12-04-2021

Monday

DhAkA : April 12, 2021; Chaitra 29, 1427 BS; Shaban 28,1442 hijri

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www.bangladeshtoday.net

Regd.No.DA~2065, Vol.18; N o. 08; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00

InternatIonal

Ash-covered St. Vincent

braces for more volcanic

eruptions

>Page 7

sports

Real Madrid go top of La

Liga after beating Barcelona

in rain-soaked ‘El Clasico’

>Page 9

art & culture

Book review:

Tomar Jamar

Botam Ghire

>Page 10

Khaleda Zia tests

corona positive

ShAFiqul iSlAM

The BNP has officially stated that the

party's chairperson and former Prime

Minister Begum Khaleda Zia has been

infected by Corona and said that she is

good and her condition is stable. BNP secretary

general Mirza Fakhrul Islam

Alamgir said this information in an emergency

press briefing at the chairperson's

office in Gulshan on Sunday afternoon. He

said that their party's chief Begum

Khaleda Zia's corona had been tested at

the ICDDRB last Saturday. The test report

we received on Sunday is positive. That

means she has been infected with corona.

Now her treatment process has already

started under the supervision of her personal

physicians led by FM Siddiqui. Now

her latest situation is stable and well.

Highlighting Khaleda Zia's physical condition,

Mirza Fakhrul said she has no temperature

and no other symptoms. Her

treatment has already begun. We want to

reassure the people that her personal

physicians are under the care of the best

physicians in the country and she is doing

well. He said the next decision would be

taken according to the decision of her doctors.

In other words, if there is any need,

further treatment will be arranged in that

way.

Teacher remanded over

death of maid in city

DHAKA : A court on Sunday placed a

teacher of Birshreshtha Noor Mohammad

Public School and College on four-day

police remand in a case lodged following

the recovery of the body of her housemaid

Laili Akter, 16, from her home at the

teacher's complex.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Moinul

Islam passed the order as police produced

Farjana Islam before the court and pleaded

to place her on 10-day remand.

Police on April 10 recovered the body of

Laili Akter from Farjana's third-floor

home at the teacher's complex of the college

and later the case was filed with New

Market Police Station.

Laili, daughter of late Siraj Miah of village

Chandrapur in Lakshmipur, was

working at the house of Farjana Islam for

the last eight months.

Zohr

04:24 AM

12:03 PM

04:30 PM

06:23 PM

07:38 PM

5:39 6:20

Covid-19

Bangladesh records highest

single-day deaths

DHAKA : Bangladesh has reported its

highest single-day coronavirus fatalities

on Sunday, surpassing Saturday's figure.

The health authorities confirmed 78

deaths during the last 24 hours till

morning. A day earlier, the country

recorded 77 fatalities, the highest since

coronavirus cases were first reported in

March last year.

Fatalities from Covid-19 rose to 9,739

as the mortality rate remained static at

1.42 percent for the third consecutive

day.

Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus

death on March 18 last year. The

virus claimed 568 lives in January this

year, 281 in February and 638 in

March.

Meanwhile, 5,819 new cases were

reported, pushing the local tally to

684,756, according to a handout issued

by the Directorate General of Health

DHAKA : Awami League General

Secretary and Road Transport and

Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on

Sunday urged all, except those involved

in emergency

services, to stay

home during the

complete lockdown

from April

14 in the greater

interest of

mankind.

"On the basis of

recommendations

of experts, Prime

Minister Sheikh

Hasina's government

is continuing

its all-out

strides to face the

second wave of coronavirus pandemic.

A complete lockdown will be enforced

from April 14," he told a regular press

conference at his official residence here.

Quader said the ongoing restrictions

that began on April 5 will be continued

till April 13.

He said the public transports will ply

in cities with conditions, keeping half of

Services (DGHS).

The infection rate slipped to 19.81

percent from 20.49percent of

Saturday's. So far, 5,002,865 samples,

including 29,376 in the last 24 hours,

have been tested.

After reporting over 7,000 cases

between April 4 and April 9, the daily

case count fell significantly in the last 48

hours.

During the 24-hour period, 4,212

patients recovered, raising the number

of recoveries to 576,590, the DGHS

said.

A rise in cases prompted the government

to enforce a seven-day lockdown

from April 5 but later shops and shopping

malls were allowed to remain open

and public transport resumed in city

corporation areas.

The lockdown will be extended until

April 13. From the next day, the country

will enter a "strict seven-day lockdown".

All urged to stay home during

complete lockdown

the seats empty and receiving adjusted

fares from passengers on Monday and

Tuesday as per the ongoing restrictions

while inter-city passenger-vehicle services

will continue to remain suspended

until future notice.

The minister urged the people to keep

patience during the crisis period and

maintain health guidelines properly.

"If we show negligence and indifference

to health guidelines, it could push

our life into severe danger," he said.

At least 82 people were killed in one day in a crackdown by Myanmar security forces on pro-democracy

protesters, according to reports Saturday from independent local media and an organization

that keeps track of casualties since the February coup.

Photo : AP

Banks reopened yesterday after a two-day weekly closure. The banks were overcrowded due to the

limited transactional time.

Photo : Star Mail

Ongoing lockdown

extended upto Apr

13: Quader

DHAKA : The ongoing lockdown will

remainin forceuntil April 13 (Tuesday) to

stem the spread of Coronavirus, said Road

Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul

Quader on Sunday, reports UNB.

"The first phaseof the7-day

lockdown,which was enforced on April 5,

has been extendedbytwo days," said

Quader at a regular briefing.

Besides, the government will go for an

all-out lockdown from April 14 which will

betougherthanthe previous ones, he said.

On Friday, State Minister for Public

Administration Farhad Hossain said the

government is planning to impose an

extremely severe lockdown from April 14

to 20 to curb the transmission of Covid-19.

The government imposed an apparently

nationwide lockdown for one week from

April 5 as part of its tougher move to contain

the spike in both coronavirus infections

and fatalities.

But the government allowed the

resumption of public transport in city corporation

areas from April 7 as well as

reopening shops and shopping malls for

five days from April 9 in the face of

protests against the lockdown.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh is experiencing

the second wave of Covid-19 as people

continued to defy health protocols despite

warnings both from the government and

experts.

CAAB likely to suspend

int’l flights from Apr 14

Myanmar forces kill 82

in single day in: Reports

YANGON : At least 82 people were

killed in one day in a crackdown by

Myanmar security forces on prodemocracy

protesters, according to

reports Saturday from independent

local media and an organization that

keeps track of casualties since the

February coup.

Friday's death toll in Bago was the

biggest one-day total for a single city

since March 14, when just over 100 people

were killed in Yangon, the country's

biggest city. Bago is about 100 kilometers

(60 miles) northeast of Yangon.

The Associated Press is unable to independently

verify the number of deaths.

The death toll of 82 was a preliminary

one compiled by the Assistance

Association for Political Prisoners,

which issues daily counts of casualties

and arrests from the crackdown in the

aftermath of the Feb. 1 coup that ousted

the elected government of Aung San

Suu Kyi.

Their tallies are widely accepted as

highly credible because cases are not

added until they have been confirmed,

with the details published on their website.

In its Saturday report, the group said

that it expected the number of dead in

Bago to rise as more cases were verified.

The online news site Myanmar Now

also reported that 82 people had been

DHAKA : The authorities of the Civil

Aviation Authority of Bangladesh

(CAAB) on Sunday said they are planning

to suspend all international

flights as the government is going to

impose a strict lockdown from April 14

to contain the spread of Covid-19,

reports UNB.

"However, no final decision has been

taken yet. Decision on international

flights will be taken after a meeting in

the afternoon," said Air-Vice Marshal

M Mofidur Rahman, chairman of

CAAB.

"The operation of flights will depend

on the directives of the government and

if the lockdown starts from Wednesday

then CAAB will take decision on international

flights as per the government's

lockdown directives," he said.

Besides, no restriction will be

imposed on the movement of chartered

flights, cargo flights and special flights

carrying high commissioners of different

countries and foreign nationals.

The flight operations on domestic

routes remained suspended since the

enforcement of the seven-day lockdown

in the country from April 5.

Besides, on April1 , the civil aviation

regulator suspended the entry of passengers

from all European countries ,

except the UK, and 12 other countries to

Bangladesh from April 3.

As the spread of Coronavirus has

sparked alarm across the country, the

government is set to issue a notification

on Sunday over enforcing a fresh

nationwide lockdown from April 14 in

its desperate bid to stop the spread of

the deadly virus.

Bangladesh, a densely populated

country, is facing the wraths of the

Covid-19 pandemic as people continued

to defy health protocols despite

warnings both from the government

and experts.

killed, citing an unnamed source

involved with charity rescue work.

Myanmar Now and other local media

said the bodies had been collected by

the military and dumped on the

grounds of a Buddhist pagoda.

At least 701 protesters and bystanders

have been killed by security forces since

the army's takeover, according to the

Assistance Association for Political

Prisoners.

The attack on Bago was the third in

the past week involving the massive use

of force to try to crush the persistent

opposition to the ruling junta.

Attacks were launched Wednesday

on hardcore opponents of military rule

who had set up strongholds in the

towns of Kalay and Taze in the country's

north. In both places, at least 11

people-possibly including some

bystanders-were reported killed.

The security forces were accused of

using heavy weapons in their attacks,

including rocket-propelled grenades

and mortars, though such allegations

could not be independently confirmed

by The Associated Press. Photos posted

on social media from Bago appeared to

show fragments of mortar shells.

Most protests in cities and town

around the country are carried out by

nonviolent demonstrators who consider

themselves part of a civil disobedi-

monday, april 12, 2021

2

Bullet wounded Indian

youth admitted to

Kurigram hospital

KURIGRAM : An Indian

young man who enteted

Bangladesh

after

sustainingbullet wound

during the election violence in

Cooch Bihar state of India

was admitted to Kurigram

General Hospital.

The Indian youth was

identified as Milon Mia, son

of Jagu Alam of Shahidal

Kuthi village of Sahebganj in

Cooch Behar.

Border Guard Bangladesh

Battalion captain Lieutenant

Colonel Towhidul Alam said

Milon was shot as he went out

during a curfew enforced by

the Indian government.

German conservatives

mull Merkel succession

BERLIN : With less than six months to go until

a general election and their poll ratings

plummeting, Angela Merkel's conservatives are

meeting for crunch talks Sunday as pressure

builds to pick their chancellor candidate,

reports BSS.

Long-time Merkel ally Armin Laschet, 60,

took over as leader of the chancellor's CDU

party in January, and would normally be first

the chance to stake their claims when they each

deliver a speech to conservative lawmakers on

Sunday.

Though neither Laschet nor Soeder has

officially announced their candidacy, Bild

newspaper declared Sunday's meeting "the

weekend of truth" in the race to succeed

Merkel.

While a final choice of candidate is not

choice to lead the CDU and its Bavarian affiliate expected immediately, conservative

CSU into the elections on September 26.

Yet as the conservatives' poll ratings

plummet over their recent handling of the

coronavirus crisis, some are calling for Laschet

to step aside in favour of the more charismatic

CSU leader Markus Soeder, 54.

After several rounds of shadow boxing on talk

shows and in the press, the two men will have

parliamentary leader Ralph Brinkhaus called

Friday for a decision to be made "in the next

two weeks."

The ultimate decision will most likely be

made behind closed doors, with Laschet telling

broadcaster ZDF that the conservatives would

pick the candidate who "best suited our election

programme".

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MoNDAY, APRIL 12 2021

3

Seminar titled Army Chiefs' Conclave 2021 was held at Multi-purpose Complex of Dhaka

Cantonment yesterday.

Photo : ISPR

Radisson Blu

Chattogram Bay

View welcomes

its new Manager

S M AKASH, CHATTOGRAM

Radisson Blu Chattogram

Bay View welcomed its new

Hotel Manager "Ronny

Fuss" recently

Being the leading upscale

international chain hotel in

Chattogram, the hotel will

continue to provide its

quality services under the

supervision of the new

management.

With over 20 years' of

experience in the hospitality

industry in different

economies and cultures such

as the UK, Oman, Gabon,

Kenya and Senegal, Ronny is

taking over the

responsibilities of this

flagship hotel in these

unprecedented times.

His focus areas will be to

ensure the hotel's readiness

to serve its guests with all

necessary safety protocols in

this magnificent property.

JU inter-hall

debate

competition

ends

SAVAR : A two-day 'Inter

Hall Debate Competition-

2021' ended on Saturday at

Jahangirnagar University

(JU) campus, reports BSS.

With the slogan "Prangone

Prottoye Eksathe",

Jahangirnagar University

Debate Organisation

(JUDO) organised the

contest virtually.

A total of 16 teams from 16

dormitories of the university

participated in the meet.

Bishwakabi Rabindranath

Tagore Hall became

champion while Bangamata

Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib

Hall clinched the runner-up

title at the debate

competition.

Besides, Naziul Islam

Shovon (45 batch) and

Prapti Taposhi (47 batch)

became "Debater of the

Tournament (DOT)" jointly.

Director of JU Student

Welfare Center, Professor

Abdul Mannan Chowdhury,

Prof Abdullahel Kafi of

International Relations

Department and former

secretary of the organisation

Sakhawat Jamil Sourov

were present, among others,

in the ending session of the

event.

Sanskrit learning

App "Little Guru" to

be launched Monday

DHAKA : Keeping pace with changing technology in

both access as well as teaching methods, Indian

Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has tied up

with Gamapp Sportswizz Tech. Pvt. Ltd. to launch

"Little Guru," a specialized app for learning Sanskrit.

In Bangladesh, Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre,

High Commission of India, Dhaka will launch the

same on Monday in the Facebook handle of IGCCwww.facebook.com/IndiraGandhiCulturalCentre/

Little Guru will be a gamified app based on an

interactive platform which will make Sanskrit

learning easy, entertaining and fun, said the Indian

High Commission in Dhaka.

ICCR is launching a campaign to promote Sanskrit

language among students, religious scholars,

Indologists, historians across the world.

As a part of its mandate to promote the vibrant

cultural heritage of India, ICCR promotes Sanskrit

through providing books and material to Sanskrit

institutes all over the world.

ICCR deputes teachers and professors to

universities and institutes teaching Sanskrit.

This app will help people who are already learning

Sanskrit or those who are desirous to learn Sanskrit

to do so in an easy manner based on games,

competition, rewards, peer to peer interactions, etc.

This unique App combines education with

entertainment thereby helping keep attention of the

learner as well as encourage him/her to advance

further.

ICCR is confident that the launch of

this App 'Little Guru' will go a long way

in popularizing Sanskrit. Sanskrit

continues to be a living language, being

used by scholars accessing literary

texts.

This App would help create

awareness not only about language but

also open the doors for people to access

the rich cultural heritage of India.

RAKUB launches

real time gross

settlement system

RAJSHAHI : Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan

Bank (RAKUB) has entered into a new

trend of online banking services

through launching real time gross

settlement (RTGS) system.

With this breakthrough, from now on,

all clients of the bank can avail the interbanking

transaction facilities. Apart

from this, they can also carry out their

transaction with different other banks

instantly.

RAKUB Managing Director Ismail

Hossain has launched the RTGS

programme through video conferencing

at its local principal office on Sunday.

General Manager Joynal Abedeen,

Deputy General Manager Abul Kalam

and Assistant General Managers

Shawkat Shahidul Islam and SM

Ahsanullah were present on the

occasion. Speaking on the occasion,

Ismail Hossain hoped that the

businessmen and all other clients of the

bank can avail the inter-banking

transaction services instantly with

launching the modern online banking

system. He told the meeting that the

RAKUB has entered into the online

banking through launching the live

operation of Core Banking Solutions

(CBS) on December 19, 2019.

Subsequently, the RAKUB executed CBS

in all its 383 branches on December 14

last year aimed at providing modern

services to its clients, he added.

RAKUB Managing Director said the

RAKUB has not only developed the

agricultural sector in the country's

northwest region but also played a vital

role towards its industrialization.

He urged all concerned to be

committed to uphold the success in the

days to come.

Through its 383 branches at present,

RAKUB has been operating its activities

as the largest development partner in all

the 16 northwest districts of Rajshahi

and Rangpur divisions targeting the

agricultural sector and all its subsectors.

