amount provided by seed and angel investors was $1.65 billion in the second quarter. That's just shy of the $1.75 billion for the same time period of 2016 and down significantly from 2015, which saw $2.19 billion invested into fledgling startups.
Veteran seed investors and industry analysts offer a number of reasons for the decline.
They cite concerns over inflated valuations as well as a tepid market for initial public offerings, which provide seed funders a way to recoup their investments. After some much-hyped IPOs such as GoPro Inc, LendingClub Corp and Fitbit Inc lost their sizzle, Wall Street has curbed its appetite for shares in unproven private companies with billion-dollar-plus valuations.
Others blame the rise of technology leviathans for the decline in seed funding deals.
San Francisco seed fund Initialized Capital, for example, has slowed its investment pace to about 20 companies a year, down from 50 to 60 just a few years ago, even though its fund size more than tripled to $125 million, according to managing partner Garry Tan.
Among his concerns: dominant players such as Facebook Inc have amassed so much wealth they can quickly challenge a hot startup, diminishing its value.
"Incumbents just get so much more power, so there are fewer super early-stage opportunities that are very valuable," Tan said. "I can imagine a 20 to 25 per cent reduction in valuable investment opportunities."
Fewer, Larger Investments
Funding cycles in Silicon Valley ebb and flow. Several veterans say the decline in seed deals is bound to reverse at some point.
Still, some early-stage investors say they're observing a rethinking of the traditional "spray and pray" approach to seed funding. Instead of putting small amounts of money into lots of startups in the hopes that a few will work out, seed investors are shifting to fewer, larger deals.
The median seed deal is now $1.6 million, according to Pitchbook, up from about $500,000 five years ago. That's more in line with what big venture firms used to invest.
And while data show that about 70 per cent of seed-funded companies never make it to the next level, there is no shortage of interest from investors.
About 450 seed funds have emerged in the past few years, according to fund managers, financed by investors as diverse as wealthy individuals, universities, sovereign wealth funds and Chinese family offices and corporations.
The experience of early-stage venture firm Floodgate is typical. Investment partner Iris Choi said the firm's average investment size has about tripled in the last four years, from $1 million on the high end to $3 million.
But along with big bucks come big expectations. Funders betting seven figures want to see a much more mature business than in years past.
The upshot is that some entrepreneurs are finding it harder to get a backer in the very early going, says Allan May, chairman and founder of angel investing group Life Science Angels, based in Sunnyvale, California.
"The bar is now higher to get early-stage financing," May said. "You've got to be further along."
In return for writing bigger checks - and assuming bigger risks - seed investors are also demanding larger ownership stakes in new companies.
Initialized Capital, whose investments include San Francisco-based grocery delivery service Instacart, seeks about a 50 per cent stake in startups in exchange for its investments, said Tan, the managing partner.
That's enormous considering other seed funders shoot for stakes closer to the 5 per cent to 15 per cent range.
But more shares gives seed investors more leverage in future funding rounds when additional investors come on board. Seed funders risk seeing their stakes diluted significantly if they don't take a large ownership from the start, or participate in future funding rounds so they don't get squeezed by other venture capitalists.
Venture Capital's "Train Wrecks"
To be sure, entrepreneurs still have ample opportunity to build the next big company. Launching a startup is cheaper than it has ever been, thanks to tools such as cloud computing that allow small fry to forgo the cost of building a data center. Startup incubator programs have helped too.
Still, quick deals could be harder to come by as seed funds with lackluster performances struggle to raise new funds.
"A lot of these funds didn't perform," said Samir Kaji, senior managing director at First Republic Bank. "They are still around but they aren't writing new checks."
In the last year or so, at least nine seed firms have gone out of business, according to PitchBook.
Veteran Chris Douvos, managing director with Venture Investment Associates, has put more than $250 million into seed funds over the last decade. He estimates that the hundreds of small seed funds that exist currently will dwindle to 40 to 80 in the next year or two.
"All of venture capital's train wrecks happen in slow motion," Douvos said. "The mass of these funds is on the bubble, and what will determine who lives and who dies is to some degree luck."

Suicide searches rise after '13 Reasons Why'

    

Suicide-related searches on Google have risen significantly since the release of Netflix show “13 Reasons Why”, says a study.
Published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the paper studied Google trends data from the show’s release date on March 31 through April 18.
Researchers said they used the specific dates so that search results wouldn’t be contaminated with queries relating to suicide of former National Football League star Aaron Hernandez. They also removed from their search queries on any terms that included “Suicide Squad”, according to Canadian news platform globalnews.ca.
The researches have found that the phrase “how to commit suicide” went up 26 per cent and “commit suicide” rose by 18 per cent. In addition, “how to kill yourself” increased by nine per cent, reports people.com.
However, there was also a jump search of terms which indicated an increase in suicide awareness.
Terms like “suicide hotline number” went up by 21 per cent, while “teen suicide” rose by 34 per cent.
“The data shows that ‘13 Reasons Why’ isn’t fit for public health. Even though it’s causing somewhat of an increase in suicide awareness and people seeking information on how to prevent suicide, we saw an increase in searches on how to commit suicide, literally, how to have a painless suicide,” John Ayers, the study’s lead author said.
“Our study allowed us to see what people are thinking and when they’re thinking it. The act of searching itself is moving that person one step closer to a suicide act. Searches often foreshadow offline behaviour,” Ayers added.
In response to the study, Netflix said: “We always believed this show would increase discussion around this tough subject matter. This is an interesting quasi experimental study that confirms this. We are looking forward to more research and taking everything we learn to heart as we prepare for season 2.”

