tanti bazaar had slashed many jobs
my factories used to employ over workers during the winter but this year
we have only about workers many of the factories which would do contract
work for other jewellers have folded due to lack of orders he said
paran chandra sarker started his career as apprentice goldsmith years
ago when it was one the best career choices for poor uneducated bangladeshi
hindu man
at tanti bazaar thousands of goldsmiths like paran work in tiny dingy
workshops they mould gold into necklaces earrings tiaras bracelets rings
and chains using only sulfuric acid blowpipes and practised skill
at night they sleep in their workshops paran and others live in one room
in which they can only lie down when they have carefully stacked their small
work benches and bottles of acid into one corner
when business was booming paran now top goldsmith at preeti jewellery
workshop at tanti bazar would earn up to taka month
all the hindu parents used to want to marry their daughter to me he said
wistfully explaining that he now fears it will be much harder for him to find
wife
in the past six months he struggled to make half that amount as demand for
jewellery and his craftwork has dried up
now toil until am for just taka month lot of my friends have
left the trade or gone to india he said
at the tanti bazaar today the only businesses that are thriving are the pawn
shops as people hard hit by the impact of the global recession come to mortgage
their beloved jewels for some much needed cash
business is not bad at the moment said kartick roy poddar the owner of
the country largest pawn shop with wry smile
when he started the adi kartick roy poddar pawnshop four decades ago there were
only few pawnshops in tanti bazaar but now they are everywhere
according to the bazaar gold merchants association the number has nearly
doubled over the past five years
tanti bazaar will soon be known for only the pawn business not for gold
jewellery anymore he said
afp features
paris jan afp
we will shortly move the following stories
highlights
high prices wipe shine off old dhaka gold bazaar
finding hope and way off drugs for india street kids
lifestyle bangladesh commodities gold feature
dhaka
every morning before dhaka goldsmiths open their shops in the city historic
tanti bazaar shahabuddin climbs into the sewers under the alleyways to pan for
scraps of discarded gold
words by shafiq alam picture
india children poverty crime drugs delinquency feature
mumbai
mohan was when he ran away from his village because he didn want to sit an
exam he ended up in mumbai fearing beatings or worse every time he slept on
the streets in shop doorways or bus stops he found sanctuary six years ago at
charity for street kids and managed to beat his drug habit
words by phil hazlewood picture
for questions email nancy shields afp com or call
fashion show with olympic themes opens in rio
rio de janeiro jan afp
fashion show designed to showcase the richness of brazilian culture ahead of
the olympic games opened here friday under the slogan rio olympic and
marvelous
event organizer paulo borges said the show will reflect the mood in brazilian
cities after rio had been chosen over madrid and chicago to host the major
international sporting event
fashion is reflection of people behavior customs and modern life borges
told reporters at the opening of the show that is why fashion rio will be an
olympic and marvelous show
designers will demonstrate their creations in three remodeled warehouses that
can accommodate between and spectators each
the show has already attracted million dollars in new investment up from
million last year
picasso absinthe drinker to stay with british foundation
washington jan afp
the heirs of late german jewish banker have relinquished all rights to
painting by pablo picasso allowing foundation set up by british composer
andrew lloyd webber to keep the work us lawyer said friday
the descendants of paul von mendelssohn bartholdy reached an out of court
settlement allowing the andrew lloyd webber art foundation based in berkshire
england to retain ownership of the picasso painting the absinthe drinker john
byrne lawyer for the heirs of the mendelssohn bartholdy family said
under the terms of the settlement byrne was not at liberty to discuss the terms
of the deal
last year von mendelssohn bartholdy heirs reached settlements with the
metropolitan museum of modern art moma and solomon guggenheim museum both
in new york allowing them to keep two other picassos that had belonged to their
wealthy predecessor
the family had argued in those lawsuits that von mendelssohn bartholdy had sold
the spanish artist paintings boy leading horse and le moulin de la
galette under duress as adolf hitler nazi party came to power in germany
according to reports von mendelssohn bartholdy sent his three picassos to
switzerland for safekeeping shortly after the nazis came to power in germany in
nor long afterwards he ordered that they be sold
von mendelssohn bartholdy died in
his prized paintings eventually ended up in the guggenhim moma and the andrew
lloyd webber foundation but one of his heirs julius schoeps grandson of one
of von mendelssohn bartholdy sisters sued in bid to reclaim them
schoeps claimed the paintings had been sold under duress and were rightfully
his
the settlement over the absinthe drinker which picasso painted in was
the third out of court deal by the family and the third time the family had
relinquished its rights to the painting at the heart of the lawsuit
paul von mendelssohn bartholdy was nephew of felix mendelssohn the composer
nba jamison says wizards embarrassed by arenas gun play
washington jan afp