The view of Motijheel area of ending day of seven days'

lockdown.

Photo : Star Mail

Acting JMB

Amir arrested

DHAKA : Counter

Terrorism

and

Transnational Crime

(CTTC) unit of Dhaka

Metropolitan Police's (DMP)

arrested Rezaul Haque aka

Reza, the Acting Amir of

Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen

Bangladesh (JMB), from

Badda in Dhaka on Saturday

afternoon, reports UNB.

He also goes by the name

Tanvir Mahmud Shihab aka

Ahnaf. M Elias Sharif, DMP

Joint Commissioner of

Police said that the Special

Action Group Division of the

CTTC unit conducted a

special operation in the

Badda area of the capital on

Saturday afternoon and

arrested him. Elias stated

that Reza is also the chief of

the Da'wah and Baitulmal

department of JMB.

He was conducting JMB

activities across the country

as per the directives of top

JMB leader, fugitive

Salahuddin Salehin.

He was arrested for

involvement in a series of

bomb attacks in the country in

2005 and rejoined the party

after securing bail in 2017.

There are two cases

against him in GRP and

Airport Police Station.

According to the CTTC,

Amir Rezaul, who is in

charge of the current

organizational structure of

the JMB, is the only Shura

member of the JMB.

South Korea to provide $1m for

fire response efforts in Cox's Bazar

DHAKA : South Korean government has

decided to provide emergency support of

US$ one million to the International

Organization of Migration (IOM) to carry

out fire response efforts in Cox's Bazar.

The fund will contribute to the massive

humanitarian endeavours required to

respond to a devastating fire that broke out

at several Rohingya camps on March 22 last,

an IOM press release said.

"IOM is implementing its emergency

response in affected camps in close

collaboration with the Bangladesh

government, the Inter-Sector Coordination

Group (ISCG), other UN agencies,

international and local NGOs," the release said.

Moving forward, it said, IOM's response is

focused on both critical life-saving

interventions as well as long-term recovery

efforts.

Through its interventions, IOM aims to

provide safe and dignified living conditions

for the affected people by using a

participatory site planning approach and

environmentally-conscious and sustainable

construction, the release added.

"IOM will also focus on the rehabilitation

and construction of vital water points,

latrines and shower areas, which will ensure

that the most basic human rights of the

affected population are respected," it said.

The construction of shelters will employ a

community-led approach, which will include

the participation of affected families and

Cash-for-Work activities related to

distributions, porter support and

construction works.

New liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)

cylinders will be provided to replace those

that were destroyed in the blaze as well as

refills for all the affected families. LPG

enables families to be self-reliant and cook

for themselves according to their likes and

needs, the release said.

Participatory needs assessments will be

conducted in the three fire-hit camps to

identify vulnerabilities, risks and potential

self-reliance activities for all, particularly for

women and girls.

Given the fact that most of the refugees'

possessions perished in the fire, IOM will

replace their assets according to an ongoing

Vulnerability Analysis Mapping.

IOM will be able to continue the provision

of essential health services in the affected

camps through its health post as well as

multiple Mobile Medical Teams.

"We're extremely grateful for the support

received today from the government of the

Republic of Korea," said IOM's Deputy Chief

of Mission in Bangladesh Manuel Marques

Pereira.

Pereira said this assistance will be vital for

the efforts to rebuild the Rohingya camps

from the ground up and to ensure that those

most vulnerable have access to crucial

services.

Since the latest influx of Rohingya refugees

in 2017, South Korea has been extending

continuous support to humanitarian

organisations to respond to this colossal

international humanitarian crisis as well as

to assist host communities.

Bangladesh is currently hosting more than

1.1 million forcibly displaced Myanmar

nationals. Most of them fled here after the

Myanmar army launched a brutal offensive

on the ethnic minority in August 2017.

This is how people are shopping in the market, amid the epidemic corona. The picture is taken from

Gauchia Market in the capital on Sunday.

Photo: PBA

Communication thru

IT must for country's

development : Tajul

DHAKA : Local Government, Rural

Development and Cooperatives Minister

Md Tajul Islam yesterday said that

communication through information

technology is pragmatic and time-befitting

approach for overall development of the

country, reports BSS.

"One of the key ways of development of

the country is to improve communication

system. At present, not only

communication but also communication

through information technology has

become inevitable " the minister said .

Tajul said nowadays , we incline to e-

commerce in everything stretching from

food to luxury products though on the very

onset it was in small scale but now a kind

of dependency on digitalization has been

created ," he said.

He was virtually speaking at the policy

conference on "Rural to Global e-

Commerce Policy Conference 2021" ,

organized by e-Commerce Association of

Bangladesh (e-CAB).

The minister inaugurated the first

session of the Policy Conference.

The LGRD minister said that e-

Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-

CAB) and the private sector of the country

have been working untiringly to improve

today's digital life of the people.

State Minister for Information and

Communication Technology (ICT) Zunaid

Ahmed Palak also attended the conference

while Senior Secretary of the Ministry of

Commerce Hafizur Rahman presented the

key note paper on the occasion.

e-CAB Investment Standing Committee

Vice Chairman Farah Mahmud Trina

conducted the programme with e-Cab

President Shami Kaiser in the chair.

BSTI strengthens anti-adulteration

drives ahead of Ramadan: Humayun

DHAKA : Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun on

Sunday said Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI)

intensified its anti-adulteration drives through mobile courts across

the country to ensure safe food during the holy month of Ramadan.

"Throughout the year, BSTI conducts mobile court and surveillance

drives across the country. BSTI has strengthened its drives ahead of

Ramadan to prevent the production of adulterated foods," he said in a

virtual media briefing in the city, said a press release.

Apart from Dhaka city, Humayun said the anti-adulteration drives

would simultaneously be conducted at different upazilas across the

country. The minister said that regional offices of the BSTI would

conduct anti-adulteration drives at the district and upazila levels.

Humayun also said BSTI has already collected samples of 661 food

items, largely consumed during the fasting month of Ramadan, from

the markets for tests to ensure their qualities and check adulteration.

"We have already received the reports of 661 samples. Out of the

samples, 438 have been found okay," he added.

He said BSTI will monitor the bottled water factories across the

country through high-powered surveillance teams aimed at ensuring

safe drinking water during the Ramadan.

"BSTI conducted a total of 73 special mobile courts from March 2020

to March 2021 for ensuring quality food. During the period, around

Taka 25.76 lakh was realized as fine and 10 factories sealed," he added.

The minister further said that businessmen involved with food

adulteration should abstain from the malpractice as it could also harm

their own family members.

Mentioning that BSTI conducted a total of 476 mobile courts till

March 2021 from March 2020, the industries minister said during this

period, nearly Taka 3.92 crore has been realized as fine.

Besides, some 45 organisations have been sealed on the charges of

adulteration, he added. Humayun also informed that the country has

adequate storage of sugar and salt. He said the maximum retail price

of per kg sugar has been fixed at Taka 63 at the sugar mill gate while

the selling price of per-kg packet sugar is Taka 68 in the truck-sale

programme. State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Mojumder,

Industries Secretary K M Ali Azam and senior officials of the ministry,

among others, joined the meeting.

moNDAy, APrIl 12, 2021

4

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Monday, April 12, 2021

Corona spike and

policy implementation

Afresh and what now appears to be a more deadlier

spike in the cases of Covid-19 cases is noted. Experts

including our top medical advisers as well as even the

PM's personal doctor have all been screaming for all to hear

that Bangladesh faces very possibly the worst scenario in

relation to upswing in Corona cases sooner than later. But the

response to it all is worryingly very little or none at all.

It was publicized through the media that police was getting

ready to strictly enforce the laws against observing violation of

the observance of safety measures against Corona such as

compulsorily wearing masks in public places or face fining

and other penalties in cases of not doing so. Super spreader

events such as fairs, waz mehfils, processions, funeral

marches, etc. were to be either banned or severely regulated.

But in reality all of these bangs ultimately proved to be mere

whimpers. For police were seen merely distributing free

masks to people on roads and telling them in gentle voice to

wear them. No fining or paying of other penalties for

violation as if people in this country have become so well

inclined all on a sudden to do what is best for them without

someone warning them that actual coercion would be

applied for non compliance. Thus, the stage was set for the

most carefree attitude of people when the corona threat is

spreading too fast and too dangerously. This unconcern and

most easy going attitude is very shocking to say the least.

The people need to be exhorted, advised and discouraged

not to give up on the new normal habits they developed

during the height of the pandemic last year. It should be

firmly printed in the mass psyche that people must continue

with the habit of wearing masks, remaining indoors as much

as possible, washing hands frequently and observing social

distancing even after taking the vaccine. Government must go

for stricter enforcement activities to these ends. Clearly,

police and others have become mysteriously unaware or

lackadaisical about enforcement activities after being seen

relatively more serious during certain times last year.

Our policy makers must become dead serious

'immediately' to formulate short term, mid term and longer

term policies against the Corona threat to be applied without

a pause and admitting no exceptions. It is imperative to

rethink opening of the vulnerable sectors too abruptly or

widely. The resorts, hotels and motels of prime tourism

venues of the country reportedly are overflowing with people

these days. Such crowding can be a fertile source of social

transmission of the disease. We think it is high time to restrict

once again the visiting of people in such great number to the

tourist and recreation spots.

The tourism and recreation related business need to be

ordered not to admit any more than half of their capacities

and to observe preventive measures stringently. Law

enforcement authorities should be required to monitor

compliance with this order or not. Such restrictions need to be

imposed and monitored immediately and unfailingly in all

assemblages such as mosques, religious events, fairs, etc. We

believe that the restriction must also be imposed on how

many people will be allowed every day in the Ekushey Book

Fair and similar places of public gathering. Maintaining of

social distancing and other preventive activities rigorously

must be made mandatory.

The celebration of the two Eids are nearing that would

involve huge number of people travelling to and from various

destinations before and after the Eid holidays. The

authorities ought to realize that such events work like super

spreaders. Our leadership from the highest level need to take

decisions well in advance and implement them to discourage

people in the greatest number from travelling during the two

upcoming Eids.

Cooperation of the employers may be sought by the

government to motivate their employees not to go to village

homes. A bearable monetary incentive can be paid to this end

both by the government and private employers. Such steps

will need to be accompanied by dissemination of publicities

such as saving of money, avoidance of physical hardships, etc.

by not making such travels for at least this year in the greater

interest of the nation.

Reportedly, a new variant of Covid-19 from UK has been

detected in Bangladesh. This variant is 70 per cent more

dangerous in causing deaths and increasing social

transmissions compared to the older variants found both in

Bangladesh and UK. Understandably, many other countries

stopped incoming and outgoing flights to UK after detection

of this new variant whereas we are continuing these flights

with enthusiasm, it seems.

Attention from the highest level to this matter is extremely

important. If we fail to suspend such flights immediately, at

least it should be absolutely ensured that those who arrive

from UK will be unfailingly required to go through

quarantine, testing, tracing and other measures.

However, it came as a bit of a relief when the authorities

declared a string of measures only two days ago, some 18 in

number, as guidelines to be observed by all sections of people.

The same are mainly what things have been suggested above

in this write-up. Such guidelines are fine but will have little

practical value if not truly and fully implemented. We fear

about their non compliance by people as we have been

witnessing alarmingly for the last couple of months.

Only law enforcers can put some real bite in these

measures by applying them rigorously, very extensively and

regularly starting immediately. We can only hope for this to

happen. But the conduct of the law enforcers have not been

hopeful so far. So, as they say, the proof of the pudding is in

the eating to mean that something can only be judged to be

good or bad after it has been tried or used.

Erdogan insulted the EU long before "SofaGate"

There has been widespread uproar at

what was seen as misogynistic and

insulting treatment meted out by

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

to European Commission President

Ursula von der Leyen.

At a meeting in Ankara last week, hosted

by Erdogan for von der Leyen and

European Council President Charles

Michel, the European Commission chief

was left without a chair. She was visibly

taken aback when the two men sat on the

only two chairs available, relegating her to

an adjacent sofa. Video footage of the

incident has elicited thousands of anti-

Erdogan comments on social media,

where it has been dubbed "SofaGate."

No woman, let alone the European

Commission's first female president,

should be on the receiving end of such

thoughtless, shameful and disgraceful

behavior.

Turkey's defense? Foreign Minister

Mevlut Cavusoglu argued that the seating

arrangements had been discussed and

agreed with the EU ambassador in Ankara

- who, like von der Leyen, is German.

Nevertheless, the incident is a symptom of

a deeply rooted disrespect for women

within the Turkish establishment,

regardless of whether the foreign

minister's claims are true.

Coming soon: China's space war against the US

If a war between China and the United

States erupted today, an American

victory would not be assured. US

Navy Admiral John Aquilino recently

testified before Congress that American

forces deployed to the Indo-Pacific are

overmatched by their Chinese rivals.

Any conflict between the United States

and China would likely begin at sea and in

the skies over the Indo-Pacific region.

Thus the US Navy, Air Force, and Marine

Corps would form the tip of America's

spear in the region.

These US military forces (and their

allies) would require untrammeled access

to satellites in order to defend against

Chinese aggression.

For the US Navy to defend either the

South or East China Sea effectively or to

assist Taiwan, in the event that China

attempted to invade the besieged

democratic island-nation, American

warships would need to coordinate and

communicate with one another and their

combatant commands across the Mobile

User Objective System (MUOS) satellite

constellation in geosynchronous orbit.

Nearly 70% of the US Army's weapons

rely on satellites to function. Therefore,

another critical set of satellites China

might target is the Wideband Global

Satcom (WGS) constellation.

The ubiquitous Global Positioning

System (GPS) constellation of satellites is

essential for the movement and

deployment of US forces, especially in a

large area of operation like the Indo-

Pacific. Even America's vaunted nuclear

command, control and communications

BrANDoN J WEICHErT

Unstoppable Youths of Russia & Bangladesh Exchanged Ideas Virtually

What's better than a virtual

knowledge-sharing project to

utilize your time during this

pandemic? To share knowledge, a group

of 12 students from St. Petersburg and

Dhaka took part in a virtual exchange

project jointly hosted by Peter the Great

St. Petersburg Polytechnic University

(SPbPU) and Daffodil International

University (DIU) to expand the idea

towards better education and establish

better relations between the two

countries Russia and Bangladesh.

So, how did all this start? Ms. Inga

Lutskaya, who is getting her master's

degree in Foreign Language Teaching

Theory and Intercultural Communication

at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic

University, wanted to organize an

international idea exchange program,

and acquaint Russian students with

different cultures. So she discussed the

idea with her friend from Bangladesh,

Syed Raihan-Ul-Islam who is Senior

Assistant Director of International

Affairs, DIU. Initially, both of them

agreed about the plan to work on a Virtual

Knowledge-sharing project. The plan

reached a concrete shape with the

involvement of Dr. Ehatasham Ul Hoque

Eiten, Lecturer, Dept. of English, DIU.

They planned the program, selected and

motivated students from both countries

to take part in the event. Dr. Eiten and

Ms. Inga supervised students' activities in

every session where Mr. Raihan

coordinated the overall program and

helped with all sorts of organizing support

to bring this project into reality.

Russia-Bangladesh Virtual Exchange

Project-2021 was held from March 21st

Frankly, what has shocked me is that

anyone was shocked in the first place.

With all due respect to feminists and

human rights activist in Brussels and

across Europe, what did you expect from

the Erdogan regime?

The discourtesy toward von der Lyen

came less than a month after Erdogan

pulled Turkey out of a key European

convention aimed at combating violence

against women - a convention signed, of

all ironies, in Istanbul, and which Turkey

was the first to ratify in 2012. If that

withdrawal wasn't a hint of what to

expect, what would be?

For his part, Italian Prime Minister

Mario Draghi was livid at the

"mistreatment" of von der Leyen, and

went so far as to call Erdogan a dictator.

"With these dictators, let's call them what

they are..." he said. "I absolutely do not

agree with Erdogan's behavior toward

(NC3) satellites could be destroyed in

geosynchronous orbit, nullifying

America's nuclear deterrent.

