11-04-2021

sunday

DhAkA : April 11, 2021; Chaitra 28, 1427 BS; Shaban 27,1442 hijri

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www.bangladeshtoday.net

Regd.No.DA~2065, Vol.18; N o. 07; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00

InternatIonal

Biden budget seeks

more for schools, health

care and housing

>Page 7

sports

Adama Traore fires

late winner as Wolves

beat Fulham 1-0

>Page 9

art & culture

nasir, shampa

with new song

'Binodini rai'

>Page 10

Stern action against

those involved in

anarchy : Anisul

DHAKA : Law, Justice and

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul

Haque yesterday warned that the government

will take stern action against

those who will try to create anarchy and

damage people's lives and properties in

the country.

"People voted to Sheikh Hasina's government

to discharge duties to serve them

and If anyone tries to impede the process,

the government will take action in accordance

with the law of the land, "Anisul

said while talking to newsmen after

receiving the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine

at the Armed Forces Medical College

in the capital's Kurmitola this afternoon.

In reply to Hefazat's mayhem , the

law minister reminded that there are

effective laws in the country to stop

hefazat declared jihad against the state

and communal activities .

Speaking about Covid-19 inoculation ,

the law minister said I have been administered

with the jabs twice with great ease

. The minister also urged all to take second

dose of Covid-19 vaccine to contain

the sharp surge of the infection saying the

government has the ability to give second

dose of the vaccine to all .

Framing next budget

considering 2nd wave

of COVID-19 stressed

DHAKA : Businessmen and economists

at a pre-budget discussion yesterday

suggested the government for framing

the next budget for FY22 considering

the 2nd wave of COVID-19 pandemic

and the fresh lockdown situation,

reports BSS.

The businessmen also urged the government

to take effective and practical

steps to continue production and

domestic consumption in this tough situation

as well as saving the small and

medium enterprises from extinction.

They also called for reducing the tax

and VAT rate at a rationale level and also

for pursuing a business-friendly revenue

management system.

The participants at the virtual prebudget

discussion called for specific

guidelines in the next budget for economic

recovery as well as called for

striking a balance between revenue targets

and facilitating businesses.

Dhaka Chamber of Commerce &

Industry (DCCI) in association with

Daily Samakal and satellite Channel 24

organized the discussion FY2021-22 on

Saturday virtually to outline the needs in

the key macroeconomic avenues and

roadmap of trade, industrial, investment

recovery as well as turnaround of

private sector from pandemic adversities.

Zohr

04:25 AM

12:05 PM

04:30 PM

06:23 PM

07:40 PM

5:40 6:19

Bangladesh again breaks daily

Covid death record with 77

DHAKA : Bangladesh recorded 77

more deaths during the last 24 hours till

Saturday morning, the highest one-day

total since the Covid-19 pandemic hit

the country, reports UNB.

The new death figure exceeded

Thursday's 74 as the pandemic keeps

wreaking havoc across Bangladesh with

new variants - "one from the UK and

another from South Africa."

The number of new Coronavirus

cases dropped slightly to 5,343 after

registering over 7,000 cases for the fifth

day in the last six days until Friday, said

a handout issued by the Directorate

General of Health Services (DGHS).

Bangladesh on Friday recorded 7,462

news cases which was 6,854 on

Thursday. On April 4, the country recorded

7,087 Covid cases and 7,075 the next

day. On April 6, the number was 7,213

and 7,626 the next day. The infection rate

slipped to 20.49 percent during this period

from 23.57percent of Friday's.

With the new 77 deaths, the Covid-19

fatalities rose to 9,661 while the mortality

rate remained static at 1.42 percent

for two consecutive days.

During the reporting period, 3,837

patients recovered, raising the number

of recoveries to 572,378, the DGHS

said.

Meanwhile, the government enforced

a 7-day lockdown from April 5 to bring

the situation under control keeping garment

factories and offices open on condition

of maintaining health protocols.

Later, it allowed public transports

movement in city corporation areas and

reopened shops and shopping malls

within a few days.

Besides, people's apathy to follow

health guidelines and lack of awareness

failed to bring any positive impact from

the apparently relaxed lockdown.

The virus claimed 568 lives in

Bangladesh in January alone this year,

while 281 in February and 638 in

March. Bangladesh has so far recorded

678,937 coronavirus cases, according to

the handout.

The number of daily cases and infection

rate had dropped below 5 percent

earlier this year but then it continued to

rise, posing a big challenge for the country's

health system.

Bangladesh reported its first cases on

March 8 last year and confirmed the

first death from the virus 10 days later.

Bangladesh has so far tested

4,973,489 samples, including 26,077 in

the last 24 hours, the DGHS said.

Of the deceased, 51 died in Dhaka division,

15 in Chattogram, 3 in Rajshahi, two

in Khulna, one each in Barishal and

Sylhet, four in Rangpur divisions.

As of now, 5,575 coronavirus patients

died in Dhaka division, 1,734 in

Chattogram, 525 in Rajshahi, 609 in

Khulna, 289 in Barishal, 336 in Sylhet,

385 in Rangpur and 208 in

Mymensingh division.

US firm conducts 2000th STS

LNG transfer in Bay of Bengal

DHAKA : Excelerate Energy, a USbased

LNG company, has touched a

milestone by conducting its 2000th

commercial ship-to-ship (STS) transfer

of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) at its

Moheshkhali Floating LNG (MLNG)

terminal located offshore Bangladesh in

the Bay of Bengal.

A total of 144,191 cubic meters of LNG

were transferred using the doublebanked

LNG transfer system using

Excelerate's Floating Storage

Regasification Unit (FSRU) named

Excellence and a conventional LNG

carrier in Bay of Bengal this week, a

press release said.

In a statement on Saturday,

Excelerate Energy's Chief Operating

Officer Cal Bancroft expressed his satisfaction

for achieving the milestone of

2000th STS transfer in the Bay of

Bengal as Excelerate represented a 20

percent uplift in gas supply to

Bangladesh.

"Having achieved this milestone safely

is a testament to the hard work and

dedication of our team and vessel crews

worldwide," he said in the statement.

Since 2018, Excelerate has been providing

clean, reliable energy to

Bangladesh through its two FSRUs

located offshore in the Bay of Bengal

while it has so far successfully transferred

over 236,405,000 cubic meters

of LNG using its STS protocol worldwide

in last 14 years after conducting its

first commercial STS transfer in 2007.

"Operating in challenging locations

like the Bay of Bengal is why all can

count on our teams to deliver muchneeded

energy," Bancroft said.

The Excelerate's MLNG terminal is the

Bangladesh's first LNG import facility.

The US-based energy company has

so far imported over 157 cargoes of LNG

and delivered an excess of 500 million

MMBtu of natural gas into the

Bangladeshi market.

In March, Bangladesh reached its

highest level of gas output with around

837 million cubic feet per day of natural

gas while the government continues to

increase its LNG imports to meet the

rising domestic demand.

people from many corners are crowding the spot to observe the dead whale.

Ignoring all restrictions in difficult situations of infection, lockdown is being enforced in this way.

the picture is taken from Jatrabari Wholesale market on saturday.

photo: pBA

Another whale

found dead on

Himchori beach

sAfIul AlAm, Cox's BAzAr Correspondent

Another dead whale has been spotted at

Himchhari Point on the beach in Cox's

Bazar. The whale, also the largest creature

on earth, is about 50 feet long.

On Saturday (April 10) morning,

locals saw the whale floating dead in the

sea during the tide. Later, the locals

informed the forest department and the

environment department.

Earlier on Friday, another dead whale

was found. Specimen have been collected

and buried in the ground.Local businessman

Abdul Gafur said the dead whale

came floating in the morning. The various

parts of which have rotted. The stench is

also spreading. Cox's Bazar Forest and

Environment Conservation Council president

Deepak Sharma said it was alarming

that two whales had died in the space

of a day. Earlier, in 1980 and 1990, two

separate giant whales floated in this way.

The reasons for their death are still

unknown.It is speculated that these

whales can be killed if they are collided

with a ship or eaten explosive device

thrown from a ship. It is important to

quickly find out the exact cause of death.

Cox's Bazar South Forest Deptt official,

Humayun Kabir said that after collecting

samples the Forest Deptt, Environment

Deptt and Fisheries Deptt, it will be buried

in the ground as before. It is possible to say

the exact cause of death. Details can be told

after testing the samples in the lab.

He said the whales would be collected

and stored 3 weeks after they were buried

in the ground.Sultan Al Nahyan, a scientific

officer at the Bangladesh Oceanographic

Research Institute, said the whale was 50

feet tall. The cause of death could not be

ascertained from the marks of injury. At the

end of the test, it will be possible to say.

photo: tBt

Ekushey Book Fair to end

tomorrow

AshrAful IslAm AshrAf

Wading through many concerns, the

Amar Ekushey book fair was inaugurated

on March 16. At that time not many

of us would have anticipated that the

Covid-19 situation will get worsened.

Starting from the first week of April the

government has imposed strict restrictions

as corona infections continue to

increase. Now the two-week lockdown is

scheduled to start again from next

Wednesday. As a result, the Ministry of

Culture has decided to close the book

fair on April 12.

However, the number of buyers at the

book fair was very low from the beginning.

Publishers and sellers are also disappointed.

In this regard the government

is going for a strict lockdown from

April 14. Earlier, State Minister for

Culture KM Khalid hinted that the Amar

Ekushey book fair will end on April 12.

Faisal Hasan, senior information officer

at the culture ministry, said in a message

on Saturday.

Agreeing with the government's decision,

Farid Ahmed, President of

Knowledge and Creative Publishers,

said, "we have no disagreement with any

decision of the government. We will

remove the books from book fair premises."

Due to Covid-19, the fair started on

March 16 this year instead of February.

Shopkeepers anxious for

limited buyers

shAfIqul IslAm

Wednesday, April 14 will mark the

Bengali new year, also known as Pohela

Boishakh. For that, the government has

decided to keep the shops open till on

Chaitra Sankranti on April 13. Although

no decision has been made to keep it

open since then. Despite the announcement

of lockdown, in the face of the

demand, the announcement was made

to keep running the public transport in

Dhaka and other city corporations from

last Wednesday and the decision to

open the shop came Thursday.

Clothing business is booming around

the first Boishakh and the Eid-ul-Fitr festivities.

According to traders, about half of

the year-round sales at these two festivals.

Due to the increase in Boishakh-centric

sales, the local fashion houses invest huge

amount of money every year.

Traders were hoping to make up for

the losses of past year incurred by the

business due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Products are also ready for sale in

Boishakh. Dhaka's shops reopened on

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated

the fair that afternoon. The fair

then runs from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on holidays.

On other days, the fair runs from

3 pm to 9 pm. But when the infection

rate increased dramatically in the country,

the schedule of the book fair was

changed from 4 pm to 6.30 pm on

March 31.

The Ministry of Culture said the book

fair would be rescheduled after the government

imposed a strict ban for seven

days as the situation continued to deteriorate.

A circular signed by Senior Assistant

Secretary of the Ministry of Culture

Jasmine Nahar on Sunday (April 4) said

that instructions were issued to continue

the activities of Amar Ekushey Book

Fair 2021 from 12 noon to 5 pm every

day till further orders.

At the same time, it is requested to

strictly follow the provisions and

hygiene rules issued by the Prime

Minister's Office and refrain from any

risky activities of public gatherings.

But even though the book fair is going

on despite the strict ban, the readers and

visitors do not get along well. Publishers

have expressed frustration over this. The

book fair will continue till April 14, said

the organizing body Bangla Academy.

But considering the circumstances, the

book fair is ending tomorrow two days

ahead of schedule.

Friday after being closed for four days

due to a 'lockdown'. The same picture is

in the case of other metros and districts

of the country. But the shopkeepers are

anxious about their business. Because

only limited number of buyers came at

shopping centers to buy their necessary

commodities on Friday.

According to the hygiene rules, the

shops are open from 9 am to 5 pm.

However, the Cabinet Division on

Thursday issued a notification stating

that legal action will be taken if shopping

malls and markets do not comply with

hygiene rules. The traders said that very

few buyers were coming even after the

opening of the shop.

Dewan Aminul Islam, president of the

Newmarket Businessmen's Association,

told, "People are coming. However, it is

80 percent less than other times.

Hopefully, the number of buyers will

increase after the Friday prayers. Now

we are busy ensuring hygiene. I am

telling the shopkeepers to leave if they

do not follow the hygiene rules.

SunDAy, APrIl 11, 2021

2

70,14,509

registered to

receive COVID-19

vaccines

DHAKA : A total of

70,14,509 people have so far

been registered to receive

COVID-19 vaccines in the

country as the vaccination

campaign was launched on

January 27.

"As many as 70,14,509

people got registered till 2.30

pm of Saturday to take

COVID-19 vaccines,"

Directorate General of

Health Services (DGHS)

sources said.

As of April 9, the number

of vaccine receivers receiving

the first dose of vaccine was

55,83,507. Of them

34,62,569 are male and

21,20,938 female. While the

number of vaccine receivers

receiving the second dose

was 81,323 as the

countrywide vaccination

campaign was launched on

February 7.

People aged 40 years and

above now can get registered

to receive COVID- 19

vaccines, the health ministry

sources said.

"The vaccination drive was

conducted at 50 hospitals in

Dhaka city and 1,005

hospitals outside the

capital," the DGHS said,

adding that the

immunization programme

will begin at 8 am and

continue till 2.30 pm every

day.

But some hospitals will

continue the vaccination

programme throughout the

day, the health official said.

People have been asked to

register through visiting

www.surokkha.gov.bd

website to receive COVID-19

vaccines.

Emergency hotline

numbers for receiving

information on vaccination

are 16263, 333 and 10655.

GD-629/21 (10x4)

Number of confirmed coronavirus cases

in Russia rises by 8,704 over day

MOSCOW : The number of coronavirus cases

in Russia increased by 8,704 over the day to

4,632,688, the operational headquarters for

the fight against coronavirus told reporters on

Saturday.

In relative terms, the increase in the number

of cases was 0.19%.

In particular, 699 cases were detected in St.

Petersburg, in the Moscow region - 587, in the

Nizhny Novgorod region - 245, in the Rostov

region - 240.

The number of so-called active cases,

patients who are being treated at the moment,

has decreased to 271,760, the headquarters

said. This is the lowest figure since mid-

October 2020.

The number of people who recovered from

coronavirus in Russia increased by 9,579 over

the past day to 4,258,279. According to the

headquarters, the share of recovered patients

remained at 91.9% of the total number of

cases.

In particular, 953 patients were discharged

over the day after recovery in St. Petersburg,

541 - in the Moscow region, 303 - in the Nizhny

Novgorod region, 213 - in the Samara region,

207 - in the Voronezh region.

The number of deaths due to coronavirus in

Russia increased by 402 per day, the same

number of deaths was reported the day before.

A total of 102,649 patients died. Conditional

mortality (the final one can be determined only

after the end of the pandemic) has grown to

2.22%, the headquarters said.

In particular, 31 deaths were registered over

the past day in St. Petersburg, 25 - in the

Rostov region, 24 - in the Samara region, 16 -

in the Sverdlovsk region, 14 - in the Moscow

region.

The number of new coronavirus cases in

Moscow increased by 2,006 per day. In total,

1,046,226 cases have been identified in the

capital since the beginning of the pandemic.

In relative terms, the increase in new cases,

according to the headquarters, was 0.19%. A

day earlier, 2,421 cases were identified, which

was the maximum since January 30.

During the day, 53 deaths from COVID-19

complications were registered in the city, a

total of 17,192 people died in the capital.

Battle for Yemen's Marib heats up,

53 dead in 24 hours: loyalists

DUBAI : Fighting for the key Yemeni region of

Marib has intensified, with 53 pro-government

and Huthi rebel fighters dead in the past 24

hours, loyalist military officials said Saturday.

The Huthis have been trying to seize oil-rich

Marib, the government's last significant

pocket of territory in the north, since

February.

"The rebels have managed to seize a bit of

territory" in the latest fighting northwest of

the city, a pro-government military source

said, adding that they did not threaten the city

of Marib itself.

The same source said 22 government

soldiers including five officers had been killed,

along with 31 rebels.

The Huthis rarely announce casualties on

their own side.

The Iran-backed rebels in 2014 overran the

capital Sanaa, 120 kilometres (75 miles) to the

west of Marib, along with much of northern

Yemen. That prompted a Saudi-led coalition

to intervene the following year to prop up the

government.

Loyalist military officials said Saturday that

coalition aircraft had carried out strikes

against the rebels, but the Huthis had pushed

on with their offensive.

The rebels have stepped up missile and

drone strikes against neighbouring Saudi

Arabia in recent months, rejecting a Saudi

proposal for a ceasefire.

The loss of Marib would be a heavy blow for

the Yemeni government, currently based in

the southern city of Aden, and for its Saudi

backers.

It would also threaten a humanitarian

disaster, as at least a million civilians

displaced from fighting elsewhere have

sought refuge in Marib camps.

Deputy Commissioner Md Shariful Islam distributing masks, soap-baking power and detergent

power among mass people.

Photo : TBT

Joypurhat

DC urges to

wear mask

Masrakul Alam

In Joypurhat municipal area,

Deputy Commissioner Md

Shariful Islam urged

everyone to wear masks and

enter the mosque following

hygiene rules.

He urged this while

distributing masks, soapbaking

powder and detergent

to all mosques in the

municipal area of the city on

Saturday morning. Joypurhat

Municipality organized the

program.

Superintendent of Police

(SP) Masum Ahmed Bhuiyan

(PPM) of Joypurhat, Sadar

Upazila Nirbahi Officer

Milton Chandra Roy,

Municipal Mayor Mostafizur

Rahman Mostaq, District

Awami League General

Secretary Zakir Hossain,

Joypurhat Red Crescent

Society General Secretary

Golam Haqqani and others

were present.

Pfizer seeks Covid

vaccine authorization for

12-15 year olds in US

WASHINGTON : Pfizer-

BioNTech asked for

authorization Friday to use

their Covid-19 vaccine on 12

to 15-year-olds in the United

States, which could mark a

crucial next step toward

achieving herd immunity.

The mass vaccination of

teenagers would also relieve

an enormous strain on

parents who are juggling the

demands of homeschooling

their children while keeping

up with jobs.

The companies said in a

statement that they plan to

make similar requests of

other regulatory authorities

worldwide in coming days.

GM Quader greets

PM on Bangla

New Year

DHAKA : Jatiya Party

Chairman and Deputy Leader

of the Opposition in Parliament

Ghulam Muhammed Quader

on Saturday greeted Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina on the

occasion of the upcoming

Bangla New Year-1428 by

sending a greeting card.

On behalf of the premier, her

Protocol Officer Md Abu Zafar

Raju received the card.

Earlier, Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina greeted Jatiya

Sangsad (JS) Speaker Dr Shirin

Sharmin Chaudhury,

Opposition Leader Raushon

Ershad and Deputy Opposition

Leader and Jatiya Party

Chairman Ghulam

Muhammed Quader on the

occasion of the Bangla New

Year by sending cards to them.