Bangladesh LNG imports could surge over 17m tonnes by 2025

    

South Asia, long a backwater for energy markets, is emerging as a hotspot for liquefied natural gas (LNG), with Pakistan and Bangladesh set to join India as major consumers, helping to ease global oversupply that has dogged this market for years.
Only India and Pakistan currently import LNG in South Asia, taking in a combined 25 million tonnes, or 8 percent of global demand last year.
But with a fast growing population, strong economic growth and soaring energy demand, more import projects are being developed, lead by Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“Both countries already have extensive gas infrastructure due to legacy production from domestic gas fields,” said Chong Zhi Xin, principal Asia LNG analyst at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. “As domestic production has failed to keep up with demand, both markets are a natural fit for LNG imports.”
Pakistan only started importing its first LNG in 2015, and surprised some in the industry by developing its first terminal within schedule and budget. A second is about to become operational and a third is expected to be completed next year.
With Bangladesh set to join the club of importers next year, the region could import 80-100 million tonnes a year by the mid 2020s, analysts said, making it the world’s second biggest import region, ahead of Europe.
BANGLADESH BOOM
Bangladesh, a country of over 160 million people, could import as much as 2,500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of LNG, equivalent to around 17.5 million tonnes per year, by 2025, said Nasrul Hamid, Bangladesh’s state minister for energy and power.
With its own gas reserves depleting and seeking to almost double power capacity to 24,000 megawatt (MW) by 2021, Bangladesh is tapping cheap and plentiful supplies on world markets and investing heavily in LNG.
Several floating storage and regasification units (FSRU), the first developed by private U.S. company Excelerate Energy, are due to begin importing cargoes starting in 2018.
“We are working on two FSRU’s from which gas will start flowing (by) next July,” Hamid told Reuters.
Both FSRUs will be deployed off Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal, in the southeast of the country. They will have a combined capacity of 7.5 million tonnes a year.
Two more FSRUs are planned, though no exact dates have been finalised. In addition, state-run Petrobangla signed a preliminary deal with India’s Petronet in December to set up an onshore terminal to regasify a further 7.5 million tonnes a year of LNG on Kutubdia Island, just to the north of Moheshkhali, at a cost of $950 million.
“By 2025, depending on our national demand, we will import anywhere from 2,000 to 2,500 mmcfd gas,” Hamid said.
Those imports would add to plans from India and Pakistan to buy 50 million and 30 million tonnes of LNG per year, respectively, by the mid-2020s.
“LNG imports in South Asia are expected to rise four-fold from 22 million tonnes per year in 2016 to over 80 million tonnes per year by 2030,” said Mangesh Patankar, head of Asia/Pacific business development at energy consultancy Galway Group.
Should all plans in the region go ahead and Sri Lanka also start imports, this figure could rise to 100 million tonnes, industry project data shows.
That would push South Asia’s demand ahead of Europe as the world’s second biggest LNG import region by 2020, though it would still lag North Asia’s 150 million tonnes of annual imports.
The boom in demand will help ease oversupply in LNG markets, which have resulted in a more than 70 percent price fall from their 2014 peaks to $5.75 per million British thermal units. <LNG-AS>
SUPPLY TALKS
Hamid said Bangladesh was in talks with Qatar’s RasGas and Indonesia’s Pertamina for long-term deals, while it also planned to import significant amounts of its future demand via the freely traded spot market.
“We are looking for a mixture of both long-term contracts and the spot market,” Hamid said.
Rupantarita Prakritik Gas, part of Petrobangla, in June posted a notice looking for LNG suppliers for spot cargoes from 2018.
Not everyone believes Bangladesh and Pakistan will achieve their LNG ambitions.
“It is likely to be an overly ambitious target... China took more than 10 years to reach 20 million tonnes of LNG imports. In India, it took 13 years to reach the same amount,” said Chong Zhi Xin.
Low domestic gas prices also required LNG imports to be subsidised in Bangladesh and Pakistan, he said.
“As LNG imports increase, so does the subsidy bill. Without pricing reforms, it would be a challenge for Pakistan and Bangladesh to fulfil their LNG import ambitions.”
Hamid, however, is confident. In order to meet surging demand, he said LNG was part of an even bigger plan.
“The solutions are FSRU, land-based LNG, deep sea exploration in the Bay of Bengal, and transnational (gas) grids ,” he said.

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