Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . DhakaPrime minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday made a fervent call to the business community to forge unity against all anarchy, violence and destructive activities that take tolls on business and economic growth.She expressed her firm conviction that Bangladesh would be able to make position as a middle-income country in the world much before 2021 if its present export growth rate continues.The prime minister said this while inaugurating 20th Dhaka International Trade Fair-2015 at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the city.Hasina reiterated her governments commitment to extend all out supports to increase the exports volume of readymade garments to $50 billion by 2021 saying the goal, though looking ambitious, is possible to achieve together with the government support.Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed and parliamentary standing committee on commerce ministry chairman Tajul Islam Chowdhury, commerce ministry senior secretary Hedayet ullah Al Mamun, FBCCI president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed spoke, among others, on the inaugural programme of the month-long mega fair being organised by the Export Promotion Bureau.Hasina said, You have witnessed the horrible anarchy before 2013 election. Only two days ago they killed a teacher and hurled petrol bomb on another teacher and her children, injuring them critically.So, I will request the business community to join your hands against such violence and anarchy. People dont like violence, they want peace anddevelopment, she said adding her government was striving for fulfilment of the expectation of the people.She said at present international trade was more challenging than before. World Trade Organisation has undertaken various programmes for expansion of global trade, which have opened up new opportunities for us as well as challenges, she said.The business community and the government have to adopt new strategies for promotion of trade and explore new markets through overcoming the challenges, she said adding Bangladesh had to earn capacity to face tough business completion during tax-free regime.The prime minister said her government was trying its best to develop countrys infrastructure to facilitate trade and commerce. She said the work for construction of four-lane Dhaka-Chittagong Highway would be completed by June next, which would be turned into six-lane later.Hasina urged the real business persons to remain aware and identify those the black sheep of the industries saying those persons have avarice to be rich overnight.Out of that greediness, Hasina said, those persons take loan from bank in the name of establishing business and later loot those money in connivance with an unscrupulous section of bank officials and employees.Though such incident is very few in numbers, but one or two incidents cast negative impacts on overall banking system, she said adding because of those persons all bankers face trouble and it create difficulties for real industrial entrepreneurs to get bank loan.- See more at: http://newagebd.net/82342/pm-seeks-businesses-support-against-anarchy-2/#sthash.GjVg61hb.dpuf

New Age OnlineFinance minister AMA Muhith on Thursday turned down concerns of the countrys oldest chamber body Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry that the countrys economy would suffer setback because of impending political unrest.He said the businessmen would protest the destructive political programme, if any.He said it was not easy to disrupt the economic activities because its expansion over the years.Led by new president Syed Nasim Manjur the MCCI apprehend adverse impact on the economy because of movement planned by Bangladesh Nationalist Party.The MCCI leaders stressed the need for holding dialogue between the ruling party and the BNP to solve the outstanding issues.

New Age OnlineCommerce minister Tofail Ahmed on Saturday said there is no chance of any midterm election or even dialogue with Bangladesh Nationalist party for that matter.He was speaking at Dhaka Reporters Unity on a meet the press programme this morning.He said BNP has to wait for another 4 years for another election.They (BNP) may work on their 7-point charter and mobilize public opinion in their favour during this time, he said.United News of Bangladesh adds: He claimed that BNP is now totally inactive and suggested all to look into the scenario across the country. BNP programmes hardly get any response.The commerce minister said all the development indicators are positive, and Bangladesh is doing far better than any other countries in South Asia.On December 31, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia placed a seven-point demand, including the arrangement of a fresh inclusive national election under a neutral administration as soon as possible, to resolve the ongoing political standoff.She also urged all democratic parties, forces and individuals to get united to wage a national movement through a national consensus to establish a government of people.

Brent crude reversed early gains on Friday to fall to a fresh post-2009 low below $56 a barrel, as a glut of oil that has halved prices since June outweighed investors positioning at the start of the year for a possible eventual recovery. Brent has slumped to its lowest in more than five years, as top exporter Saudi Arabia and other large Gulf producers have declined to cut production in the face of fast-growing US shale oil output, despite pleas from other members in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. With no production cuts in the offing and a significant demand response years away, oversupply looks to be with us for a while, said RBN Energy analyst Rusty Braziel in a note. $100 a barrel crude oil prices are in the rear view mirror, at least for a couple of years. Brent crude for February delivery was down $1.66 at $55.67 a barrel by 1237 GMT, almost 5 per cent below the days high at $58.54, set within 30 minutes of the open of trading. Prices touched a post-2009 low of $55.48, having averaged around $110 a barrel between 2011 and 2013. Traders said a number of buy orders would have been placed ahead of the start of the New Years trading, with some willing to bet prices will bounce this year as expensive oil projects are potentially shuttered or cancelled. Markets were shut on Thursday for the New Year holiday. But gains on the first trading day of 2015 were short-lived. Front-month US crude CLc1 for February delivery was down $1.05 a barrel at $52.22, after reaching an intraday high of $55.11 shortly after the start of trading. Prices faced additional pressure on Friday on signs that output from some of the worlds largest oil producers continues to rise.