antawn jamison pleaded with washington fans on friday to continue bringing their
families to games despite the embarrassment of the events surrounding an
alleged gun incident involving teammate gilbert arenas
we need you guys to continue to support us jamison said in an unusual pre
game address to the crowd which follows probe into how arenas allegedly
managed to sneak gun into the nba team dressing room
to make this an exciting place place where you can bring your kids your
families your buddy to come have good time
jamison walked the talk by leading all scorers with points and grabbing
rebounds in wizards victory
the year old jamison said that his teammates never meant to make light of the
situation
before tuesday game at the verizon center arena against philadelphia the
players stood around the court as american arenas pretended to shoot his
teammates with his fingers
there been picture that been shown of us taking this event very lightly
this is serious situation jamison said from centre court
this thing right here is very embarrassing for my teammates and the coaching
staff
arenas missed another game for washington as he is suspended indefinitely by the
league disciplinary officials for the dressing room gun incident
the united states in recent years has relaxed many of its anti gun laws under
the previous george bush government
in the us supreme court ruled that ban on handguns in washington dc was
unconstitutional and that americans have right to own guns for personal use
according to the fbi firearms are used in two thirds of the murders in the
united states
tennis wickmayer triumphs in classic final
auckland jan afp
promising belgian tennis star yanina wickmayer underscored her potential by
winning the auckland classic final here saturday less than month after year
long ban was lifted allowing her to play
the big hitting wickmayer the world number took just over an hour to
trounce the th ranked player and tournament top seed flavia pennetta of italy
after faltering start in which she dropped her opening serve and made
unforced errors in the first four games which left her trailing wickmayer
took charge of the game
as she began to find her range with her powerful forehand wickmayer broke
pennetta next two serves to take the first set and then piled on the pressure
with third service break in the opening game of the second set
at down in the second set pennetta again dropped serve when she fought back
from to get to deuce but then double faulted and followed by putting
forehand volley into the net leaving wickmayer to serve for the match
wickmayer semi finalist in last year us open won late invitation to the
new zealand event and was made third seed just before christmas when belgian
court overturned her ban for breaching anti doping regulations
the year old had been banned for repeatedly failing to report her whereabouts
for drugs testing
had rough time before coming here and have to thank the new zealand
organisers for giving me the opportunity to play here the third seed said
after wrapping up the match
and without my team and without my dad wouldn be standing here
under the whereabouts rule top players must let tennis authorities know
where they are for three months in advance for dope testing but wickmayer said
this was never properly explained to here when she made the top
nhl dark days for devils against lightning
newark new jersey jan afp
the new jersey devils national hockey league game against the tampa bay
lightning was suspended in the second period friday because of lighting
problem
the players and fans waited one hour minutes before the national hockey
league officially suspended the regular season game
tampa led with halfway through the middle period when band of lights
dimmed putting the players in the dark
the game will resume but the league could not immediately say when
new jersey general manager lou lamoriello said broken circuit breaker at
three year old prudential center arena caused the problem
china miners killed in fire state media
beijing jan afp
coal mine fire in eastern china has killed at least miners state media
reported saturday citing local authorities
emergency workers recovered the bodies of people from the mine in xinyu city
in jiangxi province on saturday morning the official xinhua news agency
reported
the blaze which began friday afternoon was still being investigated it said
an initial investigation indicates the fire was caused by short circuit of
underground cables xinhua quoted district government statement as saying
china coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world with safety often
ignored in the quest for profits and drive to meet surging demand for coal
the source of about percent of the country energy
golf glover extends lead at hawaii sbs championship
kapalua hawaii jan afp
us open champion lucas glover fired an eight under to extend his lead to
three strokes after the second round of the season opening sbs championship on
friday
these guys are the best players in the world and they re going to be coming
after me glover said
american glover kicked off six hole stretch where he went six under by nailing
two putt birdie on hole no his under is the lowest hole score in
five years at the event and missed the tournament scoring record by two shots
am pretty aggressive anyways so just pick your spots said glover who also
had an eagle still am going to have to make birdies
john rollins was three shots behind while tied for third was defending
champion geoff ogilvy sean hair matt kuchar and martin laird
all at under
there quite few players out there that can win this thing and are playing
some nice golf hair said
glover pulled away by going nine under through holes in the middle rounds
