The German business-focused FDP said an EU supply chain law would burden companies with cumbersome bureaucracy. The legislation will force firms to crack down on damaging actions in their supply chains. A blockade by Germany's business-focused Free Democrats, part of the country's governing coalition, has halted the adoption of a proposed EU law that would require large companies to assess whether their supply chains use forced labor or cause environmental damage. The Belgian EU presidency postponed the vote, which had been scheduled for Friday, at the last minute. A "qualified majority" of 15 EU countries representing 65% of the EU population is needed for the corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD) to proceed to a final vote in the European Parliament, where lawmakers are expected to support it. On Friday, it was not clear whether a sufficient number of envoys from the 27 EU countries would support the legislation, with Germany set to abstain. The Belgian EU presidency said the item would be postponed to a date to be announced.   What is CSDDD? Under the CSDDD, which would come into force in 2027, large companies in the EU will have to identify and take remedial action if they find that their supply chains use forced or child labor or cause environmental damage, such as deforestation. The rules will apply to EU companies with more than 500 employees and a global net turnover of more than €150 million ($161.5 million), and to non-EU companies with an EU turnover above that amount, but with a three-year delay. Fines for violating the rules could be as much as 5% of a company's global turnover. The law has stirred controversy in other countries, such as the United States, because it covers some 4,000 companies that do business in the EU but are headquartered elsewhere. Why does Germany block the law? The proposed supply chain law is not popular in German business circles. The Association of the German Textile and Fashion Industry called on EU countries to withdraw it altogether. The directive is a "completely unrealistic bureaucratic monster," said the association's managing director, Uwe Mazura. The law would cost companies "unnecessary resources," Mazura added. Germany's pro-business Free Democrats opposed the supply chain law, arguing it would burden business with excessive bureaucracy. They also raised late objections to an EU law to end sales of CO2-emitting cars by 2035 and to EU plans to reduce truck emissions. However, their coalition partners, the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the environmentalist Greens, supported the legislation and warned that Germany would lose credibility in the EU with its last-minute opposition.

The Election Commission (EC) has postponed the balloting in Gaibandha-5 (Phulchari and Saghat) constituency, saying that the election environment is not favourable. The commission revealed the information on Friday afternoon (Jan 5), two days before the nation goes to polls.   Earlier, the EC postponed polls in the Naogaon-2 constituency after a candidate died.   Following the development, the national polls will be held in 298 constituencies on January 7.  

The election to Naogaon-2 constituency (Patnitala and Dhamoirhat) has been postponed after the death of an independent candidate. As a result, the 12th parliamentary polls will be held in 299 seats on January 7. The returning officer concerned took the decision and a new schedule for the constituency will be announced later, Ashok Kumar Debnath, additional secretary of the Election Commission (EC) told on friday (Dec 29). Earlier, Aminul Haque, an independent candidate of Naogaon-2 constituency died early Friday while undergoing treatment at United Hospital in the capital Dhaka. He first bought Awami League's nomination for the seat to contest in the national election but did not get the ruling party ticket. Later, he submitted nomination form to compete in the polls as an independent candidate but the EC cancelled his candidacy citing different inconsistencies. Subsequently, he filed a writ petition in the High Court to get back his candidacy and the HC declared his candidacy valid on Wednesday. On Thursday, he was allocated the Eagle, an electoral symbol, from the office of Naogaon deputy commissioner and returning officer. But a day after, he died.

Awami League has postponed Monday's pre-schedelued peace rally at the old trade fair ground in the capital's Agargaon area. Earlier Saturday, Awami League declared that they will hold public rallies across the country on Monday after BNP announced for public rallies across the country tomorrow. More to come...

The Portuguese hacker released more than 18 million documents that led to investigations into star players, including Cristiano Ronaldo. Pinto claims he should be shielded from prosecution as a whistleblower. A court in Portugal has postponed its ruling for hacker Rui Pinto, who is on trial for accessing and releasing private documents that formed the "Football Leaks." The ruling, originally scheduled for April 28, was pushed back to July 13 on Friday because of a change in facts in the case and to allow more witnesses to be called. Pinto's lawyer said after the hearing on Friday that it was foreseeable that his client would ultimately be convicted, national newspaper Publico reported.  What was Pinto charged with? Pinto is on trial for 89 hacking offenses. His victims included top Portuguese football club Sporting, investment fund Doyen Sports, the Portuguese Football Federation, a law firm and magistrates of the Portuguese Public Prosecutor's Office. He has also been charged with attempted extortion, a crime punishable by between two and 10 years in prison. The 34-year-old hacker was arrested in Budapest in 2019 and was extradited back to Portugal to face trial in 2020. He previously told the court he was "outraged" by what he saw in the documents and that this prompted him to release them online as the "Football Leaks." What was the 'Football Leaks' release? The "Football Leaks" is a trove of 18.6 million documents that shed light on questionable practices involving football stars, their clubs and their agents. Pinto released the files online in 2015 and they were subsequently picked up by several European news outlets including Germany's Der Spiegel. The revelations led to several clients of Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes being investigated for tax evasion, including Cristiano Ronaldo, who ended up paying several million euros to the Spanish tax authorities in 2019. They also revealed a complaint of rape filed against Ronaldo. The complaint was later dismissed by a court in the US state of Nevada in 2022. Other Mendes clients who were investigated for tax evasion include coach Jose Mourinho, striker Radamel Falcao and winger Angel Di Marian. The "Football Leaks" documents also indicated that Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain may not have complied with financial fair play rules, and revealed secret meetings between FIFA president Gianni Infantino and former Swiss federal prosecutor Michael Lauber, who lost his job after the talks became public. Pinto says he was also behind the "Luanda Leaks," a trove of 715,000 emails, contracts, audits and other documents that explain how Isabel dos Santos — daughter of late Angolan dictator Jose dos Santos — built a business empire and became the richest woman in Africa.