At least 10 people were injured in a clash between two factions of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student wing of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, in Bishwanath upazila of Sylhet Saturday afternoon, United News of Bangladesh reports.Rafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Bishwanath police station, said convener of the upazila JCD Matiur Rahman Sumon and convening committee member Shah Amir Uddin had long been at loggerheads over forming the new committee of the unit.As the supporters of Matiur were preparing to bring out a procession at the upazila headquarters on the occasion of JCDs founding anniversary, the followers of Amir Uddin put the upazila BNP office under lock and key in the afternoon.The clash ensued when the followers of Sumon tried to enter the BNP office breaking the lock.A chase and counter-chase took place during the melee that left at least 10 people injured from the both sides.Being informed, police rushed in and bought the situation under control.Additional police have been deployed in the area to avert further trouble.

Crisis looms as AL in no mood for dialogueJanuary 4, 2015 12:46 am0 CommentsMustafizur RahmanHaving completed one year in office in its second consecutive term virtually without resistance, the Awami League-led government now appears more reluctant than before to hold dialogue with its archrival Bangladesh Nationalist Party for an inclusive election.The Awami League has turned a deaf ear to the BNPs repeated demand for a consensus over an election-time administration for free and fair polls that intensified uncertainty leading to a political impasse.The government is more confident as it steps into the second year in office after the January 5, 2014 elections without any effective pressure from BNP or the people at large for a fresh election, a minister told New Age responding on BNPs demand.He said that the AL was not in a position politically so as to give in to BNPs demand and hold fresh polls midway to bring BNP to power. We have no choice but to serve out the five-year term, the minister asserted.Sheikh Hasina took over as the prime minister for the second consecutive term on January 12, 2014 through a controversial election which was marked by low voter turnout, ballot box stuffing and more than a half of the lawmakers being elected unopposed amid boycott by most of the parties, including BNP.Recalling the events leading to the polls, some cabinet members said that when no one was certain whether the election would be held in time, it was Sheikh Hasina who did not budge from her stand on holding the polls with herself at the helm on the ground of constitutional obligation ignoring the violent protests by the BNP and its allies for her resignation and restoring the non-party caretaker government system.The BNP termed the elections farcical and the AL-led coalition government illegal.Demanding fresh polls under a non-party caretaker administration, it time and again called for initiating dialogue to reach a consensus over the issue.The prime minister on several occasions rejected outright the possibility of mid-term elections as well as holding dialogue with BNP.Why mid-term elections, what problems have arisen, and for whom the mid-term election is needed? Is it to bring back the party of Ziaur Rahman who grabbed power illegally? Sheikh Hasina asked at a press conference in New York on September 27.Asked about the proposal for dialogue with BNP and other parties that boycotted the January 5 polls, she said that she had nothing to do, as per the parliamentary system, for a party which was outside parliament.The country has already plunged into a crisis rooted in the repeal of the caretaker government system through a constitutional amendment, said Tofail Ahmed, former professor of public administration at Chittagong University.He feared that the crisis might deepen further with the government increasingly showing fascist attitude and the opposition forces being denied their democratic rights to protest.The country is heading for anarchy. There is no sign the political deadlock will be over anytime soon, Tofail, also a governance expert, told New Age.BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Wednesday put forward a seven-point proposal, including an election-time non-party government for immediate holding of a fair and competitive election on the basis of consensus among the contesting parties, to put an end to the suffocating situation in the country.At a press conference in the city, she demanded reconstitution of the Election Commission before announcement of the election date with neutral, qualified and honest persons acceptable to all contesting parties so that necessary amendments to the RPO could be made, biased officials could be withdrawn from EC secretariat and field level.But Awami League promptly rejected Khaleda Zias demand for a dialogue to hold early polls under a non-partisan government.The caretaker government will never come back. So there is no scope for holding dialogue on the issue, AL publicity secretary Hasan Mahmud put it bluntly. He ruled out any chance of holding the next general elections before 2019.Asked for comments, BNP standing committee member Mahbubur Rahman said that their movement for a free and participatory election was gaining momentum with the support of the people.BNPs demand for fresh elections is not for its own interest, but for democracy. It is more important to see how much committed the government is to democracy than pointing the finger at BNP for its failure to press home its demand, said the BNP leader, also a former army chief.The AL-led government initially said that BNP must shun the politics of violence, sever links with terror outfits and accept the incumbent government as conditions for an effective dialogue between them.In his address to the first session of the 10th parliament, president Abdul Hamid on January 29 appealed to the parties that had boycotted the January 5 polls to help democracy flourish through dialogue with the government.The controversial 10th Jatiya Sangsad began its session with the party in the opposition sharing power in the government and major political parties staying out.A day after assuming office, LGRD and cooperatives minister Syed Ashraful Islam claimed that the Awami League had intensified the talks that had began with the BNP before the January 5 polls to reach a political consensus.He hinted that the talks for negotiations were going on offstage after a series of meetings between the AL and BNP at the secretary level which was brokered by the United Nations for an inclusive poll.But there was no progress in terms of political negotiations for a participatory election as time passed by, according to policymakers in the government.The government is going ahead with its five-year routine plan focusing more on issues relating to good governance and development in various sectors taking into consideration its previous lapses, according to several ministers.It was rather trying to brighten the countrys image across the globe in bid to remove the controversies over the January 5 polls at home and abroad, said officials.

