Topics

46

Business Administration / Real-time marketing

« on: March 30, 2014, 01:40:05 PM »

Real-time marketing is marketing performed "on-the-fly" to determine an appropriate or optimal approach to a particular customer at a particular time and place. It is a form of market research inbound marketing that seeks the most appropriate offer for a given customer sales opportunity, reversing the traditional outbound marketing (or interruption marketing) which aims to acquire appropriate customers for a given 'pre-defined' offer. The dynamic 'just-in-time' decision making behind a real-time offer aims to exploit a given customer interaction defined by web-site clicks or verbal contact centre conversation.

47

BBA Discussion Forum / Impact of power tariff hike

« on: March 23, 2014, 04:14:37 PM »

Ready-made garment (RMG) factory owners voiced deep concern over the recent power tariff hike. A statement issued by Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said the recent 6.96 per cent increase in power tariff will result in the reduction of competitiveness of the export-oriented industry.
The BGMEA claimed that factors such as the increase in the RMG production cost by 13 per cent over the recent past and the rise in the value of the taka by 8.0 per cent against the dollar have already constricted the export profit, it added.
The RMG sector is also under a tremendous pressure, both at the national and the international levels, to invest in the remediation and retrofitting of the factory buildings, particularly after the tragic incidents of Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza collapse.
Various left-leaning fronts have warned of vigorous agitation if the government does not back off from raising electricity rates, describing the latest power tariff hike as 'unfair' and 'anti-people'. Power prices have been raised 11 times since the Awami League-led government took office in 2009. This month, the tariff was further increased by 6.96 per cent on an average. The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and the left fronts held separate rallies in Dhaka near the energy ministry to protest the hike.
Energy experts fear that the persistent trend of tariff increase will aggravate inflation leading to extenuating living conditions for the public. They also dread that the government will need to increase power tariff further in order to cover the huge production costs of oil-fired rental power plants.
It is a fact that electricity is dubbed as the engine of growth for any country as it helps rapid industrialisation, accelerates the pace of socio-economic development and reduces poverty. Like any other developing country around the globe, electricity demand has been rising sharply in Bangladesh as the country's economy has been growing at an average rate of 6.0 per cent a year since 2003 outpacing the energy supply.
Country's business leaders expressed mounting concern over increase in electricity tariff which, they said, might jeopardise the country's industrial growth. A sudden and significant increase of electricity tariff would be detrimental to industry as well as the consumers, they pointed out.
Energy experts say cost increases should be reasonable, appropriate and within the context of the state of economy. It must take into account the impact on the economy, inflation and employment. A steep increase in tariff would provide greater incentives for theft and pilferage, they added.
However, before the announcement of the tariff hike, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) commission called for a public hearing to hear the arguments and opinions of the stakeholders in the power sector, including consumer rights groups before giving verdict. During the public hearing, most of the participants were opposed to the proposed hike. They wanted drastic reforms in the sector first, before considering any proposal for giving approval to a hike for power tariff. However, the outcome of public hearing was never taken into cognisance by the authorities and this time as well there is no exception to that.
Power sector experts have suggested that the BERC should also look into consideration the outcome of the previous tariff hike before mulling further hike in electricity tariff. The commission should set standardised benchmark like systems loss, efficiency level of power plants of the state-owned entities before enhancing power tariff. They were critical over the wide variation of systems loss of the state-owned power entities pointing out the systems loss of Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO) at 9.0 per cent, while that of West Zone Power Distribution Company at 22 per cent. The distribution costs of the state-owned power entities also vary from Tk 0.50 per unit to Tk 1.26 per unit due to wide gap in efficiency level of such entities, they added.
On its part, the government claimed that the decision to hike power tariff was taken to contain mounting subsidy as the cost of electricity generation is skyrocketing with the installation of high-cost rental power plants to be run by diesel and furnace-oil. It has allowed building power plants by local and foreign firms on unsolicited proposals avoiding tendering process in an unusual move to face the country's worst-ever power crisis.
Despite all these moves, inadequate steps from the government coupled with insufficient supplies of natural gas, the main fuel for the country's power generation, have been delaying installation of the much-needed power plants. Year's of apathy from the donor agencies in funding necessary power plants also aggravated the country's overall electricity crisis. Nagging electricity crisis all over Bangladesh has recently become an issue of concern of the government as the power sector is deemed by critics as among the worst performing sectors of the government. Expensive diesel and furnace-oil run rental power plant, which was nil until 2008, has already accounted for over one-third of the country's total power plants with the operation of 14 plants out of 40 operational plants
While the pilferage problem was hardly addressed, subsequent governments did not adjust power tariff in line with investment costs, pushing the PDB (Power Development Board) to a perpetual loss-making situation. Analysts believe a tariff hike should be undertaken only after exhausting all other options for increasing power revenue. These options, as there is enough reason to believe so, have not been explored to their entirety. The price of one megawatt of electricity lost due to PDB's inefficiency is estimated at Tk 200 million.
This is also true that power tariff-hike may be necessary to ensure stable and sustainable supply at a given time.. And the government can also choose to do so, as and when necessary, provided it is for public welfare. However, the move for a fresh hike to power tariff has now come at a time when the entire power sector remains chronically inefficient due to years of neglect. Without improving the situation in power sector, it will not be a rational choice to force the citizens to pay for a service that they seldom get.