Denying the Americans access to these

vital satellite constellations would be key

for any plan by Beijing to invade Taiwan

or to capture the South or East China Sea.

A "Space Pearl Harbor" would

temporarily blind and confuse the

otherwise potent US military. This

temporary blinding of US forces would

create a unique window of opportunity for

China in which the People's Liberation

Army (PLA) could defeat a confused

American military.

And while the US military has plans also

to attack China's satellite constellations,

should such a space war ever erupt, the

fact is that Beijing's forces are nowhere

near as dependent on satellites as

America's forces are - not yet.

Plus, America's space warfare plans

leave the all-important initiative to China;

American forces would wait to be attacked

in space before responding in-kind. This

gives Beijing the advantage by allowing

the PLA escalation dominance in a space

war - which would translate to China's

advantage on land, at sea, in the air, and

ZArIN TASNIm KHAN roDElA

to April 4th. We had three virtual

meetings on Sundays and the duration of

each meeting lasted around 2 hours. In

the first meeting, we had our ice-breaking

session with a cross-cultural

conversation. Then our supervisors

summarized the rules of this project and

we were divided into three groups

randomly. These three groups were later

sent to three separate breakout rooms for

discussion and to do idea accumulation.

The discussion was upon, "How

Bangladesh and Russia might help each

other to learn better considering the

strongest points of both countries." All

the groups came up with some initial

ideas and the fun part was that one point

was common among all the groups; that

is about food. The first session felt like a

food carnival presented by Russia and

Bangladesh. We also discussed some

common superstitions. Amazingly, even

though Russia and Bangladesh are

situated far from each other, we still had a

lot in common. One thing we all thought

that we might not get along with the

differences in our languages but

surprisingly we communicated well and

had lots of fun. We were given some tasks

to complete before the next session.

The second session was all about

FAISAl J. ABBAS

President von der Leyen … I think it was

not appropriate behavior and I was very

sorry for the humiliation von der Leyen

had to suffer."

My issue with the Italian prime

minister's statement is, has he only just

discovered that the Erdogan regime has

transformed Turkey into a dictatorship?

Was the arrest or suspension of nearly

45,000 military officials, judges, civil

According to the Turkish justice ministry, a total of 128,872 investigations

were launched in the past six years over "insulting the president,"

of which 27,717 led to criminal prosecutions, and 9,556 to

sentences of imprisonment. In this period, 903 young people

between the ages of 12 and 17 were put on trial on the same "charge."

servants and school teachers in 2016 not

enough of an indicator?

The discourtesy toward von der Lyen

came less than a month after Erdogan

pulled out of a European convention

aimed at combating violence against

women. If that wasn't a hint of what to

expect, what would be?

According to the Turkish justice

ministry, a total of 128,872 investigations

were launched in the past six years over

"insulting the president," of which 27,717

within cyberspace, at least for a short

time.

With US forces defending Taiwan or

elsewhere blinded, Washington might be

reticent to send even more American units

into harm's way. While the US does have

competent regional allies, they too would

be negatively affected by a Chinese-led

"Space Pearl Harbor."

It's unlikely that America's regional

allies would be more galvanized into

fighting a Chinese invasion force without

reliable American support than they

would be if the US military was in optimal

fighting form. Western dithering in the

President Joe Biden's administration must demand a larger budget for the

fledgling Space Force and must insist upon a doctrine of satellite defense coupled

with total space dominance, so as to deter China or any other foe from

enacting a Space Pearl Harbor. After all, it is easier to preserve America's

satellite capabilities in peacetime than it is to try to restore them in war.

face of Chinese aggression will lead to

their defeat.

Further, China's leadership knows it

does not need to defeat the United States

and its allies totally in a war. Beijing's war

planners assume that they simply need to

delay US military power from intervening

against their forces long enough for

China's military to achieve most of their

strategic objectives (say, capturing

Taiwan).

Once fully enmeshed in their target,

with few American and allied forces able

or willing to respond, China's leaders

brainstorming and cultivating our ideas.

Then we were asked to choose one final

idea among those initial three ideas and

to explain how this will help both

countries. We also needed to think about

why this collaboration might be an

obstacle considering both countries' weak

sides. We were given a week to make a

presentation on the given topic. It is to

mention that our mentors helped us a lot

by providing us with every kind of help we

required.

Then the final day arrived; in the third

session, we all were prepared with our

presentation slides and speeches.

Then the final day arrived; in the third session, we all were prepared with

our presentation slides and speeches. Everyone was excited and nervous

at the same time. There were two judges from both the Universities, Nina

V. Popova, Professor, Graduate School of Applied linguistics, Interpreting

& Translation, SPbPU, and Dr. liza Sharmin, Head, Dept. of English, DIU.

Everyone was excited and nervous at the

same time. There were two judges from

both the Universities, Nina V. Popova,

Professor, Graduate School of Applied

Linguistics, Interpreting & Translation,

SPbPU, and Dr. Liza Sharmin, Head,

Dept. of English, DIU. They observed all

the presentations and gave constructive

feedback. After the presentation, the

judges shared their critical reviews on the

presented ideas and gave suggestions for

the projects' future development.

The three projects covered the area of

Research, Technology, Science Projects,

Cultural Experience, Food, Heritage &

Tourism. Group-1 presented the idea on

led to criminal prosecutions, and 9,556 to

sentences of imprisonment. In this

period, 903 young people between the

ages of 12 and 17 were put on trial on the

same "charge."

As for suggestions that what happened

with von der Lyen was "insulting to

Europe" - I wonder if critics have noticed

Turkey's continued intimidation of

Cyprus and Greece in the eastern

Mediterranean.

Only on Saturday, Ankara accused

Athens of supporting terrorist cells -

another irony of ironies. This comes

from a country that is often accused of

harbouring, patronising and using

extremists of all stripes, ready to use in

theaters of war from Libya to Somalia

and Syria to Iraq.

Then there is Erdogan's tactic of

resorting to blackmail, which he has

honed almost to perfection. Every time

Europe vows to bring him to heel for

another indiscretion, whether it is

illegally campaigning for votes among

Turkish expatriates in Germany or

encroaching on Greek territorial waters

in the hunt for oil and gas deposits.

Source : Arab News

believe that their decadent American

rivals would be unwilling to commit the

resources needed to restore the status

quo.

In this very possible scenario, Beijing

hopes that Washington would seek a

negotiated settlement that creates a new

regional paradigm wherein China, not the

United States, is the dominant player.

And China's leaders would use their

crippling defeat of US military forces in

the Indo-Pacific as the leverage they'd

need to achieve this political objective.

The Middle Kingdom would therefore be

restored, and the Americans would be

kept permanently over the horizon,

forever on the defensive.

President Joe Biden's administration

must demand a larger budget for the

fledgling Space Force and must insist

upon a doctrine of satellite defense

coupled with total space dominance, so as

to deter China or any other foe from

enacting a Space Pearl Harbor. After all, it

is easier to preserve America's satellite

capabilities in peacetime than it is to try to

restore them in war.

If the United States continues to leave

itself vulnerable to attack in the ultimate

strategic high ground of space, an

aggressive and innovative foe like China

could exploit such weaknesses in a

moment of geopolitical crisis. At that

point, China's military could beat the US

military.

Brandon J Weichert is the author of Winning

Space: How America Remains a Superpower.

He is a geopolitical analyst who manages The

Weichert Report: World News Done Right.

"Organizing Science Projects with Great

Cultural Experiences", Group-2

presented on "Potential of Russia-

Bangladesh Collaboration on Research

and Technology", and Group-3 presented

on "To Create a Guidebook". These are

the final ideas we came up with, though

these don't coincide completely with our

initial ideas.

All of us believe that Bangladesh and

Russia might help each other by using

science projects and exchanging cultures

to learn better considering the strongest

points of both countries. Thus, we shared

our ideas accordingly. This exchange of

ideas was possible only by doing online

meetings. The authors of this article are

from Group-1 and Group-2. We were so

excited and impressed by the projects we

took part in and tried to find out every

possible way of developing cultural

exchange via these projects and make

these even more beneficial and

interesting. Group-2 gave practical ideas

on presently ongoing projects in Russia.

The projects could be dedicated to narrow

science specialties such as Nuclear Power,

Textile Engineering, Pharmaceuticals,

and Genetical Engineering. This will help

create new hopes for the engineering

industry. Where Group-1 talked about

making large groups for science

projects and can research on the fields

they like. Students from elementary to

University can take part in it. This will

work for creating new inventions and

exchanging culture among countries.

Trying to keep the project a little

different.

The writer is student of DIU, Bangladesh

MOndAy, APRIL 12, 2021

5

People queue to receive a vaccine at Parirenyatwa Hospital on 31 March.

Photograph: Aaron Ufumeli/EPA

Zimbabwe’s senior citizen are

skeptic on Covid vaccine

nyASHA CHIngOnO

They may be old, frail, and vulnerable

but they are the foot soldiers at the

front of Zimbabwe's Covid vaccination

drive. Amid widespread scepticism

among the younger population, it is

elderly people who are coming out to

lead by example.

The queues at the vaccination

centres in the capital, Harare, are

dominated by older people. At Wilkins

Hospital, Felda Mupemhi, 85, grasps

her walking stick as she trudges

toward a white tent, where nurses are

administering the Sinopharm vaccine.

"We stand a chance of beating

Covid-19 if we take this vaccine. So, I

came here to make a statement to the

younger [generation] that they too can

get vaccinated, so that we save others,"

says Mupemhi. There were worries the

vaccine might cause her health

complications but after a short

assessment interview with a health

worker, she received her first dose of

the Sinopharm vaccine.

Mupemhi says initially she had been

sceptical: "I had already dismissed

prospects of getting this vaccine. I

feared it would trigger some health

issues, as I am not young. But after

seeing that my neighbour, who is my

age, was still OK a week after getting it,

that gave me the courage."

Peter Hadingham, 82, was initially

turned away when health officials cited

his age and asthma as possible risk

factors, but a few weeks later he was

thrilled to be accepted for his first

dose. "I have a bit of asthma and a bad

back, so I cannot walk straight, but

otherwise I am healthy. I have a flu

vaccine every year, there is no

difference. [People] should think of the

rest of the population - they should get

vaccinated, because there is nothing to

be afraid of," Hadingham says.

Health officials have recorded

growing numbers of senior citizens

getting the Sinopharm and the Sinovac

vaccine as Zimbabweans begin to

soften their attitudes towards the

Chinese jab. "The uptake from last

week is very encouraging. The elderly

are coming, and those with chronic

diseases have also been visiting our

centres in large numbers," Harare city

health department director Dr Prosper

Chonzi told the Guardian.

"Our older population appreciates

that they are vulnerable. Once you get

the infection, chances of severity are

high, so they are jumping at the

opportunity. If you are given the offer

of getting the vaccine, and it is free, it is

wise to take it," he says.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa

launched the second phase of the

country's vaccination rollout on 24

March, covering people with preexisting

conditions, the elderly and

those confined to settlements and

institutions, such as prisons and

refugee camps.

Zimbabwe's economy was

precarious before the pandemic, and

has been hit very hard by Covid

lockdowns; in March the World Food

Programme reported that food

insecurity, particularly among the

urban poor, is soaring. Food prices in

February were 35% higher than the

same month in 2020.

Parirenyatwa Hospital, one of the

biggest in the country, was

overwhelmed by Covid patients at the

peak of the pandemic, just after

Christmas. Now its stressed health

professionals are working their way

through the long vaccination queue, a

stark contrast to the low numbers who

showed up during the first phase of the

programme. By 29 March, about

69,751 Zimbabweans had been

vaccinated, up from 43,295 people the

week before.

The government plans to inoculate

60% of its population to achieve herd

immunity, about 10 million people,

and has received nearly two million

doses of vaccines from China, while

India donated 35,000 doses of the

Covaxin at the start of April.

Health officials say there was initial

scepticism about the efficacy of the

Sinopharm vaccine, said by the

government to be between 65% to 70%

effective. Low uptake was also

recorded among frontline health

workers during the first phase of the

rollout, despite efforts by doctors to

encourage uptake on social media.

At a Harare vaccination centre,

Malcom Michelle, 65, has been

queueing for an hour, and is not happy

about the lack of social distancing.

"There is need for more vaccination

centres to open. As you can see, there

is hardly any social distancing here.

Apart from that, we just must go with

the flow," Michelle says.

According to Harare city council,

which runs satellite clinics around the

city, 24 vaccination centres have been

set up, but people still prefer to go to

the major referral centres such as

Parirenyatwa, meaning longer

queues.

Hidden human rights crises threaten

post-Covid global security

KATE HOdAL

Neglected human rights crises around

the world have the potential to

undermine already precarious global

security as governments continue to use

Covid as a cover to push authoritarian

agendas, Amnesty International has

warned.

The organisation said ignoring

escalating hotspots for human rights

violations and allowing states to

perpetrate abuses with impunity could

jeopardise efforts to rebuild after the

pandemic.

"We've seen the development of new

legal tools to supposedly 'combat fake

news' but which in fact repress freedom

of expression, attacks against human

rights defenders - particularly

environmental defenders - the world

over, and further repression of

[minority] populations who have fallen

off the agenda altogether," said Agnès

Callamard, Amnesty's new secretary

general.

"The voices and experiences of all these

people must be at the heart of our reboot

post Covid-19. If they are not, then the

crises will multiply and the [current]

system will perpetuate." A number of

under-reported crises were taking place

across the globe that warranted

immediate attention, said Callamard.

Amnesty's global report for 2020-

2021, published on Wednesday, found

The funeral of Jorge Enrique Oramas, 70, a social and environmental

leader killed on 16 May 2020 in Villacarmelo,

Colombia.

Photo: Luis Robayo

that "fake news" laws in the Gulf,

Hungary and Singapore were being used

to silence criticism of governments and

responses to the pandemic.

Singaporean authorities used the

Protection from Online Falsehoods and

Manipulation Act, which forces online

media platforms to carry corrections or

remove content the government

considers to be false - with penalties of up

to 10 years' imprisonment or fines of up

to S$1m (£540,000), throughout 2020

against government critics and political

opponents.

Activists in Western Sahara, which has

been locked in a decades-long struggle

for independence from Morocco, faced a

number of interrogations and trumpedup

charges for their human rights work,

according to the report.

"Western Sahara has been living under

oppression for many decades, but [the

decision by Donald Trump] to recognise

Morocco's sovereignty has simply

escalated the repression," said Sahrawi

activist Mohamed Elbaikam. "Activists

are seeing their salaries cut off or frozen;

they're being followed and targeted with

trumped-up charges, their family

members are threatened, their phones

and internet connections are hacked, and

some are being tortured and sent to

prison without trial."

The human rights situation in the

Philippines, already tenuous, worsened

dramatically in 2020. In July 2020, the

Philippines passed an anti-terrorism bill

and its broad and vague definition of

terrorism has since been used to target

rights campaigners. The island nation is

already the second deadliest country

behind Colombia for human rights

activists, according to the advocacy

group Front Line Defenders. The vast

majority of those killed in 2020 were

working on environmental, land and

indigenous rights, it said.

The demerits of aid agencies

SARAH JOHnSOn

Aid agencies are hindering

development and undermining efforts

to attract investment in Somaliland,

according to a former World Bank and

UN official turned entrepreneur.

Ismail Ahmed, founder of the

money-transfer

company

WorldRemit, claims Somaliland, his

birthplace, has had to battle "negative

PR" from aid agencies exaggerating

their role to protect their interests.

Somaliland declared itself a sovereign

state independent of Somalia in 1991,

but it is not recognised internationally.

The British-based Ahmed has

launched the Sahamiye Foundation,

with a 10-year plan to give away more

than half of his wealth, amounting to

$500m (£365m), to help Somaliland,

primarily in health and education.

"Aid agencies exaggerate what they do

in markets like this. A tiny fraction of

what they raise reaches intended

beneficiaries," he said.

"What they fail to understand is

investment carried out by businesses.

Somaliland's GDP is dominated not by

the state but by the private sector," he

added. "That negative PR, where they

exaggerate issues, is really

protectionist … and often leads to

businesses cutting investment."