The police on Saturday night laid siege to Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zias Gulshan office forcing her along with a few female leaders to stay inside.Khaleda Zia at about 11:45pm tried to go out to visit BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, who was reportedly admitted to Apollo Hospital in the city in police custody. The police, however, did not allow her to leave the office.Gulshan police station officer-in-charge Rafiqul Islam told New Age at about 12:30am today that they would not allow Khaleda to go anywhere except her house considering her security.The police action came amid simmering tension over counter programmes of the ruling Awami League and the BNP over the one year of the January 5, 2014 elections, boycotted by all opposition parties.Police in riot gear were seen deployed in front of the office, while Rapid Action Battalion personnel took position in front of Khaledas Gulshan house restricting traffic in the areas.Armored personnel vehicles and water cannons were kept standby at both the places.A platoon of female police was also deployed in front of Khaledas office.Khaledas special assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas at a briefing at about 1:15am in front of the office said that the police neither allowed her to visit Rizvi at the hospital nor to go to her house.Khaleda was still staying at her office until 2:15am.Earlier, Rizvi was taken to Apollo Hospital from the BNP central office at about 11:00pm on Saturday in an ambulance under police protection, party sources said.Paltan police station officer-in-charge Morshed Alam said that the police took him to the hospital after he suddenly fell sick.The BNP was yet to get permission from Dhaka Metropolitan Police to hold its rally in the capital scheduled for Monday to observe Democracy Killing Day on January 5.When asked, the state minister for home, Asaduzzaman Kamal, said, It is up to the DMP to decide whether to allow the BNP to hold the rally.Dhaka Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner [headquarters] Anwar Hossain told New Age, What permission? We are not giving the slightest thought to it.BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that the government started mass arrest ahead of BNP-led alliances protests across the country on Monday.More than 200 alliance leaders and activists were arrested on Friday night and Saturday across the country.Deputy inspector general of police [operation] Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, however, claimed, The arrests are not politically motivatedThere is no instruction to police to arrest only BNP and Jamaat men.The arrests include 79 in Bogra, 55 in Feni, 51 in Jessore, 12 in Manikganj and four in Sylhet.A BNP delegation went to the DMP headquarters for the second time on Saturday afternoon, but no official concerned met with them saying that the police officials were busy.They [on duty police] reiterated same statement today [Saturday] that no police official is present and all are busy with the preparation of Ijtema in Tongi, BNP publicity secretary Zainul Abdin Farroque told reporters after coming out of DMP headquarters in the afternoon along with Dhaka city BNP joint convener Abdul Awal Mintoo and assistant office secretary Abdul Latif Jony.Earlier on January 1 a delegation of the party visited the DMP headquarters to know the police decision over their application.The BNP-led alliance is scheduled for Monday to stage protests across the country including the capital to observe Democracy Killing Day, marking the January 5, 2014 election that was boycotted by all opposition parties.BNP on December 22 petitioned the DMP seeking permission to hold the rally at Motijheel Shapla Square or Suhrawardy Udyan or Naya Paltan in the city, but the police were yet to make any response amid ruling Awami Leagues threat to thwart the BNP rally.BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia is scheduled to address the rally in Dhaka.Replying to a query, Farroque said, We must hold our scheduled programme even if the DMP does not give - See more at: http://newagebd.net/83169/police-deployed-at-khaledas-office/#sthash.CoJ70QC0.dpuf

