05-09-2021

Sunday

DhAkA: September 5, 2021; Bhadra 21, 1428 BS; Muharram 26,1443 hijri

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www.bangladeshtoday.net

Regd.No.DA~2065, Vol.19; N o. 130; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00

international

Afghan women demand

rights as Taliban

seek recognition

>Page 7

Govt planning to take

classes one day a

week initially

SPortS

Aggressive Alcaraz

delivers dream

shocker over Tsitsipas

>Page 9

art & culture

Sabina Yasmin

celebrates 67th

birthday

>Page 10

CHATTOGRAM : The Ministry of

Education is planning to take classes one

day a week after the reopening of schools

and colleges on September 12, said Deputy

Minister for Education Mohibul Hasan

Chowdhury Nowfel on Saturday.

Nowfel said this while talking to journalists

after attending a function at

Chattogram Medical College and

Hospital. "We're hopeful of starting physical

classes following the Education

Minister's announcement and our primary

plan is to take classes one day a week

but it may be changed," he said.

Efforts will continue to take the SSC and

HSC exams through in-person presence

with a brief syllabus but the assignment

works will continue as before, he said.

The long closure of schools and colleges

due to the Covid-19 pandemic has created

a mental pressure on the students and

there had been efforts to continue education

online but that was not enough,

Students below 18 to be

vaccinated:Health Minister

AShRAful ISlAM ASRAf

With all eyes on its efforts to contain the

Covid-19 pandemic, Bangladesh is going

to vaccinate students below 18 with

Pfizer and Moderna jabs.

"Any vaccine dose can be administered

to students over 18 but those who're below

18 can be vaccinated with Pfizer and

Moderna jabs following the World Health

Organization's (WHO's) directives as per

the availability of vaccine doses," said

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on

Saturday. The minister revealed the information

while talking to reporters after visiting

comprehensive examination centres

under Nursing and Midwifery Course at

Tejgaon Government Girls College in the

Tofail's condition

improves, shifted to cabin

DHAKA : Ailing senior Awami League

leader Tofail Ahmed, undergoing treatment

at an Indian hospital, has been

shifted to a cabin from its ICU as his condition

improved, reports UNB.

Shaban Mahmood, Minister (Press) of

Bangladesh High Commission in New

Delhi, told UNB on Saturday that the

veteran politician is undergoing treatment

at Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon,

India under Dr Arun Garg, head of

Neurology Department of the hospital,

and he is doing well. "Tofail has been

shifted to a cabin and doctors hope that

he'll get well soon," he added.

Tofail, an advisory council member of

Awami League and a former minister,

was flown to India in an air ambulance

on Fridayfor better treatment.

Zohr

04:26 AM

12:04 PM

04:26 PM

06:18 PM

07:34 PM

5:41 6:13

Nowfel added. Primary, secondary and

higher secondary educational institutions

in the country will reopen on September

12 following a prolonged closure, said

Education Minister Dipu Moni on Friday.

"The decision was taken at a joint meeting

of the Education Ministry, Ministry of

Primary and Mass education and the

National Technical Advisory Committee

held on Thursday night," she said at a

function in Chandpur sadar upazila.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to reopen all the

schools, colleges, including madrasas, on

September 12 as per the decision," Dipu

Moni said. The government shut the educational

institutions on March 17, 2020 after

the country reported its first Covid-19 cases

on March 8. Then the closure was extended

several times, most recently until September

11. The pandemic-related school closures in

the country affected about 38 million students

though the government introduced

TV-based learning programmes for them.

city on Saturday.

"An inter-ministerial meeting will be held

on Sunday. The meeting is expected to

decide whether the school students will be

vaccinated against Covid-19," he said. Zahid

Maleque went on saying, "We think that the

students over 18 can receive any vaccine but

in the case of those who're above 12, we've

to follow the other countries like the US and

the UK where students are given Pfizer and

Moderna vaccines."

About 80 % teachers and students

involved in medical treatment have been

brought under vaccination campaigns,

the minister added.

Those who are receiving their first jabs

will get their second ones from

September 7, and people have been

asked to go to their respective vaccination

centres to take their shots, he said.

Besides, orders have been placed to collect

16.5 crore doses of vaccines. Of these,

6.5 crore will come from China while the

remaining ones will come from the WHO,

he said, adding, "The doses will likely

arrive in the country within January next."

Zahid said steps are underway to

recruit more nurses, and their numbers

will be three times higher than the physicians

working in the health sector.

flood waters flowing in the Jamuna river. The picture is taken from old Aricha Ghat of Manikganj on Saturday.

Bangladesh reports

1,743 fresh cases

TBT RepoRT

Bangladesh on Saturday reported 1,743

COVID-19 cases while the coronavirus

claimed overnight 61 lives. "The country

reported 9.82 percent COVID-19 positive

cases as 17,750 samples were tested in the

past 24 hours, " Directorate General of

Health Services (DGHS) said in its routine

daily statement. In the past 24 hours,

combined figure of coronavirus of

Dhaka city and upazilas of Dhaka district

is 572 while 20 COVID-19 deaths

were reported during the same period.

The official tally showed the virus

killed 26,493 people and infected

15,12,026 so far, it added.

The recovery count rose to 14,46,003

after another 3,421 patients were discharged

from the hospitals during the

past one day. The DGHS statistics

showed of the people infected from the

beginning 95.63 percent recovered,

while 1.75 percent died.

The DGHS said among the total

26,493 fatalities, 11,550 deaths occurred

in Dhaka division, 5,328 in Chattogram,

1,967 in Rajshahi, 3,446 in Khulna, 909

in Barishal, 1,174 in Sylhet, 1,314 in

Rangpur and 807 in Mymensingh division.

It said Bangladesh's COVID-19

confirmed cases crossed 5,000 mark on

March 29, 2021, 6,000 mark on April 1,

2021, 7,000 mark on April 4, 2021,

8,000 mark on June 24, 2021, 9,000

mark on July 5, 11,000 mark July 6,

13,000 mark on July 12, 12,000 mark on

July 13, 14,000 mark on July 27 and

16,000 mark on July 28.

BNP makes absurd

comments on Zia's

body issue: Quader

DHAKA : Awami League General

Secretary and Road Transport and

Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on

Saturday said not the government,

BNP itself is making absurd comments

against the absolute truth of

the history on the issue of Ziaur

Rahman's body.

He said this at a press conference

on contemporary issues at his official

residence here.

About BNP Secretary General

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir's comment

that the government is making

ridiculous comments centering Zia's

body after being bankrupt, Quader

said now BNP is suffering from deep

frustration after being boycotted by

the people in polls and movement.

Terming BNP as power-reliant

political party, he said as BNP didn't

stay in power for long, they have

become so much frustrated that now

they cannot perform usual politics.

Now BNP has no political strategy,

so they are making absurd comments

while spreading hatred

against the government, he said.

The minister said he didn't get any

answer from BNP secretary general about

After a long five and half months, the National Zoo in Dhaka has recently opened for visitors.

As a result, the zoo premises have become lively after a long time.

photo : Star Mail

his specific questions on Zia's body.

Pointing to Mirza Fakhrul, Quader

said the BNP secretary general

repeatedly avoids the topic and gives

inconsistent replies and makes his

usual absurd comments.

About BNP secretary general's allegation

that the government has failed

to vaccinate a large number of people

due to its corruption, the AL general

secretary termed the allegation as

BNP's traditional imaginary one. He

urged Mirza Fakhrul not to make

indiscriminate allegations but to give

specific information and evidence on

where corruption is taking place.

BNP is making evil attempts by

making different comments at different

times about vaccination to confuse

the people, he said, adding that

many of the BNP leaders have even

received the second dose vaccine

after the first dose.

The minister said BNP is suffering

from jealousy as the people have now

started receiving vaccines and in

phases, all will get the jabs.

Actually, BNP couldn't witness any

positive thing because of their negative

politics, he said.

photo: pBA

All political forces must be

united : Mirza Fakhrul

ShAfIqul ISlAM (ShAfIq)

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul

Islam Alamgir wants 'steel solid unity' of

the people and all political forces in the

movement to restore democracy. He

made the remarks at a discussion meeting

at the National Press Club on

Saturday afternoon highlighting the current

situation in the country. He said,

today's crisis is not only the crisis of

BNP, this crisis is of the whole nation.

We have to bring this word in our head.

This crisis is not just one person. Today

the very existence of our nation is in danger.

As long as the Awami League exists,

the existence of this nation will be more

endangered, more endangered, more

endangered.

Mirza Fakhrul said we know that the

people of this country have not been

defeated. It may take time but there is no

reason to be defeated. A terrible monster

is destroying all the opposing forces.

AL candidate

wins Sylhet-3

by-election

SYLHET : Awami League candidate

Habibur Rahman Habib won the

Sylhet-3 by-polls in unofficial

results received on Saturday, beating

his nearest rival Jatiya Party's

Atikur Rahman Atik by a huge margin.

According to unofficial results

Habib bagged 89,705 votes in the

constituency consisting three upazilas

of Dakkhin Surma, Fenchuganj

and Balaganj. Atik got only 24,604

votes, reports UNB.

Voting through the Electronic

Voting Machine (EVM) began at 8

am in 149 centres and continued till

4pm without any break, said regional

election officer Foysal Quader.

Deputy Commissioner and

returning officer Kazi Emdadul

Islam estimated that between 30

and 40 per cent voters cast their

ballots.

The constituency fell vacant after

its MP Mahmud Us Samad

Chowdhury succumbed to Covid on

March 11.

The by-poll was deferred twice

due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Junaid Mohammad Mia of

Bangladesh Congress and independent

Shafi Ahmed Chowdhury

were the two other candidates in the

fray.

Some 3.5 lakh people were eligible

to vote in the by-poll.

This requires a solid unity of the people

and all the political forces.

The BNP secretary general said I met

Begum Khaleda Zia a few days ago. She

said one thing, never lose heart & give

up. Keep strength in mind, keep morale,

victory will be yours inshallah. She is,

she will be. Inshallah she will be free and

lead us again.

Our acting chairman Tareq Rahman is

far away. But he is working relentlessly

to organize the party, to make the movement.

We believe that his efforts will be

successful and we will be able to defeat

them.

Mirza Fakhrul said, there is a disguised

bakshal going on in the country

now. None of our journalists' brothers

write themselves, doing self-censorship.

Why? If a word, a sentence goes back

and forth, then they are imprisoned

under the Digital Security Act and nonbail.

It wants to divert people's attention

from the real issue.

SUNDAY, SePTeMBeR 5, 2021

2

3 drug dealers

arrested including

yaba-phencidyl

TBT Report

The Rapid Action Battalion

(RAB) has arrested three drug

dealers with 6,000 pieces of

yaba from Dhaka's South

Keraniganj area and 160

bottles of Phensidyl from

Shampur in the capital. A

separate team of RAB-10

arrested them on Friday night

on the basis of secret

information. RAB-10

Commander (CO) Additional

DIG Mahfuzur Rahman said

this at noon on Saturday

(September 4). He said a

team of RAB-10 conducted

the operation on the basis of

information that some drug

dealers were stationed in the

area of Dhaka Filling Station,

a new road under South

Keraniganj Police Station, to

buy and sell yaba. Sensing the

presence of the RAB, the drug

dealers tried to run away. At

that time, RAB was able to

arrest two persons named

Baghdad Hossain (38) and

Tahedul Islam (25). 6,007

pieces of yaba, two mobile

phones and Tk 1,500 were

seized from them.

Preliminary interrogation

revealed that the arrested

were professional drug

dealers. They had been

supplying drugs to various

areas in the vicinity including

South Keraniganj for some

time. A drug case has been

filed against them in the

concerned police station.

On the other hand, another

team of RAB-10 raided the

Postagola crossroads area

around 10 pm on Friday and

seized 160 bottles of

Phensidyl. Another drug

dealer named Babul Hossain

(32) has been arrested.

Man's charred

body found in

Jashore

JASHORE : A 35-year-old

man's charred body was

recovered from a house

inSharsha upazila of Jashore

on Friday, reports UNB.

The deceased was identified

as Manirul Islam, son of Abul

Hossain of Manirampur

upazila. Police suspect he was

torched to death over an illicit

affair with a woman.

Badrul Alam Khan, officerin-charge

of Sharsha police

station, said that Manirul's

body was found inside the

house of Sirajul Islam in

Kajirber village, where the

woman and her husband

lived as tenants.

Around 2am on Friday,

local people rushed to the

house hearing the screams of

a man and foundManirul's

charred body near his bike.

Cops were informed and a

team from the local police

station rushed to the spot and

took the body into custody.

"Local people alleged that

Manirul was set on fire in the

dead of night over an extramarital

affair with Bithi

Khatun, the wife of NGO

officerSaidur Rahman," the

OC said.

Police have sent the body to

Jashore Medical College and

Hospital morgue for an

autopsy and detained Bithi

for interrogation.

Highway Police arranged a meeting on traffic management on the highway with transport owners and

workers of Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions at a motel at Charmatha last Saturday. Superintendent of

Highway Police Bogura Region Munshi Shahabuddin spoke in the meeting.

Photo : TBT

LGRD minister stresses on feasibility

studies prior project undertaking

TBT Report

Citing the need for feasibility studies before

implementing a project, the LGRD minister

urged the relevant stakeholders to consider the

environmental, geological, hydrological, social

impact, demographic size and economic

output of an undertaking. The Minister for

Local Government, Rural Development and

Cooperatives (LGRD), Md. Tajul Islamsaid the

project could not be taken up without a study

on these issues.

He made the directive while addressing an

exchange meeting on project management and

implementation of National Integrity Strategy

at LGED Bhaban in Agargaon on September 4.

He further said that if any development work

including infrastructure is done unplanned

with the project, the benefits of development

will not reach the people as it is not

sustainable. Rather, it brings more evil than

good. Therefore, before taking all development

projects, its feasibility study has to be done.

In this regard, Md. Tajul Islam said it would

be impossible to reach the desired goal if the

adopted projects were not productive, income

generating, sustainable and completed on

time. The purpose for which the project is

taken, after implementation, it is seen that the

benefits do not match.

Noting that no flaws can be found in the

design of the project, the minister further said

that changes have been made in the design of

rural, union and upazila roads. Arrangements

are being made to open the waterways by

constructing bridges with opportunities for

navigation. Emphasizing on ensuring the

quality of work, he said that those involved in

substandard work must be punished.

Bricks are being made in different brick kilns

but their quality is not being tested. As a result,

the road work is not sustainable while paving

the road with these bricks. So, he instructed

the concerned to take cognizance of this

matter.

The local government minister said that the

construction work is being done after all the

road IDs of LGED have been registered.

Therefore, instructions have been given to

register all the road IDs of these organizations.

If the road allotment is given according to the

ID number, then the road construction and

repair work will be completed smoothly. In

this case, there will be no opportunity to work

two companies on the same road or twice or

thrice, he added.

Md. Tajul Islam said the government is

implementing 'My Village My City' Philosophy

to extend all the facilities of the city to the

remote rural areas. People of all walks of life,

including public representatives, need to be

involved in the implementation of this

philosophy. And by doing this, the dream of

the father of a developed and prosperous

nation will be formed before 2041.

Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam

and Planning Secretary Mohammad Zainul

Bari was present as special guests at the

function presided over by Senior Secretary,

Local Government Department, Helaluddin

Ahmed.

In addition, heads/representatives of LGED,

DPHE, all city corporations and WASA and

local government departments and project

managers of ongoing projects were present.

Narail Express Foundation celebrates

4th founding anniversary

NARAIL : Narail Express Foundation, a

voluntary organization founded by Mashrafe

Bin Mortuza, MP, of Narail-2 constituency

celebrated its 4th founding anniversary on

Saturday.

On the occasion, a discussion meeting was

held at Narail Express Health Care Center and

Sharif Abdul Hakim Diabetic Hospital

premises in Narail town. President of Narail

Express Foundation and Narail-2 constituency,

MP, Mashrafe Bin Mortuza presided over the

meeting virtually.

Deputy Commissioner of Narail Muhammad

Habibur Rahman was present as the chief guest

on the occasion while Superintendent of Police

Prabir Kumar Roy, District Council Chairman

Advocate Sohrab Hossain Biswas, Civil

Surgeon Dr. Nasima Akhter, District Awami

League President Advocate Subash Chandra

Bose, General Secretary and Sadar Upazila

Chairman Nizam Uddin Khan Nilu, Narail

Adhunik Sadar Hospital Pediatrician

Consultant Dr. Alimuzzaman Setu, Narail Press

Club President Enamul Kabir Tuku, Narail

Express Foundation Adviser Golam Murtaza

Swapan, Sharif Abdul Hakim Diabetic Hospital

President Advocate Abdul Mukit Lavlu,

General Secretary Sharif Ashrafuzzaman Jintu,

General Secretary of Narail Express

Foundation Tariqul Islam Anik, among others,

spoke. Later, a cake was cut to mark the day.

An exchange meeting was also held with the

volunteers of Narail Express Foundation in

Sadar and Lohagora Upazila.