His foundation, based in London

and Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa,

aims to double literacy rates in two

years, increase access to health

information and help people gain new

technical skills. Ahmed is frank about

what he sees as the failings of aid, to

which Somaliland has had little access.

Though it has 4.4 million inhabitants

and its own currency, army and

parliament, it remains an

unrecognised country and so does not

receive funds from the World Bank or

International Monetary Fund.

In the early days of the pandemic,

Ahmed said, the World Bank

predicted that remittances - money

transferred back to their country by

migrant workers - to sub-Saharan

Africa would drop by 23%. The Somali

government forecast that transfers

would fall by up to 40%. Aid agencies

claimed remittances would "more or

less collapse", said Ahmed, adding that

as the media reported this, food prices

went up and businesses cut

investment.

"This did more harm than good in

Africa. They had no basis to say this,"

he said. "I've been involved in

remittances for 40 years. We have

hard data to show what was

happening. They never bothered to

check the facts. "Remittances are

counter-cyclical and so during an

economic downturn we expect to see

an increase in transaction numbers.

That is exactly what happened in

2020." Somaliland's central bank

reported that remittances increased

from $1.1bn to $1.3bn last year.

Ahmed came to the UK as a refugee

from the war that broke out in

Somaliland in 1988. Arriving with $60

to his name, he spent his summers

picking strawberries in Kent to send

money back to his family, then in an

east African refugee camp.

He returned to Somaliland in 1992

for his PhD research into remittances.

He said: "I saw the scale of remittances

was far bigger than anything. The UN

was exaggerating the bit of aid they

delivered."

His early career saw him working for

the World Bank and the UN, where he

thought he "could make a difference".

Instead, he witnessed corruption while

working in Nairobi and became a

whistleblower, which lost him his job.

Four years later, he won

compensation from the UN, using the

money to launch WorldRemit in 2010.

It has gone on to become one of the

world's largest digital cross-border

payment companies.

Now Ahmed's focus is on his

foundation, starting with a Somali

language app. "During Covid, we saw

difficulties reaching people who can't

read," said Ahmed. "Thanks to

technology, we can now do something

that was unthinkable in the past. With

our app, someone can reach functional

literacy in 50 to 100 hours."

He added: "Somaliland could

become an example of where things

have been built from the ground up,

where people have owned what they

are doing, where people are

accountable. In Africa, the media

focuses on what goes wrong, but

Somaliland is one of the success

stories."

Ismail Ahmed, founder of WorldRemit, plans to give away $500m to fund health and education

through his Sahamiye Foundation.

Photo: Tolga Akmen

Croatian border police accused of

sexually assaulting Afghan migrant

LOREnzO TOndO

A woman from Afghanistan was

allegedly sexually abused, held at

knifepoint and forced to strip naked by

a Croatian border police officer, during

a search of a group of migrants on the

border with Bosnia. The European

commission described it as a "serious

alleged criminal action'' and urged the

Croatian authorities "to thoroughly

investigate all allegations, and follow

up with relevant actions".

According to a dossier from the

Danish Refugee Council (DRC), the

incident occurred on the night of 15

February, in Croatian territory, a few

kilometres from the Bosnian city of

Velika Kladuša.

In the report, seen by the Guardian,

the woman said she tried to cross the

border with a group of four others,

including two children, but they were

stopped by an officer who allegedly

pointed a rifle at them. The Afghans

asked for asylum. However, according

to the witnesses, one of the officers tore

the papers apart and laughed.

"He insulted us, slapped the elderly

man who was with us and the children,

and told us to empty our pockets and

show them our bags," said the woman.

"Then he took me aside and started to

search me," she said. "I insisted that he

should not be touching me. He asked

me why. I told him because I am a

woman and a Muslim and it's haram.

The officer slapped me over the head

and told me: 'If you are Muslim, why

did you come to Croatia, why didn't you

stay in Bosnia with Muslims?'"

The officer allegedly removed the

woman's headscarf and jacket. "After

he removed my jacket, he started to

touch my breasts, and I started to cry,"

said the woman. "I gave the police

officer 50 euros that I had in my pocket,

hoping that he would stop touching me.

The officer ordered me to remove all

my shirts and I refused. He continued

A blocked-off crossing on the

border of Bosnia and Croatia,

in the northern Bosnian village

of Bosanska Bojna.

Photo: Elvis Barukcic

to touch me on my breasts and behind,

and I cried a lot. The officer told me to

stop crying while gesticulating that he

would strangle me if I continued. I was

scared but I stopped crying."

Minutes later a police van arrived and

the migrants were ordered to get inside

and driven for about 20 minutes before

being told to get out.

An officer again asked the woman to

strip naked. "I objected and I was

slapped hard in the face and told: 'strip

naked,'" she said. "I had six T-shirts and

three pairs of pants on me. I removed

all but one shirt and trousers and I

covered myself with a blanket. An

officer approached me and started to

touch me over the blanket. He felt my

clothes and slapped me, saying I

needed to remove everything, even

underwear. The officer started to

search and touch me, while I was

naked. He then asked me if I loved him.

He told me: 'I love you, do you love me?

Do you want me to take you

somewhere to be with me?'.

"I was scared and in tears. He asked

to take me to the forest and asked me if

I understood what he meant. I gestured

to him that I didn't understand. I did.

The officer then grabbed my shoulder

and pushed me in the direction of

another officer. They both had

flashlights on the forehead and I

couldn't see well. The officer that had

touched me pulled out a knife and put it

on my throat. He told me that, if I ever

said anything to anyone, he would kill

me, and, if I ever came back to Croatia,

I would meet my end, in the forest,

under him."

The officer allegedly hit the woman

again and the other members of the

group on their faces, heads and legs.

Then the officers reportedly ordered

them to walk to Bosnia. "The testimony

is truly shocking," said Charlotte Slente,

DRC secretary general. "Despite the

lower number of pushbacks recorded

by the DRC in 2021, the patterns of

reported violence and abuse at the

Croatia-BiH [Bosnia-Herzegovina]

border remain unchanged."

"Once again, this underscores the

urgent need for systematic investigations

of these reports," Slente added. "Despite

the European commission's engagement

with Croatian authorities in recent

months, we have seen virtually no

progress, neither on investigations of the

actual reports, nor on the development of

independent border monitoring

mechanisms, to prevent violence at the

EU's external borders. It really is time to

turn rhetoric into reality - and ensure that

truly independent border monitoring is

put in place to prevent these abuses and

ensure that credible and transparent

investigations can effectively hold

perpetrators of violence and abuse to

account."

MonDAY, April 12, 2021

6

Women officers grace Narsingdi administration

NARSINGDI : Narsingdi district

appears to be a unique emblem of

women empowerment as it gets female

Deputy Commissioner (DC),

Additional Deputy Commissioner

(Revenue), two Upazila Nirbahi officers

(UNO) and four executive Magistrates,

distinguishing the district

administration with performing duties

sincerely. The women officers are

contributing a lot to their respective

working place through their best

performances as they are being highly

praised by the locals.

The officers are keeping a mark of

competency in their respective

workplaces. Deputy Commissioner

(DC) Syeda Farehana Kawnine

received the National Primary

Education Medal 2018 from the Prime

we`ÿ r/Rb-872(3)/11/4/21

GD-641/21(7x3)

GD-635/21(8x3)

Minister as the best deputy

commissioner. In 2019, she received

the Public Addmisitration Medel from

the President for taking special

initiative called "Karmasangsthan

Narsingdi" to create employment for

the welfare of the unemployed youth.

At the same year, the DC became first

at the divisional level for a creative and

innovative initiative dubbed "Narsingdi

in the Advancement of Development

and prosperity of Narsingdi District".

She also received Integrity Award

2020 from the Divisional

Commissioner's Office, Dhaka for her

contribution to the practice of integrity.

In recognition of her unique role in

building of Digital Bangladesh,

Kawnine won the Digital Bangladesh

Award 2020 in the private category of

the technical sector at the government

level.

Additional Deputy Commissioner

(Revenue) Shahina Parvin has gained a

good reputation in the district after the

joining around a year ago.

Taslima Aktar is a popular UNO of

Narsingdi Sadar upazila. Many people

of the upazila compare her with a deity

as the UNO works very swiftly and

promptly. People of the upazila utter

her name with respect.

Romana yesmin is working at Polash

upazila of the district. This is an

important industrial area of the district.

She is working at the upazila facing

many challenges and has become a

successful officer. Local people also see

her as an honest officer and applaud

with respect.

Clash leaves one

dead in Barishal

BARISHAL : A man was killed and 10 others were injured in

a clash between two groups of villagers over establishing

supremacy at Sultani village in Mehendiganj upazila of

Barishal district early Sunday.

The deceased was identified as Saiful Sardar, 30, of Asha

village in the upazila, reports BSS,

Chairman of Dakkhin Ulania Union Parishad Habibur

Rahman said several hundred people equipped with lethal

weapons launched an attack on the village around 4 am,

triggering the clash.

A chase and counter chase- took place between the two

groups. At least 12 people were injured in the clash and they

were taken to a local hospital where doctors declared one

dead.

The attackers were the supporters of Milon Chowdhury,

chairman candidate of the Ulania Union Paishad election,

Milon Chowdhury, said Habibur. The election to the union

parishad was suspended earlier due to 'unavoidable reason'.

On information, police rushed to the spot and brought the

situation under control, said Abul Kalam, officer-in-charge of

Mehendiganj Police Station.

However, a number of houses and shops were also

vandalised during the clash, said the OC.

Additional police have been deployed in the area to avert

further trouble.

Farmers eyeing bumper

pulse production in

Rangpur region

RANGPUR : Farmers are expecting a bumper production of

different varieties of pulses as the harvesting process

continues in full swing in Rangpur agriculture region during

this Rabi season.

Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension

(DAE) said farmers exceeded the fixed farming target of

pulses by 125 percent despite cultivation of maize, chili and

vegetables on more land in the region.

"The DAE had fixed a target of producing 2,522 tonnes of

pulses from 1,938 hectares of land in all five districts of the

region this season," Additional Director of the DAE for

Rangpur region Agriculturist Khandker Abdul Wahed, told

BSS.

Farmers finally brought 4,358 hectares of land under pulse

cultivation, higher by 2,420 hectares or 125 percent against

the fixed farming target.

The fixed target included production of 1,331 tonnes of

lentil from 1,040 hectares of land, 775 tonnes of grass pea

from 555 hectares, 97 tonnes of 'Arhar' from 77 hectares, 47

tonnes of black gram from 40 hectares, 241 tonnes

mungbean from 205 hectares and 31 tonnes of cowpea from

21 hectares of land. "However, farmers have finally cultivated

lentil on 1,967 hectares of land, grass pea on 2,069 hectares,

'Arhar' on 65 hectares, black gram on 44 hectares, mungbean

on 197 hectares and cowpea on 16 hectares of land in the

region," he said.

"Farmers have already harvested lentil from 1,369 hectares

of land, producing 1,826 tonnes and grass pea from 1,691

hectares producing 2,229 tonnes," Wahed said, adding that

the harvesting process of pulses continues now in the region.

Currently, farmers are very happy getting lucrative prices

for their produced different varieties of pulses in all five

districts of Rangpur, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram and

Nilphamari in the region. Wahed said the DAE and other

agriculture related organisations provided incentives,

training, quality seeds, latest technologies and inputs to

farmers to make the pulse farming programme successful.

9 die, 228 more test positive for

COVID-19 in Ctg

CHATTOGRAM : A total of 228 people

were tested positive for coronavirus in

the last 24 hours after testing 1847

samples at seven COVID-19

laboratories in the district. The

infection rate is 12.21 percent.

Among the newly detected patients,

204 are from Chattogram city and 24

from different upazilas of the district,

hospital sources said.

Meanwhile, a total of nine patients

died in the last 24 hours only in

Chattogram district. This is the highest

death in a single day in the district since

the onset of the corona pandemic in the

country. The number of coronavirus

(COVID-19) deaths in Chattogram

Man killed over extramarital

affair in Chattogram; wife

arrested

CHATTOGRAM : A man was allegedly killed by his wife

over extramarital relationship at Telipara village under

Barabkunda in Sitakunda upazila on Saturday.

Police recovered the body of Joynal Abedin alias Kala,

37 from a pond adjacent to his house in the area.

Quoting family sources, Abul Kalam Azad, officer-incharge

of Sitakunda Police Station, said Joynal got

married to Rima Akter eleven years ago. The couple has

been blessed with two daughters.

Recently, Rima developed an extramarital affair with

Shahadat, son of Shahabuddin. The couple used to lock

into altercations over the issue.

On Saturday morning, local people spotted the body of

Joynal in the pond and informed police. Later, police

recovered the body and sent it to the local hospital morgue

for autopsy. The body bore a stab mark and pennis of the

Joynal was also found cut off, said police. However, police

arrested Rima from Barabkunda bazar while she was

trying to escape the scene.

reached 423, Dr Sheikh Fazle Rabbi,

civil surgeon of Chattogram, told BSS.

Among the reported fatalities, 309

were the residents of the port city and

the rest 114 were from different

upazilas of the district. Health officials

said the number of COVID-19 cases

speedily rose to 44,318 in the district

where the infection and casualty rate

continues rising hurriedly again in

recent weeks.

"The infection rate is showing a

quickly rising trend again and recovery

rate declining continuously in the

district in recent weeks," Focal Person

of COVID-19 and Dr Sheikh Fazle

Rabbi, civil surgeon of Chattogram,

GD-640/21 (15x3)

told BSS. The health expert of

Chattogram urged city dwellers again

and again to strictly follow health rules

and use masks due to continuous

increasing corona infections here.

Civil surgeon Dr Sheikh Fazle Rabbi

told BSS that among the total 44,319

coronavirus infected persons, 35,531

are the residents of the port city and the

rest 8788 are residents of different

upazilas of the district. "The number of

cured patients from the lethal virus

infection has reached 34,763 in the

Chattogram district with the recovery

of 63 more patients on Thursday," Dr

Rabbi said, adding that the percentage

of recovery rate stands at 78.45.

MonDAY, APRil 12, 2021

7

The key to Republican success is

more Trumpism: Trump

The eruption of la Soufriere Volcano from Rillan Hill in Saint Vincent.

Photo : internet

Ash-covered St. Vincent braces

for more volcanic eruptions

KINGSTOWN : People who ignored

an initial warning to evacuate the area

closest to a volcano on the eastern

Caribbean island of St. Vincent raced

to get clear Saturday, a day after it

erupted with an explosion that shook

the ground, spewed ash skyward and

blanketed the island in a layer of fine

volcanic rock.

The eruption Friday of La Soufriere

- its first large one since 1979 -

transformed the island's lush towns

and villages into gloomy, gray versions

of themselves. A strong sulfur smell

was unavoidable Saturday and ash

covered everything, creeping into

homes, cars and noses, and obscuring

the sunshine that makes the island so

popular with tourists.

Chellise Rogers, who lives in the

village of Biabou, which is in an area of

St. Vincent that's considered safe, said

she could hear continuous rumbling.

"It's exhilarating and scary at the

same time," she said. "(It's the) first

time I am witnessing a volcano

eruption."

Scientists warn that the explosions

could continue for days or even weeks,

and that the worst could be yet to

come.

"The first bang is not necessarily the

Mother arrested

after 3 children

found slain in

Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES : The mother

of three children - all under

the age of 5 - found slain

inside a Los Angeles

apartment Saturday morning

has been arrested, police said,

reports UNB.

Liliana Carrillo, 30, was

arrested in Tulare County,

about 200 miles (322

kilometers) north of Los

Angeles. It wasn't

immediately known if she had

a lawyer who could speak on

her behalf.

The children's grandmother

returned home from work

and found their bodies and

the mother missing, Los

Angeles police Lt. Raul Jovel

said.

The Los Angeles Police

Department tweeted the

children appeared to be under

5 years old. A police

spokesman initially said they

were under the age of 3.

The gruesome discovery

was made around 9:30 a.m. in

the 8000 block of Reseda

Boulevard, Jovel said.

Police said initial reports

suggested the children had

been stabbed to death, but no

official cause of death has

been released.

Jovel said investigators

were still working to

determine a motive.