New Age OnlineA group of 10-12 youths, who identified themselves as Awami Juba League activists, on Sunday assaulted journalists, who were on duty near BNP chairperson Khaleda Zias Gulshan office, besieged by the law enforcers since Saturday night.Witnesses said that the youths attacked leaders of Jatiyatabadi Mahida Dal, women organisation backed by the BNP, after they were going out from the office after meeting Khaleda. As the journalists went there to cover the incident, the youths assaulted some of them.Asked by the journalists about their identity, the youth replied that they were activists of the ruling Awami League-backed youth organisation.At least three journalists were assaulted, the witnesses said, adding that the youths went away in the face of protests from the journalists.

New Age OnlineThe Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Sunday asked the leaders and activists of the BNP-led alliance to hold their planned rally on Monday in the city defying a ban imposed by Dhaka Metropolitan Police this morning on any rally in the capital until further order.She made the call while a group of journalists led by Shawkat Mahmud met with her on Sunday afternoon at her Gulshan office, besieged by the law enforcers since Saturday night.The journalist team led by Shawkat Mahmud entered the office at about 1:30pm.Emerging from the office at about 3:15pm, Shawkat Mahmud conveyed Khaledas message to waiting reporters in front of the office.Khaleda will hold the rally at any cost and continue the movement, Shawkat said.Earlier, the Supreme Court Bar Association president, Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, also the Bangladesh Bar Council vice-chairman, along with some other lawyers, came out of the office at about 3:10pm after an hour-long meeting with Khaleda.Khandker Mahbub told reporters that the BNP chief urged people and all the parties to join the movement for saving democracy and voting rights without waiting for her directions as she was confined.The movement will continue until the downfall of the government, Mahbub quoted Khaleda as telling the lawyer delegation.Khaleda called for a unity of all parties in the transition of the country and urged all to join the movement, Mahbub said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will address the nation tomorrow on the first anniversary of the January 5 national elections.The prime minister is scheduled to appear public around 7:15pm on Monday, an official of the PMs press wing told The Daily Star seeking anonymity.The media appearance will be aired live on national television Bangladesh Television (BTV), Bangladesh Betar and other private channels.Ruling Awami League announced that the party on tomorrow (January 5) will celebrate the first anniversary of the one-sided election as "victory day for democracy".Meanwhile, BNP-led 20-party alliance vowed that they will hold rally in the capital denouncing the January 5 elections.Following this, AL leaders have threatened that they wouldn't allow BNP men to take to the streets tomorrow and its supporters will be ready to resist BNP on the streets.

New Age OnlineThe fifth day of non-stop road, rail and waterways blockade sponsored by Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance across the country began with arson attack and sabotage in railway on Saturday.The nationwide blockade was announced by the besieged BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Monday for holding back BNP-led alliances planned Democracy Killing Day public rally on the same day.In the capital, a person was injured as miscreants set a bus on fire in front of Tejgaon Mahila College in Farmgate area around 7:30am.The victim Amulya Barman, 45, was a rickshaw-puller by profession.He was admitted to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.His face, both hands and others parts of body were partially burnt, our correspondent reported.In Comilla, the miscreants cut a 3-feet rail and unscrewed fishplates of a track at Betagaon in Nangalkot upazila that caused a train to derail interrupting train communications between Dhaka-Chittagong and Chittagong- Sylhet.Our Comilla correspondent reported that one coach along with the locomotive of the Chittagong-bound Mahanagar Godhuli that had started from Dhaka veered off the track in the area around 5:30am leaving the riders in acute suffering.No casualty was reported in the accident.The blockaders are responsible for the accident, witnesses said.A salvage train from Laksham junction reached the spot around 9:00am.The Chittagong-bound Chittagong Mail from Dhaka got stranded at Comilla station, said Md Shafiqur Rahman Bhuiyan, the station master.