Source: The Financial Express

48

BBA Discussion Forum / Removing “Black Spot” on Road

« on: March 23, 2014, 03:53:06 PM »

The country's high-risk roads and highways have mostly made news for all the wrong reasons. This may change for the better if the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) can give the road users the expected benefits through a Tk 1.65-billion project it devised for implementation. Known as accident-prone black spots, the turns and twists of road segments may now turn driver-friendly in more ways than they ever were. That the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology  (BUET) was involved with the task of identifying the risky factors is assurance enough of a sound analysis of the danger posed by roads at some points because of faulty structure or design of roads or bridges, material obstruction to vision or similar other difficulties. According to RHD, it has already removed 83 such accident-prone black spots. Now it is willing to embark on eliminating the rest under the proposed project.

What is important here is the monitoring of the spots the RHD claims it has done away with. If the record is maintained meticulously, it will be able to show how the move has helped reduce accidents at those spots over a certain period of time. Even naked eyes can detect how blind turns and twists in the country's highways or the obstructed views of approach roads from bridges can be a cause for fatal road accidents. These are as dangerous as the railway crossings without a gatekeeper or bars. People know of such crossings but hardly of road segments where accidents continue to occur repeatedly. Now the monitoring is essential to make an objective assessment of the job done. A report carried in a vernacular contemporary has painted a most pathetic picture of road renovation. It claims that about 50 per cent of the total expenditure goes to the pockets of officials and influential people of the locality. Bribes and corruption mark the entire process. The result is substandard work and roads and other structures on them have a very short life span.

There is no reason why the same corruption culture should mar the project under consideration. But once such malpractices become systemic, it is also very difficult to get rid of the same. In case of dealing with an issue involving road safety, therefore, proper use of the fund becomes all the more crucial. If the project is implemented casually with the same willy-nilly approach, it will hardly be able to address the problem facing the countries roads and highways. Accidents exact a heavy price not only on an individual or a family but also on society at large. The country's deplorable records on this cannot be made worse by leaving the job half done or done in a careless manner. Architects and engineers can suggest the exact distance, altitude and other related matters in shaping a road turn, approach road and the height of a bridge. There should be no compromise on the requirements. Once again, involvement of the BUET at all stages of the project's implementation may guarantee perfection.

49

Business Administration / Emotional Conflict

« on: March 23, 2014, 02:26:39 PM »

Emotional conflict is the presence of different and opposing emotions relating to a situation that has recently taken place or is in the process of being unfolded. They may be accompanied at times by a physical discomfort, especially when 'a functional disturbance has become associated with an emotional conflict in childhood', and in particular by tension headaches 'expressing a state of inner tension...[or] caused by an unconscious conflict'.

For C. G. Jung, "emotional conflicts and the intervention of the unconscious are the classical features of...medical psychology". Equally, 'Freud's concept of emotional conflict as amplified by Anna Freud...Erikson and others are central in contemporary theories of mental disorder in children, particularly with respect to the development of psychoneurosis'.