The department received

reports Carrillo was driving

her car and heading north on

Interstate 5 when she got in

an altercation in the

Bakersfield area. She

abandoned her car and

carjacked another vehicle,

Jovel said.

Carrillo was detained in the

Ponderosa area of Tulare

County, about 100 miles (160

kilometers) north of

Bakersfield, police said.

biggest bang this volcano will give,"

Richard Robertson, a geologist with

the University of the West Indies'

Seismic Research Center, said during

a news conference.

About 16,000 people have had to

flee their ash-covered communities

with as many belongings as they could

stuff into suitcases and backpacks.

However, there have been no reports

of anyone being killed or injured by

the initial blast or those that followed.

Before it blew, the government

ordered people to evacuate the most

high-risk area around the 4,003-foot

(1,220-meter) volcano after scientists

warned that magma was moving close

to the surface.

Ralph Gonsalves, the prime

minister of the 32 islands that make

up the country of St. Vincent and the

Grenadines, said on local station NBC

Radio that people should remain

calm, be patient and keep trying to

protect themselves from the

coronavirus. He said officials were

trying to figure out the best way to

collect and dispose of the ash, which

covered an airport runway near the

capital of Kingstown, about 20 miles

(32 kilometers) south, and fell as far

away as Barbados, about 120 miles

(190 kilometers) to the east.

"It's difficult to breathe," the prime

minister said, adding that although

the volcano was venting less, a big

plume of ash remained. "What goes

up, must come down."

Although Gonsalves said it could

take up to four months for life to

return to normal, he's confident it will.

"Agriculture will be badly affected,

and we may have some loss of

animals, and we will have to do repairs

to houses. But if we have life and we

have strength - we will build it back

better, stronger, together," he said.

People who didn't heed the initial

evacuation order hurried to do so

Saturday. At least a few ash-covered

evacuees escaped in small boats and

headed to other parts of the main

island, which makes up 90% of the

country's total land.

About 3,200 people took refuge at

78 government-run shelters, and four

empty cruise ships stood ready to take

other evacuees to nearby islands, with

a group of more than 130 already

taken to St. Lucia. Those staying at the

shelters were tested for COVID-19,

with anyone testing positive being

taken to an isolation center.

Too much? BBC gets

complaints over

Prince Philip coverage

LONDON : The U.K.'s

national broadcaster

switched instantly into

mourning mode when

Prince Philip's death was

announced but not everyone

has agreed with that BBC

decision.

The BBC canceled its

regular programming Friday

and aired special coverage

hosted by black-clad news

anchors throughout the day.

Popular prime-time shows

such as the cooking contest

"MasterChef" were

supplanted, and the

network's music radio

stations

played

instrumentals and somber

tunes.

Some Britons saw the

BBC's actions as a fitting

mark of respect. For others,

it was a bit much.

The broadcaster received

so many complaints alleging

its reporting was excessive

that it set up a special

website page for viewers to

register objections if they felt

there was "too much TV

coverage of the death of

HRH Prince Philip, Duke of

Edinburgh." It didn't

disclose how many people

had complained by

Saturday.

Simon McCoy, a long-time

BBC news presenter who

recently left the network,

suggested the wall-to-wall

coverage was inordinate.

"BBC1 and BBC2 showing

the same thing. And

presumably the News

Channel, too. Why? I know

this is a huge event. But

surely the public deserve a

choice of programming?"

McCoy said on Twitter.

The publicly funded BBC

often finds itself under fire

from all sides for its

treatment of major national

events. When the Queen

Mother Elizabeth died in

2002, the broadcaster

received criticism because

the announcer who

delivered the news did not

wear a black tie.

Britain's other TV stations

also gave extensive coverage

to Philip's death at age 99

and after 73 years of

marriage to Queen Elizabeth

II. Commercial network ITV

aired news coverage and

tribute programs all day

Friday in place of scheduled

programming.

The BBC is under unique

pressure, though, because it

is taxpayer-funded. Scrutiny

and questions about its role

have grown in recent years

as commercial rivals and

streaming services give

audiences more choice.

The BBC has often irked

governments with its

coverage of their failings and

scandals. Prime Minister

Boris

Johnson's

Conservative administration

has been especially rankled,

claiming a liberal bias in the

broadcaster's coverage of

issues such as Brexit.

For a time, the

government refused to allow

Cabinet ministers to appear

on major BBC news

programs, and it mulled the

idea of scrapping the 159-

pound ($218) a year license

fee that households pay to

fund the broadcaster.

BBC Director-General Tim

Davie has acknowledged the

organization must evolve

with changing times, but

says it remains essential to

British society.

Accident at Iran nuclear facility,

no casualties or pollution: Fars

TEHRAN : An "accident" took place at an Iranian nuclear

facility on Sunday but caused no casualties or damage, the

Fars news agency reported, citing the spokesman of Iran's

nuclear agency.

Behrouz Kamalvandi said there had been "an accident in

part of the electrical circuit of the (uranium) enrichment

facility" at the Natanz complex, a day after Iran announced

it had started up advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges

at the site in a breach of its undertakings under a troubled

2015 nuclear deal. There were "no casualties nor pollution",

he said, adding that "the causes of the accident are under

investigation and more details will be released later".

The accident follows an explosion at a factory for advanced

centrifuges at Natanz last July.

The authorities blamed that incident on "sabotage" by

"terrorists", but have not released the results of their

investigation into it.

PALM BEACH : Former

President Donald Trump

staked his claim to the

Republican Party in a closeddoor

speech to donors

Saturday night, casting his

populist policies and attackdog

politics as the key to

future Republican success,

reports UNB.

Trump also reinforced his

commitment to the GOP in

his address, according to

prepared remarks obtained

by The Associated Press,

which comes as Republican

officials seek to downplay an

intraparty feud over Trump's

role in the party, his

commitment to GOP

fundraising and his plans for

2024. While Trump's

advisers report he will

emphasize party unity, he

rarely sticks to script. "The

key to this triumphant future

will be to build on the gains

our amazing movement has

made over the past four

years," Trump told hundreds

of leading Republican

donors, according to the

prepared remarks. "Under

our leadership, we welcomed

millions upon millions of

new voters into the

Republican coalition. We

transformed the Republican

Party into a party that truly

fights for all Americans."

The former president

delivered his remarks behind

closed doors at his Florida

resort, Mar-a-Lago, in the

final address of the

Republican National

Committee's weekend donor

summit in Palm Beach. Most

of the RNC's invitation-only

weekend gathering was set at

a luxury hotel four miles

away, but attendees were

bused to Trump's club for his

remarks.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

is expected to address

donors Saturday night as

well. Earlier in the weekend,

a slew of candidates already

positioning themselves for a

2024 presidential run made

appearances. Besides

DeSantis, the potential

White House contenders

included South Dakota Gov.

Kristi Noem and Arkansas

Sen. Tom Cotton. House

Minority Leader Kevin

McCarthy and Sens. Rick

Scott and Marco Rubio of

Florida and Lindsey Graham

of South Carolina also spoke.

In his remarks Friday

night, Cotton leaned into the

GOP's culture wars,

attacking the Democrats'

positions on transgender

youth, voter ID laws and

Major League Baseball's

decision to move its All-Star

Game to protest Republican

voting laws - just as Trump

does in his prepared

remarks.

While a significant faction

of the Republican Party

hopes to move past Trump's

divisive leadership, the

location of the weekend

gathering suggests that the

GOP, at least for now, is not

ready to replace Trump as its

undisputed leader and chief

fundraiser.

Trump's team reports that

his remarks are intended to

reinforce his continued

leadership role in

Republican affairs, a sharp

break from past presidents.

"Saturday's speech will be

welcomed words to the

Republican donors visiting

Mar-a-Lago to hear directly

from President Trump,"

Trump adviser Jason Miller

said.

"Palm Beach is the new

political power center, and

President Trump is the

Republican Party's best

messenger."

Despite Saturday's

intended message, Trump's

commitment to the GOP is

far from certain.

Earlier in the year, he

raised the possibility of

creating a new political

party. And just a month ago,

Trump's political action

committee sent letters to the

RNC and others asking them

to "immediately cease and

desist the unauthorized use

of President Donald J.

Trump's name, image,

and/or likeness in all

fundraising, persuasion,

and/or issue speech."

GOP officials have

repeatedly tried to downplay

the fundraising tensions and

see Trump's participation as

a sign that he is willing to

lend his name to the party.

At the same time, Trump

continues to aggressively

accumulate campaign cash

to fuel his own political

ambitions.

Trump has also regularly

attacked his Republican

critics in recent weeks,

especially Senate Minority

Leader Mitch McConnell

and No. 3 House Republican

Liz Cheney. Neither

attended the weekend donor

summit.

Trump did not attack

Cheney or McConnell - or

any Republicans - in

Saturday's speech, at least

according to his scripted

remarks.

Former President Donald Trump staked his claim to the Republican Party in a closed-door speech to

donors Saturday night.

Photo : AP

Iqvmv-RtZt-144/2021

GD-644/21 (8x4)

Dbœq‡bi MYZš¿

†kL nvwmbvi g~jgš¿

MOnDAY, APRIL 12, 2021 8

Dhaka Central Zone and Corporate Branches of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited organized quarterly

Business Development Conference through virtual platform on Friday, 10 April 2021. Mohammed

Monirul Moula, Managing Director and CEO of the bank addressed the conference as chief guest.

Muhammad Qaisar Ali, Additional Managing Director, J.Q.M. Habibullah, FCS, Deputy Managing

Director, Md. Siddiqur Rahman, Md. Altaf Hossain, Abul Faiz Muhammad Kamaluddin, Mahmudur

Rahman & Mohammad Sayeed Ullah, Senior Executive Vice Presidents also addressed the conference.

Senior Executives of Head Office, Head of Branches, Manager Operations and In-charge of

Departments under the Zone and Corporate Branches attended the conference. Photo : Courtesy

Price fall in large-cap drives stocks down

DHAKA : Stocks on Sunday

witnessed downward trend

due mainly to price fall in

large-cap securities.

DSEX, the prime index of

the Dhaka Stock Exchange

(DSE), went down by 90.08

points or 1.71 per cent to

settle at 5,164.70.

Two other indices also

BEIRUT : During the civil war that ended

over 30 years ago Abla Barotta survived

shelling and clashes, but she now fears a "slow

death" from Lebanon's worst economic crisis

in decades.

The 58-year-old mother of three is a

survivor among the more than 50 percent of

Lebanese today living in poverty.

Echoing a common refrain on television

and at public gatherings, Barotta said even the

worst days of the war weren't this tough.

"We used to hide in houses or basements

every time we heard shelling during the war,

but today, where can we go to hide from

hunger, the economic crisis, the coronavirus

pandemic and our political leaders?" she told

AFP.

"We used to fear death from bombardment

or sniper fire, but now we fear everything:

illness, poverty and hunger," she said.

Her voice lowering to a whisper, she added:

"To die from shelling is better, at least there is

no suffering… while today, we suffer and die

slowly every day."

Lebanon on Tuesday marks 46 years since

clashes erupted in Beirut between Lebanese

Christians and Palestinians backed by leftist

and Muslim factions, marking the start of a

15-year conflict that drew in regional powers

Israel and Syria.

At the time, the country was divided into

warring sectarian fiefdoms.

But many still managed to preserve a

semblance of normal life between bouts of

heightened violence and kidnappings.

The wheels of Lebanon's economy kept

closed lower. The DS30

index, comprising blue

chips, lost 37.48 points to

finish at 1,952.92 and the

DSE Shariah Index fell

20.05 points to close at

1,177.61.

The daily trade turnover

on the DSE also plunged to

Taka 4,565.50 million

which was Taka 4,758.78

million at the previous

session.

Losers took a strong lead

over the gainers as out of

342 issues traded, 266

closed lower, 24 higher and

52 issues remained

unchanged on the DSE

trading floor.

Lebanon civil war

survivors say today’s

crisis even worse

turning, bolstered by money and weapons

sent to warring parties from abroad.

Corruption, negligence and bitter political

divisions, however, have plagued Lebanon in

the run-up to a financial slump now sounding

the death knell for a fragile middle class.

Since 2019, the Lebanese pound has lost

more than 85 percent of its value against the

dollar on the black market and prices have

soared. Customers have come to blows in

supermarkets to secure fast-selling subsidised

products, while shortages in pharmacies have

made medicine shopping akin to hunting for

treasure.

Despite the deterioration, authorities have

done little to stem a crisis compounded by the

Covid-19 pandemic and last year's port blast

that cost more than 200 lives and ravaged

swathes of Beirut.

"The war was ugly… but we never lived

through anything like this economic crisis,"

Barotta said in her Beirut home that was hard

hit by the August 4 explosion.

Her first floor flat in a heritage building in

the Mar Mikhail neighbourhood adjacent to

the port has since been renovated and her

neck has healed from a blast injury.

But she said there is plenty left to worry

about. "This anxiety over whether we will be

able to eat tomorrow… we have never lived

that before," she said.

In the blast-strewn Karantina district, also

next to the port, Jean Saliba pointed to gutted

buildings awaiting renovation and listed the

names of families who lost loved ones in

Lebanon's worst peace-time disaster.

Beximco continued to

dominate the turnover

chart, followed by Robi, BD

Finance, PURABIGEN and

Premier Bank.

EBL was the day's best

performer, posting a gain of

6.58 per cent while Index

Agro was the worst loser,

losing 9.81 per cent

following its price

adjustment after record

date.

The Chittagong Stock

Exchange also ended lower

with its All Shares Price

Index (CASPI)-slumping

247.45 points to close at

14,983.60 while the

Selective Categories Index -

CSCX shedding 150.65

points to close at 9,039.77.

Of the issues traded, 139

declined, 26 advanced and

27 remained unchanged on

the CSE.

The port city bourse

traded 52.63 lakh shares

and mutual fund units with

turnover value of more than

Taka 14.44 crore.

Chinese medicinal

material price

index down

0.33 pct

HEFEI : The Kangmei

Chinese medicinal material

price index, a barometer of

the traditional Chinese

medicine (TCM) material

market, dropped 0.33

percent to 1,385.29 points

Saturday.

Covering more than 500

TCM materials including

herbs and minerals from six

major markets nationwide,

the closely-watched index

reflects the overall price

trend in the country's TCM

material market. It is

released daily by Kangmei

Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd,

one of China's major TCM

companies.

The index was approved

by the National

Development and Reform

Commission of China in

2012 to offer more timely

and accurate reference for

TCM material growers,

traders and pharmaceutical

companies.

Traditional Chinese

medicines, often given as

oral liquid, granule and pills,

typically use the

combination of a number of

medicinal materials, mostly

herbs, to address health

problems.

IMF, World Bank begin

push to swap debt relief

for green projects

WASHINGTON : The idea of

forgiving debt held by poor

countries in exchange for

"green" investments gained

ground this week during the

spring meetings of the IMF

and World Bank, with

concrete proposals expected

in time for a global climate

summit this fall.

Low-income countries face

a double crisis - they are

under pressure to pay down

their debt while also

confronting environmental

problems.

That makes them "highly,

highly vulnerable," Kristalina

Georgieva, managing director

of the International Monetary

Fund, said this week, adding

that it thus "makes sense" for

the world to pursue so-called

"green debt swaps." A World

Bank spokeswoman

underscored that point.

"The Covid-19 crisis has

made it significantly harder

for developing countries to

tackle the rising risks posed by

climate change" and

environmental disasters, said

the spokeswoman, who

declined to be named.

With already tight budgets,

these countries have had to

use emergency financial

assistance to address the

severe impact of the

pandemic and the resulting

economic crisis.

Samsung Bangladesh has

expanded its Galaxy M

Series line with robust,

innovative technologies -

Galaxy M12 and Galaxy

M62. The devices have

powerful batteries and

state-of-the-art Quad

cameras - making them

perfect for the demanding

millennials.

Samsung always promises

robust performance and

battery to its devices, and

thus the story is no different

from the company's latest

additions. Galaxy M12 is

powered by a powerful

6,000mAh battery, Octa-

Core Exynos 850 chipset,

6GB RAM, and 128GB

ROM. These ensure

enhanced performance,

flawless multitasking, and

decreased power

consumption while

browsing and using various

apps. Combined with an

8nm processor, the battery

of Galaxy M12 is extremely

power efficient, allowing

people to use the device for

more than a day without a

plug-in, a press release said.