(Reuters) - Iran's president said on Friday that a framework for a nuclear deal was just the first step toward building a new relationship with the world, after Iranians greeted the announcement of the accord with celebrations in the streets.U.S. PresidentBarackObamaalso hailed what he called a "historic understanding," although diplomats cautioned that hard work lies ahead to strike a final deal. That work will include efforts by Obama to sell an eventual accord to critics at home, and to close allyIsrael, which denounced the interim agreement and pressed for more safeguards in coming negotiations.The tentative agreement, struck on Thursday after eight days of talks betweenIranand six world powers in Lausanne, Switzerland, clears the way for a settlement to allay Western fears thatIrancould build an atomic bomb, with economic sanctions on Tehran being lifted in return.It marks the most significant step toward rapprochement between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Iranian revolution, and could potentially end decades of international isolation, with far-reaching political consequences in the Middle East.RELATED VIDEO

Iranians celebrate framework nuclear deal

Iran must commit to recognizing Israel's right to exist in final deal - Netanyahu

Framework for final deal reached at Iran nuclear talksIn a televised speech on Friday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate elected in a landslide two years ago on a promise to reduce Iran's isolation, said the nuclear talks were just the start of a broader policy of opening up."This is a first step towards productive interactions with the world," he said."Today is a day that will remain in the historic memory of the Iranian nation," he added. "Some think that we must either fight the world or surrender to world powers. We say it is neither of those, there is a third way. We can have cooperation with the world."The deal requires experts to work out difficult details before a June 30 deadline, and diplomats noted that it could still collapse at any time before then.RELATED COVERAGE White House 'confident' on finalizing details for Iran nuclear deal China says Iran deal good for Sino-U.S. relations Netanyahu says in any nuclear deal Iran must recognize Israel's right to exist Iran deal is step to better foreign relations: RouhaniThe agreement angered Washington's closest regional ally,Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared it could lead to nuclear proliferation, war and even his country's destruction.Israelbelieves Iran's goal is to destroy it.Netanyahu, who has the ear of Republicans who control both houses of the U.S. Congress, said the powers negotiating withIranmust add a new demand that Tehran specifically recognize Israel's right to exist.It appeared Netanyahu's demand would be unlikely to be taken up, even if the Obama administration is sympathetic to his concerns. Asked whether its inclusion in the final deal would be appropriate, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters in Washington:"This is an agreement that is only about the nuclear issue. We have purposefully kept that separate from every other issue. This is an agreement that doesn't deal with any other issues, nor should it. And that's what we're focused on."Asked about Netanyahu's demand, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said he had not seen the request but was aware ofIsrael's ongoing concerns. "We understand his position," Schultz told reporters. "The president would never sign onto a deal that he felt was a threat to the state ofIsrael."DECADES OF HOSTILITYUnder terms reached on Thursday,Iranwould cut back its stockpiles of enriched uranium that could be used to make a nuclear bomb and dismantle most of the centrifuges it could use to make more. Intensive international inspections would prevent it from violating the terms in secret. Washington said the settlement would extend the "breakout time" needed forIranto make a bomb to a full year, from 2-3 months now.ForIran, it would eventually lead to the end of sanctions that have cut the oil exports underpinning itseconomyby more than half over the past three years.Still, decades of hostility color the relationship betweenIranand the United States. Obama and Rouhani, who both took risks to open the dialogue with secret talks two years ago, will also have to sell the deal to skeptical conservatives at home.U.S. Republicans have demanded that Congress be given the right to review the deal. The White House expressed confidence about hammering out final details as Obama called the four top leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate - representing Republicans and his own Democratic Party - on Friday to discuss the framework agreement.TEHRAN CELEBRATESCelebrations, punctuated by honking car horns, erupted in the Iranian capital after the deal was reached.Conservative clerics signaled their support on Friday, including on behalf of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, whose authority exceeds that of the elected president.In the weekly sermon at Tehran University, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani, a 78-year-old hardline cleric, said Khamenei backed the negotiating team. Emami-Kashani praised the negotiators as "firm, wise and calm" and congratulated Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.WithRussiaandChinajoining the United States, Britain,FranceandGermanyas signatories to the deal, and even Iran's Sunni Arab enemies cautiously welcoming it,Israelwas the only country that publicly opposed it.Iran's other main foe in the region, Saudi Arabia, was more cautious, supporting the agreement in public, although its mistrust remains deep. It launched a bombing campaign a week ago against Houthis, Iranian allies inYemen.German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it was too early to celebrate. But he also saidIsraelshould study the deal more closely before opposing it.Saudi Arabia's new ruler, King Salman, told Obama by telephone on Thursday he hoped a final nuclear settlement would "strengthen the stability and security of the region and the world".However, the Saudis and other Sunni Arab states are concerned about a deal that benefitsIran, the leading Shi'ite Muslim power, which they see as a dangerous rival expanding its influence inIraq,Syria,Yemenand elsewhere.The Wall Street Journal said on Friday the Pentagon has been upgrading the biggest bunker-buster bomb in its arsenal even as talks continued over Tehran's nuclear program, readying a weapon that could destroy Iran's facilities if negotiations failed.Work to improve the design, guidance systems and anti-jamming capabilities on the so-called Massive Ordnance Penetrator began before the latest round of negotiations withIranstarted. The most recent test of the 30,000-pound device was in mid-January, the Journal said.The bomb was created to give the U.S. president options for attacking fortified facilities like Iran's Fordow nuclear installation, which is built into a mountain.(Additional reporting byLou Charbonneau,Stephanie Nebehay,John Irish,Parisa Hafezi,Leigh Thomas, Sam Wilkin,Alina Selyukh,Susan HeaveyandJeff Mason; Writing byPeter GraffandFrances Kerry; Editing byGiles Elgood, Dan Grebler andSandra Maler)