On behalf of the Prime

Minister, her Protocol Officer

Md Abu Zafar Raju handed over

the greeting cards to the private

secretaries of the respective

persons on April 5.

The Bangla New Year is

celebrated on 14 April every

year.This year, the government

decided to celebrate the Pohela

Boishakh, the first day of the

Bangla New Year 1428, virtually

as global pandemic coronavirus

is transmitting alarmingly.

Khaleque for stern

action to prevent

coronavirus

KHULNA : Khulna City Corporation (KCC)

Mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleque on

Saturday asked government officials, law

enforcement agencies to take stern action

against the violators of health safety

guidelines and other rules set by the

government to prevent the sudden surge of

COVID-19 in the country.

"Everybody must wear face mask,

maintain social distance, use regular

sanitizers and abide by health guidelines to

prevent the deadly virus", he said while

addressing a meeting as chief guest at

Khulna Circuit House conference room.

Cabinet division secretary (Coordination

and Reform) Md Kamal Hossain virtually

joined the meeting.

Chaired by Khulna deputy commissioner

Md Helal Hossain, the meeting was

addressed, among others, by director of

GD-628/21 (10x3)

Khulna divisional health department Dr

Rasheda Sultana, director of Khulna

Medical College Hospital (KMCH) Dr A T

M Monjur Morshed, superintendent of

police Md Mahbub Hossain, Khulna civil

surgeon Dr Niaz Mohammad, deputy

police commissioner of Khulna

Metropolitan Police (KMP) Md Ehsan

Shah, deputy director of Local Government

Md Iqbal Hossain and additional deputy

commissioner Dr Sheikh Farid Uddin.

The meeting also took several decisions

including -select Khulna Medical College

Hospital (KMCH) for only coronae

patients' treatment, enhancing more 100-

bed for corona patients with existing 100

bed and ensuring speedy results of corona

test.

A coordination committee was formed to

ensure treatment of corona patients.

SUNdAY, APRIL 11, 2021

3

On Holiday, the overflowing crowd of book lovers at Amar Ekushey Book Fair. The picture is taken

from Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital.

Photo: PBA

Bangladesh far away from herd immunity;

only massive vaccination can help: Experts

DHAKA : Achieving the herd immunity

through a massive vaccination drive

can be the best option for Bangladesh

to get rid of the deadly Coronavirus as

all the steps, including the lockdown,

have failed to slow down its upsurge in

the country, experts said.

Though many people are believed to

have developed antibodies through

infections, Bangladesh is not on its way

to achieving herd immunity as Covid's

new variants like South African one can

dodge people's that type of immune

protection, according to the experts,

reports UNB.

They think the government should

focus mainly on collecting at least 25

crore doses of the vaccine from

different sources to attain herd

immunity.

They also said though some studies

have raised questions about the efficacy

of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine

against the South African variant, most

studies suggest it can at least reduce the

mortality and morbidity rates.

Herd immunity is a concept based on

the body's immune resistance to the

spread of a deadly disease or virus and

it can be attained in two ways-naturally

or through infections of the majority

population and artificially or through

vaccinating at least 70% of the

population of a country.

Talking to UNB, Prof Muzaherul

Huq, a former adviser to WHO South-

East Asia region, said Bangladesh is not

moving towards attaining herd

immunity for the lack of a strong

vaccination drive.

"Bangladesh is far away from

achieving herd immunity as only

around 55 lakh people have so far given

the first dose of Covid vaccine. The

official figure about the virus cases is

only 6,73,594. We don't know how

many people here have the antibody.

So, we've an option to vaccinate our

majority people for attaining herd

immunity," he observed.

Noted virologist Prof Nazrul Islam

said though many people have

developed due to infections by the

virus, Bangladesh is not heading

towards herd immunity.

"The antibody that developed among

our people through the infections of the

Italian variant looks to be ineffective

against the South African one," he said.

Though the official figure of Covid

cases is very low, Prof Nazrul thinks a

substantial number of the population of

Bangladesh have already been infected

with different variants of the virus and

have the antibody. "But we're not sure

whether such antibodies can immune

people from different variants as we're

hearing about reinfections."

Prof Muzaherul said, "We must

collect 25 crore jabs to vaccinate

around 12.5 crore people to attain the

herd immunity in Bangladesh. The

government should work out strategies

in this regard. Or else, it won't be

possible to control the spread of the

virus in a country like Bangladesh

where most people are reluctant to

maintain health safety rules."

He said the government should look

for alternative sources of vaccine to

ensure it for the country's majority

population within a short time.

Once the government can ensure the

vaccine for at least 12.5 crore people,

Muzaherul said, the new variants will

not be a major concern for Bangladesh.

"When the new variants will appear,

new vaccines will also be developed.

The infections of the virus caused by

new variants will be very low when the

herd immunity will be achieved

through a massive vaccination

programme."

Additional Director General of DGHS

Professor Meerjady Sabrina Flora said

Bangladesh does not believe in a policy

of achieving herd immunity through

the infection of its vast population.

"We're working for the prevention of

infections. We should never expect to

get the herd immunity through

infections as it'll lead to many deaths,"

she said.

Flora said there should be a target of

having herd immunity through

vaccination. "But there's a challenge to

ensure vaccines for all countries. We

need global herd immunity. One single

country cannot protect its population

from the virus by gaining herd

immunity if the virus continues to

mutate in other countries."

"Now have connectivity with

different countries all over the world.

So, it's difficult to resist the entry of new

virus variants in our country. In fact, no

country can do it alone. "So, global herd

immunity is necessary," she observed.

The DGHS ADG also said global herd

immunity is possible if the vaccination

can be ensured for all countries based

on equity.

Senior journalist

Hassan Shahriar

passes away

DHAKA : Hassan Shahriar, a veteran

journalist and former Jatiya Press

Club (JPC) president, passed away at

a city hospital on Saturday. He was

76, reports UNB.

Shahriar, also a two-term

president of Commonwealth

Journalists' Association (CJA),

breathed his last at Impulse Hospital

around 11:45am while undergoing

treatment there, JPC joint secretary

Mainul Alam told UNB.

He said the senior journalist was

admitted to the hospital around 1:30

am on Friday with various

symptoms of coronavirus, including

fever, cough and breathing problem.

Mainual said Shahriar underwent

Covid-19 test a week back but the

result came out negative. "Later, he

was admitted to the hospital with

80% damaged lungs and serious

breathing problem."

Shahriar, a confirmed bachelor,

retired from the Daily Ittefaq as its

Executive Editor in 2008 after

serving the newspaper for a long

time.

He was the first editor of the Daily

Sun and Chief Editor of Chittagongbased

Daily People's View.

Shahriar also worked as

Bangladesh correspondent of

international news magazine

Newsweek, Khaleej Times, India's

Daily Deccan Herald, The Indian

Express and The Asian Age,

Pakistan's Morning News, Dawn and

Evening Star.

The number of corona patients is increasing day by day in Chittagong district. The infection situation

is getting worse as the corona infected person is not in isolation besides neglecting hygiene. Patients

and relatives are rushing to the hospital every day with corona and symptoms. Photo : Star Mail

Akram Khan

tests positive

for Covid-19

DHAKA : Former

Bangladesh captain and

current director of

Bangladesh Cricket Board

(BCB) Akram Khan has

tested positive for Covid-19.

He is currently in home

isolation, reports UNB.

Sources close to Akram's

family told UNB that the

former skipper was suffering

from Covid-19 symptoms for

the past few days and hence

got himself tested.

Akram also told a local

media outlet that he decided

to undergo the Covid-19 test

after experiencing

symptoms of coronavirus.

"I have been suffering

from cold and throat pain

for the past few days, and

hence got myself tested.

Currently, I'm in home

isolation. Other members of

my family will undergo the

Covid-19 test on Saturday,"

he said.

Due to an unprecedented

surge in Covid-19 cases in

recent weeks, BCB has put

on hold the remaining

matches of the National

Cricket League (NCL).

Although the government

enforced a 7-day lockdown

from Monday, people have

been moving around freely,

posing risks of more

transmission. The

government has hinted at

imposing a complete

lockdown from April 14.

DU moves to

increase graduates'

proficiency

DHAKA UNIVERSITY : The

Dhaka University is

introducing 'Graduate

Promotion and Skill

Development' programme

to make its graduates more

efficient, skilled and

employable, reports UNB.

The goal is to secure places

for its graduates in the

national and international

competitive markets and

produce adequate skilled

human resources to

contribute to achieving

sustainable development

goals.

Thursday's syndicate

meeting, chaired by the DU

vice-chancellor, approved

the initiative.

The syndicate body

finalised the decision

following the Dean's

committee recommendation

and Academic Council's

approval, said a press

release issued Friday.

Under this programme,

the university will sign

MoUs and exchange

agreements with various

universities, institutes,

departments or industrial

establishments at home and

abroad for inter-relationship

and inter-cooperation.

The programme featured

different kinds of training

which include national and

international language

teaching and special training

on applicable knowledge,

corporate etiquette and

manners, use of technology

and presentation.

100 farmers get

incentives for

Aush farming

in Gazipur

GAZIPUR : A total of 100

small and marginalized

farmers were get seeds of

high yielding Aush paddy

and fertilizer free of cost to

increase Aush cultivation in

Kaliganj upazila of the

district.

The farmers were got the

support under the

government's agricultural

incentive programme

through the Department of

Agriculture Extension

(DAE).

Upazila Nirbahi Officer

(UNO) of Kaliganj Md.

Shibli Sadiq inaugurated the

distribution program on

Friday morning in

compliance with the health

rules.

Tipu for joint efforts with

Nepal to face post-pandemic

challenges

DHAKA : Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi

yesterday called for concerted efforts by both

Nepal and Bangladesh in facing the

challenges in the post pandemic world order.

Tipu made the call while delivering the

keynote speech virtually from here at the

55th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of

Federation of Nepalese Chambers of

Commerce & Industry (FNCCI) held at Hotel

Soaltee Crowne Plaza at Kathmandu.

The 55th AGM of FNCCI was inaugurated

by the Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma

Oli and attended by ministers, politicians,

diplomats, government officials and

members of the business community.

He also gave an outline of the development

strategies pursued by the government of

Bangladesh in the last 12 years which helped

the country to graduate from the LDC

category much earlier than expected, said a

press release.

In his address, Tipu mentioned that the

recent remarkable socio-economic

development in Bangladesh was the result of

the macroeconomic management and

inclusive development policies pursued by

the government of Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina.

Bangladesh's success stories in women

empowerment, growth of Small and

Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and integration

in the international labour market are now

recognized as models for development by the

world community, he added.

"As a result of prudent policies of the

government, the economy experienced

steady growth in the last one decade. Even

during the pandemic, Bangladesh attained

remarkable economic growth as a result of

timely intervention of the government by

expanding the social safety net outreach

and extending stimulus packages to keep

the economy up and running, the minister

said.

He also highlighted the potential

challenges of LDC graduation and the

measures taken by the government to absorb

the impending shocks.

Tipu said that in an effort to face the

challenges following the erosion of

preferential treatments in the postgraduation

period, Bangladesh is attaching

the highest importance to regional

cooperation.

The country is implementing a number of

mega projects and pursuing a policy of

private public partnership in building

infrastructures which is likely to increase the

business competitiveness of Bangladesh in

the post-graduation period, he added.

Long traffic jam on the road in front of New Market in the capital

on holiday.

Photo: PBA

Sujon visits road extension

development work in Panchagarh

PANCHAGARH : Railways Minister

Advocate Nurul Islam Sujon visited the

road extension development work in

Debiganj upazila of Panchagarh district on

Friday.

The newly constructed road has been

extended to 18 feet from 12 feet. The work of

about 25 kilometers road is going on from

Debiganj to Fulbari in Debiganj upazila.

Earlier, the minister inaugurated the road

extension work on September 27 in 2019.

The Local Government Engineering

Department (LGED) is implementing the

construction work at a cost of Taka 31 crore

62 lakh. About 50 percent work of road has

been completed.

After visiting the site, the minister said that

communication is becoming a pre-condition

to development. The present government is

relentlessly working for overall development

throughout the country. When completed,

the people could go easily from one place to

another place and farmers will also be

benefited economically.

The minister directed the concerned

department to complete the construction

work of road very soon.

Upazila Chairman Abdul Malek Chistee,

UNO Prottoy Hasan, woman vice-chairman

Ritu Akter, Upazila Awami League President

Gias Uddin Chowdary and others were

present.

DoE's top bureaucrat

dies of Covid-19

DHAKA : The Director-General of the Department of Environment (DoE), Dr AKM Rafique

Ahammed, died at a hospital in Dhaka early on Saturday morning, days after contracting

Covid-19.

Dr Rafique passed away at Central Police Hospital around 4.14 am, said Dipankar Bar,

Senior Information Officer of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

The top environment officer was undergoing treatment at the hospital since March 23 and

put on life support after his condition worsened on Friday.

A BCS (administration) cadre of 10th batch who joined government service in 1991, Dr

Rafique is survived by his wife and two sons.

Before joining DoE on May 22, 2019, Rafique served as a commercial counsellor at the

Consulate of Bangladesh in Dubai.

Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin, deputy minister

Habibun Nahar, secretary Ziaul Hasan, and employees of the ministry have expressed deep

shock at the demise of Dr Rafique.

SUndAy, ApRIL 11, 2021

4

For autocrats like Putin, repression is often a winner

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Sunday, April 11, 2021

Sustain advances

in RMG sector

It is a realistic view that Bangladesh now stands a unique

opportunity of achieving the number one RMG (ready

made garments) band in world market if it can successfully

carry out some ongoing reforms and upgradation in the RMG

sector. It will be another milestone Bangladesh can achieve on

the way of achievingfull fledged mid income country status .

Cheap but hard working honest labour, cheaper gas and

power helped develop Bangladesh grow into a preferred brand

of ready Made Garments (RMG) in the world market. In our

usual visits to shopping malls in Northern America, Western

Europe, Middle Eastern countries and even in Australia we

come across made in Bangladesh quality garments products

almost everywhere.

But some incidents of fire and building collapse with special

mention of Tajrin Garments and Rana plaza dented

Bangladesh Garment sector reputation quite a bit. But as far as

competitiveness and quality Bangladesh RMG is still number

two band just behind China in world market. With China

intending moving out of low end RMG products gradually,

Bangladesh stands a huge opportunity of claiming the Number

One band if we can make some very critical reforms and

upgrading of our RMG industry. This prospect has further

heightened with the recent Chinese announcement of

withdrawl of all tariff restrictions on the entry of Bangladeshi

made garments products in the vast China market.

Let us try to assess what are the present challenges and

what needs to be done?

Some quarter believes USA suspending GSP from

Bangladesh RMG will cause major impediments. But the

continued growth of RMG export even after US withdrawal of

GSP proves the apprehension wrong.USA is only part of

Bangladesh market of RMG. Bangladeshi RMG is still

enjoying preferred brand advantage in EU Countries , Canada

, Eastern European countries and in some Middle eastern

countries.

The important state visit of PM Hasina to China among

other milestone achievements of potential China Bangladesh

cooperation and collaboration has also achieved a major

stepping stone in RMG sector.

Bangladesh and China have agreed on setting up modern

self-contained garments village on the outskirts of Dhaka city

at Gazaria. In addition to that China will have an exclusive

Chinese industrial zone where Chinese investors will also set

up export oriented RMG factories and products will be

exported as Bangladesh brand. Even the Japan visit has also

opened avenues of Japanese investors making Bangladesh

their preferred locations for setting up industries including

RMG.

There is no denial that enabling environment for RMG and

competitive edge of Bangladesh RMG in world market led to

mushrooming of RMG industry of RMG factories in the city

centers of Dhaka and Chittagong cities and suburbs. Many

foreign nationals working in Bangladesh RMG sector hardly

cared for providing minimum working environment and

facilities of low earning RMG workers. After a few hiccups

present government is desperately trying to address the issues

of RMG sector bringing discipline and creating accountability.

In the recent past high powered committees have conducted

surveys and auditing and implementation process of their

recommendation is in place.

For better control and management all RMG factories from

the heart of the major city centers should be phased out and

relocated to properly planned RMG villages having better

organized and reliable utility services , world class safety and

security arrangements , accommodation , health care facilities

of RMG workers. Minimum wages and fringe benefits must be

reviewed. RMG workers getting at least US$ 250-300 will not

cause much reduction of profits of huge earning of RMG

owners.

For security and safety of RMG workers and the industry a

special police unit as RMG Police or in a larger concept

Industrial police unit can be created. It may have a sub unit

named RMG Intelligence unit for surveillance of possible

subversive activities in our RMG industry. All foreigners

working in RMG must have valid work permits and their

records must be maintained and monitored.

We must appreciate the RMG boom has done a great work

in our poverty alleviation as a special section of village girls are

now self-dependent and supporting their families as well. They

must get due respect from society. Facilities like day care

center, community clinic, adult education etc can be set up in

the special garments village for them.

SajibWazed IT adviser of PM Hasina is in a mission of

digitizing different key sectors of Bangladesh. One of his prime

objectives must be digitizing RMG sector which is major

revenue earner for Bangladesh. Let all RMG factories be

digitalized and reliable database created and preserved of all

RMG related data and information. This will enable centralized

monitoring of all RMG related business and commercial

operations including safety and security. The information

among others must include data base of all workers and

executives working in RMG including their nationality, salary

and benefits. Some officials of each RMG must be trained to

introduce IT facilities in each RMG.

Bangladesh Foreign missions and Ministry of Foreign

affairs must work to promote to expand RMG market access in

countries which may be potential new buyers.

Government may consider a preferential special pricing of

gas and electricity for export oriented RMG factories and Tax

holidays and other benefits for modern RMG units for a given

time. Bank loans of easier terms should be considered as

incentives for owners for relocating the RMG from existing

locations to properly set up RMG villages. Export credits and

other facilities may be thought of. Also government can

encourage investors in setting backward and forward linkages

of RMG industries for achieving more self-reliance.

Opportunities have emerged for Bangladesh in achieving

number one RMG branding now. We must grab it with both

hands. Let China, Korea, Japan be our partners in progress in

achieving this dream.

Russian dissident Alexei Navalny,

sick with a cough and fever, has

been moved to the hospital ward of

the penal colony where he is imprisoned.

Navalny landed in prison after legal

troubles that began in 2019, when he was

arrested for "leading an unauthorized

protest." In 2020, while on parole for that

crime, Navalny was poisoned in an

apparent assassination attempt linked to

President Vladimir Putin.

In critical condition, Navalny was flown

to Germany for emergency medical

treatment. This February, a Russian court

said the Germany trip was a parole

violation and sentenced Navalny to three

years in prison.

The ruling infuriated Russians and

spurred thousands to protest. The

nationwide demonstrations united

disparate opposition groups into one

movement that is challenging President

Putin's 20-year rule. Now Navalny's

current ill health is again galvanizing

protesters.

If persecuting Navalny energizes the

opposition against Putin, is it a misstep by

Russia's leader?

As an international legal scholar and

professor of human rights, I've found that

sometimes, strong-arm tactics by

autocratic leaders do trigger a reaction

that ultimately topples their regime.

Often, though, repressive tactics like

detention, torture and prosecution help

autocrats stay in power.