Sources said since its inception in September

4, 2017, Narail Express Foundation has been

providing free and low cost healthcare, training

for cricket, football and volleyball players at the

grassroots level, distributing personal

protective equipment and oxygen support

services among corona infected patients.

Besides, food and financial assistance were

distributed among 10,000 people during the

coronavirus pandemic.

Schoolgirl

electrocuted

in Rangpur

village

RANGPUR : A meritorious

schoolgirl met her tragic end

after being electrocuted at

home in village Raipur

under Pirganj upazila in the

district yesterday

"The deceased was

identified as Shakila

Khatun, 15, daughter of

Shahadat Hossain of the

same village," Officer-in-

Charge (OC) of Pirganj

police station Saresh

Chandra told BSS.

Shakila was electrocuted

while switching off their

television incautiously in

their bedroom at noon.

"She was a student of class

ten at Raiganj Girls' High

School in the same area," the

OC added.

Mohalchari Upazila fisheries

offices observes National

Fisheries Week 2021

Dipok Sen, Mohalchori Correspondent

The Upazila fisheries office of Mohalchari observed the

National Fisheries Week 2021 in a grandiose manner. The

ministry of fisheries announced the seven-day National

Fisheries Week to be observed from August 28 to September

3. Various programs and activities were taken as a part of this

initiative from the Upazila. On the first day of the week,

campaign held through miking and banners, festoons in the

district and upazila level. At the same day exchange of views

with the journalists took place at the Mohalchhari Press Club.

On the following day, the successful fish farmers, individuals,

entrepreneurs, institutions at the local level were awarded as

a recognition for their hard work. Fish fingerlings were

released at various ponds and documentaries on the progress

and achievements of the present government in the fisheries

sector were displayed. The third day started with exchanging

views with marginal fishermen following the hygiene rules.

The next day special counseling services were provided to fish

farmers in important areas of the upazila to test the soil and

water of the ponds. This activity repeated in the fifth day as

well. On the sixth day, the Upazila Nirbahi Officer Jobaida

Akhter, the chairman of Mohalchhari Sadar Union Parishad

No. 1 Ratan Kumar Shil were present as guests during the

distribution of various materials to the beneficiaries. Upazila

Rural Development Officer Md. Ziaur Rahman, the Upazila

Fisheries Officer and other employees of the Fisheries Office

were also present at the time.

DNCC orders to

file case against

WASA engineer

DHAKA : Dhaka North City

Corporation (DNCC) Mayor

Atiqul Islam said orders

have been issued to file a

case against the WASA

executive engineer of

Mirpur-1 for finding

unhealthy environment at

WASA regional office that

produces Aedes larvae.

He said this at WASA

building in Mirpur-1 while

inspecting the clean-up

activities in Mirpur to

implement the slogan "10

minutes every Saturday at

10 am, clean our houses" to

control Aedes mosquitoes

and dengue.

The mayor said that due

to unhealthy environment

inside the regional office of

an organization like WASA

and numerous larvae

visible in different places, it

was decided to file regular

cases against its executive

engineer Iqbal Ahmed

Majumder.

Mahalchhari Upazila Fisheries Department successfully completed the

National Fisheries Week 2021.

Photo : TBT

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A human chain was held protesting the closure of the basketball ground adjacent to Noapara Union

Parishad in Jashore Sadar Upazila.

Photo : TBT

GD-1279/21 (10x4)

SunDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2021

3

LGRD Minister Md Tajul Islam was present as chief guest at view exchanging meeting at LGED headquarter

yesterday.

Photo : Courtesy

A Fraud group is active in Online

with University Fake admission

TBT Report

It is found that students interested to admit into Daffodil

International University are being tricked into enrolling

online by some unscrupulous individuals by calling them

from unknown phones outside the university to arrange

for them to study at the university at a very low cost or half

cost waiver etc. Some of the victims reported that when

they wanted to admit online being encouraged with less

money and wanted to visit the campus physically, they

were told no need to visit the campus for online admission.

Only those who will be admitted online will get the

opportunity to study at this low cost which is a trap of

fraud. Whenever DIU Authority came to know the matter,

it realized to inform and share it with all. In this regard

DIU Authority explains there are many types of

Islamic University

to start final exams

from Sept 12

KUSHTIA : The Islamic

University authorities have

given approval to start the

final examinations of the

Honours-Mastersonline or in

person from September 12.

However, during the

exams, the university dorms

will remain closed.

The decision was taken on

Saturday at an emergency

meeting chaired by Vice-

Chancellor (VC) Prof Sheikh

Abdus Salam, said acting

registrar of the university

Ataur Rahman.

He said that the regular

Honours-Masters finals,

retakes, partial or remaining

course finals as well as viva or

practical exams will be held

online or in person from

September 12.

The departments which

have completed the terminal

exams or do not have such

batches, can take the

examinations of other

batches. However, no

department can take more

than one batch test the same

day. Students of those

departments willing to take

in person exams without

having dorm facilities would

be able attend exams

physically, the registrar said.

In this regard, Pro VC Prof

Mahbubur Rahman said that

the departments will be able

to take the exams of different

academic years physically on

the basis of priority. Students

won't get residential facilities.

So, the departments can also

conduct online exams if they

want.

Earlier, on August 17, the

university administration

approved the final exams of

Honours-Masters online and

the policy for online tests was

also approved.

Bir Shrestha Nur Mohammad

Sheikh's death anniversary today

NARAIL : The 50th death anniversary

of Bir Shrestha Nur Mohammad

Sheikh will be observed at Nur

Mohammad Nagar in Chandibarpur

union of the district in a befitting

manner today, maintaining social

distancing amid the coronavirus

pandemic.

The Bir Shrestha Nur Mohammad

Sheikh Trust and Narail district

administration jointly took different

programmes to mark the anniversary.

The programmes will begin through

placing wreaths at the memorial

monument with guard of honour,

Qurankhani and Doa Mahfil in the

Nur Mohammad Sheikh Library and

Memorial Museum at Nur Mohammad

Nagar, earlier known as Mahiskhola.

Nur Mohammad was born in

Mahiskhola which was later named

after him to show profound respect

for his supreme sacrifice in Liberation

War.

Gift items from the Prime Minister

will also be distributed on the

occasion.

Deputy Commissioner (DC), also

president of Bir Shrestha Nur

Mohammad Sheikh Trust,

Muhammad Habibur Rahman will be

present as the chief guest.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Probir

Kumar Ray, District Council

Chairman Advocate Shorab Hossain

Biswas, district AL President

Advocate Subash Chandra Biswas,

Secretary and Sadar Upazila Parishad

Chairman Nizam Uddin Khan Nilu,

Narail Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer

(UNO) Sadia Islam, Trustee of Bir

Shrestha Nur Mohammad Sheikh

Golam Mortoza Swapon, Freedom

Fighter SA Matin, Nur Mohammad

Sheikh Trust's Member Secretary and

Chandibarpur Union Parishad

Chairman Azizur Rahman Bhuyan are

expected to be present.

Nur Mohammad was born on

February 26, 1936. He joined the then

scholarships and waiver available at Daffodil University

during admissions, But which is not less than half or a

nominal fee, this temptation is not right. With that in

mind, DIU urge those who are considering admission to

Daffodil International University to come directly to the

vast campus of Smart City, Ashulia and talk to admin

section.In this way, no one should be able to deceive you,

especially the admitted students. If anyone is found

involved in such type of fraud activities are requested to

contact with the number 01713403064& 01713493051.

As there is no lockdown and Daffodil International

University at Daffodil Smart City, Ashulia has all the

arrangements for in-person admission and the admission

section is open even on holidays. So anyone can come, see

and understand physically and get admission.

East Pakistan Rifles (EPR), which is

now Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB),

on February 26, 1959. He later took

part in the Liberation War in 1971.

He braced martyrdom in shooting by

Pakistan occupation forces on

September 5, 1971 at Goalhati in

Jashore during the war.He was buried

in Kashipur area in Sharsha upazila of

Jashore.

BGB Jashore region and Sharsha

upazila administration will observe

various programmes to mark the day.

Hungary to offer

more scholarships to

Bangladeshi students

DHAKA : Hungarian government has

decided to increase the number of

scholarships to Bangladeshi students for

pursuing their higher studding at

different educational institutes in

Hungry in the next year.

This was revealed while Bangladesh

Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen

held a bilateral meeting with his

Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto in

Geneva on Wednesday, a foreign

ministry press release said here today.

Both of them were in Geneva for

participating in the Asia-Pacific Regional

Review Meeting in preparation for the

Fifth UN Conference on the Least

Developed Countries (LDC 5) to be held

in Qatar in January 2022.

During the meeting, both the foreign

ministers discussed issues of bilateral

interest as well as multilateral issues.

The issue of operationalization of

Consulate of Hungary was also discussed

in this regard.

The two foreign ministers agreed to

explore cooperation in health sector and

also discussed about increasing trade

between the two countries

Bangladesh Collectorate Shohokari Samity organized a press conference upgrade their gradation.

Photo : TBT

Dr Abdullah,

Dr Litu get

rotary appreciation

DHAKA : Rotary

International has proudly

presented certificates of

appreciation to Professor Dr

ABM Abdullah, a personal

physician of Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina and Professor

Dr Manilal Aich Litu as front

line fighters during the

COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a press

release, Rotary International

Zone 1B, region 10 handed

the certificates of

appreciation and Gold

Award over them for

commendable and selfless

work at the time of COVID-

19 crisis.

President of Rotary

International and RPIC,

Rotary International Zone

1B, Region 10 handed over

the certificates yesterday at a

city hotel.

Professor ABM Abdullah, a

retired professor of medicine

at Bangabandhu Sheikh

Mujib Medical University

and Professor Dr Manilal

Aich Litu, Head of the

department (ENT and Head

Neck Surgery) of Sylhet

MAG Osmani Medical

College.

Litu has dedicated his

award to all doctors and

people, who died in the

deadly pandemic and those

who were working day and

night to fight the COVID-19

pandemic.

PM to open five power

plants on Sept 12

DHAKA : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is

expected to inaugurate five power plants,

having a total of 879 MW electricity

generation capacity, on September 12.

"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will

inaugurate these power plants through

videoconferencing from her official

Ganabhaban residence at 10am on that day,"

Saiful Islam, a director (public relations) of

Bangladesh Power Development Board

(BPDB), told BSS.

He said the five power plants are Bibiyana-

III 400 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in

Habiganj, Zulda, Chattogram 100 MW

Power Plant Unit-2, Meghnaghat 104 MW

Power Plant in Narayanganj, Modhumoti

100 MW Power Plant in Bagerhat and

upgradation of Sylhet 150 MW Power Plant

to 225 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in

Sylhet.

According to the power ministry, the

government has successfully constructed 119

power plants having capacity of electricity

production of 20,293 MW after assuming

the power in 2009.

It said the government led by Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina had a target to

generate 24,000 MW electricity by 2021, but

in the meantime, the target has all ready

been exceeded.

Talking to BSS, state minister for power,

energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid

said the electricity generation capacity

reached to 25,235 MW now (including

captive power) which was 4,942 MW in

2009.

"We have brought around 99.5 percent of

the population under electricity facilities due

to the bold and dynamic leadership of Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina," he said. Nasrul

Hamid said the Awami League-led

government has achieved tremendous

successes in the power sector during its last

12 years and has given top priority to the

development of the sector considering its

importance in the overall enhancement of

the country.

"With sincere and relentless efforts by the

government, the per capita electricity

generation reached to 560 kWh, which was

only 220 kWh in 2009. And the system loss

brought down to 8.49 percent from 14.33

percent," he added.

Army Chief

leaves for India

DHAKA : Chief of Army Staff General SM

Shafiuddin Ahmed this morning left here for

India on a three-day official visit by a special

Bangladesh Air Force aircraft.

During the visit, he is leading an eightmember

delegation.

The Army Chief scheduled to meet with

India's National Defense Adviser, Chief of

Defense Staff, Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air

staff, Secretary of Defense and other senior

military officials of India during the visit,

said a press release issued by the Inter

Services Public Relations (ISPR).

He will discuss issues of bilateral relations

and mutual cooperation between the armed

forces of the two countries. He will also visit

various military installations and the

National Defense College of India.

General SM Shafiuddin will also pay a

courtesy call on the Bangladesh High

Commissioner to India during his visit there,

the release added.

An international seminar on the life and works of Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah was held on

Saturday.

Photo : TBT

Experts for strategic communication

in social development program

DHAKA : Experts at a webinar underscored

the need for strategic communication in the

social development program that linked up

all levels of stakeholders, service providers

and beneficiaries at community level.

They observed that communication can

give better results if communicated in a

positive way.

They made the observation at the webinar

on 'A strategic communication is the key for

community engagement in the social

development programs' marking the eve of

25th year's anniversary of the Bangladesh

Center for Communication Program

(BCCP), said a press release today.

The main objective of the webinar was to

bring discussions about the appropriate

power of strategic communication to get

people engaged in social development

issues.

The webinar was chaired by Professor Dr

M Shamsher Ali, Founder Vice Chancellor

Bangladesh Open University and Southeast

University. Md Ruhul Amin Talukder,

Additional Secretary of the Ministry of

Agriculture, Toslim Uddin Khan, Deputy

Managing Director of the Social Marketing

Company, Md Shahid Hossain, Advisor of

the MRDI and Md Azmal Hossain, Program

Analyst - Urban Health of the UNFPA

Bangladesh; contributed as panelist in the

event.

Other officials from Government, NGO,

INGO, BASCOM Members attended the

event.

In his welcome speech Mohammad

Shahjahan, Director and CEO of the BCCP

emphasized the importance of strategic

communication in the social development

program that BCCP followed in

implementing communication programs in

the public health, public procurement,

climate change, education, and so on that

linked up all levels of stakeholders, service

providers and beneficiaries at community

level for behavior change communication.

Dr Zeenat Sultana, Program Director of

BCCP made the keynote presentation.

Bangladesh-India flight operation

under air bubble resumes Sunday

DHAKA : The flight

operation between

Bangladesh and India under

air bubble arrangement will

resume on Sunday after four

months of suspension due to

COVID-19 pandemic.

"The flight operation

between Bangladesh and

India under air bubble

agreement will be resumed

from September 5," a notice

issued by Bangladesh Civil

Aviation Authority of

Bangladesh (CAAB) said

here today.

The air bubble agreement

will be in effect until the

resumption of scheduled

international passenger

flights between the two

countries, it added.

Under the bilateral air

bubble pact, airlines of both

the countries can operate

international flights with

certain restrictions during

the Covid-19 pandemic.

National flag carrier Biman

Bangladesh Airlines and

private airline US-Bangla

have already announced

their flight schedule to India

from tomorrow.

Biman will operate two

flights per week on Dhaka-

Kolkata-Dhaka route and

two weekly flights on Dhaka-

New Delhi-Dhaka

destination while US-Bangla

airlines will operate three

weekly flights on Dhaka-

Chennai-Dhaka route.

Three Indian carrier- Air

India, Spice Jet and Indigo

will also operate flights

between Dhaka and New

Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai.

Except individuals with

tourist visa, all can travel to

India from Bangladesh.

She mentioned that "why

the community engagement

is important"?

She underscored the role of

strategic communication

that involves stakeholders

and community members

which is fully evidence based

and result oriented.

She also highlighted the

'Green Umbrella', 'Shurjer

Hashi', e-GP program

campaigns, the pioneer

program developed by

BCCP, developed and

followed through the

strategic communication

process.

As panelist of this webinar

Md Ruhul Amin Talukder,

Toslim Uddin Khan, Md

Shahid Hossain, Md Ajmal

Hossain commonly pointed

out that communication can

give better results if

communicated in a positive

way and stakeholder

engagement requires for

better outcome of strategic

communication.

In concluding discussion,

Chairperson of this webinar,

Prof. Dr M Shamsher Ali

emphasized

that

transformation of anything

requires time and planning

through structured behavior

change communication

process.

He cited an example of

how the Bangladesh

education system

introduced open education

through a strategic

communication process. Dr.

Ali congratulated BCCP and

all their staff on the

celebration of 25th year and

acknowledged the

participants, guests and

organizers to make this

webinar a success.

SUNDAy, SePTemBeR 5, 2021

4

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Sunday, September 5, 2021

Rising land mass

in the coastal areas

Aleading vernacular daily of the country

focused sometime ago on lands rising from

the sea in the southern coastal area of

Noakhali district. The rate of accretion of new

lands is considered to be some 30 square kilometer

a year. At this rate, new lands roughly the size of

two districts of the country are expected to rise in

the next two decades or by 2030, according the

report. Already, substantial territories have

surfaced in the coastal areas of Bangladesh.

Some of these places have completely surfaced and

have human habitations on them while others

remain submerged during tides and emerge with

the ebbing of the tide. The latter types of accreted

lands are likely to gain in elevation to be

permanently joined to the mainland. Indeed,

much of present day Bangladesh including the

districts of Faridpur, Barisal, Noakhali, Patuakhali,

etc., were formed in this manner over time.