The government today (June 17) postponed this year's Secondary School Certificate and equivalent examinations, scheduled to begin on June 19, due to the worsening flood situation in the country. "Secondary School Certificate (SSC) general, SSC vocational and Dakhil examinations under all education boards scheduled to begin on June 19 this year have been postponed due to the deteriorating flood situation across the country," said an education ministry press release in Dhaka today. The changed schedule of the examination will be announced later. Source: BSS AH

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday confirmed that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia 2020 has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ICC held a meeting on Monday to decide the fates of three major events in the coming years. In this meeting, the IBC Board (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC), windows for the next three ICC men’s events were also agreed to bring clarity to the calendar and give the sport the best possible opportunity over the next three years to recover from the disruption caused by the coronavirus.  Instead of 2020, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will take place in October-November 2021 with the final on November 14. The 2022 edition of the same event will take the place on October-November with the final on November 13.  The next ICC Men’s World Cup (50-over) will take the place on October-November 2023 with the final on November 26.  “We have undertaken a comprehensive and complex contingency planning exercise and through this process, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in the sport,” ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said in a statement.  The IBC Board agreed to continue to monitor the rapidly changing situation and assess all the information available in order to make a considered decision on future hosts to ensure the sport is able to stage safe and successful global events in 2021 and 2022. “The decision to postpone the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was taken after careful consideration of all of the options available to us and gives us the best possible opportunity of delivering two safe and successful T20 World Cups for fans around the world,” as ICC Chief Executive also added in the statement.  International cricket was held for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The deadlock came to an end when England took on West Indies in a Test series at home recently. However, most of the cricket-playing nations are still waiting to get back to the field to resume cricketing activities. Source: UNB Read In Bangla Version AH

The two-day special session of Parliament, scheduled to begin on Sunday on the occasion of the Mujib Borsho, was postponed on Saturday amid the growing coronavirus scare. “The Jatya Sangsad’s special session marking the birth centenary of Bangabandhu has been postponed,” President’s press secretary Joynal Abedin told reporters confirming the development. President Md Abdul Hamid postponed the special session in public interest to avoid the people’s gatherings for prevention of Coronavirus infection. The President was scheduled to deliver his speech on Bangabandhu at the outset of the special session, which would have been the seventh session of the current parliament. On March 04, the President convened the two-day special session, exercising power bestowed upon him by Article 72 (1) of the Constitution. Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad went into special sittings on two occasions -- January 31 and June 18 in 1974, which were addressed by former Yugoslav President Marshal Josip Broz Tito and then Indian President VV Giri. Source: UNB AH

‘Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) council was postponed due to their internal feud and filing a case. In this regard Sheikh Hasina and Awami League are being blamed. What is the fault of Awami League here?’ Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader raised question saying these. He also remarked that it is the expression of negative politics of BNP. His remarks came in at a discussion on Saturday organized by Dhaka metropolitan south Juba League on the occasion of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s birth day and ‘People’s Empowerment Day’. The discussion was organized at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital. Obaidul Quader said, this is BNP’s internal crisis. And expression of the internal crisis resulted cancellation of Chhatra Dal’s council. It is also expression of their negative politics. The Awami League General Secretary said, we do positive politics. There may be some mistakes committed by us. We are not perfect that we acknowledge. Awami League has the courage. Minister and MPs of Awami League went to jail. We may commit mistakes but the party awards punishment. They do not award punishment even when they were in power. Because none has the courage like Sheikh Hasina.  AH      

The government has postponed the national vitamin ‘A’ plus campaign which was scheduled to be held on Saturday next. Institute of Public Health Nutrition issued a notification in this regard on Thursday saying that the scheduled programme has been postponed due to unavoidable circumstances. The new date of the campaign to feed vitamin ‘A’ plus capsule will be announced later, it said. Children, aged between six and 11 months, will be given the blue-coloured high-powered Vitamin A capsules, while children, aged between 12 to 59 months, will receive the red-coloured ones. Vitamin A Plus capsule prevents childhood blindness and reduces child mortality.   MHK