On the other hand, Galaxy

M62 is powered by Exynos

9825 SoC, 2.73 GHz, a

gigantic 7,000mAh battery,

Wander around Dublin's

Grand Canal Quay and you

get a sense of how successful

the Republic of Ireland has

been in attracting US

technology companies.

Google has its

international headquarters

across a campus of offices

and will soon have more

space nearby at the Boland's

Mill development.

Just across the canal,

Facebook has its

international HQ with

Tripadvisor and AirBnB

close by.

Stripe, the United Statesbased

payments firm, could

soon be in the area.

Last month its Irish

founders said they're

planning about 1,000 new

jobs in Ireland.

The head of the country's

inward investment agency,

Martin Shanahan,

described the Stripe

investment as a

"phenomenal signal from

Syria juice vendor

gears up for Ramadan

as crisis bites

DAMASCUS : In a busy

market in Syria's capital, 53-

year-old Ishaaq Kremed

serenades customers and

agilely pours tamarind juice

from the ornate brass jug on

his back ahead of Ramadan.

The popular street vendor

says he usually has more

customers during the Islamic

holy month starting next

week, during which many

favour the drink to break

their day-long fast at

sundown.

But he says his trade of more

than 40 years has also taken

on new meaning since the

war-torn country has been

plunged into economic crisis,

reports UNB.

"My main job is to make

customers smile," says the

moustachioed father of 16,

dressed in billowing trousers,

a patterned waistcoat and

red fez.

"What's most important is

that they leave me feeling

happy - that whoever turns

up stressed leaves feeling

content," adds the street

vendor.

On his daily rounds of the

Hamidiyah covered market,

8GB RAM, and 128GB

internal storage. Combined

with a 7nm processor, the

device delivers a robust

mobile experience - offering

cutting-edge gaming and

graphics performance.

Exynos 9825 is lightning

fast and power-efficient,

Ireland and about Ireland".

But there's now a risk that

the pipeline of investment

from the US could dry up if

President Joe Biden can

lead a major change to

global tax rules.

In among those tech

company HQs in Dublin's

docklands, you will also find

the offices of the lawyers

dozens of customers

approach him to quench

their thirst, often taking

pictures of him and his

traditional get-up with their

cellphones. As he nimbly

pours juice in long streams

into plastic cups, he distracts

them for a while with a song.

A surgical face mask lowered

under his chin, Kremed

intones lyrics for a mother

and her two young

daughters, before handing

her a cup of the dark brown

beverage.

He takes his fez off to collect

his payment, then places it

back on the top of his head.

Another man, dressed in a

long white robe, joins

Kremed in a song then gives

him a peck on the cheek as he

leaves. Syria's economic

crisis has sent prices soaring

and caused the national

currency to plummet in

value against the dollar on

the black market.

In a country where a large

majority of people live in

poverty, Syrians have also

had to contend with several

lockdowns to stem the

spread of coronavirus.

allowing users to enjoy the

enhanced performance

without sacrificing battery

life.

Galaxy M62 comes with

an industry-leading battery

- 7,000mAh - perfect for

Gez Z and young millennials

who spend more time on

and accountants who help

US firms use Ireland's tax

system to reduce their

global tax bills.

For the last 20 years

Ireland has had a simple

message: invest here and

you will pay just 12.5% tax

on your Irish profits.

That compares favourably

to headline corporation tax

"For three years, Ramadan

has been different because of

people's financial worries,"

Kremed says.

"When people come to the

market, you see them

bumping into each other as if

they were in a daze."

The Damascus government

blames the economic crisis

on Western sanctions, but

economists say the conflict,

the pandemic and the

financial crisis in

neighbouring Lebanon are

also major factors.

Some state institutions have

temporarily been closed over

the pandemic and the

economic crisis, but for now,

markets remain open.

Although he does his best to

keep up a cheery

demeanour, Kremed says he

too is feeling the effects of the

economic crunch.

Tamarind and sugar are

becoming increasingly

costly, he says, and not

everyone has enough spare

cash for a refreshment.

"People's priorities have

become putting food and

drink on the table, before

tamarind juice," he says.

Samsung brings mighty hardware and battery

through Galaxy M12 and Galaxy M62

their smartphones and are

always on the go. Moreover,

the combination of massive

battery and robust

performance will transform

the user's gaming

experience. Every gamer

wants a lag-free gaming

experience, and now it is

possible with Galaxy M62.

Both of the devices come

with versatile cameras that

will take photography to the

next level. Galaxy M12

comes with 48MP as the

primary sensor, which will

capture all the memorable

moments. The device sports

other sensors - 5MP Ultra-

Wide-Angle, 2MP Depth,

and 2MP Macro. The Quad

cameras of Galaxy M12 will

enhance the photos' clarity

and detail, making it seem

as if the image has come

alive.

Galaxy M62 has a 64MP

primary sensor, 12MP

Ultra-Wide-Angle lens, 5MP

Depth, and 5MP Macro.

Whether it's day or night,

summer or winter, the

robust array of Quad

cameras of Galaxy M62 will

let users unleash their

creative sides and allow

them to capture the most

amazing photos.

Joe Biden: Could his tax plan affect

US investment in Ireland?

rates of 19% in the UK, 30%

in Germany and 26.5% in

Canada.

It is an article of faith in

Irish politics that the 12.5%

rate has been vital to

attracting US investment.

But that tax advantage

could be seriously

undermined if President

Biden gets his way.

MOnDAy, AfRil 12, 2021

9

Real Madrid's Karim Benzema celebrates scoring a backheel against Barcelona.

Photo: AP

Real Madrid go top of La Liga after beating

Barcelona in rain-soaked 'El Clasico'

SPORTS DESK

Real Madrid beat rivals Barcelona 2-1

at home in an entertaining, rain-soaked

'Clasico' on Saturday to stretch their

winning run to six games in all

competitions and go top of La Liga for

the first time in three months, reports

UNB. Karim Benzema put the

champions in charge at a soggy Alfredo

di Stefano stadium with a delightful

backheel in the 14th minute while a

deflected Toni Kroos free-kick doubled

their lead in the 28th.

Barca hit back on the hour mark

through Oscar Mingueza and the

defender almost found the equaliser

later on, while the Catalans had a huge

penalty appeal waved away when

Martin Braithwaite fell following a

challenge by Ferland Mendy.

Real midfielder Casemiro was sent

off in stoppage time for picking up two

yellow cards in the space of a minute

while Barca substitute Ilaix Moriba hit

the crossbar in the fourth minute of

added time.

The hosts survived the nail-biting

finish to complete the double over

Barca in a league season for the first

time since 2008 and round off a

sensational week after beating

Liverpool 3-1 in a Champions League

quarter-final first leg on Tuesday.

"This is a huge win for us, you could

say that it was as important as a final

but we'll have to keep on fighting for a

while yet," said Real defender Nacho.

"We were excellent on the

counterattack, we knew they would

want the ball and could do us damage

with it but we got a two-goal advantage

which put us in a very strong position."

Zinedine Zidane's side joined Atletico

Madrid on 66 points and moved top of

the table, although Atletico can reclaim

first place when they visit Real Betis on

Sunday. Barca, who lost for the first

time in the league since early

December, dropped to third on 65.

SUBLIME BACKHEEL

Barca looked to dominate possession

but were powerless to control Real's

counterattacks and went behind when

Federico Valverde hurdled a Jordi Alba

tackle to shuttle down the pitch, feeding

Lucas Vazquez whose low cross was

turned in by Benzema's sublime

backheel.

Real caught Barca out on the break

Veronika Kudermetova of Russia on the way to victory over Spain's Paula

Badosa in the semi-finals of the WTA clay court tournament in

Charleston, South Carolina.

Photo: AP

Kudermetova, Kovinic reach

Charleston WTA final

SPORTS DESK

Veronika Kudermetova ended the fairytale

run of Paula Badosa in Charleston Saturday,

booking a final showdown with Danka

Kovinic in the WTA clay court tournament,

reports BSS.

Kudermetova, the 15th seed from Russia,

overcame her nerves to beat Badosa 6-3, 6-3

and reach her second final of the season.

She fell to Aryna Sabalenka in the title

match at Abu Dhabi in January.

Montenegro's Kovinic defeated Tunisian

Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-2 to give herself a chance

at a first WTA crown. Spain's Badosa, ranked

71st in the world, had reached the semi-finals

with a 6-4, 6-3 upset of world number one

Ashleigh Barty of Australia.

It was just the second win of her career

over a top-20 player, the first coming in the

second round against 12th-ranked Swiss

Belinda Bencic.

But Kudermetova, ranked 38th in the

world, fired 28 winners - two more than her

26 unforced errors - and converted four of

her six break chances to beat Badosa - who

was able to take advantage of just one of her

five break point opportunities.

"Today, I tried to play more aggressive

than I played in Abu Dhabi," said

Kudermetova, who needed three sets to get

past Badosa in the third round there on the

way to the final.

"It was a good match for me because I was

really nervous. I showed a lot of emotion - I

crushed my racquet - but I like this match."

Kudermetova, who hasn't dropped a set

this week, closed out the contest with backto-back

aces. Kovinic, ranked 91st in the

world, is in her first final in almost five years

and her first at the 500 level.

After laboring almost three hours to beat

Yulia Putintseva on Friday she needed just

78 minutes to beat 28th-ranked Jabeur.

"I feel wonderful right now, to be honest,"

Kovinic said on court after converting her

third match point.

"Even though I'm a little bit tired, I gave

my best on the court today to make it

through. I was very decisive today."

Sunday's final will be the first main-draw

meeting between Kudermetova and Kovinic.

Kudermetova beat Kovinic when they met in

the Shenzhen qualifiers in 2019.

again when Vinicius Jr. raced on to a

Luka Modric pass and was felled by

Ronald Araujo. The free kick was in

perfect range for Kroos, whose shot

bounced off the back of Sergino Dest to

wrong-foot Barca keeper Marc-Andre

ter Stegen.

Real were inches away from scoring a

third when Valverde again tore down

Barca's left-hand side and smacked the

far post, Vazquez pouncing on the

rebound but shooting straight at Ter

Stegen. Barca barely caused Real any

trouble until the end of the first half,

when Lionel Messi hit the far post

straight from a corner. The Argentine

had a better chance moments later

from inside the area but could not beat

Madrid's Thibaut Courtois.

Koeman took decisive action at

halftime, throwing on Antoine

Griezmann for Dest and the French

substitute helped pull Barca back into

contention, playing a dummy which led

to Mingueza scoring.

The torrential rain caused Messi to

change his soaked shirt late in the game

and the slippery conditions helped set

up the frantic finish, but Real

weathered the storm.

Ledecky notches

400m free win

in Mission Viejo

SPORTS DESK

Katie Ledecky continued her

build up to the Tokyo

Olympics with a 400m

freestyle victory at the

Mission Viejo Pro Swim

Series in 3min 59.25sec,

reports BSS.

The US freestyle great,

who won the 200m free on

Friday in a world-leading

1:54.40, notched the 20th

career performance under

the four-minute mark.

"It's always good to get

under four," Ledecky said.

"that one probably didn't

feel as good as some of my

other swims this week so far,

but I'm more than happy

with the time."

Ledecky finished

comfortably in front of

Olympic bronze medallist

Leah Smith (4:06.37) with

Halie Flickinger (4:08.05)

third.

World record-holder and

2016 Olympic gold medallist

Ryan Murphy won the

men's 100m backstroke in

53.11sec, ahead of Spain's

Hugo Gonzalez and

American Daniel Carr.

Gonzalez powered home

with a strong second 50m,

but settled for second in

53.76 ahead of his University

of California teammate Carr

(53.83). Unlike some of the

elite swimmers finding the

morning finals - instituted

for this meeting to mimic the

Tokyo Olympic schedule -

strange, Murphy said he

enjoyed it. "I wish every

meet was morning finals,"

Murphy said, adding that it

suited his impatient nature.

"It's nice to just get up and

do it." Olivia Smoliga won

the women's 100m

backstroke, overtaking

Kathleen Baker on the

second lap to win in 59.

Bangabandhu 9th

Bangladesh Games

curtain drops

SPORTS DESK

The Bangabandhu 9th

Bangladesh games, which

was run for 10 long days,

was curtained down on

Saturday through the

excellence of Bangladesh

Ansar. With this, the

competition with the

participation of 8000

athletes in 31 disciplines has

ended, reports UNB.

Finance Minister AHM

Mustafa Kamal announced

the official closing of the

competition virtually as the

Chief Guest at Bangabandhu

National Stadium in the

capital on Saturday.

State Minister for Youth

and Sports Zahid Ahsan

Russel was present as the

special guest at the closing

ceremony.

BOA President and Chief

of Army Staff General Aziz

Ahmed, SBP, BSP, BGBM,

PBGM, BGBMS, PSC, G

virtually presided over the

closing ceremony of

Bangabandhu 9th

Bangladesh Games. BOA

Secretary General Syed

Shahed Reza and BOA Vice

President and Chairman of

the Steering Committee

Sheikh Bashir Ahmed

Mamun and other officials

were present at the time.

Mbappe strikes as PSG

keep pressure on Lille

SPORTS DESK

Kylian Mbappe's goal set Paris Saint-

Germain on their way to a 4-1 win at

Strasbourg on Saturday as Mauricio

Pochettino's side moved back to within three

points of leaders Lille in the Ligue 1 title race,

reports BSS.

Pablo Sarabia and Moise Kean also scored

in the first half while Leandro Paredes netted

the fourth from a free-kick as PSG made

short work of a trip to Alsace in between the

two legs of their Champions League quarterfinal

tie against Bayern Munich.

Youngster Moise Sahi pulled a goal back

for Strasbourg but the defending champions

bounced back from losing at home to Lille

last weekend and closed the gap on the

leaders who triumphed 2-0 at Metz on

Friday. "It's an important victory for us

because the three points put us in the race for

the title, but it's not about pressure or being

anxious," former Tottenham Hotspur boss

Pochettino told Canal Plus.

"Today we showed real fight all together.

We want to be more consistent but we are

fighting in three massive competitions. The

team showed massive faith and belief and

today was a very good game for us."

Mbappe had netted twice in PSG's

stunning 3-2 win away to Bayern on

Wednesday which gave them the upper hand

before the return leg in Paris this coming

Tuesday.

Pochettino made seven changes to his

team from the match in Germany, with

Neymar one of the players dropping out as

he began a two-game domestic ban following

his red card against Lille.

Captain Marquinhos also missed out after

coming off injured in midweek, but Mbappe

kept his place and played 88 minutes.

"The best way for Kylian to be ready is to

play. If he feels something is wrong he will be

the first one to stop," said Pochettino,

dismissing suggestions he might have rested

the World Cup-winning forward.

"We would not take a risk with any player.

We are all professional and we always want

to take the best decision for the team. That is

football. We can't make everyone happy but

Kylian is a player who is happy when he is on

the pitch." Marseille draw - After Adrien

Thomasson crashed an early shot off the post

for Strasbourg, Mbappe opened the scoring

in the 16th minute, collecting a Paredes pass

and cutting into the box from the left before

placing his shot through the legs of

goalkeeper Matz Sels from a tight angle.

It was Mbappe's 21st Ligue 1 goal of the

season and his 33rd in all competitions in 39

games. Sarabia was handed a rare start and

the Spaniard took advantage to make it 2-0

before the half-hour mark, controlling

Danilo Pereira's pass on the edge of the box

and slotting low into the corner.

Italian striker Kean added another on the

stroke of half-time, firing home from

Mbappe's pass for his 18th goal since signing

on loan from Everton.

Malian youngster Sahi pulled one back for

Strasbourg within moments of coming on for

just his second Ligue 1 appearance shortly

after the hour mark.

His near-post finish beat Sergio Rico who

was a half-time replacement in goal for

Keylor Navas.

Kylian Mbappe (R) got PSG's opening goal in a 4-1 win at Strasbourg on Saturday.