50

Business Administration / [b]Cognitive Inertia[/b]

« on: March 23, 2014, 02:20:11 PM »

Cognitive inertia refers the tendency for beliefs or sets of beliefs to endure once formed. In particular, cognitive inertia describes the human inclination to rely on familiar assumptions and exhibit a reluctance and/or inability to revise those assumptions, even when the evidence supporting them no longer exists or when other evidence would question their accuracy. The term is employed in the managerial and organizational sciences to describe the commonly observed phenomenon whereby managers fail to update and revise their understanding of a situation when that situation changes, a phenomenon that acts as a psychological barrier to organizational change. The notion of cognitive inertia is related to similar ideas in the fields of social psychology and behavioral decision theory, including cognitive dissonance, belief perseverance, confirmation bias, and escalation of commitment.

51

Business Administration / High hopes for exports

« on: March 20, 2014, 02:52:25 PM »

Bangladesh's shipments to Asia, ME and North Africa will rise 15pc a year in the next 3 years, HSBC forecasts
Star Business Report
High hopes for exports

Bangladesh's exports to Asia, Middle East and North Africa will grow 15 percent a year over the three years to 2016 on the back of stronger global economic growth, according to a recent study by a foreign bank.

The country will see a major shift on its export destinations over the next 20 years, HSBC said in its Global Connections Report.   

Bangladesh was also included in the HSBC Trade Confidence Index (TCI) for the first time, and scored 103. This indicates a marginally positive outlook for trade, slightly below China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Although the US and Germany will remain Bangladesh's largest trading partners until 2030, rising incomes across emerging markets will help drive strong trade flows from Bangladesh to these markets, the study said.

By 2030, India and Turkey will overtake France and Canada, which were Bangladesh's fourth and fifth largest export destinations in 2012. 

Textiles, clothing and wood manufacturing will contribute around three-quarters of Bangladesh's export growth during 2017-2030, reflecting the country's expertise and low labour costs, it said.
Oxford Economics, a leader in global forecasting and quantitative analysis, and TNS, another London-based research firm, prepared the report for HSBC based on the bank's own analysis and forecasts of 180 economies.

Forecast data were modelled by Oxford Economics, while Trade Confidence Index was conducted by TNS on behalf of the bank in a total of 23 markets.

The survey comprises six months' views of 5,550 exporters, importers and traders from small and mid-market enterprises and the field work was conducted between November and December last year.

Conditions are gradually improving for Bangladeshi exporters. More than 35 percent of the businesses surveyed expect an improvement in trade volumes over the next six months.
More than half of the respondents to the TCI survey cited Asia as the most promising region for trade, while around 10 percent cited North America as the most promising region.
Europe was chosen by a third of the survey respondents, reflecting Eurozone's return to growth and the strength of European demand for Bangladeshi clothing and apparel, the study said. Bangladesh's exports grew to $27.01 billion in fiscal 2013, the highest in the country's history, up around 11 percent from the previous year, according to Export Promotion Bureau.

Shipments rose around 14 percent year-on-year to $19.82 billion during July-February of the current fiscal year.
The HSBC study said Bangladesh will focus more on the import of high-tech goods, both finished products for the rapidly growing consumer market and inputs into the global supply chain, in coming years.   

In 2012, high-tech goods accounted for 7 percent of Bangladesh's imports. Imports of such items are expected to grow slightly faster than total trade flows in the years to come, it said.
Industrial machinery and transport equipment are expected to account for more than 25 percent of total goods imports in 2030, indicating Bangladesh's substantial infrastructure needs.
Japan was Bangladesh's largest import supplier last year, but by 2030 China and India will be more important sources. Bangladesh's imports from China and India are forecast to grow more than 10 percent a year during 2017-2030, according to the study.

Intra-Asian trade will also get a boost riding on free trade agreements, it said.
Bangladesh imported goods and services worth $33.57 billion in fiscal 2012-13, up by 0.80 percent from the previous year, according to the central bank.

