17-10-2018

UNITING PEOPLE EVERYDAY
WEDNESDAy, DHAKA, OCTOBER 17, 2018, KARTiK 2, 1425 BS, SAFAR 6, 1440 HijRi
The newly appointed Ambassador of South Korea presents his credentials to President Md
Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban Dhaka.
Photo: Star Mail
4 to die for
double murder
in Kishoreganj
KISHOREGANJ : A court
here on Tuesday sentenced
four people to death and 21
others to life term imprisonment
in a double murder case
in 2012, reports UNB.
The condemned convicts are
Alamin, Mizanur Rahman,
Nazmul and Swapan of Joyka
village in Karimganj upazila.
The court also fined them Tk 5
lakh each.
The lifers are Didar, Gias
Uddin Sarkar, Habibur
Rahman Habi, Dulal, Israil,
Jashim Uddin, Rafiqul Islam,
Islam Uddin, ShahabUddin,
Ashraf Uddin, Kanchan Mia,
Alam, Selim, Lokman, Harun
Mia, Kanchan, Sohel, Azad,
Rukon Uddin, Ratan and
Shamim. All the convicts were
fined Tk 5 lakh each.
According to the prosecution,
Kubad Mia and Zakarul
had an altercation with the
convicts over a charging a
mobile phone on August 24,
2012.
At one stage of altercation,
both groups attacked each
other, leaving Kubad and
Zakarul dead on the spot.
Oikya Front announces maiden
prog; rally in Sylhet Oct 23
DHAKA : Newly formed
Jatiya Oikya Front will
start its programmes
through holding a grand
rally in Sylhet city on Oct
23 to mobilise public support
in favour of its 7-
point demand for holding
a credible election,
reports UNB.
Oikya front leader and
JSD president ASM
Abdur Rob announced
the programme after the
first meeting of the opposition
alliance at his
Uttara residence.
He said they will go to
Sylhet on October 23 and
offer fatheha at the
shrines of Hazrat
Shahjalal ® and Shah
Paran ®, and then hold a
grand rally in the city.
After Sylhet, Rob said,
they will gradually hold
public rallies in all other
divisional cities, including
Chattogram, Rajshahi,
Khjulna and Rangpur.
On October13, BNP
together with Dr Kamaled
Jatiya Oikya Prokriya,
JSD and Nagorik Oikya
launched the Jatiy Oikya
Front.
Rob said the Oikya
Front leaders at their
maiden meeting took two
decisions-forming a liaison
committee involving
the alliance leaders and
holding grand rallies.
The JSD leader sought
cooperation of the government
and the administration
to peacefully hold
their programmes ahead
of the national election.
He said the Front leaders
will hold another
meeting on Wednesday,
and then announce the
names of the liaison committee
members.
The meeting began
around 12:15pm and continued
for around twoand-a-half
hours.
At one stage of the
meeting, former caretaker
government adviser
Mainul Hosein attended
it.
Apart from Rob and
Hosein, BNP secretary
general Mirza Fakhrul
Islam Alamgir, Nagorik
Oikya convener
Mahmudur Rahman
Manna, JSD general secretary
Abdul Malek
Ratan, Gano Forum executive
president Subrata
Chowdhury, general secretary
Mostafa Mohsin
Montu, Dr Zafrullah
Chowdhury, and former
vice president of Dhaka
University Central
Students' Union (Ducsu)
Sultan Mohammad
Mansur Ahmed were present
at the meeting.
PM off to
Riyadh on
4-day visit
to KSA
DHAKA : Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina left here for
Riyadh on Tuesday on a
four-day bilateral visit to
Saudi Arabia at the invitation
of King Salman Bin Abdul
Aziz Al Saud.
During her visit,
Bangladesh and Saudi
Arabia will sign two documents
on defence and ICT
cooperation, reports UNB.
These are MoU on Defence
Cooperation between
Bangladesh and the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
and MoU on Cooperation in
ICT Sector.
Besides, a number of
MoUs-both in public and
private sectors-are also likely
to be signed during the visit.
A VVIP flight of Biman
Bangladesh Airlines carrying
the Prime Minister and her
entourage departed from
Hazrat
Shajalal
International Airport at 3:45
pm.
The flight is scheduled to
reach King Khaled
International Airport in
Riyadh at 7:00 pm (local
time) on the same day.
Governor of Riyadh Prince
Faisal bin Bandar and
Ambassador of Bangladesh
to Saudi Arabia Golam
Moshi will receive the Prime
Minister at the airport.