Many historic pro-democracy leaders,

including India's Mahatma Gandhi,

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi and the

United States' Martin Luther King Jr,

were arrested or imprisoned. In these

cases, political repression mobilized -

rather than destroyed - their movements.

Political prisoners, in particular, can

turn into international celebrities that

rally people around their cause.

South Africa is an iconic example.

Imprisoned for 27 years, Nelson

Mandela became the face of an antiapartheid

movement that evolved from its

South African resistance roots into the

largest international campaign for regime

change in history.

Anti-apartheid groups around the globe

coalesced to harness punitive economic

tactics, such as boycotts of South African

products, and to pressure their

governments to apply sanctions.

Eventually, South Africa's leaders folded

to international demands, releasing

Mandela in 1990. Mandela was elected

president, ushering in the end of the

world's most racially oppressive system.

Autocrats in the 21st century aren't like

past dictators. Most now claim legitimacy

through rigged elections, which is why

votes in authoritarian countries are often

accompanied by repression.

Last August, Belarusian autocrat

Alexander Lukashenko - in power since

1994 - faced an unprecedented electoral

ShELLEy InGLIS

challenge. He jailed opposition leaders

and barred rival candidates from running.

The elections were held, and Lukashenko

claimed a landslide victory.

But his only remaining opponent in the

presidential race, Svetlana

Tikhanovskaya, was so popular that

neither she nor the Belarusian people

bought his win. Widespread protests

erupted demanding Lukashenko's ouster.

Lukashenko - a Putin ally - cracked

down again, including with brutal police

violence. Tikhanovskaya went into exile.

Far from quelling popular anger in

Belarus, recent research shows the

history shows successful protest movements must involve at least 3.5% of the population

- including the urban middle class and industrial workers - engaged in coordinated,

non-violent tactics like general strikes and boycotts. That may not seem

like a lot of people, but in a country with the population size of Russia's, this would

require more than 5 million people to participate in an organized resistance.

regime's violent repression of protests

mobilized many people. Protesters plan to

renew their demonstrations soon.

Women in red stand in the snow,

holding fists in the air, with pictures of

other women

Feminists protest over the dozens of

women imprisoned for demonstrating

after Belarus' presidential election, on

August 9, 2020, in Minsk. Photo: AFP /

Stringer / via Getty Images

Still, Lukashenko continues in power. In

large part, that's because many of the

nation's elite and key institutions - such as

security services and courts - remain loyal

to him.

noAh SmITh

The most successful autocrats don't just

use repression to stay in office. They also

retain control through a spoils systems

and corruption that aids those who

protect their power.

Putin is a master of both repression and

corrupt bargains - so notorious for both

that the United States created new ways to

punish such behavior.

A few years after a corruption

whistleblower, Sergei Magnitsky, died in a

Russian prison in 2009, the US adopted

the Magnitsky Act, which now authorizes

the president to impose sanctions,

including barring entry to the US, on "any

foreign person identified as engaging in

human rights abuse or corruption."

Canada, the United Kingdom and the

European Union later passed similar

laws.

These laws allow countries to punish

repressive leaders, as well as any groups or

businesses that back their regimes, with

asset freezes and travel bans. They have not

yet, however, been used against Putin.

In addition to targeted and national

sanctions, democratic countries have other

ways to reproach states that violate

international law. These include severing

diplomatic ties and mandating global

scrutiny by international bodies such as the

United Nations.

Such responses have had limited success in

forcing autocratic leaders to respect

democracy and human rights.

Take Venezuela, for example. There,

President Nicolás Maduro has been in power

since 2013, and mass protests against his

government began in 2015.

Source : Asia Times

COVID-19: How the US can power ahead in the world

The US is set to recover from the

pandemic-induced recession

faster than other rich countries

thanks to its successful vaccination effort

and copious relief spending. Though it

might seem like weakness in the rest of

the world will create a drag on US growth,

it actually provides an opportunity to

increase exports.

In late 2020, what had been a rapid US

recovery slowed as a huge new wave of

covid-19 infections drove Americans back

into their homes. Since then the US has

done surprisingly well at putting shots

into arms, and new data suggests vaccines

will be pretty effective even against the

resistant strains now emerging around the

world.

When covid no longer dominates the

stage, American consumers will rush out

to eat and shop and frolic, and the

economy will be turbocharged. To top it

off, the US has been extremely generous

with covid relief spending, especially after

the recent passage of President Joe

Biden's $1.9 trillion addition.

Other rich countries however, remain

mired in the economic doldrums.

Agonisingly slow vaccine roll-outs in the

European Union and Japan, coupled with

a deeper initial impact of the pandemic in

Europe, mean that the US will return to its

pre-pandemic growth trajectory well

before its developed-world peers:

In fact, according to the Organisation

for Economic Co-operation and

Development, the US is now the only

major economy projected to exceed its

pre-pandemic trend by the end of the

year. That's even better than China, at

least in the relative sense.

In some ways, the last-man-standing

status of the US will hinder its recovery. A

healthy Europe and Japan is generally

good, as during normal times these

countries buy American exports and send

tourists to spend their money in the US.

For at least a good part of this year, much

of that revenue will remain off the table.

It's not all downside, though. A quick US

recovery also means a strong rebound in

domestic manufacturing, both from

revived local demand and from the fact

that vaccinated workers will be able to go

back to work with fewer costly safety

precautions. And that will put the US in a

good position to supply the rest of the rich

world with goods. Even though demand

inside those countries is still suppressed

by the pandemic, local supplies will also

be suppressed, offering an opportunity for

American exporters to step in.

The reason I know this could work is

that it's exactly what China has been doing

with the US. During 2020, as China

succeeded in suppressing the virus while

infections grew in the US, the trade

imbalance between the countries soared.

Stuck in their homes, American

consumers shifted from buying services to

buying manufactured goods, and China

was willing and able to supply those

goods.

Some of that imbalance may now abate

as the US shifts back toward demanding

services and China is slowed by austerity

In some ways, the last-man-standing status of the US will hinder its

recovery. A healthy Europe and Japan is generally good, as during

normal times these countries buy American exports and send

tourists to spend their money in the US. For at least a good part of

this year, much of that revenue will remain off the table.

and a weaker-than-expected vaccination

effort. When American consumers start

spending their dollars at restaurants

instead of just on Amazon.com, US

manufacturers will be looking for

customers for their goods, and the rest of

the world, even while still weighed down

by coronavirus, could provide those

markets.

The US has a limited window to make

the most of the situation, and it should be

promoting exports vigorously over the

next year. Explicit export subsidies are

banned under World Trade Organisation

World must cut off financial valve to Myanmar's military

Since the coup in Myanmar on

February 1, the international

community has struggled to agree on

coherent action against the military, known

as the Tatmadaw.

Tough action by the UN Security Council

has been stymied by China, Russia, India

and Vietnam, which see the Myanmar

crisis as an internal affair.

Outside the United Nations, a strong,

coordinated response by Myanmar's

neighbors in the Association of Southeast

Asian Nations (ASEAN) has also been

lacking because of their reluctance to

interfere in one another's affairs. Thai

political expert Thitinan Pongsudhirak

called it an "existential crisis" for the bloc.

This reluctance rules out the use of

military force to stop the violence, which

has now cost the lives of more than 500

civilians, peacekeeping operations, or even

a humanitarian intervention.

It has left the international community

with one remaining option for a

coordinated response that could change the

Tatmadaw's behavior: the imposition of

economic sanctions. But even this action

has been subject to much debate.

General sanctions that try to change the

behavior of authoritarian regimes by

damaging their economies have proved

problematic in the past. Many leaders have

found ways around the sanctions, meaning

civilians have disproportionately borne the

costs of isolation.

In contrast, targeted sanctions against

the specific financial interests that sustain

authoritarian regimes have been more

effective. These can impose pressure on

regimes without affecting the broader

population. This is where the international

community has the greatest potential to

punish the Tatmadaw.

Since the US and other countries pursued

more general sanctions on Myanmar in the

1990s and 2000s - with mixed results - the

international community has gained a

greater understanding of the Tatmadaw's

transnational revenue streams.

In particular, in 2019, the UN Fact-

Finding Mission (UNFFM) on Myanmar

released a report detailing the diverse

JonAThAn LILJEbLAd

Tatmadaw-linked enterprises that funnel

revenue from foreign business transactions

to the military's leaders and units. More

recently, this list of potential targets has

been expanded by non-governmental

organizations and investigative journalists.

Researchers have also outlined the

Tatmadaw's dealings in illegal trade in

drugs, gemstones, timber, wildlife and

Tracking the military's legal and illegal business dealings

makes it possible to identify its business partners in other

countries. Governments in those countries can then take

legal action against these business partners and shut off

the flow of money keeping the junta afloat.

human trafficking.

The extent of information on the

Tatmadaw's financial flows shows just how

vulnerable the military's leaders are to

international pressure.

Tracking the military's legal and illegal

business dealings makes it possible to

identify its business partners in other

countries. Governments in those countries

can then take legal action against these

business partners and shut off the flow of

money keeping the junta afloat.

rules (the US might consider whether

breaking those rules would be worth the

consequences). But there are many ways

in which implicit export subsidies can

substitute for explicit ones, including tax

breaks, cheap trade financing, assistance

with marketing, subsidised training for

workers and extension services.

The effort would also dovetail nicely

with Biden's plan for reshoring American

industry and consolidating supply chains

in the US. Helping manufacturers export

and cajoling foreign-invested companies

to return home during the waning stages

of the pandemic can provide valuable

lessons in which policies work and which

don't. Those lessons can then be applied

in the longer struggle to keep the US

economically relevant in an age when

global economic activity is shifting to Asia.

So the US should take full advantage of

this brief interregnum. Its stellar vaccine

effort and stimulus have allowed it to

jump ahead; now the country should use

that time wisely to improve its competitive

position for the longer term. Just as in the

late 1940s and 1950s when the rest of the

world was rebuilding from World War II,

this is the chance for the US to power

ahead.

Noah Smith is a columnist. He was

an assistant professor of finance at

Stony Brook University

To some degree, this is starting to happen

with Myanmar. The US and UK recently

decided, for instance, to freeze assets and

halt corporate trading with two Tatmadaw

conglomerates - Myanmar Economic

Corporation and Myanma Economic

Holdings Ltd. Both of these oversee a range

of holdings in businesses that divert

revenues directly to the Tatmadaw. This is

only a starting point, though. To tighten the

pressure on the junta, targeted sanctions

need to be imposed against the full suite of

entities identified by the UNFFM. These

include groups like Justice for Myanmar

and journalists.

The sanctions need to be accompanied by

broader investigations into the Tatmadaw's

revenues from illicit trade. To counter this,

Human Rights Watch has urged

governments to enforce anti-moneylaundering

and anti-corruption measures,

including the freezing of assets.

Singapore's central bank has reportedly

told financial institutions to be on the

lookout for suspicious transactions or

money flows between the city-state and

Myanmar. Singapore is the largest foreign

investor in the country.

Source : Asia Times

SUNDAY, APRIL 11, 2021

5

A dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine being administered on a person.

Mystery unveiled of blood clots

linked to AstraZeneca vaccine

Denise Grady

New research has identified unusual

antibodies that appear to have caused,

in rare cases, serious and sometimes

fatal blood clots in people who received

the Covid vaccine made by

AstraZeneca.

Exactly why the rare reactions to the

vaccine occurred is still a

mystery.Scientific teams from

Germany and Norway found that

people who developed the clots after

vaccination had produced antibodies

that activated their platelets, a blood

component involved in clotting. The

new reports add extensive details to

what the researchers have already

stated publicly about the blood

disorder.

Younger people appear more

susceptible than older ones, but

researchers say no pre-existing health

conditions are known to predispose

people to the rare reaction. That is

worrisome, they say, because there is

no way to tell if an individual is at high

risk.

Reports of the clots have already led a

number of countries to limit

AstraZeneca's vaccine to older people,

or to stop using it entirely. These cases

have dealt a crushing blow to global

efforts to halt the pandemic, because

the AstraZeneca shot - easy to store and

relatively cheap - has been a mainstay

of vaccination programs in more than

100 countries.

The European Medicines Agency, the

regulator for the European Union, has

emphasized repeatedly that the clotting

disorder is rare, and that the vaccine's

benefits far outweigh its risks. But when a

side effect has the potential to be

devastating or fatal - like the blood clots

in the brain linked to this vaccine - some

regulators and segments of the public are

finding that the risk is unacceptable, even

if it is extremely rare.

As of Sunday, European regulators

had received reports of 222 cases of the

rare blood-clotting problem in Britain

and the 30-nation European Economic

Area (the European Union plus

Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein).

They said that about 34 million people

had received the AstraZeneca vaccine

in those countries, and that the clotting

problems were appearing at a rate of

about one in 100,000 recipients.

European regulators said that as of

March 22, they had carried out detailed

Photo: Vadim Ghirda

reviews of 86 cases, 18 of which had

been fatal.The safety bar for vaccines is

set high, because they are given to

healthy people. The seemingly greater

vulnerability of younger people to the

clotting disorder is of particular

concern, because their risk of severe

illness from Covid itself is lower than

that in older people. Those differences

suggest that overall, compared to older

people, younger people may have less

to gain and more to lose from the

AstraZeneca vaccine.

Germany, the Netherlands, the

Philippines, Portugal and Spain have

recommended that the AstraZeneca

vaccine be given only to people over 60.

Canada and France have limited it to

those over 55; Australia, over 50;

Belgium, over 56. Britain, where the

vaccine was developed, has been its

staunchest defender, but announced on

Wednesday that it would begin offering

alternative shots to people under 30.

The University of Oxford, which

developed the vaccine with

AstraZeneca, said on Tuesday that it

had suspended a two-month-old trial of

the vaccine in children and teenagers in

Britain while it waits for regulatory

guidance.

Esoteric jargon hurting science

communication

Katherine Kornei

Polje, nappe, vuggy, psammite. Some

scientists who study caves might not

bat an eye, but for the rest of us, these

terms might as well be ancient Greek.

Specialized terminology isn't unique to

the ivory tower - just ask a baker about

torting or an arborist about bracts, for

example. But it's pervasive in

academia, and now a team of

researchers has analyzed jargon in a

set of over 21,000 scientific

manuscripts. They found that papers

containing higher proportions of

jargon in their titles and abstracts were

cited less frequently by other

researchers. Science communication -

with the public but also among

scientists - suffers when a research

paper is packed with too much

specialized terminology, the team

concluded.

These results were published

Wednesday in Proceedings of the

Royal Society B.Jargon can be a

problem, but it also serves a purpose,

said Hillary Shulman, a

communications scientist at Ohio

State University. "As our ideas become

more refined, it makes sense that our

concepts do too." This languagewithin-a-language

can be a timesaver,

a way to precisely convey meaning, she

said. However, it also runs the risk of

starkly reminding people - even some

well-educated researchers - that they

aren't "in the know."

"It's alienating," said Dr.

Shulman.Two scientists recently

investigated how the use of jargon

affects a manuscript's likelihood of

being cited in other scientific journal

articles. Such citations are an

acknowledgment of a study's

importance and relevance, and they're

used to estimate a researcher's

productivity.

Alejandro Martínez, an evolutionary

biologist, and Stefano Mammola, an

ecologist, both at the National

Research Council in Pallanza, Italy,

started by collecting scientific papers.

Using the Web of Science, an online

platform that allows subscribers to

access databases of scholarly

publications, they zeroed in on 21,486

manuscripts focused on cave research.

Cave science is a particularly jargonheavy

field, Dr. Martínez said. That's

because it attracts a diverse pool of

researchers, each of whom brings their

own terminology. Anthropologists,

geologists, zoologists and ecologists all

end up meeting in caves, he said. "They

like the rocks or the bugs or the human

remains or the wall paintings."

To compile a list of cave-related

jargon words, Dr. Martínez combed

over the glossaries of caving books and

review studies. He settled on roughly

1,500 terms (including the four that

appear at the beginning of this article).

Dr. Mammola then wrote a

computer program to calculate the

proportion of jargon words in each

manuscript's title and abstract. Papers

with a higher fraction of jargon

received fewer citations, the

researchers found. And none of the

most highly cited papers - with more

than 450 citations - used jargon in

their title, while almost all had

abstracts where fewer than 1 percent of

the words were jargon.

As citations are often viewed as a

metric of academic success, jargon has

a negative effect on a paper, Dr.

Martínez and Dr. Mammola propose.

Fewer citations can mean that a paper

isn't getting read and remembered,

which is bad news for science

communication overall, the team

concluded.

Other researchers have found,

however, that using less-common

words - a form of jargon - can be

beneficial. David Markowitz, a

psychology of language researcher at

the University of Oregon, analyzed the

Archaeologists studying figures painted in a cave in Alihger

Mount near Bitlis, Turkey.

Photo: Getty Images

abstracts of nearly 20,000 proposals

for funding from the National Science

Foundation. His results, published in

2019, revealed that abstracts that

contained fewer common words

tended to garner more grant funding.

"Jargon doesn't always associate with

negative outcomes," Dr. Markowitz

said.

How to measure pandemic

learning loss?

Dana Goldstein

Over the past year, Deprece Bonilla, a

mother of five in Oakland, Calif., has

gotten creative about helping her

children thrive in a world largely

mediated by screens.

She signed them up for online

phonics tutoring and virtual martial

arts lessons. If they are distracted

inside the family's duplex, she grabs

snacks and goes with the children into

the car, saying they cannot come out

until their homework is done. She has

sometimes spent three hours per day

assisting with school assignments, even

as she works from home for a local

nonprofit organization.

It all sometimes feels like too much to

bear. Still, when her fifth-grade son's

public-school teacher told her he was

years behind in reading, she was in

disbelief."That was very offensive to

me," she said. "I'm not putting in

myself, my hard work, his hard work,

for you to tell me that he's at secondgrade

reading."Ms. Bonilla's experience

illustrates a roiling debate in education,

about how and even whether to

measure the academic impact of the

coronavirus pandemic on the nation's

children - and how to describe learning

gaps without stigmatizing or

discouraging students and families.

Studies continue to show that amid

the school closures and economic and

health hardships of the past year, many

young children have missed out on

mastering fundamental reading and

math skills. The Biden administration

has told most states that unlike in

2020, they should plan on testing

students this year, in part to measure

the "educational inequities that have

been exacerbated by the pandemic."

But others are pushing back against

the concept of "learning loss,"

especially on behalf of the Black,

Hispanic and low-income children

who, research shows, have fallen

further behind over the past year. They

fear that a focus on what's been lost

could incite a moral panic that paints

an entire generation as broken, and say

that relatively simple, common-sense

solutions can help students get back up

to speed.

"This isn't a lost generation," said

Kayla Patrick, a policy analyst at the

Studies continue to show that many young children have missed out on

mastering fundamental reading and math skills. Photo: Matt Slocum

Education Trust, a national advocacy

group focused on low-income students

and students of color. "They just need

extra support - in many cases, the

support they probably needed before

the pandemic, like tutoring."