Lands have already emerged from the sea in the

coastal areas and more lands from the sea will

hopefully rise in the future. But the natural process

is a long one. It can be hastened and the technology

for it is not so prohibitive or complex either. For

Bangladesh, it involves only quickening the

process of accretion by establishing structures like

cross dams to speed up the rate of deposition of silt

in areas that have accreted or nearly accreted.

Bangladesh is likely to get a generous response

from the international community in matters of

fund availability and technical supports if it can

show that it is really keen to accrete more lands

and has put the endeavour under a systematic

policy framework. Holland is one country which

has the most experience in getting lands out of the

sea.

It had a situation worse than Bangladesh in the

sense that much of it was so low lying and below

the sea level that even high tides and storms in the

sea led to its severe flooding and continuing

inundation. Today, the Dutch have not only solved

these problems through sophisticated engineering

works, they have permanently reclaimed vast

stretches of lands from the sea and are keeping

them dry for various uses within secure barriers or

sea walls.

Bangladesh may not have to embark on projects

on the same scale as were carried out in Holland

because of its relatively better elevation. It can

use its huge reservoir of cheap manpower to

build simpler projects to get the same kind of

results as were achieved in Holland.

But for this purpose it needs to engage in a timebound

and result oriented framework of

assistance and consultation with that country.

Besides, the government of Bangladesh ought to

also appeal to the international community to

provide funds to it for the purpose.

The developed countries, specially the United

States, are the main contributors to the

greenhouse syndrome which could affect

Bangladesh. Therefore, it would be only

conscionable for these countries to help out

Bangladesh in projects designed to secure its

coastal areas and for their enlargement. The

government needs to appropriately sensitize these

countries about our expectation.

Even if external aid is found not forthcoming

generously, the government can proceed with

initiatives of its own to build dams and other

structures relying on its own resources. The

example of the government of Bangladesh (GOB)

providing a lion's share of the resources to build

the Padma Bridge is a shining one. With its

growing foreign currency reserve, GOB will be able

to likewise progressively channel resources from

the reserve to speed up land accretion in the

coastal areas.

The imperative is to make a start in this direction

right away. Gradually, external cooperation and

assistance in the matter would likely come about.

This project eminently deserves our attention as it

is vitally connected with the longer term security of

the country in all respects. It should be obvious

that Bangladesh as a land short country needs to

put the highest priority on getting new lands.

PAKISTAN has set ambitious renewable

energy targets for 2030 and beyond.

With policy and institutional support in

place, one can assume the country to be in a

reasonably good position to move fast and go

big during its transition towards a greater

share of renewables in its energy mix. Wider

energy sector conversations in the

practitioner, policy, and academic

communities focus on two ends of a spectrum.

At one end is the supply-side: infrastructure

development, institutional capacity, and

customer-centric service delivery. On the

other, the adoption of energy-efficient

practices, techn ologies, and consumer's

behavioural change.

What lies between the two ends ie

operat ion and service delivery of individual

rene w able energy plants (wind, solar) has

seen little deliberation. This leaves this

significant area un-debated, and hence

vulnerable!

Firstly, an acknowledgement that policy

barriers for renewable energy investors in

Pakistan (both foreign and local) remain low.

Small-scale bribery hampers this industry.

A recent study by a team of energy policy

experts from the universities of Oxford,

Amsterdam, and John Hopkins, for example,

compared renewable energy power projects

under the Belt and Road Initiative in

Indon esia and Pakistan. A remarkable

finding was that renewable energy project

developers in Indonesia encountered far more

policy barriers than in Pakistan! The

researchers agreed that BRI-associated

Energy transition

renewable energy power projects in Pakistan

took place "under the purview of highly

institutionalised governance regime … the

formulation and implementation of project

plans occurred through … (a structured

process)".

Formal institutional arrangements with

clear remits (the Alternative Energy

Development Board, Nepra, Central Power

Purchasing Agency [Guarantee], etc.) have

been widely known to not only facilitate

market entry, but also to reduce long-term

uncertainties for renewable energy private

players. They also reduce project setting-up

time and transactional costs. Now, if one sees

Indonesia's renewable energy landscape, the

country is developing the world's largest

floating solar farm and power storage system

(cost $2 billion) on the island of Batam. The

2.2GW megaproject with a 4,000 mWh

energy storage system will potentially offset

over 1.8 million metric tons of carbon a year!

One wonders that if a country with weaker

renewable energy institutions than Pakistan's

can undertake projects of this scale - what

ZeHRA WAHeeD

DAOUD KUTTAB

could a country with huge wind and solar

potential and a solid institutional/ regulatory

framework such as Pakistan achieve. The

reality of our renewable energy transition,

however, is less promising. While numerous

system-level factors remain, those pertaining

to the operational lives of renewable energy

projects tend to be vastly ignored. One

challenge that became evident on my recent

visit to Jhimpir was small-scale corruption

affecting the establishment and operations of

renewable energy plants.

Anyone who has been to the Jhimpir wind

corridor can testify to miles and miles of silent

wind turbines spread across dozens of wellkept

wind farms - making it a place of

immense beauty. Hundreds of towering,

majestic, 25-metre beasts stand elegantly

among inundating hills of sand, rocks and

tough desert shrubs. The space is simple and

elegant in its entirety - simple folk, harsh

unspoiled landscape, and towering wind

turbines. During my stay, plant operators

shared some experiences of local innovation,

community development, responsible and

inclusive business models, and technology

indigenisation. But what also came out were

tales of operational frustration - of casual

favours and bribery expected by local

inspectors and agencies at every step.

In the context of emerging countries, there

has been an adequate amount of discussion

related to large-scale corruption (usually

kickbacks, theft, collusion and bid-rigging).

However casual, small-scale, routinised

bribery (expectations of 'benefits' for every

signature and legal approval) remains

generally unidentified. In our context, it

appears to be regular practice faced by wind

producers in the corridor. A nice group of

electrical engineers and plant managers I met

humorously termed this the 'four-khaadisuits-phenomenon'(an

official casually

requesting that 'presents' be placed in the car

before his departure in exchange for his

signature on a document - the absence of

which could halt a perfectly legal matter for

weeks at end). Small-scale bribery that

hampers the industry exposes the huge need

for cultural change in institutions and

departments that operationally support the

renewable energy sector. While we may

remain gleeful that Pakistan's ease of doing

business index has improved, the reality

remains that the Index (and other

acknowledgments of institutional maturity)

will never really be representative of our

situation until the stories from the ground

state otherwise.

Source: Dawn

The horrendous record of Ebrahim Raisi

EBRAHIm

Raisi holds a press

conference in Tehran on June 21,

2021, after winning the presidential

election. Photo: AFP / Shota mizuno /

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Amid a record low voter turnout and

widespread reports of electoral

malfeasance, Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline

conservative cleric and former student of

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has been

elected as president of the Islamic

Republic of Iran, an outcome that has

provoked outrage and condemnation

internationally.

Raisi has been described by the Center

for Human Rights in Iran as "a pillar of a

system that jails, tortures, and kills people

for daring to criticize state policies." Agnès

Callamard, a former United Nations

Special Rapporteur and the current

secretary general of Amnesty

International, issued equally incisive

criticism against the new president.

"That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the

presidency instead of being investigated

for the crimes against humanity of

murder, enforced disappearance and

torture is a grim reminder that impunity

reigns supreme in Iran," Callamard said.

Over the course of his 40-year career as

a prominent member in Iran's judicial and

political bodies, Raisi has been directly

involved in the brutal suppression of

peaceful pro-democracy protesters and

dissidents who have sought to challenge

the Iranian regime. He is responsible for

facilitating the arrests of political

dissidents and for justifying the torture

and imprisonment of thousands of

Why apathy on Palestinian injustice will backfire

IT is often difficult to analyze the real

results of a summit based on the

public statements before and after the

meeting, but the latest talks between

Israeli Prime minister Neftali Bennett and

US President Joe Biden are easy to

examine. The one-day delay caused by the

terrorist attack at Kabul airport threw the

observant Jewish leader's schedule off

because of the impracticality of returning

before the sabbath. It was a reminder that

despite the usual US broken record of

"shared values" and total support for

Israel, there are many other issues more

important to Washington than Israel.

In the limited time that a press briefing

provides, the new Israeli prime minister,

who grew up in New Jersey, managed to

talk about using Amtrak trains (a favorite

subject for Biden, who used the train for

years to commute from Delaware to DC),

but couldn't muster a single word on the

Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He even found

time to mention the third COVID-19

booster shot and, of course, the Iranian

issue, but there was not a single mention

of the decades-long occupation and the

colonization of millions of Palestinians.

The mood at the White House and

apparently throughout the US capital

reflected the fact that after years of having

to deal with the Netanyahus - their lies,

their quirks, and even their dirty laundry -

a more stable political leader from Israel

was making the rounds in Washington.

What lies between the two ends ie operat ion and service

delivery of individual rene w able energy plants (wind,

solar) has seen little deliberation. This leaves this significant

area un-debated, and hence vulnerable! Firstly, an acknowledgement

that policy barriers for renewable energy

investors in Pakistan (both foreign and local) remain low.

human-rights activists, minorities, and

students.

Given this history, Raisi's abysmal

human-rights record should come as no

surprise. In 1988, Raisi orchestrated one

of the most extreme displays of rights

violations in modern times. Acting under

the orders of the deputy supreme leader of

Iran at the time, Hussein-Ali montazeri,

Raisi spearheaded the state-sanctioned

persecution and execution of thousands of

dissidents and political prisoners.

Under Raisi's watch, security forces

arbitrarily sentenced thousands of

Iranians to enforced disappearance,

torture, and execution. Raisi's

extrajudicial terror campaign targeted

progressive political factions, student

movements, and ethnic and religious

minorities.

While detailed records of the victims of

this purge are scarce, initial estimates

from Amnesty International placed the

number of executions at between 2,800

and 3,800. However, reports from Iranian

defectors have led some scholars to argue

that the true number of executions was

more than 33,000.

While the Israeli leader said nothing on

the Palestinian issue, Biden did - both in

his public remarks and, according to

leaks, in the tête-à-tête with Bennett.

President Biden noted before the meeting

that he and his Israeli guest "also are going

to discuss ways to advance peace and

security and prosperity for Israelis and

Palestinians." Biden privately pressed

Bennett on the threatened eviction of

Palestinian families from their homes in

the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of

Jerusalem to make way for Jewish

settlers, and on the need to reopen the US

consulate in Jerusalem.

While Bennett made no mention of

Palestinians in his public statements, both

he and the US president apparently talked

about the repeated Israeli calls for a visa

waiver for Israelis wishing to visit the US.

Biden said: "We're also going to direct our

teams to work toward Israel fulfilling the

requirements of the visa waiver program

and get that done." However,Israel's

ZANA GHORBANI

Reports from detention facilities during

this period reveal that Raisi was

particularly ruthless when dealing with

students and women. Because most

members of Iran's major student

associations were supporters of a national

democracy movement, Raisi sent

thousands of young men and women

(including several pregnant women) to

the notorious Evin Prison, whereupon an

untold number of student activists were

tortured, raped, or executed.

Surviving accounts from these labor

Surviving accounts from these labor camps paint a horrific picture

of degrading treatment of prisoners, unending psychological

abuse, and callous disregard for human dignity. Raisi is believed

to have personally observed the torture of several prisoners, with

some reports suggesting that the current president of Iran

observed the proceedings while eating from a tray of pastries.

camps paint a horrific picture of

degrading treatment of prisoners,

unending psychological abuse, and

callous disregard for human dignity. Raisi

is believed to have personally observed the

torture of several prisoners, with some

reports suggesting that the current

president of Iran observed the

proceedings while eating from a tray of

pastries.

Equally disturbing is Raisi's longstanding

role in the repression of women's

rights. During his tenure as head of Iran's

judiciary, Raisi repeatedly issued support

for laws criminalizing certain sexual

request has been regularly rejected

because of the country's discriminatory

policies. There is a huge file of

documented cases in which Israel has

discriminated against Americans of Arab

origin, especially American

Palestinians,at the various border

crossings. It wasn't clear if Bennett made

any gesture on the Israeli security service's

regular profiling of Americans of Arab

origin - although the issue is currently

moot, since no foreigners are allowed to

visit Israel because of COVID-19

restrictions. If ever there was a time for

As has happened before, however, such short-sightedness will

inevitably backfire, because the tension in Gaza will blow up

again if the illegal Israeli blockade is not lifted. The Abbas government

in Ramallah is also in bad economic shape; it is running

out of money because Israel is withholding a chunk of the

taxes and customs it collects on goods destined forPalestine.

Palestinian national unity and a

reassessment of the Palestinian national

liberation strategy, that time is now.

While Washington is not in agreement

with the Bennett administration on

sidelining the Palestinian issue, there does

appear to be some convergence on

avoiding any major political or diplomatic

effort at present. The Biden

administration has publicly said that it is

practices and curtailing access to

contraceptives and abortion procedures.

As a cleric, Raisi's treatment of women

in Iran is similarly well documented. He

has consistently promoted the

enforcement of a strict interpretation of

Islamic law, which in practice means that

women are not allowed to work outside

the home, make their own legal decisions,

or choose their own husbands.

Through the lens of geopolitics, Raisi's

track record is just as appalling.

At the same time, Raisi has

demonstrated a knack for cravenly

appeasing the West and has made a

number of overtures to the US and the

European Union in the hopes of

improving his country's relations with the

international community.

As the international community

attempts to revive and revamp a nuclear

deal with Iran, Western leaders must not

only ensure that Iran does not acquire a

nuclear weapon, but also that the regime

is held accountable for its abhorrent

human-rights record.

Ebrahim Raisi is among the most

prominent personalities in a regime that

has committed, and continues to commit,

serious violations of human rights. As

such, Raisi's election to the Iranian

presidency is not only a threat to stability

within the middle East and the wider

international community, but it is also a

profound affront to the core principles of

the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights.

Source: Asia times

not a high priority for Washington, and

apart from a short period in may when

Gaza-Israel violence escalated, the US

appears to have stayed on course in

downgrading the Palestine issue.

Biden is under pressure from

progressives in his own Democratic Party

to reopen the Palestinian mission in DC

and the US consulate in Jerusalem, and to

put an end to the high-profile house

demolitions and evictions, but other than

that it doesn't appear that the US will do

much to get the Palestinian-Israeli talks

back on track. Overall, Israeli and US

apathy over the rights of Palestinians

could not have been more clearly

illustrated than in that Biden-Bennett

summit.

As has happened before, however, such

short-sightedness will inevitably backfire,

because the tension in Gaza will blow up

again if the illegal Israeli blockade is not

lifted. The Abbas government in

Ramallah is also in bad economic shape; it

is running out of money because Israel is

withholding a chunk of the taxes and

customs it collects on goods destined

forPalestine. The EU, which made a rare

strong statement against the Palestinian

security crackdown on peaceful

demonstrators, has been the main

financial backer, covering most of the

salaries of Palestinian public servants.

Source: Arab news

sunDay, sePTeMBeR 5, 2021

5

KRissy BRaDy

There are a number of scenarios that

could lead to you not getting what you

need out of a doctor's appointment.

Sometimes the blame falls solely on the

physician, who may not take you

seriously when you explain what's

wrong. "There are also patients who

come to me with a great deal of medical

trauma due to inadequate care," said

Casey Kelley, founder and medical

director at Case Integrative Health in

Chicago. "Frequently, these patients

have dealt with dismissive doctors for

years, so they tend to downplay their

symptoms and pain."

There's no need to be embarrassed

about anything you're going through -

the more honest you are from the jump,

the sooner your doctor can get to the

root of the problem. "I promise you,

we've heard it all before," Kelley said.

But in some cases, if you're not

getting what you need out of your

appointments, it may be because you're

unintentionally standing in your own

way.

Here are 10 things you might be

doing during your visits that can

negatively impact the quality of your

care - and what to do instead.

You typically have three

opportunities to state the purpose of

your visit: when you make the

appointment and the receptionist asks,

when the nurse who checks you in asks,

and when the doctor comes into the

room and asks what concerns you have.

"It never fails, someone will mention

they have chest pain as I'm about to

walk out the door," said Alicia Shelly,

an internal medicine physician with

Wellstar Medical Group in

Douglasville, Georgia. "I believe people

either get nervous and forget about the

symptom or have too many problems

they want to discuss and end up waiting

until the last minute to mention a

Things that frustrate doctors during appointments

Physicians reveal how small behaviors may be affecting your overall

care.

Photo: FG TRaDe

major symptom."

Unfortunately,

doctor's

appointments are usually only 15 to 30

minutes in length - and that includes

checking you in, the nurse taking your

vitals and the actual doctor's visit.

"It's important to tell your provider

the most important problems right

away so they can ask the right questions

and order the correct tests within the

timeframe allowed," Shelly said.

A doctor's time with each patient is

already so limited and gets backed up

even more by emergencies or

administrative tasks. Even one

appointment running long because

you're on the phone further adds to the

scheduling pileup.

"We need your undivided attention

so we can stay on schedule and provide

the rest of our patients with the amount

of time and attention they deserve,"

said Dagny Zhu, an opthamologist and

medical director of Hyperspeed LASIK

in Rowland Heights, California.