During her stay in Riyadh,
the Prime Minister will have
a meeting King Salman Bin
Abdul Aziz al Saud at his
royal palace on Wednesday
afternoon.
Solid waste management essential
to save Cox's Bazar: Speakers
COX'S BAZAR : Population
of Ukhiya and Teknaf upazilas
in the district has risen to
more than 1.5 million people
due to the Rohingya influx,
reports UNB.
The highly dense population
generates 10,000 tons of
waste per month and immediate
steps should be taken to
address the resulting adverse
impacts on health and environment,
urged speakers at a
programme in Cox's Bazar.
They were talking at the
inception meeting of United
Nations Development
Programme (UNDP)'s project
titled "Sustainable Solutions
to Solid Waste: A Local
Response to the Rohingya
Crisis" in the district.
The US$ 4.8 million project,
initiated jointly by UNDP
and Sweden, aims to introduce
a sustainable system for
solid waste management in
Cox's Bazar.
The three-year project will
contribute to environmental
protection, prevention of diseases,
promotion of hygiene
and proper sanitary standards,
income generation for
host community and support
waste reduction and recycling.
Speaking at the event as the
chief guest, Mohammad Abul
Kalam, Additional Secretary
and the Commissioner,
Refugee, Relief and
Repatriation Commission
(RRRC) said, "Solid waste
management is now an
urgent need in Cox's Bazar,
considering the pressure
caused by the over-population
and the massive volume
of waste produced daily in the
crammed area."
"Waste can be turned into
resources if managed properly.
UNDP's initiative to manage
the solid waste is very
timely, government is ready
to provide all kind of support
for that," he promised.
Sudipto Mukerjee, Country
Director, UNDP Bangladesh
in his opening remarks said,
"Even though Bangladesh has
shown enormous generosity
by opening its doors to nearly
700,000 refugees, a large
multifaceted crisis has also
appeared including the aspect
of solid waste management,
which was overlooked."
"UNDP with support from
Sweden has come forward to
respond to that crisis in order
to keep Cox's Bazar clean and
free from pollution, and this
will the very first project in
Cox's Bazar on solid waste
management in line with this
year's World Habitat Day
theme, which is Municipal
Solid Waste Management " he
added.
Through this project, public
health risk and environmental
impact will be reduced and
at the same time, income generation
opportunities will be
created for the host community.
It will also change the
behaviours and attitudes of
host community to improve
the way how waste is generated,
disposed and managed,
said Sudipto.
Marcela Lizana Bobadilla,
First Secretary, Embassy of
Sweden stressed the importance
of developing a waste
management system by
building proper facilities. "We
are glad to be a part of this initiative"
Marcela said.
Earlier Faisal Ridwan, Solid
Waste Management specialist,
UNDP made the keynote
presentation.
NAP, NDP sever ties with
20-party alliance
DHAKA : Three days after formation of a new alliance
involving BNP, the BNP-led 20-party alliance suffered a split
as two of its components announced to leave it, reports UNB.
National Awami Party (NAP) and National Democratic
Party (NDP) announced to sever ties with the alliance
through a press conference.
NAP chairman Jebel Rahman Gani came up with the
announcement at Gulshan Convention Centre in the city.
On October 13, BNP, Jatiya Oikya Prokriya and a faction of
Jukta Front launched a new opposition alliance, 'Jatiya Oikya
Front', ahead of the 11th national election.
The World’s Longest
Portico
INTERESTING NEWS
Atop a forested hill, some 300 meters
above the city of Bologna, stands the
Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca,
a 12th century Roman Catholic church.
You can drive all the way up to the hill,
but you can also walk through a specially
constructed corridor. This covered
monumental roofed arcade consists of
666 arches and stretches for 3.8 km
making it the longest portico in the
world.
The Portico di San Luca was built
between the 17th and 18th centuries so
that the sanctuary's icon could be carried
up the hill during an annual procession
without it getting wet in the rain.
Legend has it that around the 15th century
there was an extended period of
wet season that was ruining crops.
When the icon from San Luca was
brought down from the hill to the city,
the rain stopped miraculously. Since
then, every year on the occasion of the
Feast of the Ascension, a procession has
been taking place carrying the treasured
Byzantine icon of the Madonna from
the Basilica to Bologna’s Cathedral of
San Pietro. With time, the path from the
sanctuary to the city center was paved,
and then covered with a portico to protect
the procession and the icon from
the rain that often accompanied the
procession.