The Eurozone is the largest buyer of Bangladeshi textiles, so stronger European growth this year should boost economic growth in Bangladesh despite the dampening effects of political unrest on domestic activities, it said.
In the long term, rising foreign direct investment inflows should support investment in Bangladesh. Growing household incomes should open up the market for consumer goods, including high-tech products.
Almost 30 percent of Bangladesh's population now lives in cities. The rapid pace of urbanisation has boosted education prospects, with almost 60 percent now literate, up from less than a third in 1980.

As only 6 percent of the population uses internet, according to the World Bank, there are opportunities for rapid expansion of trade in high-tech goods, the HSBC study said.
The currency of choice for trade is overwhelmingly the US dollar, identified by 96 percent of the respondents. As a result, currency volatility is a concern for a quarter of the respondents. Almost half are worried about rising interest rates.

52

Business Administration / PUTTING A PRICE ON THE PRICELESS

« on: March 20, 2014, 02:12:05 PM »

Each year thousands of people get killed or injured in road crashes in Bangladesh. Victims or their families seldom get compensated for their losses. The Star finds out why and what legal options they may pursue in this context.


On August 13, 2011, Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier, award winning film personalities, were killed instantaneously along with their crew members, when a bus ran into their car on the Dhaka-Aricha highway. Every year thousands of people get killed in road crashes in Bangladesh, usually called 'accidents' here. What often happens after a crash is bizarre: the mob beats the driver if they can catch him. In some cases, the police arrest him. If someone dies or gets severely injured, they may get some kind of immediate payout from the owner of the vehicle or the driver, but nothing close to their loss. Sounds bad? Now get this: no one sues them for damages or loss. Because the idea that victims of a car crash may have the right to claim compensation from the party at fault is mostly unused in Bangladesh, although the law has a provision for it. If they get anything, it is from kind-hearted individuals or organisations.

Now all that may change.

On February 13, 2012, two cases were filed before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Manikganj by the families of Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier as claimants under Section 128 of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1983. On October 1, 2013 the applications under Article 110 of the Constitution, for transfer of both cases to the High Court Division were filed. Considering its importance and potential to set a precedent in future, the High Court issued orders to move the cases to the High Court. Earlier, a criminal case under Section 304 of the Penal Code for reckless driving was filed in this regard and is still continuing.
According to a WHO estimate, the actual number of deaths in road crashes in Bangladesh may be around 20,000, one of the highest in the world although the numbers released by various authorities in the country are much lower.The fatality rate for Bangladesh is around 70, which is 35 times higher than that in the United States (2.0) and 50 times higher than that in the United Kingdom (1.4). The fatality index (for Bangladesh) is around 60 percent, the highest among developing countries. Unless specific measures are taken, with the number of motor vehicles growing at 8 percent per annum, there is a serious risk that road casualties will increase.
“The term 'road accident' is not used in other countries anymore,” says Ilias Kanchan. “They call it 'road crash.' Because when you call it an 'accident', you are under the illusion that it is sort of an 'act of God' that happened beyond our control. The word "accident" absolves the responsible parties of any responsibility. But when you call it a 'crash', you know that mistakes were committed. And if we can avoid those mistakes, we can prevent crashes from happening.” Kanchan is a former film star turned road safety campaigner who lost his wife in a road crash in 1993. “The first thing the government needs to do is to disclose the real numbers. If they are hiding the real numbers from the public then how can we trust them to be sincere in its attempts to reduce the numbers?”

So the 'how many' is not known, but what about the 'why'? What are the reasons behind all these crashes?

“We have a tendency to always blame the driver for over speeding and reckless driving,” says Shahnewaz Hasanat-E-Rabbi, a researcher, at the ARI (Accident Research Institute), BUET. “But according to our own research, there are other factors such as the condition of the road, carelessness of pedestrians and condition of the vehicle,” he adds. Rabbi's colleague at the ARI, Kazi Md Shifun Newaz, Assistant Professor, says that there needs to be well trained, specialised teams in every zone or police station to investigate the real reasons behind the crashes. “Police personnel who fill out the Accident Report Form often do not cross factors other than the two mentioned by my colleague. Journalists too can play an important role here by producing reports that are more investigative in nature and objective rather than emotional.”
So here we are with such an astronomically high number of deaths and injuries without knowing 'exactly how many' and 'why'. You don't have to be an expert to know it's a bad start for tackling any problem.