Bangladesh preliminary

Test squad to fly for

Sri Lanka today

SPORTS DESK

A 21-member Bangladesh preliminary test

cricket team is going to fly for Sri Lanka

today (Monday) noon to play a two- match

test series against the Island nation, reports

UNB.

Earlier, the Bangladesh Cricket Board

(BCB) announced the 21-member

preliminary squad including three new

faces.

After reaching Sri Lanka, the Bangladesh

team will go to Negombo for a three-day

room quarantine from Apr 12-14.

The final squad for the two-match Test

series will be announced after the

preliminary team reaches Sri Lanka and

plays an intra-squad practice game

scheduled for April 17-18.

Due to the current Covid-19 situation,

Bangladesh team will have to play practice

match among themselves and for that

reason, the BCB has decided carry all the 21

cricketers to Sri Lanka.

A large 41- member Bangladesh team

including cricketers, coaches, supporting

staff, newly appointed Deputy Manager of

BCB Cricket Operations and former

national opener Shahriar Nafees and other

BCB officials will fly for Sri Lanka through a

chartered flight of Bangladesh Biman.

The series will begin on April 21 with the

first Test, and the second and final Test will

start on April 29, both will be played at

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in

Kandy.

For the two- match series, BCB included

three uncapped pace-bowlers-Shohidul

Islam, Shoriful Islam and Mukidul Islam

Mugdho-while old guy Shuvagata Hom

made a surprise comeback to the Test setup

after a gap of four years.

"We have decided to take the preliminary

squad to Sri Lanka as it would help our

preparation and also give exposure to a

number of players who are in our thinking

for the longer version going forward," chief

selector Minhajul Abedin said in a

statement during the time of team

announcement.

"They (pace-bowlers) have been in our HP

set up and have impressed in whichever

version they have played in. Mukidul and

Shohidul in particular, have caught the eye

in domestic First-class this season and are

future Test prospects. They all have age on

their side and are talented," he added.

In the two rounds of the National Cricket

League (NCL), which is currently on hold

due to Covid-19 surge, Mukidul bagged 13

wickets with two five-wicket hauls while

Shohidul took six wickets. Shoriful missed

the NCL's first two rounds as he has in New

Zealand with the national team.

"Shuvagata is coming back after a while

but he has been a consistent performer in

First-class cricket. We have considered him

as a batting all-rounder but his off-break

bowling is pretty handy also and gives us an

option in the spin department," he also said

about the inclusion of Shuvagata. In NCL,

Shuvagata bagged seven wickets and scored

163 runs with a century.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan

Sohan also made a comeback to the

Bangladesh Test setup. He played his last

Test in 2018 during Bangladesh's West

Indies tour. The 21-member preliminary

Test team of Bangladesh for the Sri Lanka

tour:

Mominul Haque (Captain) , Litton Das,

Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim,

Tamim Iqbal, Shadman Islam, Abu Jayed

Rahi, Taijul Islam, Najmul Hossain Shanto,

Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Nayeem Hasan,

Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Saif

Hassan, Yasir Ali, Shoriful Islam, Khaled

Ahmed, Mukidul Islam Mugdho, Shuvagata

Hom, Shohidul Islam and Nurul Hasan

Sohan.

Photo: AP

South Africa

cricket crisis

nears end

SPORTS DESK

South African cricket's

extended administrative

crisis appeared near at an end

on Saturday when Cricket

South Africa's interim board

hailed an agreement on a new

governance structure in

which independent directors

will be in the majority, reports

UNB.

Interim board chairman

Stavros Nicolaou said a

formal memorandum of

incorporation would be

adopted at an annual general

meeting, at a date to be

announced.

The interim board was

appointed last October after

the previous board resigned.

Their resignation followed

the firing of former chief

executive Thabang Moroe, a

damning forensic report into

maladministration at CSA

and pressure from sponsors

and the players' association.

But the members' council,

consisting of provincial

presidents, refused to accept

the principle of a majority of

directors, prompting an

ultimatum by sports minister

Nathi Mthethwa.

He threatened to become

directly involved, which could

have jeopardised South

Africa's standing with the

International Cricket Council.

Mthethwa twice extended a

deadline for the members'

council before announcing on

Saturday that the "two main

sticking points have now been

successfully resolved", with

the council agreeing to the

principle of an independent

chairperson and a majority of

independent board members.

MoNDAY, ApRIL 12, 2021

10

Cinema

halls to be

closed in

'week-long

lockdown'

Book review: Tomar Jamar

Botam Ghire

TBT RepoRT

Murad Ahmed: I don't understand, I will give a

book review. Rather, let me say-what was the

reflection of the mind of a favorite writer in the

views of the reader-this writing is a bit of a

reflection.

Hmmm, let's just say that Abu Hena Morshed

Zaman's book of poetry 'Tomar Jamar Botam

Ghire' published by Jagriti Prakashani (Stall 154-

156) at this year's book fair is not about the rhyme

book. The author himself says-I don't know poetry

or rhyme. However, as a reader I know-I'm reading

the author's diary in a shiny cover.

When the anxieties of the mind cannot be said in

adolescence or youth, those unspoken words are

written in very simple everyday language by hiding

them in the corner of the room and writing 'Rini'-

"Shyam Kishori Sudarshana / Tomai Ami Chine"

Othoba " Bhor Dhupuray Shader Upor/ Urchay

Tomar Chul / Tumi, Tumi e, Valobashay Hoi Ne

Amar Bhul" Amaderkay Nostalogic Koray Felay.

Takes you back to that backward memory-when

more or less everyone became a poet in love or

liking someone.

Our poet not only suffers from romanticism, he

sees the ebb and flow of surrealism, "inside and

outside of this society / wherever you go / white

people with black minds / you get to see a lot" or

spreads "nothing else, I have pocket money".

A careful revolt against the author's injustice

"comes public - the dictator is more than a hundred

of you".

Thus, from childhood to death, from love to

nature - each chapter of life is divided into 11

episodes.

I did not say everything, I left more meaningful,

beautiful poems for the reader.

Boney Kapoor trolled for

patting Urvashi's derriere!

Back in 2019, Urvashi Rautela and Boney Kapoor

attended an event together and it became the talk of

the town. A video of the producer patting on the

actress' derriere went viral on the internet and trolls

just wouldn't stop. Later, Rautela took to her social

media and clarified the air on the huge controversy.

Read to know the scoop below.

It was footage from the wedding reception of

producer Jayantilal Gada's son Aksshay Gada that

was going crazy viral on the internet.

In the video, Urvashi Rautela and Boney Kapoor

stopped and were chatting for a while before exiting

the venue when the incident took place and was all

over the internet. Trolls wouldn't stop trolling the

producer's behaviour without knowing the full

story. Fans on social media were commenting, "this

is what casual s*xual assault looks like," "disgusting"

and whatnot. Another fan wrote, "If it had been any

other common man, she would have slapped him by

now, but clearly not the same reaction towards such

a grand producer."

Urvashi Rautela then took to her Twitter and

lashed out at trolls and media. The actress wrote,

"Presumably one of the India's 'SUPREME'

newspaper and this is 'NEWS'!!?? Please dont talk

about GIRL POWER or WOMEN'S LIBERATION

when YOU don't know how to

RESPECT/HONOUR GIRLS." In another tweet,

the Sanam Re actress wrote, "I felt appalled and

beyond shocked this morning when i saw social

media flooded with trolls of me in a video with

respected @BoneyKapoor Sir. He is a true

Gentleman and it makes me feel extremely unhappy

and miserable because the social sites/media don't even think twice before" Later in an interview with

Bollywood Hungama, Urvashi Rautela revealed that it was all blown out of proportion and said, "It was

blown out of proportion. It was nothing like that. The video went viral overnight.

Source: Hindustan Times

TBT RepoRT

As the situation in Corona deteriorated, the

government announced a week-long

lockdown across the country from April 5.

However, at that time, the concerned

organizations had informed that the

shooting of dramas and movies would

continue in the country's cinema halls.

TBT RepoRT

Abdun Noor Shajal (known as

Shajal) is a Bangladeshi actor

and model. Shajal began his

career through modelling

before he started acting on

television. He has already

made his strong position in the

showbiz with his impeccable

performance. She made her

big screen debut in 2010 with

the film Nijhum Oronye. Then

in 2015 the movie 'Run Out'

was released. Then Haar Jeet

was added to the movie list,

but the fliming work of the

movie is still not over. It is not

known when it will happen.

Sajal last worked in the movie

'Jinn'. The movie is currently

awaiting release. However, he

quietly acted in a movie titled

'Batch 2003'. The movie is made

with anti-raging and antibullying

stories. The movie

teaser has already been

released. After the release of the

The government has decided to impose a

total lockdown for a week from April 14. At

this time, the Bangladesh Film Exhibitors'

Association, the owners' organization, has

decided to close the country's cinema halls.

They say the organization has decided to

close all the halls centrally. For the same

reason, the concerned organizations have

informed that the "instructions to stop

shooting of films and TV dramas" will be

issued soon.

Salauddin Lavlu, president of the

Directors Guild, an organization of

playwrights, said, "We are going to take a

decision to stop shooting. We are meeting

with everyone. I will officially announce this

on April 12."

Sajal's fifth movie 'Batch 2003'

released on Bing app

28-second teaser, the audience

has expressed interest in

watching the movie. The thriller

movie was released on the Bing

app on April 8.

This is Sajal's fifth movie. This

hero is quite excited about the

movie. "It's a psycho thriller

movie," he said. The movie was

progressed with a few students

of the 2003 SSC batch.

Sajal further said, no one can

guess what is actually going to

happen until they see the last

scene of the movie. Viewers

will see me in a whole new

way. I have never done such a

character before. I haven't

done any other dramas or

movies in a long time before

shooting to capture the

character. All in all, it's been a

good job. "

Sajal has made his debut as a

singer as well as a hero through

the movie 'Batch 2003'. He also

sang a song for the film. He sang

for the first time. He has played

back the song titled 'Dhansho

Agun'.

Award-dominating 'Nomadland'

wins top Hollywood director prize

Chloe Zhao's 'Nomadland' won

this year's top Hollywood

directing award Saturday-the

final major guild ceremony

before the Oscars, and an

important late bellwether in

Tinseltown's pandemic-delayed

and mainly virtual award season.

Zhao spent her entire victory

speech praising her fellow

nominees, who must now be

wondering what they can do to

catch up with her critically

adored and awards-dominating

US road movie before the

Academy Awards on April 25.

"I want to thank you guys for

teaching me so much, and for

showing your support-you have

made this journey so much more

special," the 39-year-old director,

previously best known for the

indie movie "The Rider," told

rival directors via video call.

Those filmmakers included

David Fincher ("Mank"),

Emerald Fennell ("Promising

Young Woman") and Lee Isaac

Chung ("Minari") -- who will also

vie for the best director Oscar.

But Zhao-who becomes only the

second woman to ever win the

top Directors Guild of America

prize, after Kathryn Bigelow for

2008's "The Hurt Locker"-is

entrenched as the strong

favourite. While the DGA last

year plumped for Sam Mendes

("1917") over Oscar winner Bong

Joon-ho ("Parasite"), they have

correctly predicted the victor the

previous six years running.

'Nomadland', a semi-fictional

drama, follows a community of

older van-dwelling Americans

left behind by the Great

Recession, who forge a new,

transient life off the grid in the

American West. Beijing-born

Zhao said she hopes audiences

can "experience the lives of

people that they may consider

'the other'" and so "walk away

feeling a little bit less alone." She

described directing as an outlet

and a remedy for her own

experience of "very intense

loneliness in my life."

Real-world celebrations -

"Sound of Metal," an Oscar

best picture nominee about a

heavy metal drummer who goes

deaf, won the DGA's first-time

director award.

Source: Indian Express

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.

monday, april 12, 2021

11

Ecuador to elect new president

in left-right battle

QUITO : Ecuadorans will vote on

Sunday to elect a new president with a

straight choice between socialist

Andres Arauz and conservative

Guillermo Lasso to take over the mantle

of the beleaguered Lenin Moreno.

The next president will begin his term

on May 24 with the country suffering

from an economic crisis badly aggravated

by the coronavirus pandemic.

Opinion polls have the two contenders

neck and neck in a classic left

versus right battle for control of the

country.

Economist Arauz, 36, is a virtual

unknown but topped February's first

round of voting on the back of support

from his mentor and former president

Rafael Correa.

Former banker Lasso, 65, is a seasoned

politician who is hoping it will be

third time lucky in his presidential bid

having twice finished second: to Correa

in 2013 and Moreno in 2017.

Polls open at 7:00 am (1200 GMT)

with voting obligatory for 13.1 million

people in the tiny oil-producing South

American country of 17.4 million.

Whoever wins will have to manage an

economic crisis exasperated by a 7.8

percent contraction in GDP in 2020.

Overall debt is almost $64 billion - 63

percent of GDP - of which $45 billion

(45 percent of GDP) is external debt.

At the same time, there is the pandemic

to manage after more than

340,000 people contracted Covid-19

with over 17,000 of them dying.

Arauz, the candidate from the Union

of Hope coalition, topped the first

round with almost 33 percent of the

vote, some 13 percentage points ahead

of Lasso, from the Creating

Opportunities movement.

Although barely known before he ran

for the top office, Arauz is the protege of

Correa, who would have been his running

mate but for an eight-year conviction

for corruption.

Correa lives in exile in Belgium,

where his wife was born, and he is able

to avoid his prison sentence. But his

influence on Ecuadoran politics

remains strong.

This election is not so much left versus

right, but rather "Correism versus

anti-Correism," political scientist

Esteban Nicholls of Simon Bolivar

University told AFP. The two candidates

can barely be separated in polls.

The last poll by Market predicted a

"technical draw" on Sunday with Arauz

garnering 50 percent and Lasso getting

49 percent.

The election is "totally uncertain,"

Market director Blasco Penaherrera

told AFP.

However, Penaherrera said that former

banker Lasso's "growth" is "vastly

superior" to that of economist Arauz.

Lasso scraped into the runoff by less

than half a percentage point ahead of

indigenous candidate Yaku Perez, who

contested the result and claimed to

have been the victim of fraud.

It took weeks for Lasso's second place

to be confirmed. Ahead of the runoff,

electoral officials have decided to abandon

the usual rapid count to avoid

potentially misleading results.

Socialist Perez, whose Pachakutik

indigenous movement is the secondlargest

bloc in parliament, picked up

around 20 percent of the vote in the

first round.

Pachakutik has refused to back either

candidate in the second round, leaving

uncertainty over which way its supporters

will turn.

The number of undecided voters following

the chaotic first round was

about 35 percent but that's since

shrunk to eight percent.

2 'robbers' killed

in Habiganj

lynch-mob attack

HABIGANJ : Two suspected

robbers were killed in a

lynch-mob attack at Gunipur

in Lakhai upazila of

Habiganj district early

Sunday.

The deceased were

identified as Abdul Hamid,

42, of Dharmandal village of

Brahmanbaria district and

Humayun Mia, 40 of

Madhabpur upazila in the

district.

Mohiuddin Sumon,

officer-in-charge of Lakhai

Police Station, said a group

of robbers numbering 9/10

swooped on the house of one

Jalal Mia around 1:30 am

and kept the house inmates

hostages at gunpoint.

Sensing presence of the

robbers, Jalal informed the

matter to his neighbours

over phone.

Later, local people

encircled the house and

managed to catch two

robbers while the others

managed to flee the scene.

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Deadly storms

hit southern

US coast

HOUSTON : Storms blasting

through the southern

United States have killed at

least two people and injured

others with fierce winds that

toppled trees, smashed

homes and flipped vehicles,

authorities said Saturday.

Millions of people live in

the storms' paths along the

Gulf coast, including

Florida, Mississippi,

Alabama and Louisiana,

where the fatalities were

reported.

One man was killed and at

least seven people were

injured when high winds

struck in the Saint Landry

Parish area, also flipping

some vehicles on a roadway,

local authorities said.

China mulls mixing vaccines

to improve efficacy of jabs

BEIJING : China is considering

the mixing of different

Covid-19 vaccines to

improve the relatively low

efficacy of its existing

options, a top health expert

has told a conference.