Others go further, arguing that

regardless of what terminology is used,

standardized testing to measure the

impact of the pandemic is unnecessary

or even actively harmful. Voices as

prominent as the former New York City

schools chancellor, Richard Carranza,

and the Massachusetts Teachers

Association, the state's largest

educators' union, have encouraged

parents to opt their children out of state

tests during the pandemic. "We do not

want to impose additional trauma on

students that have already been

traumatized," Mr. Carranza said.

This week, the nation's largest school

system, in New York City, announced

that parents would have to opt their

children in to state standardized

testing, which could lead to a smaller

group of students taking the exams,

and results that will be difficult to

interpret.

Jesse Hagopian, a Seattle high school

teacher and writer, said testing to

measure the impact of the pandemic

misses what students have learned

outside of physical classrooms during a

year of overlapping crises in health,

politics and police violence.

"They are learning about how our

society works, how racism is used to

divide," he said. "They are learning

about the failure of government to

respond to the pandemic."Mr.

Hagopian said he believed that

"learning loss" research was being used

to "prop up the multi-billion-dollar

industry of standardized testing" and

"rush educators back into classrooms

before it's safe to do so."

Some of the recent research has been

conducted by outfits that create and

license academic assessments, but

other research has been led by

independent scholars. Both types of

studies show some students are

struggling.

Jack Ma, center, Alibaba's founder, accused Chinese financial regulators last year of hampering

innovation.

Photo: Jason Lee

Alibaba fined in landmark antitrust case

Raymond Zhong

By hitting the e-commerce titan

Alibaba with a record $2.8 billion

antitrust fine on Saturday, Chinese

officials sent a message to the country's

high-flying internet industry: We've got

our eyes on you.The penalty imposed

on Alibaba, one of China's most

valuable private companies and the

bedrock of the business empire of Jack

Ma, its most famous tycoon, was the

biggest move yet in the government's

campaign to tighten its supervision of

Big Tech.

China's market watchdog in

December began investigating whether

Alibaba had broken the country's

antimonopoly law by preventing

merchants from selling their goods on

other shopping platforms. On

Saturday, the regulator said it had

concluded that Alibaba's exclusionary

practices had hindered competition in

online retail, affected innovation in the

internet economy and harmed

consumers' interests.

The resulting fine far exceeds the

$975 million antitrust penalty that

China imposed on Qualcomm, the

American chip giant, in 2015.The

authorities left little doubt Saturday

about their intention to keep reining in

China's internet behemoths. In a

commentary that was published online

a minute after the fine was announced,

People's Daily, the official Communist

Party newspaper, called regulation "a

kind of love and care."

"Monopoly is the great enemy of the

market economy," the commentary

read. "There is no contradiction

between regulating under the law and

supporting development. Rather, they

complement each other and are

mutually reinforcing."

The fine is unlikely to make a

substantial dent in Alibaba's fortunes.

The State Administration for Market

Regulation, the agency that imposed

the penalty, said the amount

represented 4 percent of Alibaba's

domestic sales in 2019. The company

reported profits of more than $12

billion in the last three months of 2020

alone. Still, the run-in with regulators

could have longer-lasting effects on

Alibaba's business, which has sprawled

beyond shopping into logistics, grocery,

entertainment, social media, travel

booking and much else.

Like Facebook, Google and other

internet giants, Alibaba has argued that

the breadth of its business helps make

each of its services more useful. But

critics say the company's size slants the

playing field for competitors and

restricts consumers' choices.

Alibaba is now likely to be much

more cautious about doing anything

that resembles strong-arming users or

rivals, said Angela Zhang, an associate

professor and director of the Center for

Chinese Law at the University of Hong

Kong. "Their competitors will be first to

run to the regulator to complain if there

are problems," she said.

Even so, Professor Zhang said, the

fact that Beijing did not demand major

additional concessions from Alibaba

makes the antitrust authority's decision

"good news for the firm" over all.Six

years ago, when Qualcomm was fined,

it also agreed to offer Chinese

customers hefty discounts on patent

royalties. On Saturday, the market

regulator said only that Alibaba would

have to curb its anticompetitive

behavior and submit reports on its

compliance for three years.

"I would think the market should

react positively," Professor Zhang said,

though she cautioned that the

government could always pursue

investigations into other aspects of

Alibaba's business.

SUNDAY, APril 11, 2021

6

The newly elected mayor and councilors of Madarganj Municipality of Jamalpur district took charge

on Thursday afternoon at the Municipal Hallroom.

Photo : TBT

Covid-19 cases reach

28,196 with 137 new

in Rajshahi division

RAJSHAHI : A total of 137

more people have tested

positive for COVID-19 in six

districts of the division in the

last 24 hours till Friday,

climbing the number of

infections to 28,196.

The new daily infection figure

shows a significant falling trend

compared to the previous day's

figure of 202, said the health

department sources.

Among the infected

patients, 25,099 have, so far,

been cured from the lethal

virus with 42 new recoveries

found during the time, sources

said. A total of 3,216 infected

patients are now undergoing

treatment at designated

hospitals here.

Besides, all the positive

cases for COVID-19 have, so

far, been brought under

necessary treatment while

7,046 were kept in isolation

units of hospitals for

institutional supervision. Of

them, 6,173 have by now been

released.

On the other hand, 13 more

people have been sent to

home and institutional

quarantine afresh while 33

others were released in the

division over the last 24 hours

till 8 am today.

The number of deaths from

the disease stands at 421

including 267 in Bogura and

59 in Rajshahi with no fatality

reported afresh today, said Dr

Habibul Ahsan Talukder,

Divisional Director of Health.

Of the total new positive

cases, the highest 74 were

detected in Rajshahi including

70 in its city, followed by 23 in

Pabna, 19 in Sirajganj, 12 in

Joypurhat, eight in Bogura

and one in Naogaon districts.

With the new detected

cases, the district-wise breakup

of the COVID-19 cases now

stands at 6,964 in Rajshahi

including 5,436 in its city, 872

in Chapainawabganj, 1,756 in

Naogaon, 1,366 in Natore,

1,478 in Joypurhat, 10,787 in

Bogura.

Father's bid to marry off

minor foiled in Thakurgaon

THAKURGAON : Officials of the local

administration have foiled a bid to marry off

a minor girl in Thakurgaon's Ranishankail

upazila, reports UNB.

The family had fixed the marriage of the

Class IX student in Bhangbari on Friday,

officials said.

After being alerted by local people, a team

from the local administration, led by Upazila

Nirbahi Officer Sohel Sultan Julker Nain

Kabir, reached the house of the girl and

stopped the marriage ceremony.

Later, a mobile court fined the girl's father

Tk 5,000 for violating the government's

Covid directive by arranging the marriage.

Between April and October last year, at

least 13,886 children were married off in 21

districts when Bangladesh was grappling

with coronavirus in its initial stage,

according to a survey.

An average of 1.7 child marriages took

place a day during this period.

Of the child brides, 5,089 said they had

experienced unexpected pregnancy,

according to the survey conducted by

Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF).

They findings were unveiled at a webinar

titled 'Rapid Analysis of Child Marriage

situation: Coronavirus period 2020' in

association with UNFPA, UNICEF and Plan

International.

Of the child brides, 50.6 percent were aged

between 16 and 17 years at the time of their

marriage. Another 47.7 percent were

between 13 and15 years old.

A UNICEF report released in October last

year noted that despite significant progress

in recent years, Bangladesh has the highest

prevalence of child marriage in South Asia

and ranks among 10 countries in the world

with the highest levels.

It called for accelerated action to end child

marriages in Bangladesh by 2030.

The report, 'Ending Child Marriage: A

Profile of Progress in Bangladesh', said the

country will need to put in more efforts to

bring change to achieve the Sustainable

Development Goal (SDG) target to end child

marriage by 2030, and the national target to

end the practice by 2041.

Progress must be at least eight times faster

than the rate of the past decade to meet the

national target, and 17 times faster to meet

the SDG target, it said.

While the prevalence of child marriage in

Bangladesh has dropped from over 90

percent in 1970, it remains very high: 51

percent women who are currently aged 20-

24 were married off while they were still

children.

As a result, the country is home to 38 million

child brides who got married before their 18th

birthday, including 13 million who were forced

to tie the knot before the age of 15.

Combine harvester machines

distributed to Gaibandha farmers

GAIBANDHA : Combine harvester

machines were distributed to the farmers at

subsidized prices on Sadullapur upazila

agriculture office premises in the district

Upazila chairman Md. Shahriar Khan

Biplob handed over the machines'

documents to the selected farmers as the

chief guest yesterday.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Nabi Neoaz

and local lawmaker's representative MD

Anwarul Azim spoke at the event as the

special guests.

Upazila agriculture officer Md. Khajanur

Rahman said the price of a combine

harvester machine is TK 28 Lakh and the

Ammunition snatched by

Hefazat men in B'baria

recovered

BRAHMANBARIA : Twenty rounds of bullets, which were snatched

from a policeman during the clashes between police and Hefazat-e-

Islam activists in Brahmanbaria, have been recovered from a sweet shop

in Suhilpur Bazar under Sadar upazila of the district on Friday evening,

police said.

Additional superintendent of police of the district Md. Raich Uddin

confirmed the matter. "Two members of Moulvibazar district police

were attacked by Hefazat-e-Islam men on their way to Brahmanbaria on

27 March. At that time, Hefazat activists attacked them and snatched 20

rounds of bullets from one of the policemen. Later, Moulvibazar police

filed a case against unidentified accused in this regard," he said.

"We have arrested an accused based on intelligence information and

recovered the bullets from him," he added. Police arrested two accused

in the case on Friday.

The arrested persons were Arab Ali, son of Shamir Ali resident of

South Kendubari of Suhilpur union and Md Monir Miah, son late Ramiz

Miah resident of Hindupara of Suhilpur village. 10 shops gutted in

Laxmipur market fire

machines had been imported from Japan

through ACI Company of the country.

The farmers got the machines with 50

percent subsidy given by the government, he

said.

On the other hand, combine harvester

machines were also distributed among

farmers at a function on Shaghata upazila

agriculture office.

Shaghata upazila chairman Zahangir Kabir

formally distributed two machines to the

farmers at 50 percent subsidized price as the

chief guest.

UNO Mohi Uddin Jahangir was present as

the special guest.

10 shops gutted in

Laxmipur market fire

LAXMIPUR : At least 10 shops were gutted in

a fire that broke out at a local market in

Laxmipur's Chandraganj upazila early on

Saturday morning, reports UNB.

Wasi Azad, station officer of Laxmipur Fire

Service and Control Room, said the blaze

started due to an electrical short-circuit at a

shop in Paschim Bazar around 4am.

"The fire soon engulfed the adjacent outlets,

including a poultry shop, a salon and a

grocery shop," he said.

On information, a firefighting unit rushed

to the spot and contained the fire. "By the time

the fire was extinguished, 10 shops in the

market were completely gutted. A probe has

been ordered," the station officer said.

Body recovered in Gaibandha

GAIBANDHA : Police recovered the body of a

businessman from a house at Narayanpur-

Khankasharif area of the district town

yesterday morning, reports BSS.

The deceased was identified as Hasan Ali,

son of late Hazrat Ali, a resident of Thanapara

area of the district town.

27 more test positive

for COVID-19 in Bhola

BHOLA : A total of 27 people

were diagnosed as

coronavirus positive in the

last 24 hours after testing 72

samples at Bhola 250-bed

General Hospital COVID-19

laboratories here.

Of the total, 16 are in Sadar

upazila, seven in

Borhanuddin upazila, one in

Daulatkhan, two in

Charfashion upazila and one

in Tajumuddin upazila of

the district.

The total number of

infected people in the

district stood at 1,330 while

the number of recovery

cases at 1,020, said civil

surgeon of the district Dr

Syed Rezaul Islam this

afternoon.

The health experts of the

district urged all to follow

the health rules strictly and

use masks to prevent spread

of the new wave of the lethal

virus.

Civil Surgeon of the

district Dr Syed Rezaul

Islam said 18 infected

persons are now undergoing

treatment at Sadar Hospital

and rest of the infected

persons are now undergoing

treatment at home under the

supervision of doctors from

their respective upazila

health complexes. He urged

everyone to be more aware

to prevent this infection.

COVID-19 cases rapidly reach

16,797 in Rangpur division

RANGPUR : The number of coronavirus

(COVID-19) cases rapidly reached 16,797 in

Rangpur division where the infection rate

continues rising fast almost during the last

four weeks.

"The number of COVID-19 cases rose to

16,797 as 65 new patients were detected after

testing 377 samples at the infection rate of

17.24 percent on Friday," said Focal Person

of COVID-19 and Assistant Director (Health)

for Rangpur division Dr. ZA Siddiqui.

The district-wise break up of total 16,797

patients now stands at 4,284 in Rangpur,

814 in Panchagarh, 1,447 in Nilphamari,

1,002 in Lalmonirhat, 1,065 in Kurigram,

1,580 in Thakurgaon, 5,024 in Dinajpur and

1,581 in Gaibandha.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a

total of 1,17,967 collected samples were

tested in the division till Friday, and of

them, 16,797 were found COVID-19

positive with an average infection rate of

14.24 percent.

Meanwhile, the total number of healed

COVID-19 patients reached 15,772 with

recovery of 22 more patients on Friday at the

average recovery rate of 93.90 percent in the

division.

The 15,772 recovered patients include

4,039 of Rangpur, 777 of Panchagarh, 1,357

of Nilphamari, 960 of Lalmonirhat, 1,000 of

Kurigram, 1,490 of Thakurgaon, 4,688 of

Dinajpur and 1,461 of Gaibandha districts in

the division.

Talking to BSS, Divisional Director

(Health) Dr Md Ahad Ali said the number of

fatalities rose to 319 with one more death

reported from Kurigram on Friday.

The district-wise break-up of the 319

fatalities stands at 73 in Rangpur, 115 in

Dinajpur, 34 in Thakurgaon, 32 in

Nilphamari, 16 in Kurigram, 20 in

Panchagarh, 18 in Gaibandha and 11 in

Lalmonirhat districts of the division.

"The average casualty rate currently stands

at 1.90 percent in the division," he said.

Among the total 16,797 COVID-19 infected

patients, 81 are now undergoing treatments

at institutional isolation, including 12 at ICU

beds, after recovery of 15,772 patients and

319 deaths while 665 remaining in home

isolation across the division.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a total

of 99,018 people were put in quarantines,

and of them, 95,157 released till Saturday

morning in the division.

Meanwhile, the total number of citizens

who got the first dose of Covid-19 vaccines

rose to 5,74,367, including 3,44,617 male and

2,29,750 female, with inoculation of more

1,675 people till Thursday in Rangpur

division.

"Of them, a total of 9,765 citizens were

inoculated with the second dose of

Covid-19 vaccines on Thursday (April 8),

the first day of launching the second

dose of the vaccination campaign," Dr

Ali added.

Chief of Divisional Coronavirus Service and

Prevention Task Force and Principal of

Rangpur Medical College Professor Dr. AKM

Nurunnobi Lyzu suggested everyone to

sincerely abide by the health directives for

containing the rapidly rising infection rate.

A program was organized at the Meherpara Union Parishad premises in Sadar upazila of Narsingdi

on Saturday on the occasion of giving 'Prime Minister's gift' to the helpless families. Narsingdi

Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate Syeda Farhana Kaunain was present as the chief

guest.

Photo : Md Salim Mia

RCC implementing

integrated urban

development project

RAJSHAHI : Rajshahi City

Corporation (RCC) has been

implementing a mega

project involving around

Taka 3,000 crore for

improving living and

livelihood condition of its

people.

The project titled,

"Integrated Urban

Infrastructure Development

in Rajshahi City" is being

implemented aiming to

promote the city's major

need-based sector.

City Mayor AHM

Khairuzzaman Liton

revealed this while

inspecting various ongoing

infrastructure development

works including road

carpeting and drainage at

different areas in the city

yesterday afternoon.

He said while enquiring

total progress of the works

that the project will

contribute a lot towards

building a modern city.

Liton listed around 69

infrastructural development

works will be implemented

under the project that

includes construction of six

flyovers, 60 Bangabandhu

Murals, central Shaheed

Minar, 17 foot-over bridges

and walkways besides water

bodies.

11 fined in Chandpur

for defying health rules

CHANDPUR : A mobile court Saturday slapped 11 people in

Chandpur town with fines combining Tk4,1000 for violating

health rules as Covid-19 cases and fatalities have been on an

upswing in the country, reports UNB.

The fines were handed out during drives on the streets of

the town to ensure that people comply with health and safety

protocols amid a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in recent

weeks. Executive Magistrate Md Mehedi Hasan Manik, who

led the two-hour drive, said: "We are trying to sensitise

people to help curb the spread of Covid-19. We are penalising

those who are defying health rules and also distributing free

masks." The government imposed a week-long countrywide

lockdown from April 5 to curb the new wave of Covid-19

infections. However, there have been random breaches of the

restrictions imposed by the authorities since then.

On the opening day of the lockdown, businessmen in

Chandpur town, like elsewhere in the country, protested over

the decision to keep shops closed.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh reported 77 more Covid-19 deaths

in the last 24 hours, the highest since the pandemic hit the

country, taking the fatalities to 9,661. The infection rate stood

at 20.49%.

Trader found dead at Gaibandha

AL leader's house

GAIBANDHA : Police on Saturday recovered the body of a

trader from the residence of a local Awami League leader at

Narayanpur village in Sadar upazila. Hasan Ali, 45, owner of

a shoe store in the town, was found dead at the house of

Masud Rana, deputy office secretary of Gaibandha district

Awami League, said police. District police superintendent

Md Toudil Islam said Masud Rana was arrested after

recovery of the body and the body was sent to hospital

morgue for autopsy.

Locals said Masud Rana kept Hasan, who was also a

money lender, confined to a room of his house since March

13 following previous enmity over money.

Suspected of theft,

minor thrashed by

shopkeeper in

Kushtia

KUSHTIA : A 12-year-old

boy was badly beaten up by a

grocery shop owner in Old

Kushtia village of Kushita's

Sadar upazila for allegedly

stealing items from his

outlet, police said Saturday,

reports UNB.

The minor is currently

undergoing treatment at

Kushtia General Hospital. A

probe has been initiated

after the boy's mother filed a

complaint at Kushtia Model

Police Station, said its

officer-in-charge Shawkat

Kabir.

According to the

complaint, the boy, along

with his five-year-old

sibling, went to the grocery

shop belonging to Bachchu

for buying ice-cream on

Friday morning.

"At the time, Bachchu was

not in his shop as he had

gone to his house adjacent to

the outlet leaving it

unattended. The boy went to

Bachchu's house and asked

him to come to the shop," his

mother told cops.

"However, soon after

reaching the shop,

Bachchu started thrashing

the boy on suspicion of theft.

The boy soon became

unconscious and had to be

hospitalised."

SunDAY, APril 11, 2021

7

When Prince Philip married the heir to the British throne, he knew he was stepping into virtually

uncharted territory.

Photo : AP

Philip, in role with no job description,

was queen’s bedrock

Explosive eruption rocks volcano on

Caribbean’s St. Vincent

PUERTO RICO : An explosive eruption

rocked La Soufriere volcano on the eastern

Caribbean island of St. Vincent on Friday

after the government ordered thousands

to evacuate their homes nearby, reports

UNB.