It's important to be your own

advocate - but it's just as important to

keep an open mind during a consult

with your doctor.

"I've had patients come in who

demand LASIK when cataract surgery

would be the better option," Zhu said.

"The practice of medicine is very

complex - we consider a multitude of

tests, clinical findings and other

patient-specific factors in order to come

up with a final diagnosis and treatment

plan."

Ask questions and challenge your

doctor to clear up topics that you're

genuinely confused about, but also

trust their expertise. If all it took to

diagnose and treat patients were a few

Google searches, "I would never have

undergone 13 years of post-high school

training," Zhu said.

An annual physical is about how your

doctor can help you prevent future

illness; follow-up visits are when you

should address specific problems.

"Physicals focus on what preventative

tests you need at this age and what your

cancer risk is," Shelly said.

Don't try to get a physical when

you're visiting a doctor for a particular

concern. That can throw a wrench in

your doctor's schedule - plus, insurance

policies might mean you can't actually

get a physical that day.

"You need to know what type of

business you're here for so I can focus

on why you're here and address your

specific concerns," Shelly said. "If

you're here for a physical and there's

also a problem you have, make a

separate follow-up appointment to

discuss and look into it."

If you have too many concerns, your

doctor might have difficulty evaluating

any or all of them.

"When you have over three problems,

it's harder to focus and sometimes

things get missed," Shelly said. "As a

result, your care is less effective."

Instead, streamline your list of

concerns to no more than three things

you'd like to discuss. If you're not sure

what to prioritize and what can wait,

make a list and show it to your doctor

so they can assess what needs to be

evaluated right away.

You might be holding back out of

shame, but that missing information

can impact the care you receive.

"When patients aren't using their

glaucoma drops because of redness or

burning, for instance, we may think

their glaucoma is uncontrolled and

recommend surgery, instead of simply

switching medications," Zhu said.

The same goes for sharing

information like how much you drink

or any other medications or substances

you used.

The bottom line? Always be truthful.

"There's no shame," Zhu said. "Our

goal is always to ensure you receive the

best treatment possible."

When you're late, it throws off the

schedule. Not only could you end up

waiting longer, but your doctor will

probably have to rush through your

visit, because multiple people might be

ready to be seen.

"I'll have the first patient come right

before the 15-minute cutoff, then the

second patient comes right on time and

the third patient comes 15 minutes

early, so now I've got three people

waiting to be seen at the same time,"

Shelly said.

Some people hop from doctor to

doctor when they don't notice any

improvement in the condition being

treated.

"The problem with this is each doctor

is seeing the patient for the first time,"

Zhu said. "Much of our ability to

diagnose and treat comes from seeing

the patient's course of illness and

response to certain medications over

time."

If something isn't working, a doctor

you've seen before can try something

new and take a step based on whether

you're doing better or worse.

"It's always best to stick to one doctor

for the duration of the treatment, if

possible," Zhu said.

Of course, there's a big exception to

this: If you feel like you're not getting

adequate care or you're not being

heard, you should definitely find

someone who makes you feel seen and

comfortable.

Not telling your doctor exactly what

you're taking and how much can lead to

them prescribing the wrong dose of a

medication, and that can lead to

adverse reactions.

Come to your appointments as

organized and prepared as possible,

with an up-to-date list of all the

prescription and over-the-counter

medications you take and their

dosages. "If you're a new patient and I

don't know exactly what you're on and

how much you're taking, I can't

accurately put together a new

treatment plan for you," Kelley said.

This is particularly true when it comes

to addressing ongoing health problems

you may have.

"It's unfortunate when we don't have

enough time to address every question

that a patient may have," Zhu said.

"The rest can be sent over email or

continued at a second visit where we've

allocated more time. We're always

happy to help."

The odds of being exposed to

COVID and not getting sick

Remote workers are often seen as less disengaged, less productive employees. But research has debunked these

assumptions.

Photo: ivan Pantic

Some myths about working from home

Monica ToRRes

The state of the coronavirus pandemic

has made remote work standard for a

large group of people, and by and large,

many of us are adapting. But a lot of

unflattering myths about what happens

when employees work from home have

persisted nonetheless.

If you believe the worst assumptions

about remote workers, then we are an

unproductive, disengaged lot. But

research says otherwise. Here are a few

studies and surveys that have debunked

the most common myths about the

supposed downsides of remote work.

Many higher-ups like to say they need

workers back in an office because that's

where chance interactions between

colleagues can happen and spark more

creativity and innovation. Case in point:

what JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie

Dimon wrote in April in an annual letter

to shareholders.

"Remote work virtually eliminates

spontaneous learning and creativity

because you don't run into people at the

coffee machine, talk with clients in

unplanned scenarios, or travel to meet

with customers and employees for

feedback on your products and services,"

Dimon wrote.

But this vision of the office as a place

that facilitates great face-to-face

interactions is false. In fact, offices can

actually prevent such conversations from

happening. Two researchers observed

interactions at a couple of Fortune 500

firms before and after the companies

transitioned from individual cubicles to

open-plan offices and found that face-toface

interactions actually dropped by

roughly 70% while electronic interactions

increased. It turns out most office

workers don't see someone's physical

presence as automatic permission to

spontaneously strike up a conversation.

"People in open offices create a fourth

wall, and their colleagues come to respect

it. If someone is working intently, people

don't interrupt her," the researchers,

organizational behaviorist Ethan

Bernstein and Humanyze co-founder

Ben Waber, wrote in Harvard Business

Review.

"Although the open-office design is

intended to encourage us to interact faceto-face,

it gives us permission not to,"

they wrote. After all, why walk over to a

co-worker when you could simply send

them a quicker email or Slack?

For women and people of color, offices

can also be places of unpleasant

surveillance and interactions rather than

a great foundation for spontaneous

collaboration with co-workers.

In a 2017 study published in the journal

Gender, Work and Organization,

researchers at Anglia Ruskin University

and the University of Bedfordshire

followed 1,000 U.K. government

employees as they moved into an open

plan office with transparent glass and

large, undefined spaces for collaboration.

Although some women said they

enjoyed feeling more visible and getting

to see colleagues, many reported feeling

more watched by male co-workers and

restricted their own movement, choosing

not to show up in spaces unannounced.

One woman in the study said she stuck to

her department area because venturing

outside of it felt too visible: "I don't tend

to come out into the atrium to eat because

you always feel so overt if you sit there,"

she said.

In other words, the office was not

exactly a safe environment for everyone

in which to have chance meetings.

A common argument is that remote

workers miss out on the in-office cultural

offerings that can help cement loyalty to

an employer and always have one foot out

the door as a result.

But surveys find that the chance to

work remotely can actually increase an

employee's commitment to the job. In a

2020 survey of 7,487 employees in 14

countries including the U.S., U.K., China,

Mexico and Canada, people were 68%

more likely to say they had a higher

organizational commitment when they

had the option to work from home,

compared with employees who didn't

have that option. Women who had child

care responsibilities were 32% less likely

to consider quitting their jobs when

teleworking was an option, compared to

their peers with no option to work

remotely.

And for workers who are marginalized,

the opportunity to stay remote may be the

only thing keeping them at their jobs. In

one recent survey led by Slack's research

consortium, Black workers valued remote

work the most and felt a higher sense of

belonging at their company when they

were able to work away from the office.

"Ideally, I would like to work in an

office where I'm not reminded that I'm

the only one," a Black engineer told

HuffPost, noting that "Working from

home is the next best thing."

It's true that remote workers can feel

left out and become disengaged. A survey

released in May found that people hired

during the pandemic - a time when nearly

half of them said they started their jobs

remotely - were less likely to feel

welcomed by their team. But that can be

addressed by bosses who are proactive

and intentional about setting up one-onone

interactions and making employees

feel seen and heard. A person's boss and

co-workers often have more influence on

whether they feel engaged with the job

than whether or not they work in an

office.

In 2013, Best Buy ended a remote work

experiment that had allowed corporate

employees to work from anywhere, as

long as they got the job done. Top

leadership said one reason was that

management was too hands-off. "Anyone

who has led a team knows that delegation

is not always the most effective leadership

style," the company's then-CEO, Hubert

Joly, said at the time.

Julia Ries

If you've been out and about

living your life since being

fully vaccinated, you might be

curious if you've come in

contact with the coronavirus.

Could you be one of the lucky

ones who had an

asymptomatic infection? Or,

is there still a good chance you

haven't encountered the virus

yet?

The delta variant is

everywhere, and it's spreading

much more rapidly than the

previous variants. Many

people infected with delta are

extremely contagious and

have viral loads hundreds of

times greater than they would

have with the original strain.

So if you're going to places like

restaurants or gyms with a

bunch of strangers, it seems

inevitable that you'll be

exposed at some point.

"It really is so transmissible

that I think there's a high

chance, depending on the

community transmission rate

in your area - if you have

substantial or high

transmission rate in your area

based on the CDC definitions -

that you may have been

exposed," said Monica

Gandhi, an infectious diseases

specialist with the University

of California, San Francisco.

If you've been out and about

living your life since being fully

vaccinated, you might be

curious if you've come in

contact with the coronavirus.

Could you be one of the lucky

ones who had an asymptomatic

infection? Or, is there still a

good chance you haven't

encountered the virus yet?

The delta variant is

everywhere, and it's spreading

much more rapidly than the

previous variants. Many

people infected with delta are

extremely contagious and

have viral loads hundreds of

times greater than they would

have with the original strain.

So if you're going to places like

restaurants or gyms with a

bunch of strangers, it seems

inevitable that you'll be

exposed at some point.

"It really is so transmissible

that I think there's a high

chance, depending on the

community transmission rate

in your area - if you have

substantial or high

transmission rate in your area

based on the CDC definitions -

that you may have been

exposed," said Monica

Gandhi, an infectious diseases

specialist with the University

of California, San Francisco.

Jennifer Nuzzo, an

epidemiologist at Johns

Hopkins Bloomberg School of

Public Health, said it's crucial

to differentiate between an

exposure and an infection.

Being exposed, or being in the

presence of virus, doesn't

necessarily mean you will

become infected or develop

symptomatic illness (though

some people, regardless of

their vaccination status,

definitely will).

Delta is so transmissible

that if you've been out and

about in an area with a lot of

spread - and you weren't

wearing a mask or social

distancing - there's a solid

chance you've been exposed,

according to Gandhi. When

case rates go up, so does the

probability of coming into

contact with the virus.

There's a good chance a lot

of us have been around the

virus by now, but whether that

exposure caused an infection

depends on a few factors,

Nuzzo said.

The first consideration is

how close you were to the

infected person who was

shedding virus. Second is how

much virus that person was

putting out, as some people

spread a lot more virus than

others. Third is what the

ventilation was like - if you

were exposed in a poorly

ventilated room, there's a

greater chance the virus could

have gotten into your cells.

The host, or how your body

handles the virus, also plays a

role. It depends. Many

vaccinated people who were

exposed probably wouldn't

notice. They may have

produced an immune

response that successfully

fought off the virus before it

could cause symptomatic

disease. That, after all, is the

goal of the vaccines.

You might be able to sense

the activation of your immune

system. Upon a close

exposure, your memory B

cells will start rattling and

producing antibodies, Gandhi

explained, and your T cells

will gear up to fight. Some

people might be able to feel

that immune response, which

could potentially feel similar

to some of the side effects

experienced after vaccination

since those were signs that

your immune system was

revved up.

"In the context of now,

where we're all hyperalert to

symptoms, it is possible that

people would feel down or

tired," Gandhi said. This one's

complicated. Some research

suggests that being exposed to

infectious doses of SARS-

CoV-2 strengthens the

immune response.

"There's known evidence

that being exposed to

infection after you had a

vaccine dose strengthens the

immune response. It makes

your memory B cells produce

antibodies, it makes your T

cells replicate," Gandhi said.

(Those new antibodies

produced by B cells, by the

way, will target the new

variant it sees.)

We definitely need more

data on how exposures affect

our immune memory.

Scientists in the United

Kingdom are conducting

challenge trials, in which

they're exposing young,

healthy adults to the

coronavirus to better

understand the doses that

cause infection and how

different people's immune

systems respond to virus

exposure.

However, this does not

mean you want to become

infected or get disease. There's

really no great way to predict

if you'll get sick, how sick

you'll get, or whether you'll

develop long-haul symptoms

if you do get sick.

This is especially true if

you're unvaccinated with no

natural immunity from

Whether exposure leads to infection depends on many factors, including how

well-ventilated the space was.

Photo: Getty

previous infection. "The nice

thing about being vaccinated

is that you're much less likely

to get disease, but [exposure]

will stimulate your immune

response," Gandhi said.

The point of the shots is to

prevent severe disease, not

every single infection.

"If you're around virus in a

good enough way, there's a

good chance you're going to

be infected," Nuzzo said. The

hope, she added, is that the

vaccines will prevent people

from becoming seriously ill.

And in some cases, they'll

prevent people from having

any illness whatsoever.

The growing consensus

among infectious diseases

specialists is that we're all

going to meet COVID at some

point. Delta, being as

transmissible as it is, has

changed the game - COVID is

becoming endemic.

"I don't think we're going to

eliminate it," Gandhi said.

"That, to me, means that we're

all likely to get exposed at

some point."

And if we're going to be

exposed to COVID, it's best to

do so with some immunity.

Get those vaccines.

SUNDAY, SePTeMBer 5, 2021

6

Outlet of Isabpur Bazar Islami Bank was inagaurated in Dhamairhat Upazila on Thursday.

Photo: Masrakul Alom

Managed aquifer recharge

can enrich underground

water in Barind

RAJSHAHI: Managed aquifer

recharge (MAR) can enrich

underground water in the

drought-prone Barind area

where two people has been

pioneer in the process

exploring the collecting and

conserving system of

rainwater, reports BSS.

Korneleus Tudu, 54, and

Paulus Tudu, 48, of Barsapara

village in Dewpara Union

under Godagari Upazila in

Rajshahi district, have been

harvesting rainwater and

inserting those to the

underground for the last

around four to five years.

They have arrangements of

harvesting all the rainwater

from the rooftop of their tinshed

house and later injecting

those to the underground.

Korneleus Tudu told BSS

that the continuous artificial

aquifer recharge has already

started benefiting them.

They are using the

conserved water for household

purposes through taps fixed in

the lower part of the tank.

Surplus water is being

preserved in the recharge tank

through another upper portion

wide pipe.

Tudu said they had to suffer

a lot due to the water crisis as

there was no water in handdriven

tube-wells from March

to June every year. But, the

trouble started tiding over for

promoting MAR, a modern

technology of artificial aquifer

recharge, at present. Not only

the two neighbours but also

many other households,

business establishments and

local government institutions

have installed the similar

technology in the drought-hit

area.

They are getting technical

and financial assistance from

the Integrated Water

Resource Management

(IWRM) Project for successful

and effective promotion of

MAR along with its operation.

MAR is being promoted in

the high barind area to halt

the gradually declining

ground water level.

In the drought-prone area,

people are now becoming

more conscious to cease the

alarming decline of the

groundwater layer. Aquifer

recharge activities are being

done at household level side

by side with various

institutions and industries.

Shafiqul Islam, a farmer of

Kadigram village under

Kakonhat Pourasava in

Godagari Upazila, has

arranged aquifer recharge

system in his house.

He is harvesting rainwater

from around 3,000 square

feet rooftop area of seven

rooms through 4-inch

diameter PVC pipe and

conserving those in tanks

constructed with one-foot

height and three-feet

diameter six concrete ring

slabs.

"150 MAR in community

level, 43 in local government

institutions and four other in

business establishments have,

so far, been installed in the

drought-affected areas," said

Jahangir Alam Khan, Director

of IWRM project.

Abdur Rashid, Chairman of

Nachole Union Parishad in

Chapainawabganj, said

underground water level has

started rising by dint of

promoting the technology

although it has been installed

in limited scale.

He advocated for

incorporating the MAR issue

in the existing house building

policy so that it can be

mandatory in each of the

houses to stop declining

underground water.

The IWRM project is being

implemented in droughtaffected

39 union parishads

and three pourasavas in eight

upazilas of Rajshahi, Naogaon

and Chapainawabganj

districts.

DASCOH Foundation and

Swiss Red Cross have jointly

been implementing the

project with financial support

from the Swiss Agency for

Development

and

Cooperation since 2015.

There are 32 heavy auto rice

mills within a three square

kilometers radius area at

water-stressed Jhilim Union

under Chapainawabgonj

district. The mills extract huge

underground water every day

through 120 deep tube-wells.

For this reason, the nearby

tube-wells became nonfunctional.

So, the then Jhilim UP

Chairman Tasiqul Islam had

taken necessary initiative so

that the entire auto rice mills

can send their rooftop

rainwater to ground water

layer. Responding to his call,

Mukhlesur Rahman, owner of

Jotsna Auto Rice Mill, has

adopted the necessary step of

aquifer recharge through

injecting rainwater of his

60,000 square-feet rooftop

area.

Tasiqul Islam had a

farsighted plan of aquifer

recharge through sending

rainwater of 25 lakh squirefeet

rooftop area of all 32 auto

rice mills and he intended to

materialize his dream.