glover leads the field with birdies over the first two rounds and has hit
percent of his fairways
rollins carded bogey free seven under on the plantation course to reach
under par
angel cabrera is alone in seventh at under par after shooting his second
straight on friday
ideal playing conditions on friday helped each player in the man field of pga
tour winners reach par or better
we were talking about this at breakfast glover said nobody who been to
hawaii has seen it this calm this is nice for us we get to be little more
aggressive club selection is lot easier wouldn mind seeing it come up
and having some goofy stuff go on just for fun
mexico migration officials suspected of trafficking chinese
mexico city jan afp
mexican police detained migration officials from cancun airport in southeast
mexico on friday under suspicion of trafficking undocumented migrants from
china the interior ministry said
authorities began an investigation in november after chinese citizens arrived
at guadalajara airport in western mexico from cancun airport where migration
officials had stamped their false passports ministry statement said
other cancun airport officials were also under investigation it added
around foreigners enter mexico illegally each year by land sea or air
in bid to continue to the united states according to the national commission
of human rights
chavez alleges incursion by us war plane
caracas jan afp
president hugo chavez said friday us military aircraft entered venezuelan
airspace and accused the united states and the netherlands of provocative
action
the united states has denied the charge
chavez said he ordered two jets to intercept orion anti
submarine surveillance aircraft that entered venezuelan airspace from the nearby
netherlands antilles
the us plane returned to the dutch caribbean island of curacao after it twice
entered venezuelan airspace where it spent total of about half an hour and
was escorted out by the
we re not inventing anything when we say the government of holland must assume
their responsibilities the firebrand leftist leader said
we are here ready to defend venezuela sovereignty we accuse the
governments of the united states and holland of launching provocative actions
against venezuela to find an excuse to attack venezuela
but the us southern command which is in charge of us military activities in the
hemisphere said that it was able to confirm that no us military aircraft had
entered venezuelan airspace on friday
as matter of policy we do not fly over nation air space without prior
consent and coordination the command said in statement we operate with the
utmost respect for the sovereignty of the nations in our hemisphere
in addition senior barack obama administration official who spoke on
condition of anonymity said the administration was unaware of any incidents
involving us government aircraft in venezuelan airspace on friday
us military officials are unaware of any us government plane within plus
nautical miles of venezuelan airspace today the official pointed out
last month chavez accused the united states of launching spy plane from
colombia that violated his country airspace and vowed to shoot down any such
aircraft in the future
ordered these little planes to be shot down chavez added on his weekly
television and radio program we cannot permit this
venezuela suspended diplomatic relations with colombia in july in response to
us colombian military base deal denouncing it as military threat to the
sovereignty of latin american countries and saying it paved the way for
possible attack against venezuela
in december chavez said the us military was using dutch islands off venezuela
caribbean coast aruba bonaire and curacao as staging area for
possible attack the netherlands has denied the claims
golf sbs championship scores
kapalua hawaii jan afp
second round scores here on friday in the season opening million dollar sbs
championship usa unless noted
lucas glover usa
john rollins usa
geoff ogilvy aus sean hair usa matt kuchar usa
martin laird sco
angel cabrera arg
kenny perry usa ryan moore usa stewart cink usa
nathan green aus
rory sabbatini rsa nick watney usa dustin johnson usa
retief goosen rsa paul casey gbr jerry kelly usa
stephen ames can
zach johnson usa pat perez usa
bo van pelt usa
troy matteson usa steve stricker usa brian gay usa
yang kor
mark wilson usa michael bradley usa
heath slocum usa
unprecedented us mexico border cooperation ambassador
mexico city jan afp
mexico and the united states currently have an unprecedented level of
cooperation on fighting crime on their common border the mexican ambassador to
the united states said here friday
arturo sarukhan said it was important to continue this unprecedented
cooperation established with the administration of president barack obama at
meeting of mexican ambassadors and consuls in mexico city
sarukhan underlined that despite the financial crisis the us congress has
approved some billion dollars for mexico under the regional three year
merida initiative joint plan to fight organized crime
the united states had started to show important results in its capacity to
reduce the trafficking of arms and money south of the border he said adding
that it was now time to evaluate how bilateral cooperation would continue
the united states last month delivered five helicopters worth total of
million dollars to mexico under the merida initiative
the slow release of funds has frustrated top mexican officials
mexican president felipe calderon is waging controversial clampdown on the
country powerful drug gangs and has deployed some troops to fight
organized crime since he took office three years ago