Experts said the first explosion shot an

ash column 32,000 feet (10 kilometers)

into the sky and that the majority of the

ash was headed northeast into the Atlantic

Ocean. Lightning crackled through the

towering column of smoke and ash late

Friday.

Heavy ashfall was reported in

communities around the volcano and

beyond, with authorities saying some

evacuations were limited by poor visibility.

Several flights also were canceled and

islands including Barbados, St. Lucia and

Grenada prepared for light ashfall as the

4,003-foot (1,220-meter) volcano

continued to rumble. Authorities reported

two other explosions later Friday as the

island braced for possible additional

activity.

"More explosions could occur,"

Erouscilla Joseph, director of the

University of the West Indies Seismic

Research Center said in a phone interview,

adding that it was impossible to predict

whether they might be bigger or smaller

than the explosions that have occurred so

far.

There were no immediate reports of

casualties from the eruption that occurred

four days short of the 42nd anniversary of

the last sizable eruption.

In the coastal town of Barrouallie, about

14 kilometers (9 miles) from the volcano,

evacuees trudged toward shelters carrying

backpacks, duffel bags and shopping bags

stuffed with personal belongings after the

explosion. Some prepared to stay there,

while others were expected to board cruise

ships and go to nearby islands that have

offered help.

Others still waited for transportation to

a shelter, including one family who stood

for at least an hour by the side of a road

under the sun with their children and

suitcases as they awaited a ride from

someone. The volcano last erupted in

1979, and a previous eruption in 1902

killed some 1,600 people.

The new eruption followed mandatory

evacuation orders issued Thursday for the

roughly 16,000 people who live in the red

zone near the volcano in the island's

northern region. More than 2,000 people

were staying in 62 government shelters.

"We have had hiccups here and there ...

but by and large we are proceeding pretty

well," Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves

said in a press conference. He later wiped

tears from his eyes and apologized for

crying while he thanked people and other

governments in the region for opening

their homes and countries to St.

Vincentians.

"On the dangerous road to Jericho, we

have the good Samaritans," he said.

He said that depending on the damage

done by the explosion, it could take up to

four months for things to go back to

normal. As dozens of people streamed

toward safer ground, officials worried the

pandemic could hamper evacuation

efforts.

Gonsalves said people have to be

vaccinated if they go aboard a cruise ship

or are granted temporary refuge in

another island. He said two Royal

Caribbean cruise ships and two Carnival

Cruise Lines ones arrived Friday. Islands

that have said they would accept evacuees

include St. Lucia, Grenada, Barbados and

Antigua.

LONDON : When Prince Philip married

the heir to the British throne, he knew

he was stepping into virtually uncharted

territory, reports UNB.

There was no official role for the

husband of a sovereign queen, no

constitutional duty or legal

responsibility.

"There was no precedent," he said

when he turned 90. "If I asked

somebody, 'What do you expect me to

do?' They all looked blank. They had no

idea."

His wife Elizabeth knew exactly what

she had to do when she became queen in

1952 after the premature death of her

father, King George VI. For Philip,

though, her ascension to the throne

marked the end of his career as a naval

officer and a plunge into uncertainty.

But at that crucial moment, he carved

out the part he would carry through the

decades: the queen's honest and

unwavering bedrock of support through

a turbulent reign in which the thousandyear-old

monarchy was forced to

reinvent itself for the 21st century. It was

a role the Duke of Edinburgh played

until his death Friday at age 99.

His marriage both defined and

constricted his life, placing the irascible,

tough-minded Philip three steps behind

the queen in public, even if he played a

significant role at home, including in

raising four children.

His life spanned nearly a century of

European history, starting with his birth

as a member of the Greek royal family

and ending with him as the longest

serving consort in British history,

surpassing Queen Charlotte, wife of

King George III.

He was known for his occasionally

deeply offensive remarks - and for

gamely fulfilling more than 20,000

royal engagements to boost British

interests home and abroad. He headed

hundreds of charities, founded

programs that helped British

schoolchildren participate in

challenging outdoor adventures.

Philip saw his sole role as providing

support for his wife as she confronted

the changing demands placed on a

constitutional monarch who began her

reign as Britain retreated from empire

and steered the monarchy through

decades of declining social deference

and U.K. power into a modern world

where people demand intimacy from

their icons.

In the 1970s, Michael Parker, an old

navy friend and former private secretary

of the prince, said of him: "He told me

the first day he offered me my job, that

his job - first, second and last - was never

to let her down."

The queen - a very private person not

given to extravagant displays of

affections - once called him "her rock" in

public.

In private, Philip called his wife

Lilibet; but he referred to her in

conversation with others as "The

Queen."

Over the course of the decades,

Philip's image changed from that of

handsome, dashing athlete to arrogant

and insensitive curmudgeon. In his later

years, the image finally settled into that

of droll and philosophical observer of

the times, an elderly, craggy-faced man

who maintained his military bearing in

public despite a host of ailments.

Not content to stay on the sidelines, he

promoted British industry and science,

espoused environmental preservation

long before it became fashionable, and

traveled widely and frequently in

support of his many charities.

An explosive eruption rocked la Soufriere volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent

on Friday after the government ordered thousands to evacuate their homes nearby. Photo : AP

Biden budget seeks more for schools,

health care and housing

WASHINGTON : President Joe Biden

released a $1.5 trillion wish list for his first

federal budget Friday, asking for

substantial gains for Democratic

priorities including education, health

care, housing and environmental

protection, reports UNB.

The request by the White House budget

office for an 8.4% increase in agency

operating budgets spells out Biden's top

priorities as Congress weighs its spending

plans for next year. It's the first financial

outline of the Democrats' broader

ambitions since the expiration of a 2011

law that capped congressional spending.

"I'm hoping it'll have some bipartisan

support across the board," Biden said

before an Oval Office meeting with his

economics team, though prominent

Senate Republicans immediately

complained the plan would shortchange

the military and national security in

boosting domestic programs.

Bipartisanship in 2011 also restricted

Democrats' ambitions, a problem they're

now trying to address. White House press

secretary Jen Psaki said the

administration was "inheriting a legacy of

chronic underinvestment" because of the

caps. "The president is focused on

reversing this trend and reinvesting in the

foundations of our strength," she told

reporters at a briefing.

At stake is "discretionary spending,"

roughly one-third of the huge federal

budget that is passed by Congress each

year, funding the military, domestic

Cabinet department operations, foreign

policy and homeland security. The rest of

the budget involves so-called mandatory

programs with locked-in spending,

chiefly Social Security, Medicare and

Medicaid.The Biden request provides a

significantly smaller 1.6% increase for the

$700 billion-plus Pentagon budget than

for domestic accounts. Homeland

security accounts would basically be

frozen, reflecting opposition among

Democratic progressives to immigration

security forces.

Senate Republicans were quick to

criticize the modest proposed increase for

defense, with Minority Leader Mitch

McConnell, Oklahoma's Jim Inhofe,

Florida's Marco Rubio, South Carolina's

Lindsey Graham and Alabama's Richard

Shelby releasing a joint statement.

"Talk is cheap, but defending our

country is not," they said. "We can't

afford to fail in our constitutional

responsibility to provide for the common

defense. To keep America strong, we

must balance domestic and defense

spending priorities."

The appropriations process was one of

the few consistent success stories of

former President Donald Trump's

tumultuous four-year tenure in office, but

this year's budget cycle is not governed by

the formal spending caps of a broader

outline. The lapse of those caps opens the

door to more domestic spending favored

by Biden and Democrats but invites a

battle with Republicans over military

accounts.

President Joe Biden released a $1.5 trillion wish list for his first federal budget Friday, asking for substantial

gains for Democratic priorities including education, health care, housing and environmental protection.

Photo : AP

St. Vincent awaits

new volcanic

explosions as help

arrives

SAN JUAN : Cots, tents, and

respirator masks poured into

the eastern Caribbean island

of St. Vincent as officials

expected to start distributing

them on Saturday, a day after

a powerful explosion at La

Soufriere volcano uprooted

the lives of thousands of

people who evacuated their

homes under government

orders, reports UNB.

Nations ranging from

Antigua to Guyana offered

help by either shipping

emergency supplies to their

neighbor or agreeing to

temporarily open their

borders to the roughly 16,000

evacuees fleeing ash-covered

communities with as many

personal belongings as they

could stuff into suitcases and

backpacks.

The volcano, which last

erupted in 1979, kept

rumbling as experts warned

that explosive eruptions could

continue for days or possibly

weeks. A previous eruption in

1902 killed some 1,600

people.

"The first bang is not

necessarily the biggest bang

this volcano will give,"

Richard Robertson, a

geologist with the University

of the West Indies' Seismic

Research Center, said during

a press conference.

Prime Minister Ralph

Gonsalves asked people to

remain calm, have patience

and keep protecting

themselves from the

coronavirus as he celebrated

that no deaths or injuries were

reported after the eruption in

the northern tip of St. Vincent,

part of an island chain that

includes the Grenadines and

is home to more than 100,000

people.

Biden to rush vaccinators

to Michigan as gov

urges limits

WASHINGTON :

Washington will rush

federal resources to support

vaccinations, testing and

treatments, but not

vaccines, to Michigan in an

effort to control the state's

w o r s t - i n - t h e - n a t i o n

COVID-19 outbreak, the

White House said Friday,

reports UNB.

The announcement came

as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

strongly recommended, but

did not order, a two-week

pause on face-to-face high

school instruction, indoor

restaurant dining and

youth sports. She cited

more contagious

coronavirus variants and

pandemic fatigue as factors

in the surge, which has led

some hospitals to postpone

n o n - e m e r g e n c y

procedures.

S t a t e w i d e

hospitalizations have

quadrupled in a month and

are nearing peak levels

from last spring and fall.

"Policy alone won't

change the tide. We need

everyone to step up and to

take

personal

responsibility," Whitmer

said Friday, while not ruling

out future restrictions.

Michigan's seven-day case

rate was 506 per 100,000

people, well above secondworst

New Jersey, with 314

per 100,000 residents,

according to the Centers for

Disease Control and

Prevention.

President Joe Biden

outlined the federal actions

late Thursday in a call with

Whitmer to discuss the dire

situation in the state,

according to senior

administration officials.

The response will not

include a "surge" of vaccine

doses, a move Whitmer has

advocated and which is

backed by Michigan

legislators and members of

Congress.

Instead, Biden talked

about how the federal

government was planning

to help Michigan better

utilize doses already

allocated to the state, as

well as to increase testing

capacity and provide more

medications used to treat

the sick.

Whitmer, a Democrat,

confirmed that she asked

Biden on the call to send

more vaccine doses to

Michigan, particularly the

single-dose Johnson and

Johnson shot.

"I made the case for a

surge strategy," she said.

"At this point, that's not

being deployed, but I am

not giving up."

"Today it's Michigan and

the Midwest," she added.

"Tomorrow, it could be

another section of our

country. I really believe that

the most important thing

we can do is put our efforts

into squelching where the

hot spots are."

Doses are allocated to

states proportionally by

population, but Whitmer

has called for extra doses to

be shifted to states, like

hers, that are experiencing

a sharp rise in cases. The

Biden administration isn't

ready to make such

changes.

"We're going to stick with

the allocation system of

allocating by state adult

population," said White

House COVID-19

coordinator Jeff Zients,

calling it "the fair and

equitable way" to distribute

vaccines. He said the

administration was looking

to help Michigan

administer more of its

vaccines efficiently.

When Whitmer began

calling for more doses from

Washington, the state had

not maxed out its orders for

vaccines from the federal

government, according to a

person familiar with the

matter, who spoke on the

condition of anonymity to

discuss the situation.

Gen. Gustave Perna, the

top federal official

overseeing vaccine

distribution, raised the

issue of gaps between

states' allotments and their

orders on Tuesday in a

White House call with the

nation's governors. On

Thursday, Biden

administration officials

huddled directly with the

Michigan health

department to discuss the

state's ordering strategy

and ensure that it uses its

entire allotment.

"We actually met with the

White House team

yesterday and walked

through our entire ordering

strategy, and when we

ordered what and when,"

Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, a top

state health official, said

Friday. "It's very clear. They

agreed with us that we are

ordering all of the vaccines

that are available to us."

SunDAY, April 11, 2021 8

IMF warns more funding needed

to safeguard global economy

WASHINGTON : Warning that the

recovery from the pandemic crisis is

not yet over, the IMF on Thursday

called on policymakers to continue to

spend money to shore up the global

economy and ensure no one is left

behind.

Without that aid, and additional

financing from both the fund and the

World Bank, developing nations and

the poor in many countries could

struggle to rebound from the

downturn caused by Covid-19, the

International Monetary Fund said at

the conclusion of its spring meeting.

Continued support is needed to

"mitigate and heal economic scars,"

IMF managing director Kristalina

Georgieva told reporters.

"We want to make sure everybody

has a fair shot to a better life."

That means accelerating access to

vaccines and taking advantage of the

opportunity presented by the crisis to

invest in green technology, which can

create good paying jobs and address

climate change.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen

joined the call, urging "significant"

Capital market to follow banking sector’s

‘lead’ in operating during lockdown

DHAKA : The capital

market will continue its

operation in the interest of

investors in any situation

during the Covid-19 pandemic

if the banking activities

continue, reports UNB.

The Bangladesh Securities

The two-day long 5th bdSIG started on Friday

(9 April 2021) with the participation of the

stakeholders of the internet world. This

session has been started through the Zoom

Platform for two days organized by

Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum

(BIGF).

The Bangladesh School of Internet

Governance was started at 3.00 pm. BIGF

President Hasanul Haque Inu, MP was

present as Chief Guest and Spoke on the

occasion.

BIGF Secretary-General Mohammad

Abdul Haque Anu welcomed the audience

and moderated the session. He briefed about

the last bdSIG session through a short

presentation.

AHM Bazlur Rahman, CEO, BNNRC said

BIGF has been working with the government

to accelerate the activities of Digital

Bangladesh by conducting various dialogues,

discussion meetings on various issues

including policy change with the government

and international level for knowledge

creation, knowledge preservation,knowledge

dissemination and Knowledge Utilization.

bdSIG has been working to strengthen the

capacity of stakeholders, a press release said.

Babu Ram Aryal, Founder, CEO, Internet

Governance Institute, Nepal said BIGF has

been creating knowledge about the internet

governance scenario in Bangladesh. bdSIG is

being boosted up digital Bangladesh.

Anju Mangal, Head of Asia Pacific - A4AI-

World Wide Web Foundation and Vice-Chair

of APRiGF said the Bangladesh government

has a strong commitment to providing highspeed

internet connectivity. Bangladesh is

working to reduce the digital divide through

digital Bangladesh. We have to find a way to

work together.

Joyce Chen, Senior Advisor, Strategic

Engagement, APNIC, mentioned that

internet network is important and how you

describe it which is enhancing the quality of

life. Internet Governance is very essential for

development for the future. Satish Babu,

Chair, Asia Pacific School on Internet

Governance (APSIG) said we need to go a

long way to reduce the digital divide and

connect all people who are not under

connectivity.

M. Aminul Hakim Progoti, President,

Internet Service Providers Association of

new spending to ensure a solid

rebound from the damage inflicted by

the Covid-19 pandemic.

While the economic outlook has

"improved significantly," especially

due to substantial government

support, "the job is not yet done, given

high uncertainty and the risk of

permanent scarring," Yellen said.

"I urge major economies to not just

avoid removing support too early, but

to strive to provide significant

amounts of new fiscal support to

secure a robust recovery," she said.

The IMF now projects global growth

of six percent this year after the 3.3

percent contraction last year, and

credited the $16 trillion in global

public spending during the pandemic

with keeping the worst peacetime

recession in a century from being three

times as severe.

Yellen highlighted the $1.9 trillion

US aid package President Joe Biden

signed last month, as well as his

proposal announced last week to

spend $2 trillion on infrastructure and

jobs.

Yellen said that with stimulus

and Exchange Commission

(BSEC) said this against the

backdrop of the government's

preparation for imposing full

lockdown from April 14 next.

A notice posted on the

official website of the BSEC

said: "[The] capital market

will continue operation at [in]

the interest of investors in any

situation during the pandemic

of Covid-19 if the banking

activities continue."

It said all the transactions in

the capital market will

continue in the interest of

Two-day long 5th bdSIG starts

Bangladesh (ISPAB) mentioned that the

initiative is timely and praise-worthy in the

era of technology. We have to develop skills

for adaptation with the fourth industrial

revolution. BIGF has been working for

capacity-building stakeholders through its

various initiatives.

Chief Guest Hasanul HaqInu, MP,

Chairperson, Bangladesh Internet

Governance Forum & Chairman

Parliamentary Standing Committee on

Ministry of Information pointed out that the

Internet is the prime right but it is not

recognized yet. Harmonization is required for

achieving SDGs. We need a plan for the global

level, regional level, national level and

technological level. We need to develop a

concerted effort for development. A data

protection act is essential. Eliminate all types

of inequality as per the WSIS action plan is

important. Media needs to be upskilling,

reskilling for becoming inclusive

media.Reduce misinformation and

disinformation and mal-information is also

essential. India Chief of ICANN, Samiran

Gupta spoke on the basic information about

Internet and ICANN interventions. He also

discussed on Internet Governance and the

role of ICANN in the global Internet and how

non-profits and voluntary organizations work

as partner of ICANN and how can the Internet

be made available in different languages and

scripts and role does ICANN play in

cybersecurity.

Tawhidur Rahman, Senior Technical

Specialist (Digital Security & Diplomacy),

Digital Security Agency-NCIRT, BGD e-Gov

CIRT, Bangladesh Computer Council,

Ministry of Posts, Telecommunication and

Information Technology mentioned data

protection is very important. Data governance

enhances the process for manufacturing the

data storage process. The vision of

government is data for all. Data is becoming

oxygen, especially in the COVID-19

pandemic. But the government is the owner

of the data.

Sayeef Rahman, CEO, VEOSTR Limited

said Cyber Security, Data Protection and

Privacy issue wherecyber-criminals are

working for financial and various types of

blackmail to the people and they are looking

for and they use the internet as means of their

crime.

already boosting the recovery from the

pandemic shutdowns, the US

economy "could reach full

employment as soon as next year," but

many developing countries do not

have similar resources to support their

economies.

Georgieva warned about a

"dangerous divergence" in low-income

countries' prospects compared to rich

nations, which could worsen if

advanced economies like the United

States raise interest rates sooner than

expected.

She also praised the IMF members

who agreed to allow the fund to issue

$650 billion in new Special Drawing

Rights, an additional pool of IMF

currency that will add to nations'

reserves and boost their ability to

access financing.

The IMF is expected to present a

proposal to its board in June, and

Georgieva said the fund is working

with rich nations to shift some of their

share of those reserves to help aid

developing nations, which "face a

crucial policy transition from crisis to

recovery."

investors and urged the

investors not to pay heed to

any rumor.

According to sources at the

BSEC, if the banksremain

openduring the lockdown, the

capital market will also

remain open. This instruction

has been given to two stock

exchanges-Dhaka Stock

Exchange (DSE) and

Chittagong Stock Exchange

(CSE).