1193 people

get financial

assistance in

Gaibandha's

Fulchhari

GAIBANDHA: A total of

1193 people got cash support

in Fulchhari upazila of the

district to pass their

economic hardship, reports

BSS.

They were provided with

cash card on behalf of

Income

Support

Programme for the Poorest

(ISPP)-Jawtna project being

implemented in the upazila.

A function organized by

the project implementation

committee was held on the

premises of upazila Parishad

on Friday afternoon.

Deputy speaker of the

Jatiya Sangshad and local

lawmaker Advocate Fazley

Rabbi Miah addressed the

function virtually joining

from an India's Hospital

where he was undergoing

treatment.

Justice of the High Court

Division Muhammad

Khurshid Alam Sarker,

deputy commissioner Abdul

Matin, superintendent of

police Muhammamad

Towhidul Islam, upazila

chairman GM Selim Parvez

and Upazila Nirbahi Officer

(UNO) Abu Rayhan Dolon

spoke while project director

Dipak Chakrobarty presided

over the function.

After the meeting, 1193

beneficiaries of the project in

the upazila were distributed

cash card in second phase.

Earlier, as many as 8446

people got cash card in first

phase, sources said.

Some 20 crore, 12 lakh

and 59, 100 Taka were given

to the beneficiaries of the

upazila under the project till

June in 2021.

An awareness training on safe motherhood, prevention of maternal and child mortality was held in

the meeting room of Birganj upazila Health Complex on Saturday.

Photo: Uttam Golder

Isabpur Bazar

Islami Bank outlet

inagaurated in

Dhamairhat

MASRAKUL ALOM, JOYPURHAT

CORRESPONDENT

Outlet of Isabpur Bazar

Islami Bank in Dhamairhat

Upazila of Naogaon District

on Thursday has been

inaugurated with aim to

provide all kinds of modern

banking activities.

Chairman of Isabpur

Union Parishad Imrul Kayes

Badal inaugurated the event

as the chief guest while Moin

Uddin, Branch Manager of

Islami Bank Bangladesh

Joypurhat chaired the

occasion. Among others,

Madrasa Super Maslam

Uddin, eminent Samaj

Sabak Galam Mustafa,

educationist Abdul Aziz,

eminent businessmen

Shahidul Islam and Firaj

Hasan along with eminent

businessmen, public

representatives, political

dignitaries and other

dignitaries participated in

the program.

Joypurhat Branch

Manager in his speech said

that modern banking is on

the doorstep of the people

and the government is

working tirelessly to

implement

the

government's SGG.

Awareness meeting

on implementation

of Fisheries Act held

in Char Fasson

MD TUHIN, CHAR FASSON

CORRESPONDENT

Awareness meeting on

implementation of Fisheries

Act was held on the occasion

of National Fisheries Week

with all the warehouse

keepers and fishermen of

Samraj Fishery Ghat of

Bhola District under the

initiative of USAID Ecofish-

2, Project on Wednesday.

Al Noman Rahul, Upazila

Nirbahi Officer was present

as the chief guest while

Maruf Hossain Minar,

Senior Fisheries Officer of

the Upazila was present as

the special guest, along all

the warehouse keepers and

fishermen including the

President of the Fishermen's

Association were present.

The meeting was chaired

by Abdul Hai, Chairman,

Char Madras Union and

moderated by the World

Fish Representative. The

meeting highlighted the

Fisheries Act and policies

and emphasized the

importance of strong

influence and role of

warehouse keepers in its

implementation.

An awareness meeting on implementation of Fisheries Act was held on the occasion of National

Fisheries Week in Char Fasson upazila recently.

Photo: Md Tuhin

One held with

arms, ammo in

C'nawabganj

CHAPAINAWABGANJ:

Rapid Action Battalion

(RAB) arrested an alleged

arms peddler with a pistol, a

one shooter gun, two

magazines and three bullets

from Gomostapur in

Chapainawabganj district on

Friday evening, reports BSS.

The arrested person is Md.

Shofiqul Islam Dhoru, 40 of

Kamalpur village under

Shibganj upazila of the

district.

Later the arrested person

was handed over to the

police of Gomostapur thana

with a case.

Traning on safe motherhood,

prevention of maternal and

child mortality held in Birganj

UTTAM GOLDER, BIRGANJ

CORRESPONDENT

An awareness training on safe

motherhood, prevention of

maternal and child mortality

was held in the meeting room

of Birganj upazila Health

Complex, under the direction

of Upazila Family Planning

Officer Md. Zakirul Islam with

various government and nongovernment

Awareness

training has been conducted

with the stakeholders on

Saturday.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md.

Abdur Quader presided over

the function and Upazila

Chairman Md. Aminul Islam

was present as the chief guest.

Among others, female vice

chairman Mst Ayesha Akhter

Brishti, dignitaries from

various unions and many

others were also present at the

occasion.

RMCH counts five

more deaths in

Covid-19 unit

RAJSHAHI: Five more

deaths were recorded at the

Covid-19 unit of Rajshahi

Medical College Hospital

(RMCH) in the last 24 hours

till 6am yesterday, raising

the fatality to 27 in last four

days of this month, reports

BSS.

The previous day's fatality

figure was also five, while

Friday's death cases from

the lethal virus was just four,

the lowest-ever since the

second wave of coronavirus

hit the country around four

months back.

Earlier, the number of

casualties was 340 in

August, 566 in July and 405

in June, health officials said.

RMCH Director Brigadier

General Dr Shamim Yazdani

told newsmen that among

the new five new deaths, two

were male and three female.

Three of the deceased

were the residents of

Rajshahi and one each from

Naogaon and Pabna

districts, he said.

"Among the deaths, two

tested positive for Covid-19

and three had its

symptoms," he said.

Covid-19

Fourteen more patients

were admitted to the

designated Covid-19 wards

of the hospital in the last 24

hours, raising the total

number of admitted patients

to 286, including 68 active

cases.

Sixteen other patients are

undergoing treatment at the

Intensive Care Unit of the

hospital. Eleven patients

returned home from the

Covid-19 unit after being

cured during the time.

Yazdani said the infection

rate has decreased by 3.53

percent in Rajshahi

compared to the previous

day.

A total of 14 people were

diagnosed with Covid-19

after testing 94 samples in

Rajshahi's two laboratories

on Friday, showing 10

percent positivity rate

against 13.53 percent on

Thursday.

Yazdani said the number

of admitted patients has

declined during the last

couple of weeks. So, the

number of designated wards

and beds in the hospital was

reduced, he added.

Lowest 6.88pc positivity rate

in 5 months in Rangpur

RANGPUR: The lowest 6.88 percent

Covid-19 positivity rate was recorded on

Friday, for the first time below the 10

percent mark in five months since March

24 last when the rate was 10.72 percent, in

Rangpur division, reports BSS.

Health officials said the Covid-19

positivity and fatality rates continued

declining almost during the last four weeks

amid increasing recovery rate gradually

improving the pandemic situation in the

division.

"Only 26 new Covid-19 cases were

reported after testing 378 samples of

Rangpur division at the daily positivity rate

of 6.88 percent on Friday," Focal Person of

the Covid-19 and Assistant Director

(Health) for Rangpur division Dr ZA

Siddiqui told BSS yesterday.

With the diagnosis of 26 new patients on

Friday, the total number of Covid-19

patients rose to 53,540 in all eight districts

of Rangpur division.

Earlier, the daily positivity rates were

12.60 percent on Saturday, 12.04 percent

on Wednesday, 12.08 percent on Tuesday,

16.05 percent on Monday and 11.66

percent on Sunday last in the division.

"The district-wise break up of 53,540

patients stands at 12,171 in Rangpur, 3,515

in Panchagarh, 4,328 in Nilphamari, 2,678

in Lalmonirhat, 4,536 in Kurigram, 7,247

in Thakurgaon, 14,321 in Dinajpur and

4,744 in Gaibandha of the division," he

added.

Meanwhile, two casualties were reported

with one each from Rangpur and

Thakurgaon districts during the last 24

hours ending at 8 am yesterday raising the

death toll to 1,202 in the division.

The district-wise break up of the 1,202

fatalities stands at 286 in Rangpur, 77 in

Panchagarh, 86 in Nilphamari, 63 in

Lalmonirhat, 66 in Kurigram, 243 in

Thakurgaon, 319 in Dinajpur and 62 in

Gaibandha districts of the division.

"The average casualty rate currently

stands at 2.25 percent in the division," Dr

Siddiqui added.

Divisional Director (Health) Dr Md

Motaharul Islam said a total of 2,59,490

collected samples were tested till Friday,

and of them, 53,540 were found Covid-19

positive with an average positivity rate of

20.63 percent in the division

In the meantime, the total number of

healed Covid-19 patients reached 48,510

with recovery of 61 more infected patients

on Friday in the division where the average

recovery rate currently stands at 90.61

percent.

The 48,510 recovered patients include

9,852 of Rangpur, 3,189 of Panchagarh,

4,104 of Nilphamari, 2,445 of Lalmonirhat,

4,256 of Kurigram, 6,393 of Thakurgaon,

13,787 of Dinajpur and 4,484 of Gaibandha

districts in the division.

Among the 53,540 patients, 162 are

undergoing treatments at isolation units,

including 20 critical patients at ICU beds

and 10 at High Dependency Unit beds,

after recovery of 48,510 patients and 1,202

deaths while 3,666 are remaining in home

isolation.

"Meanwhile, the number of citizens who

got the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine

rose to 19,73,140, and among them,

7,92,838 got the second dose of the jab till

Friday in the division," Dr Islam added.

Chief of Divisional Coronavirus Service

and Prevention Task Force and Principal of

Rangpur Medical College Professor Dr

AKM Nurunnobi Lyzu told BSS that the

Covid-129 situation continued improving

in recent weeks in Rangpur division.

"All people should properly abide by the

health directives, hygiene rules, wear

masks and maintain physical distance to

maintain the improving trend of the Covid-

19 situation in the division," he added.

Afghan women demand rights

as Taliban seek recognition

KABUL: A small group of Afghan

women protested near the presidential

palace in Kabul Friday, demanding

equal rights from the Taliban as

Afghanistan's new rulers work on

forming a government and seeking

international recognition, reports UNB.

The Taliban captured most of the

country in a matter of days last month

and celebrated the departure of the last

US forces after 20 years of war. Now

they face the urgent challenge of

governing a war-ravaged country that

is heavily reliant on international aid.

The Taliban have promised an

inclusive government and a more

moderate form of Islamic rule than

when they last ruled the country from

1996 to 2001. But many Afghans,

especially women, are deeply sceptical

and fear a rollback of rights gained over

the last two decades.

The protest in Kabul was the second

women's protest in as many days, with

the other held in the western city of

Herat. Around 20 women with

microphones gathered under the

watchful eyes of Taliban gunmen, who

allowed the demonstration to proceed.

The women demanded access to

education, the right to return to work

and a role in governing the country.

"Freedom is our motto. It makes us

proud," read one of their signs.

A Taliban fighter ventured into the

crowd at one point, but witnesses said

he was angry at the bystanders who had

stopped to watch the demonstration

and not the protesters themselves.

The Taliban have said women will be

able to continue their education and

work outside the home, rights denied to

women when the group were last in

power. But the Taliban have also vowed

to impose Sharia, or Islamic law,

without providing specifics.

Interpretations of Islamic law vary

widely across the Muslim world, with

more moderate strains predominating.

The Taliban's earlier rule was shaped

by Afghanistan's unique tribal

traditions, under which women are not

to be seen in public. Those customs

endure, especially in the countryside,

evenduring 20 years of Westernbacked

governments. A potentially

more pressing concern for the Taliban

is the economy, which is mired in crisis.

Civil servants have not been paid for

months, ATM's have been shut down

and banks are limiting withdrawals to

$200 per week, causing large crowds to

form outside them. Aid groups have

warned of widespread hunger amid a

severe drought.

The Taliban said Western Union,

which halted service after the group

entered Kabul last month, will resume

transfers, which may help Afghans

receive cash from relatives living

abroad. But most of Afghanistan's

foreign reserves are held abroad and

frozen while Western nations consider

how to engage with the Taliban, putting

pressure on the local currency.

There was no immediate comment

from Western Union on the

resumption of service. Meanwhile,

fighting has been brutal in the Panjshir

Valley, north of the capital Kabul, a last

holdout against the Taliban sweep. Late

on Friday celebratory gunfire erupted

in the capital as rumours circulated that

the Taliban had captured the valley,

which was being defended by former

vice president Amrullah Saleh and

Ahmad Massoud.

Women gather to demand their rights under the Taliban rule during a protest in Kabul, Afghanistan,

Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. As the world watches intently for clues on how the Taliban will govern, their

treatment of the media will be a key indicator, along with their policies toward women. When they

ruled Afghanistan between 1996-2001, they enforced a harsh interpretation of Islam, barring girls

and women from schools and public life, and brutally suppressing dissent.

Photo: AP

Taliban yet to name

government as Panjshir

resistance holds

KABUL: Fresh fighting was

reported Saturday between

the Taliban and resistance

forces in Afghanistan's

Panjshir Valley, even as the

hardline Islamists finalise a

new government that will set

the tone for their rule,

reports BSS.

Facing the challenge of

morphing from insurgents

to rulers, the Taliban appear

determined to snuff out the

Panjshir resistance before

announcing who will lead

the country in the aftermath

of Monday's US troop

withdrawal, which was

supposed to end two

decades of war.

But Panjshir, which held

out for nearly a decade

against the Soviet Union's

occupation and also the

Taliban's first rule from

1996-2001, is stubbornly

holding out.

Fighters from the so-called

National Resistance Front

(NRF) -- made up of anti-

Taliban militia and former

Afghan security forces-are

understood to have

stockpiled a significant

armoury in the valley,

around 80 kilometres (50

miles) north of Kabul and

guarded by a narrow gorge.

Celebratory gunfire rang

out in the capital Kabul

overnight as rumours

spread that the valley had

fallen, but the Taliban made

no official claim Saturday

and a resident told AFP by

phone that the reports were

false.

The Emergency Hospital

in Kabul said two people

were killed and 20 wounded

by the salvos, as the Taliban

tweeted a stern

admonishment warning its

fighters to stop.

Driver shortage delays winter

flu programme in UK

LONDON :Britain's biggest supplier of

influenza vaccines said on Saturday it was

postponing deliveries due to a Brexit-related

shortage of lorry drivers, delaying the

government's winter inoculation campaign,

reports BSS.

Medics say the campaign offering free flu

vaccines to more than 35 million people is

even more important this year, after

lockdowns for the coronavirus pandemic

suppressed the circulation of flu last year.

The medical supplier Seqirus confirmed

delays of up to two weeks in England and

Wales, blaming "unforeseen challenges

linked with road freight delays".

Britain has for weeks been grappling with a

shortage of lorry drivers, after a post-Brexit

exodus of drivers from the European Union.

The pandemic has also caused a large

backlog of tests for new UK drivers.

The National Health Service (NHS) has

started inviting those eligible for a free flu jab

to book an appointment from this month,

but Seqirus instructed practitioners to wait

for certainty on its supplies.

The development comes after NHS doctors

were forced to cancel routine blood tests due

to a shortage of test tubes.

"That this appears to be stemming from

similar issues around freight capacity and

transportation is incredibly concerning, and

we must ask the government exactly what it

is doing to urgently address this," said

Richard Vautrey of the British Medical

Association.

The winter flu campaign is set to be the

biggest yet in Britain, targeting all secondary

school students and adults over 50, among

others.

There was no immediate official comment

but a senior member of the Joint Committee

on Vaccination and Immunisation, which

advises the government on inoculations

including for Covid-19 and flu, expressed

concern.

"Clearly influenza immunisation this year

is really important and the reason it's so

important is because of lockdowns, we've

UK panel against giving Covid

jabs to healthy young teens

LONDON : The UK government's

independent advisory body on vaccines said

Friday it would not recommend jabbing all

12- to 15-year-olds against coronavirus,

arguing the benefits were "too small". The

Joint Committee on Vaccination and

Immunisation (JCVI), a panel of experts

which advises ministers, has been weighing

the issue after numerous other countries

began giving the jabs to young teens, reports

BSS. It has previously recommended giving

approved Covid-19 vaccines to all 16-and 17-

year-olds but only to 12- to 15-year-olds who

have underlying health conditions that make

them more vulnerable to the virus.

On the advice of the JCVI, Britain's four

chief medical officers-in England, Scotland,

Wales and Northern Ireland-will now

provide further input ahead of a final

government decision.

The committee, which focuses purely on

health effects, wants them to consider the

"wider societal impacts, including

educational benefits" of whether to roll out

vaccines to younger teens.

Schools have returned recently across

Britain following the summer break, with

fears that this could lead to a new surge in

cases after weeks of moderate rises in

infections.

In its recommendation, the JCVI argued

the benefits from vaccination are

"marginally greater than the potential

known harms" of the inoculations, while

acknowledging there was "considerable

uncertainty" about those.