“A structure for proper investigation of the crashes does not exist,” says Mridul Chowdhury, executive producer of “Death Trap”, a documentary film on road crashes in Bangladesh. “The problem is multi-layered and there seems to be no easy solution to it. But finding the real reasons is a start. Always blaming the driver is nothing but sweeping the problem under the carpet.”
At this stage, you are perhaps wondering what has stopped victims from claiming compensation. The reasons, again, are multi-dimensional and endlessly complex.

First, in order to get compensation, a victim has to take the initiative to file a compensation case. People are not aware that they can. Even the police may rarely know about the provision for filing civil cases. “And the police usually discourage victims from filing a criminal case against the party at fault,” says Kanchan. “There are two reasons behind it. If cases are not filed, then the police can underreport the number of accidents. Second, the police take the lead in mediating between the owner and the victim or the victim's family. But often the negotiated amount as compensation does not reach the victim.”

Blaming the police is a popular thing to do in Bangladesh but in the line of duty they are sometimes compelled to do things that do not necessarily fit their job description. “Although it is not the job of the police to mediate but for practical considerations people want it,” says Mohammad Nurul Huda, ex-Inspector General of Police. “A lot of victims need help immediately for financial reasons. They do not have the awareness to pursue legal options nor can they afford to wait. They expect the police to get involved and try to settle the matter without much delay.”
The question that comes to your mind at this stage is: Where do the insurance companies stand in all this?

“If a bus/truck owner has first party insurance, he should be covered for damages and loss of property or life,” says Osman Ali. “But if someone dies or gets injured, getting money from the insurance company is time consuming and cumbersome. So most owners now carry only third party insurance just to comply with the law.” Ali is general secretary, Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Sramik Federation, an apex body of road transport workers' unions.
“I am not sure of what third party insurance covers,” says Ilias Kanchan. “It's just money in the pocket of insurance company owners. But my experience with first party insurance isn't very pleasant either. When I had some damages to my car due to a crash, I got it fixed and the bill ran about Tk 50,000. The insurance company offered only Tk 25,000. I was shocked. They told me that if I wanted Tk 50,000, I should have made a claim for Tk 100,000. In other words, they told me to lie. Since then I have stopped carrying first party insurance on my car. I carry only third party insurance now.”

Sheikh Kabir Hossain, chairman, Bangladesh Insurance Association says that owners only buy the third party insurance policy to save money. “If the risks are high, then the first party insurance premium is high.” In 2011 the government established the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority to oversee the insurance industry. Md Fazlul Karim, a member of the regulatory body says, “If someone makes a claim through first party insurance and is denied the claim, they can make a formal complaint based on which we ask the insurance company to give us an explanation within 7 days. Then we tell the insured party what the company has told us. If the former is not satisfied with their explanation, we call a tri-party (the insurer, the insured and us) hearing and listen to both parties. If we find out that the insurance company owes the insured party, we give the former a written order as to pay the latter within a specific timeframe, interest included.” At the IDRA many positions are still vacant which, Fazlul Karim believes, will be filled soon.

Although civil lawsuits are rare in road crashes in Bangladesh, the Star has found at least two examples in the past. One case was filed in 2006 before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Dhaka but the parties reached a settlement and the case was disposed off accordingly. If the parties involved can reach a settlement among themselves it may save everyone time, energy and money that any legal procedure anywhere in the world may require. But filing cases in court may help establish a legal precedent that is important and necessary in this context.
“Another case (Bangladesh Beverage v Rowshan Akhtar) was initiated as Money Suit No 3 of 1991 which was filed by the family members of a deceased journalist who was killed by a motor vehicle near Press Club before the Joint District Judge, 3rd Court, Dhaka,” says Motahar Hossain, Advocate, Supreme Court. “It was filed under the Fatal Accident Act, 1885 in ordinary civil jurisdiction. The Court awarded damage of Tk 3,52,97,000 however the amount was reduced to Tk2,01,47,008 by the High Court Division on appeal. The matter is now pending before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.” Motahar Hossain, Sara Hossain and Charles Quiah, advocates, Supreme Court are assisting Dr Kamal Hossain, chief counsel in the Supreme Court in the civil cases filed by the families of Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier.