They said the commission

has instructed the DSE to

keep the capital market open

if banks are open. The capital

market will operate utilising

smaller shifts and work-fromhome

facilities.

Earlier, from March 26 to

May 31 last year, transactions

in the capital market were

closed due to the outbreak of

Coronavirus pandemic.

Italy's Covid

slump to end

in late 2022:

business lobby

ROME : Italy's economy, the

third largest in the eurozone,

will only recover from its

coronavirus-related slump

at the end of next year, the

national business lobby

Confindustria said Saturday.

After a record fall of 8.9

percent last year - the

biggest in Italy's postwar

history - gross domestic

product (GDP) should

expand by 4.1 percent this

year and by 4.2 per cent in

2022, the association said.

"The economy should fill

the hole created by the

pandemic in 2020 at the end

of 2022," Confindustria said

in an economic forecast

report.

Confindustria's forecasts

were more optimistic than

the International Monetary

Fund's, which last week

predicted growth of 4.2

percent and 3.6 percent in

2021 and 2022.

A crucial part of the

recovery rests on the success

of its so-far struggling

vaccination programme and

on a vast injection of loans

and grants from the

European Union.

Italy is eligible for around

200 billion euros ($238

billion) from the bloc's

flagship virus recovery fund,

but in return, it has to

commit to a comprehensive

reform plan, subject to

Brussels' approval.

Prime Minister Mario

Draghi, the former

European Central Bank

president who has been

tasked with reviving Italy's

economic prospects, is

expected to present the plan

by the end of the month.

Asian Paints partners with Shakib

Al Hasan as brand ambassador

Asian Paints, one of the

leading decorative coating

companies, has announced

star cricketer Shakib Al

Hasan, as the brand

ambassador for Bangladesh.

This brings together two of

the most consistent

performers - Asian Paints

and Shakib, both known for

their

high

quality/extraordinary

performance across the

world, a press release said.

Rahul Bhatnagar,CEO,

Asian Paints International

Pvt. Ltd., said about the new

partnership, "As an

innovation-driven company,

we want to be the most

preferred brand in

Bangladesh through our

superior quality products

and providing one stop

solution for the

beautification and protection

of our consumers' homes.

Global leading ICT provider

Huawei launched its SME

Support Program with

trusted ecosystem partners

in Asia Pacific, aiming to

deliver further technical

support for economic

recovery amid the fight

against the pandemic in the

region.

For the SME Support

Program, each eligible SME

applicant could receive

coupons worth up to $3,000

USD and free professional

consulting service including

cutting-edge cloud solutions

for a variety of industry

scenarios including

Financial Service,

Education, E-commerce,

Gaming, IoT, Application

Development, and

Enterprise Applications.

SMEs that have an

account on the HUAWEI

CLOUD official website but

have never used any paid

service could apply on the

on the SME Support

Program page and receive

consultation from cloud

experts. Applications will be

reviewed based on the

company's cloud needs and

the readiness of workloads

for cloud deployment.

"We are still very small,

BEIJING : Alibaba Group,

the world's biggest e-

commerce company, was

fined 18.3 billion yuan ($2.8

billion) by Chinese

regulators on Saturday for

anti-competitive tactics, as

the ruling Communist Party

tightens control over fastgrowing

tech industries,

reports UNB.

Party leaders worry about

the dominance of China's

biggest internet companies,

which are expanding into

finance, health services and

other sensitive areas. The

party says anti-monopoly

enforcement, especially in

tech, is a priority this year.

Alibaba was fined for

"abusing its dominant

position" to limit

competition by retailers that

use its platforms and

hindering "free circulation"

of goods, the State

Administration for Market

Regulation announced. It

said the fine was equal to 4%

of its total 2019 sales of

455.712 billion yuan ($69.5

billion).

"Alibaba accepts the

penalty with sincerity and

will ensure its compliance

with determination," the

but we have ambition to

grow into a big business.

Therefore, to choose a

reliable partner is our

priority, this translates into

reliable technology and

reliable service and support.

HUAWEI did a great job. I

believe we get the same

prompt response as any big

client of yours," Yongyan

Liu, Co-Founder and VP of

Strategy and Development

at SYMBIONAT HEALTH,

expressed the confidence in

the cooperation with

HUAWEI CLOUD.

Small and medium

enterprises (SMEs) are the

engines of growth and

company said in a

statement. It promised to

"operate in accordance with

the law with utmost

diligence."

The move is a new setback

for Alibaba and its billionaire

founder, Jack Ma, following

a November decision by

regulators to suspend the

stock market debut of Ant

Group, a finance platform

spun off from the e-

commerce giant. It would

have been the world's

biggest initial public stock

offering last year.

Ma, one of China's richest

and most prominent

entrepreneurs, disappeared

temporarily from public

view after criticizing

regulators in a November

speech. That was followed

days later by the Ant Group

suspension, though finance

specialists said regulators

already had been worried

Ant lacked adequate

financial risk controls.

Alibaba, launched in 1999,

operates retail, business-tobusiness

and consumer-toconsumer

platforms. It has

expanded at a breakneck

pace into financial services,

film production and other

innovation in the APEC

region. They account for

over 97 percent of all

business and employ over

half of the workforce across

APEC economies. They

contribute significantly to

economic growth, with their

share of GDP ranging from

40 percent to 60 percent in

most APEC economies,

according to the Asia-Pacific

Economic Cooperation.

The pandemic has forced

businesses to accelerate

their digital transformation

and move to the cloud one

to three years ahead of

schedule. HUAWEI CLOUD

is currently working with

Alibaba fined $2.8b

on competition

charge in China

fields.

The government issued

anti-monopoly guidelines in

February aimed at

preventing anti-competitive

practices such as exclusive

agreements with merchants

and use of subsidies to

squeeze out competitors.

The next month, 12

companies including

Tencent Holdings, which

operates games and the

popular WeChat messaging

service, were fined 500,000

($77,000) each on charges

of failing to disclose previous

acquisitions and other deals.

Regulators said in

December they were looking

into possibly anticompetitive

tactics by

Alibaba including a policy

dubbed "choose one of two,"

which requires business

partners to avoid dealing

with its competitors.

Also in December,

regulators announced

executives of Alibaba, its

main competitor, JD.com,

and four other internet

companies were summoned

to a meeting and warned not

to use their market

dominance to keep out new

competitors.

We look forward to a long

and winning partnership

with Shakib Al Hasan as our

brand ambassador, who has

created his mark as a

champion all rounder,

always being fearless in his

efforts to bring victory to his

country and team. He

embodies the promise of

Asian Paints - in always

going the extra mile to

provide the best for its

customers."

Shakib Al Hasan also shared

a video message, in which he

said "Asian Paints is

renowned for high

performance, the same thing

that I strive for every time I

enter the playing field. I am

proud to partner with such

an iconic brand and hope

that together we will be able

to bring world class quality to

millions of Bangladeshi

homes."

Huawei brings financial aid and

free service to SMEs Asia Pacific

over 19,000 partners and

1.6 million developers, and

is committed to

strengthening the digital

economy to support a

sustainable economic

recovery.

Currently, HUAWEI

CLOUD offers over 220

services in categories such

as compute, storage,

network, security, big data,

AI, and IoT, plus over 210

solutions for a full coverage

of industries. Enterprises

can rely on Huawei's robust

ecosystem to accelerate

innovation by joining efforts

with other eco-partners.

Toggi World

to remain

closed until

further notice

Toggi World, an indoor

amusement theme park

for children at levels 8

and 9 of Bashundhara

City Shopping Mall in

the capital's Panthapath

area, will remain closed

until further notice, a

press release said.

Country's largest

business conglomerate

Bashundhara Group had

established Toggi World

for recreation of

children, but it is not

possible to continue the

service currently

following a surge in

coronavirus cases,

sources said. Earlier

March 19 last year,

Toggi World was closed

due to the coronavirus

pandemic. Nine months

after the closure, the

theme park reopened on

the first day of the New

Year adhering to

recommended health

guidelines. Following

the surge in Covid-19

cases, Bashundhara

Group authorities have

decided to suspend the

operation of the theme

park. Toggi World will

open again once the

coronavirus situation

improves, the sources

added.

SunDAy, AFRiL 11, 2021

9

Premier League - Fulham v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - April 9, 2021 Wolverhampton

Wanderers' Willian Jose scores their first goal, later disallowed after a VAR review Pool.

Photo: Reuters

Adama Traore fires late winner

as Wolves beat Fulham 1-0

SPORTS DESK

Wolverhampton Wanderers winger

Adama Traore struck deep into

stoppage time to give his side a 1-0 win

at Fulham that leaves the Londoners

languishing in the bottom three of the

Premier League with six games left to

play, reports UNB.

The first decent chance fell to

Fulham midway through the first

half as Ruben Loftus-Cheek headed

just wide.

That miss was indicative of Fulham's

season-long struggle in attack, where

they have managed 24 goals in 32

league games, and only bottom side

Sheffield United have scored fewer.

Arsenal have a

responsibility to

qualify for Europe:

Mikel Arteta

SPORTS DESK

Arsenal manager Mikel

Arteta said that qualifying

for European competition

next season is the minimum

expectation at the club but

that he was not under any

pressure despite their

position in the Premier

League, reports UNB.

Arsenal are 10th with eight

games left and face a tough

task to qualify through their

league position. They sit

seven points behind

Tottenham Hotspur who

occupy sixth place.

A sixth-placed finish offers

the team a chance to qualify

for the second-tier Europa

League.

Winning this year's

Europa League will seal

qualification to the

Champions League, but

Arsenal have work to do

after being held 1-1 by Slavia

Prague in their quarter-final

first leg.

Asked if he was feeling the

pressure, Arteta told

reporters: "It's not pressure,

it's our responsibility.

"The club we represent has

high demands and that's the

minimum we can ask for

and have to, over time, work

to deliver those goals

because it's what we get

asked for."

Arteta led Arsenal to the

FA Cup title last season but

the team have failed to kick

on in the current campaign.

The Spaniard said he did

not think they would benefit

from a season out of Europe

to work on their long-term

project.

There are some really good

examples of teams that took

time out to rebuild and it

helped them, but "I would

rather be in Europe", Arteta

said. Arsenal face Premier

League basement side

Sheffield United on Sunday.

Wolves had a goal ruled out on the

stroke of halftime by VAR when Daniel

Podence was judged to have been

offside before he crossed for Willian

Jose to send a powerful header past

Alphonse Areola.

Roman Saiss had a great chance to

put Wolves ahead in the 68th minute

after Traore was brought down just

outside the box, but he narrowly failed

to hit the target with the resulting free

kick. The home side pressed forward

in the second half but it was Traore

who came up trumps, breaking away

late and blasting the ball home from a

tight angle to leave the Fulham players

in despair.

The goal was Traore's first in the

Premier League since scoring against

Manchester City in December 2019,

ending a run of 48 league games

without a goal.

"I am so happy. We needed the

points, it has been tough for us … If I

can help the team the best I can, I will.

I trust in my quality," Traore told BT

Sport.

The defeat leaves Fulham in 18th

place in the table with 26 points, three

behind 17th-placed Newcastle United

who have two games in hand, while

Wolves are 12th on 38 points.

The players had walked on to the

pitch wearing black armbands and

observed a two-minute silence to mark

the passing of Prince Philip.

Diving World Cup to be

held in Tokyo in May:

organisers

SPORTS DESK

The Diving World Cup, which serves as an

Olympic qualifier and test event, will be held

in Tokyo around two weeks later than

planned, organisers said Saturday, reports

BSS.

Last week the International Swimming

Federation (FINA) said it was moving the

competition from the city, reportedly due to

Japan's strict Covid-19 border rules.

It had been scheduled for April 18-23 but

will now be held on May 1-6, Tokyo 2020

organisers and FINA said.

But the Olympic marathon swim qualifier,

originally planned for next month in Japan's

Fukuoka, will be moved to Setubal in

Portugal.

A series of qualifiers and tests for the

pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games - due to

open on July 23 - have been cancelled or

postponed because of virus border rules.

Japan's travel regulations currently bar

virtually all foreign nationals from entering

the country.

Tokyo 2020 and FINA said the decision to

reschedule the Diving World Cup came after

"a very fruitful consultation process" also

involving the Japanese government and the

International Olympic Committee.

"This decision follows confirmation of the

detailed procedures for entry and local

hosting arrangements in place for the event

in Japan during the month of May for all

delegations taking part in the event," the pair

said in a statement.

The marathon swim qualifier had been set

to take place on May 29-30 in Fukuoka, but

will now be held in June at a venue in

Portugal that hosted the same event in 2012

and 2016, Tokyo 2020 and FINA said.

"Following the prompt interest and

availability from the Portuguese Swimming

Federation, the competition will now take

place in Setubal (Portugal), on June 19-20,"

they said. The status of the Artistic

Swimming qualifier on May 1-4 in Tokyo is

under review, with a decision to be made in

coming days, their statement added.

The water polo test event has also been

postponed, after reports said time-keepers

and record-keepers who were due to travel to

Japan could not take part in the event.

On Friday, Japan's government approved

tighter coronavirus measures for the capital

and other areas, weeks after lifting a state of

emergency and with just over 100 days until

the postponed Games.

The Tokyo Aquatics Centre (pictured) is the venue for swimming, diving and artistic

swimming at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics Games.

Photo: AP

Akram tests

positive for

Covid-19

SPORTS DESK

The Bangladesh Cricket

Board (BCB) director Akram

Khan has tested positive for

Covid-19, reports UNB.

He confirmed the news to

the media on Saturday.

Akram had been suffering

from a sore throat and cold

for the last ¾ days.

He gave the corona tests

on Friday evening as soon as

the symptom appeared and

the result came positive.

Her wife, Sabina Akram,

and his children will be

tested for covid today.

Akram Khan said, "I have

tested positive for corona.

After the test, I got the result

yesterday (Friday). The rest

of my family members will

be tested today.

Tigers take second

dose of vaccine

SPORTS DESK

The Bangladesh cricketers took the second

dose of the vaccine in a bid to keep them

protected from the Covid-19, a deadly virus

that left the whole world stranded, reports

BSS.

Before going to play the series against New

Zealand in February, the cricketers of the

Bangladesh national team took the first dose

of corona vaccine.

Most of the members of the preliminary

squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka

have been vaccinated today. The rest of the

cricketers will take the vaccine tomorrow.

"Most of the members of the preliminary

squad announced for the Sri Lanka series

have been vaccinated today. The one or two

who are left will take it tomorrow,"

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief

physician Debashis Chowdhury said here on

Saturday.After receiving the second dose of

the vaccine today, fast bowler Taskin Ahmed

thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and

urged everyone to be vigilant.

"We took a second dose of the vaccine

today. Thank you Honourable Prime

Minister for giving us such an opportunity.

If you have the opportunity to get

vaccinated, you should do it. If we are not

aware of ourselves, this situation will

continue to get worse day by day," the young

pacer said.

"So we are trying to be aware and urge you

to be aware. Be aware of yourself and save

the country. Of course I am proud to be

vaccinated. As I said, thank you Bangladesh

Cricket Board and Honourable Prime

Minister for giving us such an opportunity.

The dose of vaccine is completed before we

go on another tour. I hope those around us

will also take it. Since there is an online

system (registration), everyone should take

advantage of the opportunity and be aware."

The Bangladesh Team will leave Dhaka on

12 April for a two-Test series against Sri

Lanka, which is the part of ICC World Test

Championship

Bangladesh team will be in mandatory

three-day room quarantine from April 12-14

after arriving in Sri Lanka. They will then

have quarantine training from April 15-16

after which they will play an inter-squad

warm-up game from April 17-18.

The Tigers will train on April 19 and 20

before taking on Sri Lanka for the first Test

on April 21. The second and final Test starts

on April 29. All of the two matches will be

held in Pallekele International Cricket

Stadium in Kandy. Bangladesh will return to

the country on May 4.

Preliminary Squad: Mominul Haque,

Liton Kumer Das, Md Mithun, Mushfiqur

Rahim, Tamim Iqbal Khan, Shadman Islam,

Abu Jayed Chowdhury Rahi, Taijul Islam,

Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hassan

Miraz, Nayeem Hasan, Taskin Ahmed,

Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Mohammed

Saif Hassan, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Shoriful

Islam, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Mukidul Islam

Mugdho, Shuvagata Hom Chowdhury,

Shohidul Islam, Quazi Nurul Hasan Sohan.

The Bangladesh cricketers took the second dose of the vaccine in a bid to

keep them protected from the Covid-19.

Photo: BCB

Enyimba hope rising

star Iwuala can cure

'travel sickness'

SPORTS DESK

Enyimba hope exciting

prospect Anayo Iwuala can

help cure the 'travel sickness'

that afflicts the Nigerian

team when they face Entente

Setif in Algeria Sunday in the

CAF Confederation Cup,

reports BSS.

The west Africans have

lost three straight CAF away

matches this season, and are

about to confront opponents

who must win to retain any

hope of reaching the

quarter-finals.

Capped for the first time

by Nigeria last month,

winger Iwuala, 22, enhanced

his growing reputation with

a brilliant dribble and

perfect pass to create the

winner when Enyimba beat

Setif in Aba last weekend.

Here, AFP Sport spotlights

matchday 4 in the African

equivalent of the UEFA

Europa League, with Raja

Casablanca of Morocco

poised to become the first

qualifiers for the knockout

phase.

Group A Twice African

champions Setif have fallen

far short of expectations,

collecting only one point

from a possible nine in what

is widely regarded as the

toughest of the four sections.

Recent home form offers

little encouragement to the

Algerian Black Eagles as

they failed to score in draws

with Asante Kotoko of

Ghana, in a pre-group

playoff, and Orlando Pirates

of South Africa.

Should leaders Enyimba

falter in Setif, a Pirates team

captained by centre-back

Happy Jele will move to the

top if the win in Soweto

against Al Ahly Benghazi, a

club they held in Libya last

Sunday.

Group B Title-holders

Renaissance Berkane of

Morocco are in trouble,

trailing Coton Sport of

Cameroon and JS Kabylie of

Algeria with two away

matches to come.

The first of those is against

six-time CAF title winners

Kabylie, who forced a

goalless draw in Berkane six

days ago despite having

Malik Raiah red-carded in

the second half. Coton won

away to bottom club NAPSA

Stars of Zambia in matchday

3 thanks to an Abdouraman

Daman goal and look set to

garner another three points

in Garoua.

Group C This is tightest

section with only two points

separating leaders and

record three-time

Confederation Cup winners

CS Sfaxien of Tunisia from

bottom side Salitas of

Burkina Faso.

Sfaxien and Etoile Sahel

failed to score in a Tunisian

derby last weekend with the

poor recent form of their

leading scorers, Firas

Chaouat and Ivorian

Souleymane Coulibaly

respectively, continuing.

Salitas have been forced to

switch a win-or-bust west

African showdown with

Jaraaf of Senegal to Benin

because the stadium they

use in Ouagadougou has

been declared unsuitable for

international games by CAF.