California governor

seeks $16.7M in aid

for Afghan refugees

SACRAMENTO: California's

governor and legislative

leaders on Friday requested

$16.7 million in state money

to help resettle Afghan

refugees in the state, reports

BSS.

The request to use general

fund money to help those

fleeing the Taliban takeover

signals "that California stands

ready to assist those in need,"

Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a

statement. "As the nation's

most diverse state, we don't

simply tolerate diversity, we

celebrate it."

The funding request by

Newsom, Senate President

pro Tempore Toni Atkins and

Assembly Speaker Anthony

Rendon was expected to be

considered during next

week's legislative session.

With support from leaders

of both houses, the request is

unlikely to face serious

opposition in the Democratcontrolled

Legislature.

The money would provide

cash assistance and other

help for refugees who don't

qualify for certain federal

refugee benefits and public

assistance programs because

they don't hold special visas

but are being admitted into

the United States on

humanitarian grounds,

Newsom said.

Some arriving refugees are

potentially eligible for Medi-

Cal and state-funded aid but

only those arriving with

children are eligible for

CalWORKs, the state-funded

public assistance program.

El Salvador's Bukele

gets greenlight to

run for re-election

SAN SALVADOR :El

Salvador's top court Friday

said populist President Nayib

Bukele would be allowed to

run for a second term, despite

the country's constitution

prohibiting the head of state

from serving two consecutive

terms in office, reports BSS.

The Supreme Court

decision will allow Bukele to

run for a second term in 2024

-- potentially making him the

Central American nation's

first president to serve more

than five years in office since

the 1950s. In its ruling, the

court said a sitting head of

state could seek re-election for

a second term as long as they

have not "been president

during the immediately

preceding period".

The decision was handed

down by judges appointed to

El Salvador's highest court by

Bukele in May after the

country's parliament

removed several justices

critical of the government-a

move decried by critics as a

"coup d'etat" and one which

sparked international

condemnation. The new

judges then reversed a

previous decision by the

Constitutional Chamber of

the Supreme Court that ruled

the president could not serve

more than one consecutive

mandate. However.

that ruling did allow the

head of state to run again in a

subsequent election.

SuNDAY, SePTeMber 5, 2021

7

Venezuela government, opponents

resume talks in Mexico

MEXICO CITY : Venezuela's

government and opposition

returned to the negotiating

table in Mexico City on Friday,

with President Nicolas

Maduro's rivals demanding

guarantees of free and fair

elections in return for sanctions

relief, reports BSS.

The main opposition alliance

announced this week that it

would end a three-year election

boycott and take part in

mayoral and gubernatorial

polls in November.

The move came after the two

sides last month began

negotiations mediated by

Norway and hosted by Mexico

in a bid to solve the political

crisis that has marked Maduro.

Maduro's eight-year rule.

"Our aim is to reach an agreement that

resolves the conflict through a free and fair

presidential and parliamentary election, with

guarantees," opposition leader Juan Guaido

said in a video posted on social media. "We all

know that today there are no conditions for a

free and fair electoral process in Venezuela.

That's why we're in Mexico. We're fighting to

achieve these conditions," he said.

The talks have a seven-point agenda

including easing sanctions, political rights and

electoral guarantees-but not the departure of

Maduro, accused by the opposition of

fraudulent reelection in 2018.

"This round can focus on perhaps the most

important condition for many actors:

impartial international monitoring, which for

some is a basic condition to guarantee that the

election result will be respected," said political

analyst Oswaldo Ramirez of consulting firm

ORC Consultores.

The first day of talks ended Friday with no

agreements reached, but talks are set to

continue through Monday.

'Swallow our pride' - Neither Maduro nor

Guaido, who is considered president by about

60 countries, was due to personally attend the

closed-door talks, which were scheduled to run

until Monday. Previous negotiations in the

Searches, sorrow in wake of Ida's

destructive, deadly floods

ELIZABETH - Police went door to door in

search of more possible victims and drew up

lists of the missing as the death toll rose to 49

on Friday in the catastrophic flooding set off

across the Northeast by the remnants of

Hurricane Ida, reports BSS.

The disaster underscored with

heartbreaking clarity how vulnerable the

U.S. is to the extreme weather that climate

change is bringing. In its wake, officials

weighed far-reaching new measures to save

lives in future storms.

More than three days after the hurricane

blew ashore in Louisiana, Ida's rainy

remains hit the Northeast with stunning fury

on Wednesday and Thursday, submerging

cars, swamping subway stations and

basement apartments and drowning scores

of people in five states.

Intense rain overwhelmed urban drainage

systems never meant to handle so much

water in such a short time - a record 3 inches

(7.5 centimeters) in just an hour in New

York. Seven rivers in the Northeast reached

their highest levels on record, Dartmouth

College researcher Evan Dethier said.

On Friday, communities labored to haul

away ruined vehicles, pump out homes and

highways, clear away muck and other debris

and restore mass transit.

Even after clouds gave way to blue skies,

some rivers and streams were still rising.

Part of the swollen Passaic River in New

Jersey wasn't expected to crest until Friday

Juan Guaido, the leader of Venezuela's National

Assembly and Venezuelan President Nicolas

Photo: AP

Dominican Republic in 2018 and Barbados the

following year failed to resolve the crippling

political and economic crisis. "Everything

possible must be done so that this negotiation

process goes well," said key opposition figure

Freddy Guevara, who joined the latest talks.

"That solution happens because we all

swallow our pride," said the former lawmaker,

who was released last month after being

accused of terrorism and treason.

The government delegation chief, Jorge

Rodriguez, told broadcaster Telesur that his

proposals would focus on economic and social

issues and "the return of resources that belong

to Venezuela in order to meet the needs of the

entire population."

The United States has urged Maduro, a

former bus driver who became president on

the death of his mentor Hugo Chavez in 2013,

to make serious efforts toward holding

elections if he wants sanctions relief.

Washington hopes the dialogue in Mexico

"lays the foundation for the democratic

outcome Venezuelans deserve.

US State Department spokesman Ned

Price said.

"We stand in solidarity with the Venezuelan

people as they work to peacefully restore

democracy to their country," he added.

night. "People think it's beautiful out, which

it is, that this thing's behind us and we can go

back to business as usual, and we're not there

yet," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy warned.

At least 25 people perished in New Jersey,

the most of any state. Most drowned after

their vehicles were caught in flash floods. A

family of three and their neighbor were killed

as 12 to 14 feet (3.5 to 4 meters) of water filled

their apartments in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Across the street, Jennifer Vilchez said she

could hear people crying, "Help! Help!" from

their windows.

At least six people remained missing in the

state, Murphy said. In New York City, 11

people died when they were unable to escape

rising water in their low-lying apartments. A

man, woman and 2-year-old boy perished as

their Queens street turned into a raging

gully, hemmed in by a concrete wall on the

nearby Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Officials said Friday that five of the six

apartments where people died were illegally

converted. New York's subways were

running Friday with delays or not at all.

North of the city, commuter train service

remained suspended or severely curtailed.

In the Hudson Valley, where several feet of

mud covered tracks, Metro-North President

Catherine Rinaldi said she didn't expect

service to be restored until early next week.

Floodwaters and a falling tree also took

lives in Maryland, Pennsylvania,

Connecticut and New York.

More than 40 people are dead across eight states. Americans in the South are struggling to get water, food

and fue.

Photo: AP

SunDAY, SEPtEMBER 5, 2021

8

Delta hits US hiring in new

setback for Biden

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited organized Annual Risk Conference-2021 on Saturday, September 4,

2021 on virtual platform. Md. Anwarul Islam, General Manager, Bangladesh Bank addressed the

function as Chief Guest. Mohammed Monirul Moula, Managing Director and CEO of Islami Bank

presided over the function. Muhammad Qaisar Ali & Md. Omar Faruk Khan, Additional Managing

Directors, J.Q.M. Habibullah, FCS, Deputy Managing Director, Mohammad Ali, Chief Risk Officer &

Md. Motiar Rahman, Senior Executive Vice President of Islami Bank and Aminur Rahman

Chowdhury, Deputy General Manager of Bangladesh Bank addressed the conference. Executives and

officials of different levels of Islami bank participated in the conference.

Photo: Courtesy

Asian markets mostly rise after

Wall St record with eye on jobs

HONG KONG: Most

markets rose in Asia on

Friday following another

record close on Wall Street,

with traders zeroing in on the

release of US jobs data later

in the day, reports BSS.

The broad gains put the

region on course to end a

strong week on a positive

note as concerns about the

fast-spreading Delta variant,

which weighed on

confidence for much of

August, gave way to

optimism over the recovery

outlook.

Data showing fewer people

than expected applied for

jobless benefits in the United

States last week-the lowest

since March 2020 -- provided

a positive lead ahead of the

non-farm payrolls, which

could have a huge bearing on

the Federal Reserve's plans

for tapering its ultra-loose

monetary policy.

Fed boss Jerome Powell

last week indicated that the

bank would take it easy in

winding down the financial

support-and would be even

more careful in lifting

interest rates-but offered no

timetable for doing so.

Observers say a strong jobs

reading would likely mean

the Fed would move sooner

than later.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq

on Wall Street finished at

fresh records after the

figures, and the buying

filtered through to Asia.

Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney,

Seoul, Wellington, Taipei

and Manila were all in the

red, though Hong Kong was

weighed by profit-taking

after four days of gains.

Singapore and Jakarta also

dipped.

While there is a general

consensus that the global

economy will continue to

recover from the pandemic

as economies are reopenedalbeit

some slower than

others-there remains a sense

of caution.

"Historically, September is

a weak month for equities,

particularly in the US, and

some investor caution is

natural given elevated

valuation multiples and a

challenging macro

environment," said Lewis

Grant, at Federated Hermes.

"The Delta variant

continues to soften

consumer confidence across

the world. Concerns over

parts shortages and supply

chain frictions have not

eased. Afghanistan reminds

us how quickly geopolitical

risks can appear, while

Hurricane Ida demonstrates

our vulnerability in the face

of increasingly common

extreme weather events."

He said Friday's figures

would be "likely to see a

return to the 'bad news is

good news' attitude, with a

worse-than-expected

slowdown in the US labour

market likely to send stocks

higher in anticipation of

continued stimulus".

Analysts said a speech by

Xi Jinping announcing plans

to set up a new stock

exchange in Beijing for small

and medium-sized

enterprises suggested he

remained supportive of the

role of markets in the

country's development.

Equities in the mainland

and Hong Kong have been

strained in recent months by

a crackdown on a range of

industries-particularly vast

tech firms-as part of a

government drive to get a

firmer grip on the economy.

"It is particularly

interesting that the

recommendation for the

creation of the smallmedium-enterprise

exchange

is coming personally and

publicly from Mr Xi himself,"

said Patrick Springer, at

Huatai Securities USA.

"For investors concerned

about how Mr Xi sees the

financial markets, a

constructive view would be

that it means that Mr Xi

recognises the further

development of the capital

markets is critical for China."

Alamgir Kabir and Duluma

Ahmed re-elected as Chairman

and Vice Chairperson of SBL

Alamgir Kabir and Duluma

Ahmed re-elected as

Chairman and Vice

Chairperson of the Board of

Directors of Southeast Bank

Limite of its 636th Board

Meeting held recently, a

press release said.

Alamgir Kabir, FCA was

born on December 28, 1947.

He did B. Com (Hons.) from

the University of Dhaka and

M. Com from Punjab

University. He is a

professional Chartered

Accountant. He has wide

experience and profound

knowledge in Auditing,

Accounting, Banking,

Insurance and Financial

Institutions both at home

and abroad.

Kabir has been Chairman

of the Board of Directors of

the Bank since September

29, 2004. He is the

Chairman of its all

subsidiary companies. He is

the honorary Advisor of

National Life Insurance

Company Limited.

On the other hand

Duluma Ahmed has been reelected

as Vice Chairperson

of the Board of Directors of

Southeast Bank Limited.

She was unanimously reelected

Vice Chairperson of

the Bank in its 636th Board

Meeting held recently.

Duluma Ahmed being

member of educationist and

philanthropic family is the

main organizer of founding

Bathania Duluma Azim

High School, one of the top

schools of Feni area. She is

also contributing for other

educational institution of the

area.

Duluma Ahmed is

involved with a number of

socio-cultural organizations

of the country. She is the

patron of Benuka Lalitakala

Academy, Dhaka, a famous

cultural organization.

Alibaba shares

slide after $15

bn 'prosperity'

pledge

BEIJING : Shares in

Alibaba slumped Friday

upon the Chinese e-

commerce giant's

announcement it would

invest 100 billion yuan

($15.5 billion) in charitable

causes, after President Xi

Jinping called for the rich to

do more to tackle inequality,

reports BSS.

Xi last month urged

China's wealthiest

companies

and

entrepreneurs to strengthen

philanthropy efforts and

"give back to society", in

order to redistribute wealth

as part of his "common

prosperity" initiative.

In response Alibaba-which

has already fallen foul of

Beijing's sharp scrutiny this

year-said it would put

money into areas including

tech innovation, small and

medium-sized businesses,

the welfare of gig-economy

workers and healthcare

equality.

Daniel Zhang, Alibaba

chairman, said the group

was "eager to do our part to

support the realisation of

common prosperity".

Shares in Alibaba slumped

as much as 4 percent on the

news in Hong Kong trading

on Friday, as traders worried

about the potential impact

on the company's bottom

line.

Tokyo stocks

open higher with

eyes on key US

jobs data

TOKYO : Tokyo stocks

opened higher on Friday as

investors took heart from US

rallies with investors looking

ahead to US job data due later

in the day, reports BSS.

The benchmark Nikkei 225

index was up 0.25 percent or

70.23 points at 28,613.74 in

early trade, while the broader

Topix index edged up 0.27

percent or 5.39 points to

1,988.96.

"Japanese shares are seen

supported by rallies in the US

market, but traders could turn

to a wait-and-see attitude

ahead of US jobs data,

Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior

market analyst of Monex, said

in a note.

The dollar fetched 109.96

yen in early Asian trade,

against 109.95 yen in New

York late Thursday.

On Wall Street, both the

S&P 500 and Nasdaq

finished at fresh records

following better weekly

jobless claim data ahead of

the closely-watched August

employment report.

WASHINGTON: The United States

added far fewer jobs than expected in

August as businesses grappled with the

Delta wave of Covid-19, a major

disappointment and yet another

complication for President Joe Biden's

plans to remake the world's largest

economy, reports BSS.

Employment rose by just 235,000

jobs last month, according to Labor

Department data released Friday, and

while the unemployment rate fell to a

pandemic low of 5.2 percent, the report

was nowhere near the job gains seen in

recent months, which have topped one

million.

In some ways, the lackluster hiring

told a familiar tale, with the world's

largest Covid-19 outbreak once again

hurting the labor market and

underscoring that it is unlikely to make

much improvement if infections

remain high.

Biden, who is negotiating passage of

two massive spending bills through a

Congress where even his ostensible

allies have shown a willingness to defy

him, said he had pulled the country

from "economic free fall."

"What we're seeing is an economic

recovery that is durable and strong," he

said in a speech from the White House.

But he acknowledged the job

numbers fell short of expectations and

added a somber message: "We have a

lot more work to do."

The president is urging Congress to

enact both a $1.2 trillion infrastructure

overhaul and a $3.5 trillion social

welfare package. But on Thursday a

moderate senator urged fellow

Democrats to delay voting on the latter

bill, which cannot pass without his

support.

The Federal Reserve is also paying

close attention to the data, as it could

impact when it begins slowing its

massive purchases of bonds meant to

help the economy weather the

pandemic.

Chair Jerome Powell has signaled

that could start by year's end.

The August payroll increase was

sharply lower than the upwardly

revised 1.1 million positions added in

July, and considerably below the

750,000 new jobs expected by analysts.

The weak hiring comes as states and

businesses impose mask-wearing

requirements and other restrictions to

fend off the fast-spreading Delta

variant.

Covid-19 vaccines have allowed for

strong rehiring in recent months after

more than 20 million people lost their

jobs when the pandemic began last

year, but as of August 5.3 million

positions still haven't been recovered,

according to the Labor Department

report.

The leisure and hospitality sector,

which bore the brunt of the pandemic's

initial layoffs, had added an average of

350,000 jobs per-month over the last

six months, but in August it added zero

positions, the data said.

There was no improvement either in

the labor force participation rate

indicating the share of people

employed or looking for work, which

was at 61.7 percent in August, around

the range it has hovered at for more

than a year.

Adult men and white Americans saw

their unemployment rates decline, but

joblessness remained widespread for

others, including Hispanics, for whom

unemployment was 6.4 percent, and

Black Americans, which saw a 0.6

percent jump to 8.8 percent

unemployment.

The number of people reporting they

could not work because their employer

lost business or closed due to the virus

rose to 5.6 million from 5.2 million in

July.

"September likely will be weak too,

and we're becoming nervous about the

prospects for a decent revival in

October, given that behavior lags cases,

and cases are yet to peak," Ian

Shepherdson of Pantheon

Macroeconomics said.