(Reuters) - U.S. employers added the fewest number of jobs in more than a year in March, the latest sign of weakness in theeconomyand one likely to further delay an anticipated interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve.Nonfarm payrolls rose 126,000 last month, less than half February's pace and the smallest gain since December 2013, the Labor Department said on Friday.The weakness was concentrated in the goods-producing sector, which has been hurt by a strong dollar and lower crude oil prices. Leisure and hospitality also saw a sharp slowdown in jobs growth, suggesting harsh winter weather could have dragged on hiring.While the jobless rate held at a more than 6-1/2-year low of 5.5 percent, the workforce shrank. The labor force participation rate returned to a more than 36-year low reached late last year."The report confirms the emerging narrative of slowing growth momentum seen in the other economic indicators. It will weaken the argument for a mid-year (rate) hike," said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York.The tepid increase in payrolls ended 12 straight months of job gains above 200,000 - the longest streak since 1994. In addition, data for January and February were revised to show 69,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported, giving the report an even weaker tone.After its robust stretch, the jobs figures now appear more in line with other signals from consumer spending to housing starts and manufacturing that have suggested theeconomygrew at a sub-1 percent annual rate in the first quarter. Economists had forecast that payrolls would rise 245,000 last month.Prices for U.S. government debt rallied as investors pushed back their expectations for a Fed rate hike, while U.S. stock index futures fell about 1 percent. The dollar dropped against a basket ofcurrencies.The U.S. central bank has kept overnight interest rates near zero since December 2008, but a number of officials have said an increase will likely be considered at its June policy-setting meeting. While economic growth is expected to rebound, it appears increasingly unlikely the Fed will have sufficient signs of strength in hand by then."Now the timing for the lift-off could be delayed to September or even to December. The June date is not off the table, however, assuming theeconomyand employment rebound," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo.DOLLAR AND OIL HURTThe buoyant dollar and lower oil prices have combined to crimp the profits of some large companies, forcing a reduction in capital spending.Equipment maker Caterpillar Inc has warned that lower oil prices will hurt its business in 2015, and Procter & Gamble, the world's largest household products maker, has cautioned that the dollar would hit its profits.The dollar has gained about 13 percent against thecurrenciesof the main U.S. trading partners since last June. Economists say the impact is equivalent to a half-point interest rate hike.At the same time, the sharp oil price drop has curtailed U.S. drilling activity. Payrolls in the mining sector fell 11,000, reflecting ongoing weakness in oil and gas extraction. Energy producers have idled half of their rigs since October.A harsh winter and a now-settled labor dispute at normally busy West Coast ports have also weighed on activity, as has softer global demand. Bad weather is estimated to have lopped off as much a seven-tenths of a percentage point from first-quarter growth.Construction employment fell 1,000 last month, while manufacturing payrolls slipped by 1,000.There was, however, some good news in the report.Average hourly earnings increased 0.3 percent. Even so, that only lifted the year-on-year gain to 2.1 percent, in the same tepid range that earnings growth has held to for several years.With Wal-Mart and McDonald's recently announcing pay increases for their hourly workers, wage growth could gain traction in the months ahead. Other companies, including TJX Cos Inc and health insurer Aetna, also have announced pay hikes.Although the labor force participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed or at least looking for a job, slipped one-tenth of a percentage point to 62.7 percent in March, other measures on the Fed's so-called dashboard continued to improve.A broad measure of joblessness that includes people who want to work but have given up searching and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment fell to a more than 6-1/2-year low of 10.9 percent from 11 percent in February.The number of Americans unemployed for 27 weeks or longer also declined to its lowest point since November 2008.In a sign that cold weather could have undercut job growth, the average work week fell to 34.5 hours, the lowest since September, from 34.6 in February. About 182,000 people said they could not get work because of inclement weather, slightly above the historical average of 141,000."It is possible that the colder-than-normal weather slowed hiring activity," said Lewis Alexander, chief economist at Nomura Securities International in New York.(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)

Hidden in an unknown corner of Inner Mongolia is a toxic, nightmarish lake created by our thirst for smartphones, consumer gadgets and green tech, discovers Tim Maughan.