the government blames mexican drug gangs for more than violent deaths in
wave of violence since the clampdown began
britain faces toughest cuts for years darling
london jan afp
finance minister alistair darling warned on saturday that britain faces its
toughest spending cuts in two decades if the ruling labour party wins this
year general election
darling also confirmed to the times newspaper that there would be budget
before the election which must take place by june
that will quash speculation that prime minister gordon brown is preparing to
call an early election
darling the chancellor of the exchequer said in an interview that severe
spending restraints were non negotiable if he is to bring down the billion
pound billion euro billion dollar budget deficit
my priority is to get borrowing down once recovery is established we have to
act he said
the next spending review will be the toughest we have had for years to
me cutting the borrowing was never negotiable gordon accepts that he knows
that
darling told the newspaper that voters supported his effort to balance the
books
most people know that public spending has doubled over the last to years
so we are coming off much higher base he said
we are not talking about situation where we have already cut to the bone
darling was speaking after two former ministers geoff hoon and patricia hewitt
launched failed attempt to unseat brown
opinion polls suggest the opposition conservatives will win the general
election
qantas chief says vietnam pair have done nothing wrong
sydney jan afp
qantas airways chief executive on saturday said two senior employees prevented
from leaving vietnam over fuel hedging losses had done nothing wrong and
expressed hope for quick resolution of the case
alan joyce admitted major losses at budget carrier jetstar pacific part owned
by qantas and the vietnamese government but said these were not uncommon among
airlines hit by wildly fluctuating fuel prices
jetstar pacific chief operating officer daniela marsilli and chief financial
officer tristan freeman were prevented from returning to australia on december
while state media said its vietnamese ex chief executive was arrested
the losses that were incurred were part of global business risk joyce told
reporters
we are obviously concerned we are concerned about the wellbeing of our
people that the top priority for us we are working very closely with the
authorities he added
we don have an indication of how long this will take we obviously want it
resolved as fast as possible
deputy prime minister julia gillard said australia was providing assistance
through its embassy in vietnam
we are providing consular assistance doing everything we can trying to get to
the bottom of the reason for their detention she told the nine network
jetstar pacific losses reached record billion dong now more than
million dollars in the year in which former chief executive luong hoai
nam earned billion dong in salary the vietnamnet news website reported
it said the state audit agency concluded there was lack of management
supervision of efforts to hedge petrol costs at the airline
qantas spokeswoman olivia wirth earlier said its two employees had not been
formally detained but are unable to leave the country as they are working with
vietnamese authorities on an investigation into fuel hedging at jetstar
pacific
qantas bought percent of pacific airlines in and turned it into low cost
carrier jetstar pacific later increasing its stake to percent vietnam
government is the largest shareholder
fuel hedging is common among airlines seeking to lock in the lowest future
prices for fuel but carriers have lost millions in recent years thanks to
rollercoaster global oil prices
three held over bomb threat on london plane police
london jan afp
armed officers stormed plane at london heathrow airport as it was about to
depart for dubai and arrested three men on suspicion of making bomb threat
police said saturday
the emirates flight was preparing to take off late friday when verbal threat
was made to staff london metropolitan police service said
police were alerted and armed officers boarded the plane police statement
said
three men aged and were arrested and are now in police custody they
have been arrested on suspicion of making bomb threat
police were searching the aircraft but media reported no harmful substances were
believed to have been found on the plane which had passengers on board
sky news television reported that the men arrested were english and appeared to
be drunk
it broadcast grainy photograph purportedly taken inside the aircraft showing
police in black overalls and passenger said officers brandishing guns in body
armour burst onto the plane and hauled the suspects away
the alert came amid heightened security at airports around the world following
an alleged attempt by young nigerian to bomb plane landing in detroit on
christmas day by concealing explosives in his underwear
passenger cameron mclean who sky said supplied them with the photograph told
the broadcaster some special police just came on the plane and arrested these
two guys few rows in front of me
the police just swarmed the guy and then rushed him out think he was white
male he said
the passenger added there were about five armed officers who were wearing
helmets body armour and carrying what appeared to be automatic weapons
police said they were alerted after the threat was made at around pm
gmt on friday
they said passengers had been removed from the plane and the aircraft was being
searched the airport one of the world busiest air hubs remained open
spokesman for airport operator baa said the incident had only affected the
dubai bound plane