Dr Kamal Hossain, lawyer and statesman, says that this case raises questions regarding interpretation of the common law of tort (civil wrong), which will be precedent setting in our legal system. “Huge numbers of lives are lost and families destroyed through road killings. Although it is 30 years since our Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1983, few are aware of it, there are no standards set for determining compensation, few cases are filed, and those responsible continue to get away with total impunity.”

Hopefully these cases will lead to greater accountability established for vehicle/transport company owners and insurers, who will in turn, out of their own self interest, be motivated to support and institute measures for improvement of road safety, i.e. proper driver training, more rigorous enforcement of vehicle fitness standards, requiring first party insurance for all public transport vehicles and so on.

On February 15, seven children were killed and 50 others injured as a picnic bus carrying the school children fell into a roadside pond in Jessore's Chougacha Upazila after the driver “lost control” of the vehicle, according to news reports. How much were their lives worth? Can anyone tell? Will they be back if their families file cases? “We are not doing it for money. We won't be able to bring back Tareque and Mishuk,” says Catherine Masud. “But at least for those countless thousands of victims and their families, we hope to establish some kind of precedent so that in future there is some hope of accountability and legal recourse.”

Source: The Daily Star

53

Business Administration / Six Things about Fake Passports

« on: March 20, 2014, 01:55:43 PM »

The two passengers who managed to board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with stolen passports have brought to light the loopholes in immigration checks as well as the booming trade in fake credentials. We look at some facts and figures behind stolen passports.

1. Number of missing or stolen passports

More than 40 million travel documents have been reported lost or stolen by 167 countries, according to Interpol's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database.

2. Database for fake passports

Interpol's database was set up in 2002 because Interpol and its member countries saw a link between terrorist activities and the use of lost or stolen travel documents. Convicted terrorist Ramzi Yousef, who helped build the bomb which killed six people in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, travelled to the United States on a stolen Iraqi passport. Milorad Ulemek, who assassinated Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Dindic and former Serbian President Ivan Stambolic in 2003 , crossed 27 borders with a missing passport before he was caught.

3. Few checks carried out

While all 190 member countries can access the database to countercheck travel documents, "only a handful of countries worldwide are taking care to make sure that persons possessing stolen documents are not boarding international flights", according to Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble. The United States is the biggest user, with 250 million annual checks. The United Kingdom follows with 120 million and the United Arab Emirates with 50 million. Despite this, passengers boarded planes more than a billion times last year without being checked against the database.

4. Thailand the hub

Thailand is a centre for fake passports because of its booming tourist industry, which attracts a large pool of European, American and Australian travellers. According to a 2012 report in the Bangkok expatriate magazine The Big Chilli, the Department of Special Investigation created the Transnational Crime Intelligence Operation Centre (TCIC) specifically to target gangs which forge and/or steal travel documents. The centre's head, Tinawut Slilapa, estimated that there were about 20 foreign gangs specialising in passport fraud. Reuters reported that according to Thailand's ministry of foreign affairs, more than 60,000 passports, both Thai and foreign, were reported missing or stolen in Thailand between January 2012 and June 2013.

5. Price of fake passports

Tinawut told The Big Chilli that a passport in good condition, with three to five years left before its expiration date, can sell for US$1,500 to $3,000. There are extra charges for other changes, such as amending the photographs or adding visa stamps and stickers. Syndicates now have so many passports in their possession they can wait for a client who actually resembles the passport holder, and thus minimise changes to the document and ensure the fake passport holder has a better chance of clearing checks.

6. Crime syndicates

Terrorists are not the only ones relying on fake and/or stolen passports. Organised crime syndicates, drug smugglers and human traffickers also use fake papers to travel. In September 2013, Malaysian authorities arrested Seyed Ramin Miraziz Paknejad, 45, in Kuala Lumpur. He had fled Thailand where he was arrested in June 2012 for providing counterfeit travel documents to terrorists who carried out bombings in the country. According to a report in the New Straits Times, he was also suspected of providing more than 3,000 fake documents and responsible for trafficking thousands of people from different countries through the Middle East, Europe, Australia and Canada.

*Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, www.interpol.int, New Straits Times
— ONG SOR FERN
ANN/ The Straits Times