The deepest holes dug by hand

From where I'm standing, the city-sized Baogang Steel and Rare Earth complex dominates the horizon, its endless cooling towers and chimneys reaching up into grey, washed-out sky. Between it and me, stretching into the distance, lies an artificial lake filled with a black, barely-liquid, toxic sludge.Id seen some photos before I left for Inner Mongolia, but nothing prepared me for the sight The alien environment at Baotou lakeDozens of pipes line the shore, churning out a torrent of thick, black, chemical waste from the refineries that surround the lake. The smell of sulphur and the roar of the pipes invades my senses. It feels like hell on Earth.Welcome to Baotou, the largest industrial city in Inner Mongolia. I'm here with a group of architects and designers called theUnknown Fields Division, and this is the final stop on a three-week-long journey up the global supply chain, tracing back the route consumer goods take from China to our shops and homes, viacontainer shipsandfactories.You may not have heard of Baotou, but the mines and factories here help to keep our modern lives ticking. It is one of the worlds biggest suppliers of rare earth minerals. These elements can be found in everything from magnets in wind turbines and electric car motors, to the electronic guts of smartphones and flatscreen TVs. In 2009China produced 95% of the world's supply of these elements, and it's estimated that the Bayan Obo mines just north of Baotou contain70% of the world's reserves. But, as we would discover, at what cost?Element of successRare earth minerals have played a key role in the transformation and explosive growth of China's world-beating economy over the last few decades. It's clear from visiting Baotou that it's had a huge, transformative impact on the city too. As the centre of this 21st Century gold-rush, Baotou feels very much like a frontier town.

Workers in a factory in Shenzhen make MP3 players (Credit: Kate Davies/Unknown Fields)In 1950, before rare earth mining started in earnest, the city had a population of 97,000. Today, the population is more than two-and-a-half million. There is only one reason for this huge influx of people - minerals. As a result Baotou often feels stuck somewhere between a brave new world of opportunity presented by the global capitalism that depends on it, and the fading memories of Communism that still line its Soviet era boulevards. Billboards for expensive American brands stand next to revolution-era propaganda murals, as the disinterested faces of Western supermodels gaze down on statues of Chairman Mao. At night, multicoloured lights, glass-dyed by rare earth elements, line the larger roads, turning the city into a scene from the movie Tron, while the smaller side streets are filled with drunk, vomiting refinery workers that spill from bars and barbecue joints.Even before getting to the toxic lake, the environmental impact the rare earth industry has had on the city is painfully clear. At times its impossible to tell where the vast structure of the Baogang refineries complex ends and the city begins. Massive pipes erupt from the ground and run along roadways and sidewalks, arching into the air to cross roads like bridges. The streets here are wide, built to accommodate the constant stream of huge diesel-belching coal trucks that dwarf all other traffic.

A coal mine in Baotou (Credit: Liam Young/Unknown Fields)After it rains they plough, unstoppable, through roads flooded with water turned black by coal dust. They line up by the sides of the road, queuing to turn into one of Baotous many coal-burning power stations that sit unsettlingly close to freshly built apartment towers. Everywhere you look, between the half-completed tower blocks and hastily thrown up multi-storey parking lots, is a forest of flame-tipped refinery towers and endless electricity pylons. The air is filled with a constant, ambient, smell of sulphur. Its the kind of industrial landscape that America and Europe has largely forgotten at one time parts of Detroit or Sheffield must have looked and smelled like this.Quiet plantOne of our first visits in the city is to a processing plant that specialises mainly in producing cerium, one of the most abundant rare earth minerals. Cerium has a huge number of commercial applications, from colouring glass to making catalytic converters. The guide who shows us around the plant explains that they mainly produce cerium oxide, used to polish touchscreens on smartphones and tablets.