Driver held over
'pushing youth to
death' from bus
in Chattogram
CHATTOGRAM : Members
of Police Bureau of
Investigation(PBI) on Tuesday
arrested a bus driver from
Balutoba area in Cumilla for
allegedly pushing a youth to
death from a moving bus in
City Gate area of the port city
on August 27, reports UNB.
The arrestee is Didarul
Alam, 42, son of Md Yasin of
Moulvi Bazar area in Sandwip
upazila and a driver of Bakkar
Paribahan.
Additional Police
Superintendent of PBI Md
MoinUddin said Didarul was
arrested from Cumilla and
brought to Chattogram in the
morning.
Earlier on September 1, the
helper of the bus Md Manik
Sarkar, 32, was also arrested
from his house in Ramgati
upazila in Laxmipur district.
On August 27, Rezaul Karim
Rony, 35, had an altercation
with the helper of the bus
which runs from New Market
to Bhatiari in the port city.
At one stage, the helper
pushed Rony out of the running
bus, leaving him dead on
the spot.
Angered at the incident,
locals blocked Chattogram-
Dhaka highway in front of the
City Gate for half an hour.
Supreme Court Bar Association supported to 7 points demand of Editors Council over Digital
Security Act on Tuesday.
Photo: Star Mail
Beijing to take its ties with Dhaka to next
level; expects stable political environment
DHAKA : Chinese Ambassador to
Bangladesh Zhang Zuo has said China
and Bangladesh will emerge as "great
partners of win-win cooperation" taking
the relations to a next level through
greater cooperation in core areas as it
expects a stable political environment in
Bangladesh, reports UNB.
"I do hope Bangladesh will have a very
smooth general election and the political
situation will remain stable during the
whole election process," he said in an
exclusive interview with UNB.
Apparently putting emphasis on the
continuation of stable political environment,
Ambassador Zuo said China would
respect the choice to be made by
Bangladeshi people. "I also hope the
friendship between China and
Bangladesh will last forever," he said
adding that lots of opportunities have
emerged in Bangladesh-China relations
that can be explored through joint efforts.
Referring to Chinese President Xi
Jinping's visit to Bangladesh in October
2016, Ambassador Zuo said the two leaders-Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina and
President Xi-elevated the bilateral relationship
to strategic partnership of cooperation
with the historic visit.
"This has created opportunities for
greater cooperation...both the countries
have opened a new chapter in their relations,"
said the Ambassador.
He said efforts are on to take cooperation
and collaboration between the two
countries to core areas-economic and
commerce, investment, cultural and people
to people contact-to the next level.
Ambassador Zuo, who arrived in
Dhaka in February 2018 taking up his
new assignment here, said since the visit
of Chinese President to Bangladesh, the
cooperation in commerce and trade
between China and Bangladesh as well as
people-to-people relationship have
reached a newer height.
Talking about the much-hyped Belt
and Road Initiative (BRI), he said
Chinese President Xi put forward the BRI
in 2013 and it got a very positive response
from all over the world. The BRI wants to
promote the connectivity of Asian,
European and African continents and
their adjacent seas, set up all-dimensional,
multi-tiered and composite connectivity
networks, and realise diversified,
independent, balanced and sustainable
development in these countries.
It aims to link Southeast Asia, Central
Asia, the Gulf region, Africa and Europe
with a network of land and sea route.
"In terms of development assistance
and investment, we're now in a very good
shape," said the Ambassador adding that
they look forward to fully availing of the
opportunities created by the State visit of
President Xi and bring more results for
the people of the two countries.
Stressing the importance of people-topeople
contact, the Chinese envoy said
enhancing people-to-people exchanges
and connectivity is one of the key components
of strengthening China-
Bangladesh strategic partnership of
cooperation.
The Ambassador laid emphasis on
deeper cooperation among the media
organisations of the two countries saying
that the media have an important role to
play in promoting the relations.
"I would like to stress the importance of
the role of media. I believe both the traditional
and new media can help build a
bridge between China and Bangladesh
when we look at economic cooperation
and many other aspects," he said.
Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam, Advisory Editor: Advocate Molla Mohammad Abu Kawser, Managing, Editor: Tapash Ray Sarker, News Editor : Saiful Islam, printed at Sonali Printing Press, 2/1/A, Arambagh 167, Inner Circular Road, Eden Complex, Motijheel, Dhaka.
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