Authorities have to "consider

ways to solve the issue

that efficacy rates of existing

vaccines are not high",

Chinese media outlet The

Paper reported, citing Gao

Fu, the head of the Center

for Disease Control and

Prevention.

His comments mark the

first time a top Chinese

expert has publicly alluded

to the relatively low efficacy

of the country's vaccines, as

China forges ahead in its

mass vaccination campaign

and exports its jabs around

the world.

China has administered

around 161 million doses

since vaccinations began last

year - most people will

require two shots - and aims

to fully inoculate 40 percent

of its 1.4 billion population

by June.

But many have been slow

to sign up for jabs, with life

largely back to normal within

China's borders and

domestic outbreaks under

control.

Gao has previously

stressed the best way to prevent

the spread of Covid-19

is vaccination, and said in a

recent state media interview

that China aims to vaccinate

70 percent to 80 percent of

its population between the

end of this year and mid-

2022.

At the conference in

Chengdu on Saturday, Gao

added that an option to

overcome the efficacy problem

is to alternate the use of

vaccine doses that tap different

technologies.

This is an option that

health experts outside China

are studying as well.

Gao said experts should

not ignore mRNA vaccines

just because there are

already several coronavirus

jabs in the country, urging

for further development,

The Paper reported.

Currently, none of China's

jabs conditionally approved

for the market are mRNA

vaccines, but products that

use the technology include

those by US pharma giant

Pfizer and German start-up

BioNTech, as well as by

Moderna.

China has four conditionally

approved vaccines,

whose published efficacy

rates remain behind rival

jabs by Pfizer-BioNTech and

Moderna, which have 95

percent and 94 percent rates

respectively.

China's Sinovac previously

said trials in Brazil

showed around 50 percent

efficacy in preventing infection

and 80 percent efficacy

in preventing cases

requiring medical intervention.

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Monday, dhaka, April 12, 2021, Chaitra 29, 1427 BS, Shaban 28, 1442 hijri

Stabilise prices ahead of

Ramadan: Home Minister

DHAKA : Minister for Home Affairs

Asaduzzaman Khan, MP, on Sunday

called upon businesses to stabilisethe

prices of essential commodities during

the holy month of Ramadan as people's

incomes have been hit hard by Covid-19

in the country, reports UNB.

"The prices of daily essentials come

down in all Muslim countries in the

world during the month of Ramadan

but the prices go up in Bangladesh in

this time. So, we need assistance from

businesses," the minister said in a webinar

of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce

and Industry (DCCI) on "Law and

order situation and keeping prices of

essentials stable in the upcoming

Ramadan."

The minister said Bangladesh will go

for a hard lockdown to save lives from

April 14. "We will take necessary steps

for the sake of the countrymen. The

extortion is under control now. We

could not control it hundred percent but

we are tough against it," he added.

He urged all to maintain health advisories

and instructions from the government.

"We want the help of businessmen

to keep the prices stable not only in

the month of Ramadan but also all the

year round. Law enforcement agencies

are now largely capable and expert so

JMB acting chief Rezaul placed

on 7-day remand

DHAKA : A court on Sunday placed acting ameer of banned militant outfit Jama'atul

Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) Rezaul Hague alias Reza alias Tanvir Mahmud alias

Shihab Ahnaf, 37, on seven-day remand in a case lodged under anti-terror act.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Moinul Islam passed the order as the investigating

agency Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit produced the

accused before the court and pleaded to place him on 10-day remand.

CTTC arrested Rezaul from the capital's Badda area on April 10 and filed the case

with Bhatara Police Station.

"Rezaul was involved in the 2005 series bomb attacks across the country and was

also arrested in that case that year. He came out of jail in 2017 and again got involved

in the militant activities and became JMB's acting ameer," CTTC's additional superintendent

of police Md Rahmat Ullah Chowdhury said. The senior CTTC official further

said Rezaul was leading the militant group by following the order of its top exiled

leader Salauddin Salehin and was also in charge of the gang's treasury and promotional

wings.

Hefazat leader Mamunul's '2nd wife'

goes missing; GD filed

DHAKA : A general diary has been lodged with Paltan Police Station over the

reported missing of the 'second wife' of Hefazat-e-Islam's Joint Secretary General

Mamunul Haque, reports UNB.

Abdur Rahman, son of Mamunul's '2ndwife' Jharna, lodged the GD with Paltan

Police Station on Saturday night, said officer-in-charge of the police station AB

Siddique. According to the GD, Abdur went to his mother's Dhanmondi house on

Saturday and did not find her.

When he inquired about his mother, someone told him that she went out of the

house on April 3 and since then she did not return home.

However, he found three diaries of his mother and he deposited those to the police

station.

ShAh Md. SAwRAR JAhAn,

KiShoRegAnJ CoRReSpondenT

Markets in a Kishoreganj suburb are full

of fake Bidi, a type of local cigarette. In

Pakundia, a syndicate of unethical businessmen

are marketing these Bidis

using fake bandrolls. The act of such forgery

caused the government to lose a

huge amount of revenue every day due.

Unless the customs department rolls up

their sleeves and gets into action the situation

may get out of control. Initiatives

are not being taken due to lack of prosecution,

the local administration says.

The fake Bidi business is thriving in

Pakundia upazila near Kishoreganj district

headquarters where the producers

attach forged bandroll through making

photocopies of the original one. It has

been reported that a certain class of

unscrupulous traders and brokers have

been selling bidis with fake photostat

bandrolls in various small and big shops

in 10 unions of Pakundia Upazila.

This illegal business is gradually

increasing due to the lack of supervision

by the local administration. According

to the investigation, Notun Bidi, Afiz

Bidis, Krishak Bbidis, Amin Bidis in different

markets of Pakundia have been

using their own bandroll by evading the

government's customs tax evasion.

While the production cost is expected

you are requested to take their help any

time," he also added.

Mayor of Dhaka South City

Corporation (DSCC) Barrister Sheikh

Fazle Noor Taposh said, "We have to be

united and work together to stabilise the

market. DSCC has already formed a

committee comprising nine councillors

for market monitoring. We regularly

conduct mobile courts. DSCC is a business

friendly service organization. We

will work for the greater interest of city

dwellers."

The mayor stressed on awareness for

Covid-19. "We sometimes see negligence

in terms of obeying health advisories.

Coordinated efforts will help us

to come out of this pandemic.

Extortions are now very low and our

fight against extortionists will continue,"

he added.

DCCI President Rizwan Rahman said

when the economy was in the way of

recovery, at that moment the second

wave of Covid 19 comes back. The

worldwide supply chain and production

are hampered and are responsible for

inflation.

"Price hike in the international market

and volatility in supply chain have

an impact on price hike in Bangladesh.

Besides, the issue of international market,

creating artificial crisis by hoarding,

lack of market monitoring, extortion in

the transportation sector, increased

transportation cost are some of the reasons

of price spiral especially in the

month of Ramadan," he added.

Mentioning SANEM survey, he said

poverty rate rose to 42% due to pandemic

which was 20.5% a year ago. In

this scenario, if prices of essential commodities

increased people will suffer a

lot in the month of Ramadan.

To keep prices under control Rizwan

suggested releasing essential goods

from the port considering it as a priority.

"Law enforcement agencies should

take stern action against the extortionists

in the transportation sector. We

have adequate laws, but we need to execute

the rules and laws."

The Vice President of Consumer

Association of Bangladesh S M Nazer

Hossain said the essential market is

unstable every year due to lack of market

monitoring. There is also blame

game between large and small businessmen.

He urged for a coordinated market

monitoring system and also called upon

the businessmen to accept lower profit

margin in the pandemic crisis.

Maisha Group

plans to procure

Russian made

vaccine

TBT RepoRT

It is midst of April and the pandemic has

taken a new turn. The Bangladesh government

has rolled out the nationwide

vaccination campaign to inoculate as

many citizens as possible. But the vaccine

now is available to the citizens who

are 40 years or older.

To keep up the supply of the vaccine

M/s Maisha Group plans to procure

Russian made vaccine called Sputnik V.

According to Dr. Jamal Uddin Ahmed, a

consultant of the company, the vaccine

has an efficacy rate at 91.6%. It also has

no adverse impact upon administration.

It can be suitable to store 2 degree to 8

degree Celsius and distributed to the

corners of the country.

"The vaccine is already approved in 18

countries worldwide including

Hungary, which is follows the rules and

regulation of European Medicines

Agency (EMA). On Friday, Germany

said it will approve the use of the

Sputnik V vaccine if it has the stipulated

efficacy rate. If DGHS permits then we

will be able to procure 5 million doses of

vaccine per month." Dr. Jamal added.

Kishoreganj Bidi sellers depriving

govt. of huge revenue

to be BDT 20 per packet including the

duty, some unscrupulous traders and

shop owners have been selling these

bidis without bandrolls at only BDT 8 to

10. The representatives of the concerned

companies said that they are struggling

to sell it at the rate of Tk 20 per packet

using the bandhrol tax imposed by the

legitimate producers and the government.

By adding fake bandrolls, some

unscrupulous businessmen are doing

this without any hesitation by evading

the revenue of the government.

When this correspondent went to the

spot, he obtained sensitive information

in different markets. Ajit Saha, Sunil

Saha, Ratan Saha, Apu Saha, Jiban Saha

and Kabir Mia sell Notun Bidis in the

Mirzapur market. Shibli Selim

Bachchumia, Ratan Mia, Selim Mia and

Sohail Mia of Jangalia Bazar are selling

Notun Bidis in Tarakandi, another market

of Pakundia. Shahin Asad Jilani in

Ishakharod area of Pakundia, Shamim

Rabimia, Golap Mia, Mostakim in

Dargabazar area, Delwar in Bhanabazar

area, Billal selling Krishak Bidi in

Shimulia Kaladia area and Uday Sarkar

selling Amin Bidi in Sukhia Bazar.

When asked about the reasons for

selling illegal Bidis by evading revenue

from the sellers, they conditionally

informed this correspondent that they

sell them for a high profit margin. They

don't know if the bandrolls are original

or fake, but the sellers have no idea

about the legality or illegality of them

because no one in the administration

has banned them.

Very few buyers and visitors at Amar ekushey Book fair ground witnessed on

Sunday. photo : TBT

Textile exporters for

keeping factories open

DHAKA : Country's textile and garment

manufacturers and exporters

on Sunday demanded the government

to keep factories open to help

them offset their losses during the

lockdown period to be enforced by the

government to tackle the surge of

Covid-19 in the country.

They also feared to incur a big loss

and shifting of work orders from

Bangladesh to other countries if they

cannot continue the production and

shipments of goods to their international

trading partners.

Leaders of Bangladesh Garment

Manufacturers and Exporters

Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh

Knitwear Manufacturers and

Exporters Association (BKMEA),

Bangladesh Textile Mills Association

(BTMA) and some top garment manufacturers

and exporters on Sunday

urged the government for keeping

open of the factories at a joint press

conference at a city hotel.

Leaders of Bangladesh Terry Towel

and Linen Manufacturers and

Exporters Association and

Bangladesh Garment and Bangladesh

Garments Accessories and Packaging

Manufacturers and Exporters

Association also took part in the joint

press conference.

Mohammad Abdus Salam, acting

president of BGMEA said the local

garment suppliers have been struggling

to recoup the business losses

that they incurred during the first

phase of the COVID-19.

5-storey building tilts

in Chattogram:

Residents evacuated

CHATTOGRAM : A five-storey building

tilted at Enayet Bazar in Chattogram city

on Saturday, forcing the authorities concerned

to evacuate the building, reports

UNB.

Police, city corporation officials and

fire service men rushed to the spot and

evacuated the residents of the building,

said Nezam Uddin, officer-in-charge of

Kotwali Police Station.

The five-storey building, owned by

one Kartik Ghosh, was built at

Goalapara 35 years back.

Kartik Ghosh along with his family

and his five brothers used to live in the

building.

Local people said the work of

installing two more pillars was going on

Saturday without taking any prior permission

from Chattogram Development

Authority (CDA). In the evening, a crack

developed on the wall of the building

and suddenly tilted around 10:30 pm.

On information, fire service men,

police and city corporation officials

rushed to the spot and evacuated the

building around 11 pm.

Police also asked the residents of an

adjacent eight-storey building to evacuate

it immediately apprehending danger.

Meanwhile, the authorities concerned

have blocked the entrance of the

building with bamboo and logs as no

one can enter it.

For instance, in the last fiscal year

(FY20), Bangladesh lost garment

export worth more than $6billion

from the previous fiscal year (FY19).

"In the fiscal 2018-19, Bangladesh

exported garment items worth $34.12

billion, but the amount fell to

$27.94billion in the fiscal 2019-20,"

Salam said.

Moreover, work orders worth

$3.18billion was either cancelled or

held up by the international retailers

and brands due to the fallouts of the

pandemic.

Later, 90 percent work orders were

reinstated with discount and delayed

payment, Salam said.

Similar kind of situation may arise if

the production is lost and timely shipments

of goods cannot be done.

Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, former

BGMEA president said adequate

safety measures have already been

taken at the factory levels to protect

the workers from the COVID-19 infection

and it was proved in different

studies.

Faruque Hassan, BGMEA president-elect

sought cooperation for

keeping open of the factories as there

is a fear of work order losses.

Hassan also said that the factory

owners will have to face trouble in

paying the salaries and festival

allowances for the workers if they cannot

run and ship the goods timely.

Singer Mita Haque

passes away

TBT RepoRT

Ekushey Padak winning Rabindra

Sangeet singer Mita Haque passed away at

a hospital in Dhaka on Sunday, after losing

her battle with Covid-19. She was 59.

The singer breathed her last at 6:20 am.

According to her family sources, Haque

tested positive for Covid-19 on March 25

and was admitted to Bangladesh

Specialized Hospital on March 31.

However, she tested negative a few days

later and returned home from the hospital.

On Saturday night, her blood pressure

fell down and she was rushed to the hospital

again where doctors informed that she

had suffered a heart attack.

She was then kept on ventilation before

eventually losing her battle with illness.

Haque was also suffering from kidney

disease and used to undergo dialysis on a

regular basis. She will be buried at the

family graveyard at her ancestral home in

Manohariya of Keraniganj, according to

her family sources.

Can Dhaka improve

its air quality

DHAKA : Many of those who live in

Dhaka these days say that they will look

at other cities to move out if there is any

opportunity as they find the capital city

unlivable due to its worsening air pollution.

"Living in Dhaka has become a personal

battle because its air has become

too unhealthy for living," says Mujibul

Haque, a retired engineer, reports

UNB.

The residents of Dhaka breathed with

the worst and unsafe air from January

to March this year as they did during

the same period in 2017.

During this 90-day period (January-

March 2021), the air quality was

recorded as 'hazardous' for 12 days,

'very unhealthy' for 58 days, 'unhealthy'

for 19 days and 'unhealthy for sensitive

groups' for one day in Dhaka, one of the

most polluted cities in the world.

This awful scenario was found after

the analysis of the Air Quality Index

(AQI) data of the first three months of

2017-2021. In 2021, the average daily

AQI score was 261 in January, 231 in

February and 211 in March, which hit

the record high in the last five years.

The average AQI scores were 247, 193

and 170 in January-March 2017 respectively,

according to the analysis made

by Prof Dr Ahmad Kamruzzaman

Majumder, Founder and Director of

Centre for Atmospheric Pollution

Studies (CAPS) run by Stamford

University Bangladesh.

During the five years, the air quality

was relatively better in 2020 as the

average AQI scores were 235 in

January, 220 in February and 175 in

March in the year.

Besides, the average AQI scores were

240, 226 and 191 in the first three

months of 2019, while 256, 224 and 183

in January-March of 2018.

In January 2021, the air quality in

Dhaka was hazardous (score 300+) for

seven days, while very unhealthy (score

200-300) for 23 days and unhealthy

(151-200) for one day.

Dhaka's air quality was hazardous for

three days, very unhealthy for 20 days

and unhealthy during the remaining

five days in February.

In March last, the air quality was hazardous

for two days, very unhealthy for

15 days and unhealthy for 13 days and

unhealthy for sensitive groups (score

101-150) for one day.

In the last three months, the highest

average AQI score was 365 on January

20 and the lowest 144 on March 11,

2021.

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

12-04-2021

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