Inside a rare earth mineral processing plant (Credit: Kate Davies/Unknown Fields)As we are wandering through the factorys hanger-like rooms, its impossible not to notice that something is missing. Amongst the mazes of pipes, tanks, and centrifuges, there are no people. In fact theres no activity at all. Apart from our voices, which echo through the huge sheds, the plant is silent. Its very obviously not operating. When asked, our guide tells us the plant is closed for maintenance but theres no sign of that either: no maintenance crews, no cleaning or repairs being done. When pushed further our guide gets suspicious, wonders why we are asking so many questions, and clams up. Its a behaviour well encounter a lot in Baotou a refusal to answer questions or stray off a strictly worded script.As we leave, one of our party who has visited the area before suggests a possible explanation: could local industry be artificially controlling market scarcity of products like cerium oxide, in order to keep rare earth prices high? We cant know for sure that this was the case the day we visited. Yet it would not be unprecedented: in 2012, for example, the news agency Xinhua reported thatChinas largest rare earth producer was suspending operationsto prevent price drops.One of Baotous other main exports is neodymium, another rare earth with a variety of applications. Again it is used to dye glass, especially for making lasers, but perhaps its most important use is in making powerful yet lightweight magnets. Neodymium magnets are used in consumer electronics items such as in-ear headphones, cellphone microphones, and computer hard-drives. At the other end of the scale they are a vital component in large equipment that requires powerful magnetic fields, such as wind farm turbines and the motors that power the new generation of electric cars. Were shown around a neodymium magnet factory by a guide who seems more open than our friend at the cerium plant. Were even given some magnets to play with. But again, when our questions stray too far from applications and to production and associated environmental costs, the answers are less forthcoming, and pretty soon the visit is over.

The refinement of rare earth minerals, like that done in this factory, can cause toxic byproducts (Credit: Kate Davies/Unknown Fields)The intriguing thing about both neodymium and cerium is that while theyre called rare earth minerals, they're actually fairly common. Neodymium is no rarer than copper or nickel and quite evenly distributed throughout the worlds crust. While China produces 90% of the global markets neodymium, only 30% of the worlds deposits are located there. Arguably, what makes it, and cerium, scarce enough to be profitable are the hugely hazardous and toxic process needed to extract them from ore and to refine them into usable products. For example, cerium is extracted by crushing mineral mixtures and dissolving them in sulphuric and nitric acid, and this has to be done on a huge industrial scale, resulting in a vast amount of poisonous waste as a byproduct. It could be argued that Chinas dominance of the rare earth market is less about geology and far more about the countrys willingness to take an environmental hit that other nations shy away from.

(Credit: Liam Young/Unknown Fields)And theres no better place to understand Chinas true sacrifice than the shores of Baotou toxic lake. Apparently created by damming a river and flooding what was once farm land, the lake is a tailings pond: a dumping ground for waste byproducts. It takes just 20 minutes to reach the lake by car from the centre of the city, passing through abandoned countryside dominated by the industrial architecture on the horizon.Earlier reportsclaim the lake is guarded by the military, but we see no sign. We pass a shack that was presumably a guard hut at one point but its abandoned now; whoever was here left in a hurry, leaving their bedding, cooking stove, and instant noodle packets behind when they did.

(Credit: Liam Young/Unknown Fields)We reached the shore, and looked across the lake. Id seen some photos before I left for Inner Mongolia, but nothing prepared me for the sight. Its a truly alien environment, dystopian and horrifying. The thought that it is man-made depressed and terrified me, as did the realisation that this was the byproduct not just of the consumer electronics in my pocket, but also green technologies like wind turbines and electric cars that we get so smugly excited about in the West. Unsure of quite how to react, I take photos and shoot video on my cerium polished iPhone.You can see the lake on Google Maps, and that hints at the scale.Zoom in far enoughand you can make out the dozens of pipes that line the shore. Unknown Fields Liam Young collected some samples of the waste and took it back to the UK to be tested. The clay we collected from the toxic lake tested at around three times background radiation, he later tells me.Watch the black byproduct of rare earth mining pouring into the lake at Baotao (Credit: Richard John Seymour/Unknown Fields)Unknown Fields has an unusual plan for the stuff. We are using this radioactive clay tomake a series of ceramic vesselsmodelled on traditional Ming vases, Young explains, each proportioned based on the amount of toxic waste produced by the rare earth minerals used in a particular tech gadget. The idea is to illustrate the impact our consumer goods have on the environment, even when that environment might be unseen and thousands of miles away.After seeing the impact of rare earth mining myself, its impossible to view the gadgets I use everyday in the same way. As I watched Apple announce their smart watch recently, a thought crossed my mind: once we made watches with minerals mined from the Earth and treated them like precious heirlooms; now we use even rarer minerals and we'll want to update them yearly. Technology companies continually urge us to upgrade; to buy the newest tablet or phone. But I cannot forget that it all begins in a place like Bautou, and a terrible toxic lake that stretches to the horizon.