Group D Former

Confederation Cup titleholders

Raja can clinch a

last-eight slot if they

complete a double over

2020 runners-up Pyramids

of Egypt, having won at

home last Sunday.

Nu Marma lifts maiden gold for Bandarban

in Bangladesh Games karate

SPORTS DESK

Nu Ma Marma brought the maiden gold

medal for hosts Bandarban DSA, reports

UNB. Nu Marma with her excellent skills

defeated Humayra Akhter Antara of

Bangladesh Ansar in the individual kata

(karate) event to mark the event's start of

Bangabandhu 9th Bangladesh Games at the

local gymnasium.

Elik Marma of Cox'sbazar DSA and

Karima Khatun of Bangladesh Army shared

the two bronze medals.

Bangladesh Army emphatically earned the

women's kate team event gold. Bangladesh

Ansar bagged the silver, while Bandarban

DSA and Rajshahi DSA jointly earned two

bronze medals.

Jishan 169 helps

Jahangirabad clinch

Bangladesh

Games cricket gold

SPORTS DESK

Opener Jishan Alam struck

an epic 169 as Jahangirabad

Central Zone crushed

Varendra North Zone by

seven wickets in the final of

the male cricket event of

Bangabandhu 9th

Bangladesh Games at Abdur

Rab Serniabat Stadium

(ARSS) in Barishal on

Saturday, reports BSS.

By winning the final with

ease, Jahangirabad won the

gold, while Varendra was left

satisfied with silver. Chattola

East Zone, who finished

third obtained bronze.

Chandrodip South Zone was

the other team of the event.

Jishan clattered 20 fours

and eight towering sixes in

his 119 ball-169, which

steered Jahangirabad to

victory as they overhauled

Varendra's 270-6, making

273-3. Jishan and his fellow

opener Rezwan Hossain

shared a 130-run for the

opening stand to set a nice

platform. But Varendra

looked to bounce back in the

game, claiming two wickets

in the space of just three

balls with Rafiuzzman Rafi

breaking the opening stand,

dismissing Rezwan of 35

while Zakaria Islam Shanto

took the scalp of Raihan

Siddik for 1. But Jishan and

skipper Amir Hossain took

the game completely away

from Varendra, adding 119-

run for the third wicket

stand. When Varendra

skipper Nayeem Ahmed

broke through with the

wicket of Jishan after his

landmark knock,

Jahangirabad already was

on the verge of the victory.

Amir was unbeaten on 46

and sailed the side home,

alongside Maksudur

Rahman who was on 9.

sUNDAY, ApRIL 11, 2021

10

'Esho Hey

Boishakh'

to release

on Pohela

Boishakh

Nasir, Shampa with new song 'Binodini Rai'

Sabbir Nasir, the popular Bangladeshi singer has

collaborated with "SaReGaMaPa" famed singer

Sampa Biswas to record a duet titled "Binodini Rai."

Plabon Qureshi has written and composed the

tune of the love song while Real Ashique has

composed the music, says a press release.

Singer Sabbir Nasir said, "I really love the songs

written by Plabon Qureshi. And the song 'Binodini

Rai' is no exception. I have tried to add my own style

and flavours to the song while trying to keep intact

the original melody. Hopefully, the listeners will

love and appreciate this song as well."

"SaReGaMaPa" singer Shampa Biswas said,

"Even when I didn't know Plabon Qureshi, I used to

perform at the tune of his song "Indubala" on stage.

This song is highly liked and appreciated by the

people of Bangladesh. I am really happy that I have

been able to come to Bangladesh."

"Plabon Qureshi bhai is a wonderful person and I

am truly ecstatic about performing a song written

and tuned by him. I truly can't believe that the man

I used to be a fan of will become such a close person

of mine. I am truly happy right now and I want to

come to Bangladesh again and again," she added.

Plabon Quresh said, "Binodini Rai is a folk song of

Dhamail genre. The song echoes the spirit of

Bangladeshi songs. I have tried my best to input the

best possible lyrics, melody and music arrangement

of the song. Sabbir Nasir is a very close person to

me. I was really impressed by his unwavering

fascination and dedication to the original music."

"Kolkata singer Shampa Biswas is not only a

fabulous singer but also a wonderful human being.

I believe that everyone will love the song 'Binodini

Rai' by the wonderful artists Sabbir Nasir and

Shampa Biswas," Plabon added.

Priyanka now to present at

BAFTAs 2021, after Oscars!

Priyanka Chopra Jonas is one of the presenters at the

upcoming 74 British Academy Film Awards, which will

take place on April 10 and 11 at Royal Albert Hall.

The actress, who is currently in London, took to

Instagram Stories to repost from the official BAFTA

Instagram page, announcing the news. "So honoured and

excited to be presenting at the #EEBAFTAs this Sunday!"

Priyanka Chopra Jonas wrote.

The category Priyanka Chopra Jonas will present, EE

BAFTA, represents the Rising Star Award that honours

new talent. Earlier called Orange Rising Star Award, it is

now designed as EE owing to commercial reasons. Other

presenters this year include Bridgerton fame Phoebe

Dynevor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant,

Richard E. Grant, Tom Hiddleston, Felicity Jones,

Gugu Mbatha-Raw, James McAvoy,

David Oyelowo, and Pedro Pascal.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas and other

presenters at London will be joined

virtually by presenters from the

Los Angeles including Rose

Byrne, Andra Day, Anna

Kendrick and Renee Zellweger.

Priyanka's last outing

onscreen was 'The White

Tiger', a film she featured in

as well as executiveproduced.

Interestingly, 'The

White Tiger' has two

nominations at the BAFTAs

this year - for lead actor

Adarsh Gourav in the

Leading Actor category, and

writer-director Ramin

Bahrami in the category of

Best Adapted Screenplay.

Recently, Priyanka Chopra

and her husband, pop star

Nick Jonas, announced the

Oscars 2021 nominations.

Source: Indian Express

TBT RepoRT

Chanchal Khan, the Tagore singer is

going to release his solo single 'Esho

Hey Boishakh' on the occasion of

Bangla Nobo Borsho.

The song is accompanied by dancer

Samina Husain Prema and performed by

TBT RepoRT

ZEE5 Global, the largest OTT

platform for South Asian

content, released a romantic

song titled 'Katey Na Katey Na'

from the recently released ZEE5

Original web film 'Jodi Kintu

Tobou' on Tuesday.

Featuring the lead pair, the

romantic song captures some

beautiful moments between

Abir and Preety played by Ziaul

Faruq Apurba and Nusraat

Faria respectively. Sung by

Ishan Mitra and Nusraat Faria,

the song has been written by

Shomeswar Oli and composed

by Amlaan A Chakraborty.

This is for the first time

Nusraat has given vocals for a

film song. About the song, the

actress said, "I'm thrilled for all

the love we've received for 'Jodi

Kintu Tobou'. It was a privilege

to sing 'Katey Na Katey Na' for

the movie under the guidance of

Amlaan. It is indeed a lovely

members of her dance troupe Bhabna,

reads a press release. Chanchal Khan

said, "The song was recorded at the

home studio during the difficult time of

our life created by coronavirus, and

choreographed and video shooting done

on the 4 April, just prior to the

lockdown." "It was a difficult exercise no

doubt. Yet, the music video promises to

fill the hearts of the people during the

most uncertain and depressing time of

our lives," the singer added.

The music video will be released on

Youtube and Facebook pages of

Chanchal Khan and Samina Husain

Prema.

Romantic song from 'Jodi

Kintu Tobou' released

composition and I hope that our

fans like the song as much as

they liked the movie."

'Jodi Kintu Tobuo', directed

by national award-winning

director Shihab Shaheen, is the

story of an urban couple Abeer

and Preety, who experience a

roller coaster of emotions and

complex situations to realise

their love for each other.

Through the film, Apurba and

Faria have paired up for the first

time as an on-screen couple.

The film also feature notable

actors such as Tariq Anam

Khan, Saberi Alam, Naziba

Bashar and Amaan Reza.

'Jodi Kintu Tobuo' is

streaming now on ZEE5 and

viewers can watch it free of cost

in Bangladesh.

'Spider-Man' and other Sony films

to hit Netflix after theaters

Streaming service Netflix Inc reached a deal

to offer new "Spider-Man" movies and other

films from Sony Pictures to US customers

after they play in theaters, the companies said

on Thursday. The five-year arrangement will

begin with the 2022 slate of movies, which is

scheduled to include Marvel film "Morbius,"

best-selling book adaptation "Where the

Crawdads Sing" and Brad Pitt thriller "Bullet

Train."

Future releases are expected to include new

installments in the Spider-Man, Venom,

Jumanji and Bad Boys franchises.

The movies will hit Netflix after they have

finished their run in theaters and been made

available for home viewing via video-ondemand.

That period typically extends for

months, though studios have been

experimenting with offering films in homes

sooner during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under the new deal, Netflix also will stream

some older films from Sony's library, and will

have the first chance to pick up any movies

that Sony makes directly for streaming. The

world's largest streaming service is looking to

bolster its movie offerings as it faces growing

competition from Walt Disney Co, HBO Max

and others. Financial terms were not

disclosed. The cost to Netflix depends in part

on how many movies Sony releases and how

each film performs at the box office. Shares in

Netflix rose nearly 1.2% to $553.85 in

afternoon trading on Nasdaq.

Source: Reuters

H o R o s c o p e

ARIes

(March 21 - April 20) : There's an

emotional intensity inside you today that's

squirming to find a way out, Aries. Sudden

outbursts are likely, so take care to hold

your temper in check. Surround yourself with good

friends who can support your erratic feelings. Don't be

clingy. Seek friends who are thoughtful listeners, not

permanent crutches. They may be feeling the same strong

tension and don't need an extra burden.

TAURUs

(April 21 - May 21) : Today may have

some crazy emotional ups and downs,

Taurus. There seems to be an intense

cloud seeping into every part of your day.

Don't try to fool people. They will see right through

you. Bursts of positive energy will pop out of nowhere

to remind you of your more important purpose. Try

not to get so bogged down in the heaviness of the day

that you fail to spot opportunities that arise.

GeMINI

(May 22 - June 21) : This day will be filled

with many exciting surprises for you, Gemini.

Approach it with gratitude and you will be

amazed at the number of things that just

naturally seem to flow your way. Your generous heart will be

rewarded in unexpected ways. Old friends are likely to show

up. Open yourself up to conversations. Act spontaneously

and with a great deal of passion.

cANceR

(June 22 - July 23) : There's a larger

trend operating in your life, Cancer. It's

asking you to break the rules and enter a

new realm - a new mindset or way of

living. Today that trend comes into focus, as emotional

outbursts call attention to the changes. Your heart may

want to go one way while your brain wants to go

another. Take deep breaths and infuse a wave of calm

into the situation before you proceed.

Leo

(July 24 - Aug. 23): Pour yourself a

comforting cup of tea today, Leo. Take

a hot shower or a long bath. In short,

pamper yourself. You may be picking

up on the extra tension of the people around you.

Be conscious of this and make a mental note to

strip away the garbage that others dump on you.

You're a sensitive individual. Pat yourself on the

back and look out for sudden moves from others.

VIRGo

(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23): It may be that people

are a bit upset by some of your recent actions or

words, Virgo. The offhand remark you made a

couple weeks ago is catching up to you. What

you may consider friendly, lighthearted sparring may actual do

a bit of damage to someone's sensitive emotions, especially

today. Think before you speak. Others might not have as tough

a skin as they seem to have.

LIBRA

(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): This is an exciting

day for you, Libra. You can accomplish

quite a bit. Your intuition is especially

acute and your sensitivity is strong.

Computers might irritate you today. It's possible to

get all worked up if your laptop crashes. Save your

work often. Keep in mind that it's just a machine.

Don't let it get the better of you.

scoRpIo

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) : You might be a bit

jittery, even without caffeine,

Scorpio. Sudden actions may cause

people to freak out, since people will

be on edge in general today anyway. Save the

surprises for another time. If you need to tell your

boss that you're going on vacation for a little

while, now isn't the time. There's a rough edge to

the astral energy. Relax to soothe your soul.

sAGITTARIUs

(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): Things may be

coming at you from all angles today,

Sagittarius. Sooner or later you will be

forced to take action. It may seem like

the walls of the room are slowly caving in. The

pressure is building and the air is getting stagnant.

Go out for a run. Exercise will help you release some

of that pressure you feel.

cApRIcoRN

(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20): You may be excited

about an idea today, Capricorn, but

unfortunately no one else may be. You

spring up with enthusiasm only to

smack into a brick wall. One side of you may be

communicative and witty while the other is

confused. The two sides aren't really connecting well,

so perhaps you should just lay low. Hold on to your

ideas, and save their presentation for a later day.

AQUARIUs

(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) : Much of today will

be a continuation of yesterday, but

with perhaps a bit more intensity for

you, Aquarius. There's an added buzz

in the air, like static on a radio. This background

noise may not provide the best environment to

work in, but you should be able to navigate with no

problem. Tune out the chatter and move on.

pIsces

(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20) : Today is one of those

days when you might feel like four people

have a hold of each of your limbs, Pisces. The

people are tugging and you're getting

stretched in every direction. Someone wants you to go there,

someone wants you to come here. Take some time out for

yourself and clearly state your needs to others. Make it known

what the best situation for you would be.

SUnday, aPRil 11, 2021

11

Rover Unit distributed mask at different areas of Gaibandha town to create awareness among the

mass people.

Photo : TBT

Iran starts up

advanced centrifuges

in nuclear deal breach

TEHRAN : Iran announced

Saturday it has started up

advanced uranium enrichment

centrifuges in a breach

of its undertakings under a

troubled 2015 nuclear deal,

days after talks on rescuing it

got underway.

President Hassan Rouhani

officially inaugurated the

cascades of 164 IR-6 centrifuges

and 30 IR-5 devices

at Iran's Natanz uranium

enrichment plant in a ceremony

broadcast by state television.

The television aired no

images of the cascades but

broadcast a link with engineers

at the plant who said

they had introduced uranium

hexafluoride gas to the cascades

after receiving the

order from Rouhani.

Iran's latest move to step

up uranium enrichment follows

an opening round of

talks Tuesday with representatives

of the remaining parties

to the nuclear deal on

bringing the United States

back into the deal.

Former President Donald

Trump withdrew from the

deal in 2018.The Vienna talks

are focused not only on lifting

crippling economic sanctions

Trump reimposed, but also

on bringing Iran back into

compliance after it responded

by suspending several of

its own commitments.

All sides said the talks, in

which Washington is not

participating directly but has

the European Union as

intermediary, had got off to a

good start.

AvB Gm wc Avi/†mbv/214

09/04/21

wRwW-631/21 (2© ©x2)

Five states account for over

72% of country's total active

COVID cases: Govt

NEW DELHI : Five states -

Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,

Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh,

and Kerala - cumulatively

account for 72.23 per cent of

the country's total active

COVID-19 cases which have

breached the 10-lakh mark

again after around six-andhalf-months,

the Union

health ministry said on

Saturday.

Ten districts including

Pune, Mumbai, Thane,

Nagpur, Bengaluru Urban,

Nashik, Delhi, Raipur, Durg

and Aurangabad account for

45.65 per cent of the total

active cases which have

climbed to 10,46,631 and now

comprise 7.93 per cent of the

total infections, it said.

A net increase of 67,023

cases have been recorded in

the total active cases in a span

of 24 hours. Maharashtra

alone accounts for 51.23 per

cent of the total active cases in

the country, the ministry said.

Ten states - Maharashtra,

Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh,

Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil

Nadu, Kerala, Madhya

Pradesh, Gujarat and

Rajasthan - have shown a

steep rise in the daily COVID-

19 cases accounting for 82.82

per cent of the new infections,

it said.

India registered a record

single-day spike of 1,45,384

new coronavirus infections on

Saturday taking the nationwide

COVID-19 tally of cases

to 1,32,05,926, Maharashtra

has reported the highest daily

new cases at 58,993. It is followed

by Chhattisgarh with

11,447 cases while Uttar

Pradesh reported 9,587 new

cases. India's cumulative

recoveries stand at

1,19,90,859 with 77,567

recoveries being registered in

a day.

"Daily Deaths continue to

show an upward trend. A total

of 794 deaths were reported

in a span of 24 hours," the

ministry said, highlighting

that 10 states account for

86.78 per cent of the new

deaths.

Maharashtra saw the maximum

casualties at 301 followed

by Chhattisgarh (91).

Twelve states and union territories

have not reported any

COVID-19 deaths in a span of

24 hours, the ministry said.

These are Puducherry,

Ladakh, Daman and Diu,

Dadra and Nagar Haveli,

Nagaland, Tripura,

Meghalaya, Sikkim,

Mizoram, Manipur,

Lakshadweep, Andaman and

Nicobar Islands, and

Arunachal Pradesh, it said.

The cumulative number of

COVID-19 vaccine doses

administered in the country

has crossed 9.80 crore, the

ministry said.

Cumulatively, 9,80,75,160

vaccine doses have been

administered through

14,75,410 sessions till 7 am,

according to the provisional

report.

These include 89,88,373

healthcare workers (HCWs)

who have taken the first dose

and 54,79,821 HCWs who

have taken the second dose,

98,67,330 FLWs who have

received the first dose,

46,59,035 FLWs who have

taken the second dose.

Besides, 3,86,53,105 and

15,90,388 beneficiaries aged

above 60 have been administered

the first and second

dose respectively and

2,82,55,044 and 5,82,064

beneficiaries aged between 45

to 60 received the first and

second dose respectively.

Eight states including

Maharashtra, Rajasthan,

Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West

Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya

Pradesh and Kerala account

for 60.62 per cent of the total

doses given so far in the country,

the ministry said.

Over 34 lakh vaccination

doses were administered in a

span of 24 hours, it said. As on

day-84 of the vaccination

drive (April 9), 34,15,055 vaccine

doses were given. Out of

which, 30,06,037 beneficiaries

were vaccinated across

46,207 sessions for the first

dose and 4,09,018 beneficiaries

received the second dose

of the vaccine. In terms of the

number of daily doses administered

globally, India continues

to remain at the top with

an average of 38,93,288

doses administered per day.

Myanmar junta attacks

again as spokesman

defends crackdown

YANGON : Security forces in

Myanmar cracked down

heavily again on anti-coup

protesters Friday even as the

military downplayed reports

of state violence, reports UNB.

Reports on online news outlets

and social media said at

least four people were killed in

Bago, about 100 kilometers

(60 miles) northeast of

Yangon, in an attack by government

troops and police

that began before dawn and

continued sporadically until

after dark.

The Bago Weekly Journal

Online said a source at the

city's main hospital, whom it

didn't name, believed about 10

people had been killed.

It was the third attack this

week involving the massive

use of deadly force by security

forces to try to crush active

opposition to the Feb. 1 coup

that ousted the elected government

of Aung San Suu Kyi.

On Wednesday, attacks

were launched on opponents

of military rule in the towns of

Kalay and Taze in the country's

north. In both places, at

least 11 people-possibly

including some bystanderswere

reported killed. Security

forces were accused of using

heavy weapons in their

attacks, including rocket-propelled

grenades and mortars.

The allegations could not be

independently confirmed by

The Associated Press.