In an interview with CNBC, National

Economic Council Director Brian

Deese said, "even with the headwinds

of Delta... we have an economy that's

able to continue generating durable job

growth," pointing to employment gains

since Biden took office in January.

Industries that did add jobs last

month include professional and

business services, which rose by

74,000, transportation and

warehousing, which gained 53,000,

and private education, which added

40,000, though state government

education and local government

education saw declines.

A positive surprise was seen in wages,

where average hourly earnings rose 0.6

percent to $30.73 after four straight

months of increases.

IUBAT & ICFAI organize joint seminar

The two days

International Seminar on

"Emerging Challenges and

Opportunities in Business

and Economy; Lessons from

Covid 19 Pandemic" jointly

organized by International

University of Business

Agriculture and Technology

(IUBAT) and University',

Tripura, India. Participants

from India, Bangladesh.

Nepal, Bhutan. Pakistan.

Contributed in the event

with their thoughts and

'observation, a press release

said.

In the opening session,

Pro-Vice- Chancellor Prof.

Dr. Biplab Haider, from

ICFAI University, Tripura

welcomed the august

gathering with a message to

on how Covid-19 has been a

challenge but has also

shown tis the opportunities

for development and

innovation in various sectors

including higher education

Prof. Dr. Abdur Rab, Vice-

Chancellor IUBAT

mentioned how business

could face the challenges

and take the opportunity

during these tough times. As

a Keynote speaker Dr.

Mohammad Nurunnabi

What can central banks do to

address climate risks?

NEW YORK : The world's main central

banks were seen as saviors of the global

economy in the wake of the 2008

financial crisis and when the coronavirus

pandemic hit last year, but they are less

than unified when it comes to addressing

climate change, reports BSS.

The start of central bank involvement

in climate action is sometimes attributed

to a 2015 speech by the Bank of

England's (BOE) then-governor Mark

Carney entitled "Breaking the tragedy of

the horizon-climate change and financial

stability."

While not directly involved in

addressing global warming, central

banks do have to be alert to its impact on

the economy and the financial system.

Amid increasing public concern, the

institutions are factoring considerations

about climate into their policies and

watching for threats to their main

mandate for price stability, implications

for banking supervision and economic

growth more broadly.

One tool at their disposal are bank

stress tests, which can gauge how

financial institutions would hold up in

the face of climate shocks.

from Prince Sultan

University, Riyadh. Saudi

Arabia emphasilet1 oh the

need for data driven

research that informs policy

making during and after the

pandemic. In the speech or

Chief Guest Prof. Dr,

Arunahha Seb, Professor,

Arizona State University,

USA, highlighted the role of

technological advancement

in combating the negetiveive

consequences Or the

pandemic and turning those

into ,advantages in the

future.

In his vote of thanks, Dr.

A. Ranganath, Registrar,

IUT ex-tended his best

wishes to the Seminar

Organizers from the two

countries and said that

technological advancements

are instrumental to negate

risks from pandemics in the

present and future. Dr. Sujit

Deb spoke on innovative

ideas to revive business,

empower people and create

meaningful employment,

especially after exit from the

lockdown. The Converter of

the Seminar was Prof. Dr.

While the European Central Bank

(ECB) has only just launched a climate

stress test initiative, the Bank of France

by May had already examined nine

banking groups and 15 insurance

companies, revealing a moderate risk for

these establishments.

The ECB also could take climate risk

into consideration when buying

corporate bonds or accepting those used

for collateral, giving preference to assets

of firms not involved in polluting

activities.

The People's Bank of China also is

considering climate stress tests, while the

BOE started in June, reviewing banks

such as HSBC and Barclays. It also

should announce before the end of the

year its program of greening its asset

buybacks.

Many central banks have joined the

Network of Central Banks and

Supervisors for Greening the Financial

System (NGFS), which currently

comprises 95 central banks and

regulators, including those in China,

India and Brazil.

Another member, the Bank of Japan

(BOJ), in June offered zero-interest

financing to lending institutions that

Khair Jahan Sogra & Dr.

Sujit Deb and Joint

Conveners were Dr.

Trinankur Dey,. Dr.

Anindita Sinha and Dr.

Mozaffar A. Chowdhury

respectively. Nearly 78

research papers from

different countries were

presented in the seminar.

The two days seminar came

to an end with a hope that

ICFAI University Tripura

would continue in

conducting

such

international events in due

course of time.

fund environmental projects. The BOJ

also will buy green bonds denominated

in foreign currency.

In the United States, the Federal

Reserve has been wading into the issue,

but Chair Jerome Powell said in June

that "climate change is not something

that we directly consider in setting

monetary policy."

However, "climate-related financial

risk" is in its purview, he said, so the Fed

is looking at the implications for bank

supervision and regulation of the US

financial system.

Mary Daly, president of the Fed's San

Francisco branch, explained that the

central bank "does not have the tools or

nor is it the appropriate body to think

about climate change and mitigating

climate change."

But "we are absolutely involved in

thinking about climate risk" including

issues like how severe weather, fires and

hurricanes can impact property values

and the ability to get insurance, as well as

how those could affect economic growth.

Actions so far have been "fast and

slow," said Eric Dor, director of economic

studies at the IESEG School of

Management in France.

SUNDAY, September 5, 2021

9

Aggressive Alcaraz delivers dream

shocker over Tsitsipas

Alcaraz reached his first Grand Slam fourth round by upsetting the Greek

star 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 0-6, 7-6 (7/5) on Friday at the US open. photo: Ap

SportS DeSk

Carlos Alcaraz dug deep for

the best tennis of his career

when it mattered most and

the 18-year-old Spaniard

was rewarded with a dream

upset of third-ranked

Stefanos Tsitsipas, reports

BSS.

Alcaraz reached his first

Grand Slam fourth round by

upsetting the Greek star 6-3,

4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 0-6, 7-6 (7/5)

on Friday at the US Open.

"I have not words to

explain how I'm feeling right

now," Alcaraz said. "I just

don't know what happened

out there in the court. I can't

believe I beat Stefanos

Tsitsipas in an epic match.

"For me, it's a dream come

true."

Alcaraz is the youngest

man in the US Open last 16

since 17-year-old American

Michael Chang in 1989 and

at any Slam since Ukraine's

Andrei Medvedev in the

1992 French Open.

He became the youngest

man to beat a top-3 player at

the US Open since the

rankings began in 1973.

"In the beginning of the

fifth set, I had to play really

aggressive, the best tennis

I've played. Was really tough

for me," Alcaraz said.

"I didn't give up. I believed

in me in the last point. He

was serving really well. I had

to be aggressive until the last

point. I did it. Was really

good."

After being blanked in the

fourth set, he out-battled

Tsitsipas in a tensionpacked

final set.

"One hundred percent he

can be a contender for

Grand Slam titles," Tsitsipas

said. "He has the game to be

there.

"In the beginning of the

first set, (he) came really

strong. Ball speed was

incredible. I've never seen

someone hit the ball so hard.

Took time to adjust."

Alcaraz was even more

impressive to the French

Open runner-up down the

stretch.

"I've never seen someone

play such a good fifth set,"

Tsitsipas said. "I didn't

expect him to raise his level

so much, especially after

having lost the fourth set this

way. He was a completely

different player.

"He dealt with (pressure)

really well. That's something

that's going to reach the

top."

After firing a forehand

winner on his third matchpoint

chance of the deciding

tie-breaker, Alcaraz

collapsed onto the court in

joy, thinking of his earliest

supporters in his Spanish

hometown.

"When I fall into the court

at the end of the match I

thought my family and my

friends, other people who

was supporting me in

Murcia, all my team also

supporting me from the

academy," Alcaraz said.

"I thought (of) every

person that was supporting

me from Murcia from the

beginning of this history

when I was a kid and

everything. Was amazing."

Alcaraz was the clear

crowd favorite at Arthur

Ashe Stadium, roars rising

for deserved dazzling

shotmaking.

"It surprised me, really.

The crowd was behind me

all the time, supporting me,

pushing me up in every

moment," he said.

"The crowd was important

for me. I think without the

crowd I couldn't have the

opportunity to play a great

fifth set and beat Stefanos.

The crowd was really

amazing. I really loved it."

Wenger calls

for World Cup

every two years

SportS DeSk

Former Arsenal boss Arsene

Wenger has called for the

World Cup to be held every

two years in an interview

with French sports daily

L'Equipe published on

Friday, reports BSS.

The 71-year-old Frenchman,

who is now director of

development at FIFA, also

called for a single annual

period of international

qualifiers in a global football

calendar. "The principle

would be a grouping of

qualifiers every year, and at

the end of the season a

major competition, World

Cup or continental

championship," said

Wenger. "Between the two

qualifying windows, the

player would stay in his club

all year round.

"There must be less of a

mix in the calendar between

the periods of club football

and periods of international

football, and therefore fewer

transcontinental trips for the

players, for example."

Wenger said he would like

to see a single international

window, perhaps in

October, with fewer

qualifying matches.

"For the players, there will

be no more matches, and

there will be compulsory rest

after the final stages.

Out of this world' Paralympians

hailed as records fall on day 11

SportS DeSk

The successful staging of the Paralympics

during a pandemic was lauded as

"remarkable" on Saturday as records

tumbled on the final day of track and field

action in Tokyo, reports BSS.

International Paralympic Committee

spokesperson Craig Spence hailed "an

amazing team effort" that had enabled the

Games to take place and said the athletes'

performances had been "out of this world".

"It's remarkable. There were doubts in the

past two years when I thought these Games

weren't going to happen," Spence told

reporters.

"A lot of people thought it was impossible

to stage the Olympics and Paralympics

during a pandemic. We took our inspiration

from our athletes."

At the Olympic Stadium on day 11,

Britain's Hannah Cockroft won her seventh

Paralympics gold in the T34 800m 1min

48.99sec, obliterating her own Games record

set in Rio by almost 12 seconds.

She crossed the line almost the length of

the finishing straight ahead of compatriot

Kare Adenegan, who took silver and Alexa

Halko of the US.

I don't think it will ever sink in," Cockroft

said of winning her second Tokyo gold and

seventh in all.

"Not many athletes get the privilege of

doing this for 10 years or get to stand on the

podium that many times," added Cockroft,

who also won the T34 100m in Tokyo to add

to her three golds at Rio 2016 and two from

London 2012.

American Nick Mayhugh said he wanted to

be like his hero "Usain Bolt" after smashing

his own world record set only the day before

to take gold in the men's T37 200m in

21.91sec.

"I know I'll never be able to run 9.5 for the

100m, but I want to be the

Usain Bolt of the Paralympics," the former

footballer who also took gold in the 100m,

Friday's night's 4x100m universal relay and

had a silver in the 400m.

"I want to be that standard for kids looking

up and to know that even if you are disabled

there isn't a negative connotation to it.

"You set your own limits. You believe in

yourself and you set your own barrier and

surpass it. Usain Bolt did exactly that with

me. He was my greatest inspiration so thank

you to him." Deng Peicheng upset Australian

world record holder James Turner to win the

men's T36 100m gold in a new Paralympic

record of 11.85sec, sparking wild

celebrations from the ecstatic Chinese

athlete. The first tennis gold of a busy final

day of action went to Australia's Dylan Alcott

who defended his Rio title in the men's quad

singles final 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 against Sam

Schroder of the Netherlands.

Later, home favourite and Japan

wheelchair tennis legend Shingo Kunieda

will round off proceedings at the Ariake

Tennis Park in the men's singles final

against Tom Egberink of the Netherlands.

There was more success for Australia and

Britain as the sprint canoeing programme

concluded at the Sea Forest Waterway.

Australia's Curtis McGrath, who lost his

legs when he trod on an explosive device

while serving in Afghanistan, won his second

gold in the men's VL3 final.

Djokovic gets

US Open day

match, Barty,

Zverev at night

SportS DeSk

Novak Djokovic tries to

reach the fourth round of

the US Open, and continue

his quest for a calendaryear

Grand Slam, in a

Saturday afternoon match

at Arthur Ashe Stadium,

reports BSS.

World number one

Djokovic, who would

become the first man since

Rod Laver in 1969 to

sweep the Slams in the

same year with a US Open

trophy, will face Japan's

Kei Nishikori.

Djokovic is 17-2 in the

all-time rivalry and has

won 16 straight matches,

the most recent in a Tokyo

Olympics quarter-final.

The last time Nishikori

beat the 34-year-old

Serbian star was in the

2014 US Open semi-finals,

when Nishikori became

the first Japanese man to

reach a Grand Slam final.

He went on to lose to

Croatian Marin Cilic.

Djokovic could also

capture his 21st career

Grand Slam title by taking

his fourth crown on the

New York hardcourts.

That would snap the men's

record deadlock for career

Grand Slam titles he

shares with Roger Federer

and Rafael Nadal, both

absent with injuries.

Before Djokovic and

Nishikori walk onto Ashe,

the first match will feature

Czech 10th seed Petra

Kvitova.

a two-time Wimbledon

champion, and Greek 17th

seed Maria Sakkari, a 2021

French Open semi-finalist.

The night session at

Ashe features world

number one Ashleigh

Barty of Australia against

American Shelby Rogers

in the first match and

Olympic champion

Alexander Zverev, the

fourth seed from

Germany, against US

wildcard Jack Sock.

Duplantis confident of new world

record despite Brussels blip

SportS DeSk

Armand Duplantis was kept waiting a long

time in Brussels as he failed in another bid to

better his own world record of 6.18 metres,

but the Swede is confident he will add at least

another centimetre to the mark, reports BSS.

As a slight chill settled in at the King

Baudouin stadium on Friday, Duplantis was

forced to don his tracksuit as technical

officials struggled to raise the bar.

All other disciplines at the Diamond

League meeting had finished and the postevent

DJs and firework technicians were

kept waiting patiently in the wings for their

moment of stardom.

The track em-cee did his best to keep the

raucous 28,000-strong crowd on their toes

and eventually the bar was raised so that

Duplantis could line himself up, ready to

launch down the runway.

Speaking before the meet, Duplantis had

said an almost perfect combination of proper

competition, good weather and a supportive

Tearful Osaka to take break

from tennis after shock loss

SportS DeSk

Four-time Grand Slam

champion Naomi Osaka,

wiping away tears after a

stunning US Open upset loss

on Friday, said she will take an

indefinite break from playing

tennis, reports BSS.

"I honestly don't know

when I'm going to play my

next tennis match," Osaka

said, choking up and wiping

away tears. "I think I'm going

to take a break from playing

for a while."

With that, the defending

US Open champion put on

her Covid-19 facemask, rose

and ended the news

conference after losing to

Canadian teen left-hander

Leylah Fernandez 5-7, 7-6

(7/2), 6-4. The world number

three from Japan, who

withdrew from the French

Open and

skipped Wimbledon over

mental health issues that she

said were exacerbated by

Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi osaka,

wiping away tears after a stunning US open

upset loss on Friday, said she will take an indefinite

break from playing tennis. photo: Ap

speaking after matches,

declined a chance to end the

session before saying she

planned to take a break. "How

do I go around saying this?"

crowd were needed for a new world record to

be set.

The stars surely aligned in the Belgian

capital, but the technical problems worked

against the 21-year-old in his bid to produce

that final record-setting vault.

"I could not ask for better conditions. It

was hot enough, there was no wind, all

perfect," he said. "It was just up to me.

"The crowd was unreal. I haven't had such

an amazing atmosphere during the

competition in a really long time.

"All eyes were on me when I attacked the

world record. It is still a special feeling, really

cool."

Duplantis, known by his nickname

"Mondo", set the current world record of

6.18m indoors in Glasgow last year, before

going on to set a world outdoor best of 6.15m

in Rome, finally eclipsing the 1994 mark set

by all-time great Sergey Bubka.

For his rivals, it is simply a question of

playing catch-up. His closest rival in Friday's

field was American Christopher Nilsen.

Osaka asked aloud. "I feel like

for me recently, like, when I

win I don't feel happy. I feel

more like a relief. "And then

when I lose, I feel very sad.

the successful staging of the paralympics during a pandemic was lauded as "remarkable" on

Saturday as records tumbled on the final day of track and field action in tokyo. photo: Ap

Mexican teen boxer

dies of injuries

suffered in ring

SportS DeSk

Jeanette Zacarias Zapata, an

18-year-old boxer from

Mexico, died Thursday, five

days after she was knocked

out in a fight, promoter Yvon

Michel said, reports BSS.

"It is with great sadness

and torment that we

learned, from a

representative of her family,

that Jeanette Zacarias

Zapata passed away this

afternoon at 3:45 p.m.," a

statement from Groupe

Yvon Michel said.

Zapata took part in the

GYM Gala International

Boxing event Saturday in

Montreal, losing to Marie

Pier Houle in the fourth

round of a welterweight

match.

A left uppercut and right

hook from Houle dazed

Zapata in the fourth round.

She did not answer the bell

for the fifth round of the

scheduled six-round

professional bout, and after

she appeared to have a

seizure she was stretchered

out of the ring and taken to

hospital.

"The entire team at

Groupe Yvon Michel team is

extremely distressed by this

painful announcement," the

promoters said in their

statement offering

condolences to the fighter's

family and in particular her

husband, Jovanni Martinez.