emirates said officers boarded the plane after remarks made as flight ek
was preparing to depart
the safety and security of all our passengers is paramount the airline added
the security scare came after umar farouk abdulmutallab allegedly tried to
detonate device stitched into his underwear on flight from amsterdam as it
landed in the united states on december
in court in detroit on friday he pleaded not guilty to six charges related to
the incident which has led to security being stepped at airports worldwide
full body scanners are to be introduced at britain airports and heathrow
will be the first to receive the devices before the end of the month home
secretary alan johnson has said
japanese fisherman reels in largemouth bass ties record
miami jan afp
japanese man was credited friday with reeling in the biggest largemouth bass
tying record that has been in american hands for the past years for the
freshwater fish popular among anglers
the international game fish association igfa confirmed that manabu kurita of
aichi japan took his place alongside us angler george perry to hold the all
tackle record for largemouth bass each weighing pounds four ounces
kilograms
the moment kurita weighed his fish word spread like wildfire jason
schratwieser conservation director for the dania beach florida based igfa
said in statement
kurita caught his prize fish from lake biwa japan largest and an
ancient reservoir northeast of kyoto on july
the vetting process took no less than six months
six months may seem like lot of time to determine if fish ties record
said schratwieser although we treat all records with equal rigor the all
tackle largemouth bass record is nothing less than iconic and the bass angling
community deserved nothing less
kurita was quoted as saying knew it was big but didn know it was that
big he allegedly earned his success from his first cast into piling of big
bass twitching the bait only couple times before getting bite and loading
the fish into his boat after fight of just three minutes
the massive fish also had fork length of inches centimeters and
girth of inches centimeters
perry caught his bass on georgia montgomery lake on june near
jacksonville georgia
in north america the highly popular largemouth bass now accounts for
significant portion of recreational fishing helping spawn billion dollar
industry that has banked on perry long lived record
japanese fisheries officials consider the largemouth bass an invasive species
it is not native to the island nation
philippines prays for disaster free year
manila jan afp
hundreds of thousands of people shed their footwear and prayed for relief from
natural disasters saturday in religious procession across the capital of the
mainly roman catholic philippines
the annual festival centres on black icon of cross bearing jesus christ
which many filipinos believe can perform miracles to cure the sick drive away
bad luck and bring prosperity
they look like giant waves senior inspector oscar hoguera head of manila
mobile police division said of the sea of humanity swarming around the carriage
being pulled by bare foot devotees holding lengths of stout rope
the devotees wore scarlet shirts and hurled white handkerchiefs and towels at
an ebony hued wooden statue of the black nazarene which volunteers touched
onto its cheeks before throwing back the cloths to the crowd
there are lot more participants today than last year holguera told afp
estimating the size of the crowd at several hundred thousand people
many people are turning to religion after year of disasters he added
tropical storms floods landslides and maritime disasters killed nearly
people across the philippines in year in which an election linked
massacre claimed lives and volcano also erupted
more than percent of filipinos are catholic and holguera estimated that at
least two million people in this city of more than million had joined or
watched the procession
praying for good health and good luck said year old ricardo palacio
manila porter who said his wife left him and their four children several years
ago
he cured my illness and enabled me to walk again said year old grandmother
maria medalla who told afp she left her home near the erupting mayon volcano
southeast of manila last week so she could join this year procession
the local branch of the red cross said it had treated participants by late
morning mostly for symptoms of high blood pressure and one with head injury
the city government said it deployed more than thousand policemen to maintain
order and redirect traffic
the life sized wooden sculpture of black jesus bearing cross is said to have
been carved in mexico and brought to the philippines by augustinian missionaries
in the early th century during spain galleon trade
tennis auckland classic results
auckland jan afp
result of the final of the auckland classic women tennis tournament saturday
denotes seed
finals
yanina wickmayer bel bt flavia pennetta ita bt
figure skating world silver medallist chan parts ways with coach
ottawa ontario jan afp
don laws coach of reigning canadian champ patrick chan will not be at rinkside
when the world silver medallist defends his national figure skating title next
week in london ontario
laws told skate canada he would also not accompany canadian olympic contender
chan to the upcoming winter games in vancouver where the year old will be
under intense pressure to win medal on home soil
the apparent end of their coaching relationship was announced friday by skate
canada
while laws is based in florida where chan has trained most of the last two
years the gold medal hopeful shifted his training site to colorado springs in
recent weeks it appears that decision did not sit well with laws