Some of the protesters used

homemade weapons, especially

in Kalay, where defenders

called themselves a "civil

army," and some were

equipped with rudimentary

hunting rifles.

Most protests in cities and

town around the country have

been nonviolent, with demonstrators

espousing civil disobedience.

Violence by security forces

was also reported Friday in

several other areas, including

Loikaw, the capital of Kayah

sate in the east, where live

ammunition was employed,

according to numerous social

media posts.

At least 614 protesters and

bystanders have been killed by

security forces through

Thursday, according to the

Assistance Association for

Political Prisoners, which

monitors casualties and

arrests.

Egypt to unveil 'portion'

of 3,000-year old city

LUXOR, Egypt : Archaeologists near Luxor have unearthed

just a portion of the "largest" ancient city ever found in Egypt

and dating to a golden pharaonic age 3,000 years ago, officials

said Saturday.

Famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass had announced earlier

this week the discovery of the "lost golden city", saying the

site was uncovered near Luxor, home of the legendary Valley

of the Kings.

"We found one portion of the city only. But the city extends

to the west and the north," Hawass told AFP Saturday ahead

of a press conference in the archaeologically rich area.

Betsy Bryan, professor of Egyptian art and archaeology at

Johns Hopkins University, had said the find was the "second

most important archeological discovery since the tomb of

Tutankhamun" nearly a century ago, according to the excavation

team's statement on Thursday.

Items of jewellery have been unearthed, along with

coloured pottery vessels, scarab beetle amulets and mud

bricks bearing seals of Amenhotep III.

The team began excavations in September between the

temples of Ramses III and Amenhotep III near Luxor, some

500 kilometres (300 miles) south of Cairo.

Amenhotep III inherited an empire that stretched from the

Euphrates River in modern Iraq and Syria to Sudan and died

around 1354 BC, ancient historians say.

San Francisco suspends plan to rename

Lincoln, Washington schools

SAN FRANCISCO : The San Francisco school board has suspended

a controversial plan to rename a third of its public

schools as part of a racial reckoning that targeted figures

including George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

The vote Tuesday night addressed a dispute that has been

simmering for months.

Supporters of the plan to rename 44 schools wanted to rid

these institutions of the monikers of people associated with

racism, slavery or colonization.

Critics complained the plan made the famously liberal city

an even larger target for criticism from the right wing and

said the plan was carried with a flawed public-meeting

process.

The move dates back to the creation of a commission in

May 2018 to revise the names of public schools, long before

statues of Christopher Columbus or figures from the US

Confederate south were toppled by anti-racism protesters in

the wake of George Floyd's death under the knee of a white

policeman in May 2020.The commission created a list of 44

schools to be renamed, such as that bearing the name of

Spanish missionary Junipero Serra.

No region in the world spared

as virus cases, deaths surge

POLAND : Hospitals in Turkey and Poland

are filling up fast. Pakistan is restricting

domestic travel to contain a surge in coronavirus

infections. Even Thailand, which has

weathered the pandemic far better than

many nations, is now struggling to contain a

new COVID-19 spike, reports UNB.

The only exceptions to the deteriorating

worldwide situation are countries that have

advanced vaccination programs, mostly

notably Israel and Britain. Even the U.S.,

which is a vaccination leader globally, is seeing

a small uptick in new cases, and the

White House announced Friday that it

would send federal help to Michigan to control

the state's worst-in-the-nation transmission

rate.

The World Health Organization said

Friday that it's concerned about infection

rates that are rising in every global region,

driven by new virus variants and too many

nations coming out of lockdown too soon.

"We've seen rises (in cases) worldwide for

six weeks. And now, sadly, we are seeing

rises in deaths for the last three weeks," Dr.

Margaret Harris, a WHO spokeswoman,

said at a briefing in Geneva.

In its latest weekly epidemiological update,

the WHO said over 4 million COVID-19

cases were reported in the last week. New

deaths increased by 11% compared to last

week, with over 71,000 reported.

The increasing infections, hospitalizations

and deaths extend to countries where vaccinations

are finally gaining momentum. That

leaves even bleaker prospects for much of the

world, where large-scale vaccination programs

remain a more distant prospect.

GD-630/21 (8x3)

In Turkey, which is among the badly hit

countries, most new cases of the virus can be

traced to a variant first found in Britain.

Ismail Cinel, head of the Turkish Intensive

Care Association, said the surge was beginning

to strain the nation's relatively

advanced health care system and "the alarm

bells are ringing" for intensive care units,

which are not yet at full capacity.

"The mutant form of the virus is causing

more harm to the organs," Cinel said. "While

2 out of 10 patients were dying previously,

the number is now 4 out of 10. And if we continue

this way, we will lose six."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

eased COVID-19 restrictions in early March

to minimize pain to his nation's ailing economy.

The new spike forced him to announce

renewed restrictions, such as weekend lockdowns

and the closure of cafes and restaurants

during Ramadan, which starts April 13.

Turkish medical groups say the reopening

in March was premature and that the new

measures do not go far enough. They have

been calling for full lockdowns during the

holy Muslim month.

In the U.S. capital, President Joe Biden's

administration outlined how the federal government

planned to help Michigan better

administer the doses already allocated to the

state, as well as expand testing capacity and

the availability of drugs. The effort will not

include any extra vaccine doses, a move Gov.

Gretchen Whitmer sought.

Doses are currently allocated to states proportionally

by population. Whitmer has called

for extra doses to be shifted to states like hers

experiencing a sharp rise in cases.

Pentagon chief visits

Israel amid Iran talks

JERUSALEM : US Defence Secretary Lloyd

Austin arrived in Jerusalem Sunday, the highest

ranked member of President Joe Biden's

administration to visit Israel.

The two-day visit comes as the Biden administration

attempts to return to an Iran nuclear

deal abandoned by its predecessor, which Israel

opposes.

Austin is expected to meet Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Benny

Gantz and armed forces chief Lieutenant

General Aviv Kochavi.

The trip will also include a tour of the Nevatim

air force base and visits to the Yad Vashem

Holocaust Memorial and to a Jerusalem memorial

to fallen soldiers.

Austin arrives days after representatives of the

remaining parties to the troubled 2015 nuclear

deal launched talks in Vienna on bringing the

United States back into it.

Then president Donald Trump withdrew

from the deal in 2018.

The Vienna talks are focused not only on lifting

crippling economic sanctions Trump reimposed,

but also on bringing Iran back into compliance

after it responded by suspending several

of its own commitments.

All sides said the talks, in which Washington is

not participating directly but has the European

Union as intermediary, had got off to a good

start.Israel opposes the US attempt to rejoin the

accord.

Speaking last week, Netanyahu said Israel

would not be bound by its terms.

"An agreement with Iran that would pave the

way to nuclear weapons - weapons that threaten

our extinction - would not compel us in any

way," Netanyahu said in a speech, on the eve of

Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Iran and Israel have both recently attacked

each other's commercial shipping, reports say.

Austin will also visit Germany, the United

Kingdom and Belgium on his tour, according to

the Pentagon.

1152 08.04.21

Sunday, Dhaka, April 11, 2021, Chaitra 28, 1427 BS, Shaban 27, 1442 Hijri

Low-income countries received only 0.2 pc

of 700m Covid jabs given globally: WHO

Dhaka, Apr 10 (UNB) -- The World

Health Organisation has said that lowincome

countries have just received

only 0.2 percent of the total Covid-19

jabs globally as more than 700 million

vaccine doses have been administered

across the world.

The vast majority of Covid-19 vaccines

administered so far have gone to

wealthy nations, the World Health

Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

"There remains a shocking imbalance

in the global distribution of

vaccines," WHO chief Tedros

Adhanonom Ghebreyesus told

reporters at the agency's regular

briefing from Geneva.

"On average in high-income countries,

almost one in four people has

received a vaccine. In low-income countries,

it's one in more than 500. Let me

Initiatives taken to help

workers get jobs in Malaysia

without hassle: Envoy

DHAKA : Bangladesh High Commissioner to

Malaysia Md Golam Sarwar on Saturday said

they have taken a number of initiatives with

digital platforms like "Chakrir Khoj" to help

migrant workers get rid of any middlemen or

agents making the entire process transparent

and getting jobs without any hassle, reports

UNB.

"There'll be no scope of fraudulence or getting

cheated (by agents). We'll remain careful

always so that no one gets cheated," he said

while exchanging views with the members of

Diplomatic Correspondents Association,

Bangladesh (DCAB) virtually.

Deputy High Commissioner Mohammad

Khorshed A Khastagir and officials from various

wings of the High Commission also spoke

at the programme.

The Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala

Lumpur recently launched the job portal

"Chakrir Khoj" at a virtual event.

Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas

Employment Minister Imran Ahmad, MP

attended it as the chief guest while State

Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar

Alam, MP was the special guest.

High Commissioner Sarwar highlighted the

various recent initiatives undertaken by the

Mission, aiming to benefit the Bangladeshi

expatriates living in Malaysia.

Depicting the background, he said the portal

will help the undocumented Bangladeshi

workers get their jobs without hassle.

Responding to a question, Sarwar said there

might be efforts to spread a negative campaign

by those whose interest would be hurt

due to the direct communication between the

workers and employers through the High

Commission.

He said the Labour Recalibration

Programme is in place that regularises illegal

immigrants in Malaysia as foreign workers

who could be employed by the eligible

employers.

The Labour Recalibration Programme kicked

off on November 16, 2020 in cooperation with

the Department of Labour Peninsular Malaysia

(JTKSM) and other Malaysian government

agencies without the involvement of vendors or

third parties. "This programme will continue

until June 30 and it might get extended," said the

High Commissioner adding that Bangladeshis

only in Malaysia can apply under the programme

now.

repeat that: one in four versus one in

500," the UN News quoted him as saying.

The global solidarity initiative,

COVAX, has also experienced a shortage

of vaccines. While the mechanism

has distributed some 38 million doses

so far, it was expected to deliver nearly

100 million by the end of March.

"The problem is not getting vaccines

out of COVAX; the problem is getting

them in," he said.

"We understand that some countries

and companies plan to do their own

bilateral vaccine donations, bypassing

COVAX for their own political or commercial

reasons. These bilateral

arrangements run the risk of fanning

the flames of vaccine inequity."

COVAX partners, who include Gavi,

the vaccine alliance, are working on several

options to scale up production to

meet the goal of delivering two billion

doses by the end of the year.

Dr Seth Berkley, the Chief Executive

Officer at Gavi, highlighted the need for

continued solidarity. "What we are now

beginning to see are supply constraints,

not just of vaccines, but also of the goods

that go into making vaccines."

COVAX is in discussions with several

high-income countries to get them to

share surplus vaccine doses, he said. It

is also developing cost-sharing mechanisms

so that low-income countries can

buy additional doses through COVAX,

funded by multilateral development

banks.

Dr Berkley said that financing is also

needed as demand for vaccines has

risen with the emergence of new Covid-

19 variants.

S Korea provides US$

1mn to IOM to support

Rohingyas affected

in recent fire

DHAKA : The government of South

Korea has decided to provide emergency

support of US$ 1 million to the

International Organization of Migration

(IOM) in order to support the humanitarian

activities in response to the massive

fire that broke out recently at the

Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar, reports

UNB.

According to international agencies,

the fire that broke out on March 22

heavily damaged Camp 9, Camp 8E,

and Camp 8W located in Kutupalong

Balukhali area, Cox's Bazar, with

approximately 10,100 households

destroyed and about 48,000 Rohingya

refugees displaced.

The Korean Government's support

will help international humanitarian

agencies' response and recovery activities

benefit the most affected and

rebuild the destroyed refugee shelters

and living facilities, including LPG distribution,

latrines, and bathing systems.

Since the outbreak of the Rohingya

refugee crisis in 2017, the Republic of

Korea has been providing annually four

to five million US dollars for activities of

international humanitarian agencies

such as UNHCR, UNICEF, IOM, WFP,

and IFRC for responding to the large

scale international humanitarian crisis

and supporting for Bangladesh host

community.

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea

said they will continue to make its best

effort to address the humanitarian crisis

and the ultimate repatriation of

Rohingya refugees in close cooperation

with the Bangladesh Government and

the international community.

Complete lockdown

from April 14

Notification today

DHAKA : As the spread of Coronavirus has

sparked alarm across the country, the government

is set to issue a notification on

Saturday over enforcing a fresh nationwide

lockdown from April 14 in its desperate bid

to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

A fresh lockdown is coming with tougher

measures as the virus keeps spreading fast

in the country, State Minister for Public

Administration Farhad Hossain said while

talking to UNB about the lockdown notification.

"The country saw the highest death

from Covid-19 today. The situation will get

out of hand if we don't take tougher measures.

So, we've decided to go for an all-out

lockdown from April 14," he said.

Replying to a question whether there

would be any restriction for April 12 and 13

after the ongoing 7-day lockdown tomorrow

(Sunday), the state minister said there

would be directives regarding these two

days in tomorrow's (Sunday's) notification.

Everything except emergency services will

be closed this time, said Farhad Hossain

adding, "Garment factories, transport

movement and all the offices except those of

emergency services will remain shut."

The state minister said the government

will take special initiatives for providingfinancial

and food assistance to the lowincome

people during the lockdown across

the country and the Ministry of Disaster

Management and Relief will take necessary

measures in this regard.

The above picture is the current development of elevated expressway. The photo was taken from the

Kuril Bisgwa Road area of the capital on Saturday.

Photo: PBA

Digital Bangladesh to be built

with youths' talents: Palak

DHAKA : State Minister for Information and

Communication Technology (ICT) Junaid Ahmed Palak

yesterday said the country need to build as a problem

solving nation with country made innovation and solutions,

reports BSS.

Emphasizing on building a digital society, he said, "We

need to build a sustainable economic liberation with the

power of innovation and solution of youth." He was

speaking as the chief guest at a webinar on "Achieving

Digital Bangladesh Adventures and Future

Destinations" organized by Innovation and

Development Associates, said a press release.

Palak said that in order to build an innovation ecosystem

in the country, priority should be given to active

learning and hands-on training, research and problem

solving and technological advancement by changing the

education infrastructure.

He suggested simplifying copyright and trademark

management to build innovative ecosystems.

USAID to launch multi-year

project in Bangladesh to promote

growth through energy

DHAKA : USAID will soon

launch a multi-year project of up

to $17 million in Bangladesh,

called "Bangladesh Advancing

Development and Growth

through Energy" (BADGE), subject

to the availability of funds,

reports UNB.

This multi-year initiative will

work to expand Bangladeshis'

access to affordable clean energy,

support clean energy entrepreneurship,

foster transparent and

efficient energy markets, and

advance innovation, according to

the US Embassy in Dhaka.

It is also critical to curbing the

country's carbon emissions,

which nearly quadrupled over

the past two decades.

During his April 5-9 visit to

India and Bangladesh, US

Special Presidential Envoy for

Climate John Kerry highlighted

several new initiatives from the

USAID in India and Bangladesh

that will help combat climate

change by expanding access to

clean energy, strengthening climate-resilient

infrastructure, and

promoting clean energy entrepreneurship.

The project will not only reduce

emissions but also will improve

living standards for the people of

Bangladesh and will support continued

rapid economic growth,

said the Embassy.

For more than two decades,

USAID, championed clean energy

innovation, has helped

Bangladesh transform the country's

energy sector as well as protect

its natural resources, including

more than 2.5 million acres of

wetlands and forest areas, which

contain habitats for the iconic

Bengal tiger in the Sundarbans

mangroves.

In India, USAID and the U.S.

International Development

Finance Corporation (DFC) are

jointly sponsoring a new $41 million

loan portfolio guarantee

designed to bolster the ability of

India's small and medium enterprises

to invest in rooftop solar

panel installation.

Since the initiative's official

launch on March 18, 2021,

USAID partners have already

lined up projects worth $4 million

for financing under the guarantee,

including 50 solar-powered

micro-cold chains in villages,

and solar plus storage solutions

to power 350 remote rural

bank branches.

USAID and the DFC are partnering

with U.S.-based Encourage

Capital and two Indian non-banking

financial companies, cKers

Finance and women-owned

Electronica Finance Limited, on

this important initiative.

Special Presidential Envoy Kerry

also highlighted that USAID will

award up to $9.2 million to support

the Coalition for Disaster Resilient

Infrastructure (CDRI), hosted by

the Govt of India.

This initiative will help foster

disaster and climate resilient

infrastructure, pending the availability

of funds.

USAID will support the CDRI

to develop and share innovations,

policy recommendations,

and best practices in developing

disaster and climate resilient

infrastructure worldwide in

order to help countries incorporate

best practices into their

infrastructure planning and foster

partnerships between governments

and the private sector

to expand disaster and climate

resilient infrastructure.

The state minister said the challenge of the 4th

Industrial Revolution should be taken as an opportunity.

To this end, we want to build a digital economy by

building an inclusive digital Bangladesh by harnessing

the talents and technology of the youth through partnership.

"90 per cent of basic government services have

already gone online to implement the Digital

Bangladesh vision," he said adding: "About 90 percent

of the population is now able to connect to the Internet."

Former Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Abul

Kalam Azad presided over the webinar hosted by World

Bank Advisor Hussain Samad.

A2I Policy Adviser Anir Chowdhury, former Bidar

Chairman Kazi Aminul Islam, Datasoft Managing

Director Mahbub Zaman, SBK TechVenture founder

Sonia Bashir Kabir and Tareq M Barkatullah presented

their proposals at the webinar.

Quader urges

BNP not to do

politics over

pandemic

DHAKA : Awami League General

Secretary and Road Transport

and Bridges Minister Obaidul

Quader yesterday called upon

BNP to stand beside people

instead of doing politics over the

coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

"Every day, BNP makes falsehood

and spreads rumors against

the government. But if we reply to

that, they get angered," he told a

press conference on contemporary

issues at his official residence

here.

Mentioning that the government

welcomes any constructive

criticism not rumors and propaganda,

Quader urged BNP to give

constructive suggestions to the

government instead of making

blind criticisms.

"Now opposing in every matter

has become BNP's politics. So, I

want to urge the BNP leaders to

stand beside the people instead of

doing politics over coronavirus,"

he said.

The minister said BNP did evil

politics over coronavirus vaccine

and now they are spreading misleading

information centering the

lockdown.

"What did BNP do for the welfare

of the people apart from making

criticisms and spreading falsehood

during the pandemic?" he

questioned.

He said when the developed

nations are facing severe troubles

in containing the Covid-19 surge,

Bangladesh is making relentless

efforts to restrain the transmission

by building strong network

from centre to grassroots.

The government has been making

all-out strides to secure the life

as well as livelihoods, he said.

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam, Executive Editor : Sheikh Efaz Ahmed, 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.

Editorial and News Office: Bangladesh Timber Building (3rd Floor) 270/B, Tejgaon I/A Dhaka-1208. Tel : +8802-8878026, Cell : 01736786915; Fax: + 880244611604, Email: Editor : editor@thebangladeshtoday.com, Advertisement: ads@thebangladeshtoday.com, News: newsbangla@thebangladeshtoday.com, contact@thebangladeshtoday.com, website: www.thebangladeshtoday.com

11-04-2021

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