"Jovanni does not wish

to comment," the

statement said.

Cantlay stays one in front of Rahm

in US PGA Tour Championship

SportS DeSk

Patrick Cantlay rolled in an eight- foot

birdie putt at the final hole Friday to stay one

stroke in front of top- ranked Jon Rahm in

the US PGA Tour Championship at East

Lake in Atlanta, reports BSS.

Cantlay started the day two shots in front

of Rahm and had four birdies without a

blemish in his four-under 64. That included

a 15-footer at the 17th and his testing effort at

18 that preserved his lead on 17-under after

Rahm had closed with three straight birdies.

Rahm finished with six birdies against

one bogey in his five-under 65.

That put him at 16-under in the

tournament that features a staggered start in

which players were staked to strokes based

on their spot in the playoff standings.

After his victory in the BMW

Championship last week, Cantlay was

ranked first and had a two-stroke lead, on

10-under, heading to the very first tee on

Thursday.

Rahm started the tournament four off the

pace, but has steadily eaten into that deficit,

and Cantlay said it was "definitely"

important to drain that final birdie.

"I think I've gotten all the par-fives so far,

four birdies on the four par-fives I've played,

and it's important around this golf course

because the fives are gettable.

"But every putt out there is important and

I know they will be important when I get

there later on the weekend.

"It was nice to finish with a couple birdies

and kind of validate the patience that I had

all day," Cantlay added. Rahm had four

birdies on the back nine, including a 36-

footer from off the green at the 13th.

He bogeyed 14 after hitting into the trees

off the tee and missing the green with his

third shot.

"I hit some really good shots (to) make the

birdies," he said. "At the same time, there

were some bad shots out there. I didn't play

10 or 11 good at all.

"I made a great save for bogey on 14, a

great up-and-down as well at 15.

"So I think that's the key and that's been

the key all week. I've been able to get a lot of

good up-and-downs, and avoiding those

mistakes is what allows me to keep going,"

added Rahm, whose five-under round

matched the lowest of the day, also shot by

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama.

After his nine-foot birdie at 16, Rahm

rolled in a 15-footer at 17 and at 18 his shot

from a greenside bunker landed inches from

the cup.

Rahm said he and playing partner Cantlay

fed off each other as they separated

themselves from the field.

"Even though I want to focus on myself,

every time you see a score, you know he's not

going to let up and he keeps putting it in the

fairway and on

the green and in the fairway and on the

green -- it can raise your playing level a little

bit as well as much as me raising his level

when I'm making birdies," Rahm said.

"So we definitely feed off each other and

that's probably why you see the difference in

the scoreboard right now."

Bryson DeChambeau was alone in third on

11-under. The big-hitting American chipped

in on 17 and saved birdie from a greenside

bunker at 18, rebounding from back-to-back

bogeys at 13 and 14 to post a three-under par

67. He was one stroke in front of American

Justin Thomas with another five- players at

nine-under.

Rahm and Cantlay both said they were

trying to focus only on their games and put

the staggered start out of their minds, and

even with a $15 million bonus on offer to the

winner of the playoff race, Rahm said he'd be

approaching the weekend like any other.

sUNDAY, sepTeMBer 5, 2021

10

Sabina Yasmin

celebrates

67th birthday

TBT reporT

Saturday 4th September was the birthday of the

country's celebrated singer Sabina Yasmin.

Her fans, friends, and well-wishers from around the

world have sent their greetings to the artiste as she

steps into 67th year. Celebrities and her co-artistes

also took to the social media and shower love on

Sabina Yasmin with birthday wishes. The Bangladesh

Today also wished her happy birthday.

To mark the birthday of Sabina Yasmin,

'Bangladesh Sangeet Somonnoy Parishad' has

arranged a live programme. The programme was held

at 07:00pm Saturday. Sabina Yasmin, lyricist

Mohammad Rafiquzzaman and singers of this

generation has participated in the programme.

The noted artiste has enthralled the audience with

her melodious voice for decades. The melody queen

has numerous hit songs to her credit. She is best

known as a playback singer in Bengali cinema.

Born in 1954 to Lutfur Rahman and Mouluda

Khatun, Sabina Yasmin is the youngest amongst her

sisters. Sabina told The Bangladesh Today when

asked about how she celebratedher birthday "I spend

my birthday at home. I did not have any special plan

for my birthday. There was a small gathering with my

close friends and family members at my home. We

have cut a cake together and had a small party,".

When asked about her childhood memories

regarding her birthday, she said, "We used to hold a

birthday party at our house. Sometimes, we used to go

outside to eat something special on birthdays.

Actually, all memories of my childhood are very

beautiful and every birthday in my childhood was

beautiful too." Sabina was involved in music at an

early age. She started singing for radio, television, and

gramophone records as a child artiste. In 1964, she

sang regularly in the radio programme 'KhelaGhar'.

She made her debut in playback singing through

the song 'Modhu Jochnar Dipali' for the film 'Agun

Niye Khela' (1967), directed by Zahir Raihan.

Yasmin got her first breakthrough through the song

'Shudhu Gaan Geye Porichoy'. She then started

working under Altaf Mahmud in films including

'Anowara', 'Nayantara' and 'Taka Ana Pai'. She

gradually performed along with top composers of

Bangladesh including Satya Saha, Subal Das, Khan

Ataur Rahman, Ali Hossain, Alauddin Ali, Ahmed

Imtiaz Bulbul, and Gazi Mazharul Anwar.

She has won Bangladesh National Film Award for

Best Female Playback Singer a record 13 times. She

has recorded more than 1,500 songs for films and

over 10,000 songs in total.

Sabina Yasmin was awarded EkusheyPadak in 1984

and Independence Day Award in 1996 by the

Government of Bangladesh.

Deepika to star in cross-cultural

romantic comedy by STX film

Actor Deepika Padukone is set to star in an

upcoming cross-cultural romantic comedy to be

developed by STX films, a division of Eros STX

Global Corporation, the

studio announced on

Tuesday. Padukone

will also produce the

upcoming film through her banner Ka Productions.

The announcement of the project was made by

Adam Fogelson, chairman, STXf ilms Motion Picture

Group, in a statement. The studio is also in

negotiations with Temple Hill Productions Wyck

Godfrey and producer Marty Bowen, known for films

such as the 'Twilight' franchise, 'The Fault in Our

Stars', 'Love, Simon', to develop the project.

The project will be a "sweeping cross-cultural

romantic comedy" revolving around Padukone's

character. Fogelson called Padulkone"one of the

biggest global stars to come from India" and said

the actor, who made her Hollywood debut with

'XXX: Return of Xander Cage' in 2017, has only

grown as an international superstar.

"While she has been a phenomenal success

in many Eros International films, we are

thrilled to be building a romantic comedy

with her and our friends at Temple Hill.

"We believe this project gives us the

opportunity to tap into the spirit, voice,

characters and vibrant settings of India and

New York in ways that made 'Crazy Rich

Asians' feel so authentic and fresh,"Fogelson

said. Padukone said the aim of her

production house is to back meaningful

stories with global appeal and the upcoming

project aligned with that thought.

"Ka Productions was founded with the

aim to develop and produce purposeful

content with global appeal," the 35-year-old

actor said.

"I'm thrilled to be partnering with STX

films and Temple Hill Productions, that share

Ka's ambition and creative vision and look

forward to bringing impactful and dynamic

cross-cultural stories to the world," she added.

Last year's acclaimed drama 'Chhapaak'

marked the first film of Ka Productions, which

has also backed films like the upcoming Kabir

Khan directorial '83' and the forthcoming Hindi

adaptation of the Hollywood movie 'The Intern'.

Source: Times Of India

Mafia: A star-studded web film to

release on OTT platform

TBT reporT

Prominent filmmaker Shaheen Sumon is

coming up with a new web film titled

'Mafia', based on an underworld story.

The big-budget film features a starstudded

cast, including, Mahiya Mahi,

Mamnun Emon, Misha Sawdagar, Zahid

Hasan, Anisur Rahman Milon, Shamol

Mawla and others.

Scripted by the director himself, the

screenplay has been written by Delwar

Hossain Dil. The shooting of the project is

underway. The web film also stars

RahaTanha Khan, Mou Khan, Orsha,

Anchal Ankhi, and others.

About the film, actor Emon said, "I've

joined the cast recently. This is a storybased

film. The audience will see me in a

different character in 'Mafia'. Through

this project, I'm sharing screen with

Mahiya Mahi for the first time. I hope it

will be a good film."

Orlando eyes leading

Pirates of the

Caribbean's new era!

TBT reporT

Disney who announced

Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow's

exit from the 'Pirates Of The

Caribbean' 3 years ago is not

Maaya- The Revenge is a

Romantic thriller web film.

Director Fahmida Prema's

upcoming web film 'Maaya-The

Revenge' starring model-turnedactress

Affri Selina in a double

role is going to release today,

Sunday.

In 'Maaya-The Revenge', Affri

will be seen along with actor Asif

Noor in lead roles. Production

house 'Phantom Creations' is

scheduled to release the film on

its YouTube channel and

Facebook page today.

Meanwhile, an official teaser

and motion posters of the film

were released on the internet.

Affri is featured in the teaser

appearing in a never-seen-before

look.

Romantic thriller 'Maaya-The

Revenge' was shot in various

locations of Sylhet and Dhaka.

Actress Affri shared about her

roles while talking to The

Bangladesh Today on Friday. "In

'Maaya-The Revenge', I have

played two characters with totally

"Some part of the shooting of the bigbudget

project was held at Film Valley in

Manikganj from August 24 to September

1. After a short break the shooting of the

film begins again at a resort in Pubail,

Emon added."

Shaheen Sumon said, "Earlier, we shot

the film in Cox's Bazar and Manikganj.

budging even a bit from their

decision, no matter how many

petitions fans file. Add to the

mix the controversy around

Johnny Depp and the studio

will maintain extra distance just

like many others. In that case,

the thought that he will

headline the future flicks in the

franchise is rare, and that has

reportedly profited Orlando

Bloom.

Well, hell broke loose on

Johnny Depp with everything

that happened around him in

the Libel trial. He had accused a

popular tabloid of Libel for

calling him a wife-beater, in

reference to his allegedly

violent relationship with

former wife Amber Heard.

Soon he was told to quit

'Fantastic Beast' by WB, and his

hopes to comeback to 'Pirates

Of The Caribbean' were also

crushed.

Fans in no time took the

responsibility to save his career

in their hands and began the

game of petitions and millions

of fans signing it. But seems like

that has not affected the studios

who are now planning to give

Affri 'Maaya The Revenge'

to release today

contradictory instincts, which

marks the first dual roles in my

career. One of the characters is

named Nusrat who is a very softhearted

girl. The other character,

named 'Maaya', is a psychotic

and fierce one," she said.

While talking about the shooting

The shooting will also be held at different

locations across the country. It is a starstudded

film and all is going well. We are

trying to produce a good film."

Under the banner of Shapla Media, the

web film is produced by Selim Khan.

'Mafia' will be released on an OTT

platform.

Orlando Bloom the centre

stage.

As we all know, reportedly

two films in the 'Pirates Of The

Caribbean' universe are right

now in work. A direct sequel to

'Dead Men Tell No Tales' and a

spinoff hailing from Birds of

Prey duo Margot Robbie and

Christina Hodson. As per latest

reports the studio is planning to

give Orlando Bloom all the

spotlight making him the lead

in the future sequel. The report

says he will be "legacy player of

the new Pirates of the

Caribbean era".

That fact that Orlando Bloom

is an alumni and was a part of

'Dead Men Tell No Tales' in a

brief cameo, makes the

probability of him becoming

the lead much higher. Time will

tell what happens in the world

of pirates and how Johnny

Depp fans react to this twist in

the tale.

Source: The Hollywood

Reporter

of 'Maaya-The Revenge', the actress

said that the entire team of the film

was very dedicated and hardworking.

"The team was really good

and supportive. I remember how

busy we were shooting the film. We

had to shoot a song from the

afternoon till late at night. The

locations in Sylhet were really

beautiful."

"It was my first collaboration

with Asif Noor. As a co-artist, he

was very helpful. It would not

have been possible to execute

such a good project without each

other's support. I thank Asif Noor

for that," she added.

Affri Selina is currently awaiting

the release of her other film, titled

'Istition', which is delayed by the

existing pandemic situation.

Having made his silver screen

debut with the SA HaqueOlike

directorial 'EkPrithibiPrem' in

2016, actor Asif Noor was last

seen in ShaheenSumon's

'Pagoler Moto Bhalobashi, which

was released in February this

year. The film co-stars actress

Adhora Khan with Asif.

H o r o s c o p e

ArIes

(March 21 - April 20) : You may put other

people's needs before yours, Aries. There's

an important balance between being

selfish and being selfless. Don't sacrifice

yourself to be a servant to others. It's important that you

not think only of yourself without considering how your

actions will affect others. You may swing toward the

former today. This will only lead to resentment and

deplete your emotional and physical resources.

TAUrUs

(April 21 - May 21) : Be disciplined.

Maintain your boundaries in order to

keep from getting swept into other

people's soap operas, Taurus. It may be

fun to escape your problems by jumping into

someone else's life, but soon you'll find the extra

weight is not only taxing but also won't solve your

problems. You may need to say no to others, but

that's fine. It's vital that you consider your needs.

GeMINI

(May 22 - June 21) : Don't go overboard,

Gemini. You may get so carried away in

the early part of the day that by evening

you notice you've gone beyond your own

boundaries. Regret may sink in, and you may feel

guilty about things you said or did. Prevent this by

thinking things through before speaking or acting.

You have the power to impact people on a deep

emotional level. Use this power wisely.

cANcer

(June 22 - July 23) : People may be

trying to subtly communicate to you,

but you may not be aware of this

because you're so caught up in your

own difficulties, Cancer. You may feel like you're

driving with the emergency brake on. You're so

preoccupied with running smoothly that you're

unaware of other cars on the road. Stop, release the

brake, and drive.

Leo

(July 24 - Aug. 23): You may feel like

you aren't getting the attention you

need or deserve, Leo. Because of this,

you may resent the people you feel you

should be getting it from. This attitude is likely to

make people less likely to come to your rescue. Who

wants to be around someone so needy and

unhappy? Focus on yourself and your own healing

before you take your issues to others.

VIrGo

(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23): Try not to push

away the very people who are there to help

you, Virgo. Dumping your problems on

others may be the thing that does just

that. Recognize your uncomfortable feelings, but don't

burden others with them. Your happiness is your

responsibility. You'll feel much better about yourself if

you take care of your own discomfort. Then you'll attract

the people you love.

LIBrA

(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): Your adaptive

powers are useful in that they give you a

high tolerance for uncomfortable

situations, Libra. At times, however, this

trait may not serve you very effectively. You may end

up staying in a difficult relationship or unsatisfying job

because you fear something new. Life is short. If you

want to improve your situation, take responsibility for

it. Be proactive.

scorpIo

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) : You may feel

lonely and isolated, like there's no one

you can talk to, Scorpio. Your

interactions may seem like giving a

speech instead of having a discussion. Perhaps you

feel like you're talking to yourself most of the time

and no one is really listening. There's nothing

wrong with you or the person you're talking to. It's

just a phase. Don't get hung up on it.

sAGITTArIUs

(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): Don't fall into the

self-pity trap, Sagittarius. You may

have a tendency to mope around until

someone notices and asks what's

wrong. If no one does, you might get angry and

pretty soon feel like you have no friends. Your mood

could worsen, and you might snap when someone

asks you a reasonable question. Be careful of sliding

down this slippery slope.

cAprIcorN

(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20): You're at an emotionally

climactic time, Capricorn. You may feel

like someone is putting a damper on your

feelings. Perhaps you're scared or shy.

Perhaps you don't feel you can express yourself the way

you want to. If so, consider why. Do other people make

you feel this way or are you uncomfortable with your

own feelings? The issue may have more to do with your

inner turmoil than with others.

AQUArIUs

(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) : Be careful of letting

a sour mood ruin your day, Aquarius.

You may not feel particularly cheerful.

This is liable to have a dramatic effect

on everyone else. Be aware of the fact that your

mood may not be an accurate reflection of reality,

even though for the most part your world is centered

on your moods and the dramatic swings they go

through within one day.

pIsces

(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20) : Relationships

may be a bit difficult, Pisces, so don't

force pleasantry if it doesn't come

naturally. Your motto today should

be, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't

say anything at all." Perhaps this leaves you

tongue-tied, but that's fine. If you need to spend

the day alone, so be it. Don't be social if you don't

feel like it.

sunDAY, sePTemBer 5, 2021

11

Climate change blamed for

havoc in northeast US floods

NEW YORK: Climate change and

creaky infrastructure were blamed

Friday for the scale of the impact from

floods tearing through New York City

when remnants of Hurricane Ida swept

across the US northeast, killing at least

47 people, reports BSS.

"We are in a whole different world,"

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said

after the flash floods. "This is a different

challenge."

Record rain turned streets into rivers

and shut down subway services as

water cascaded onto tracks. Nearly a

dozen people drowned in basement

apartments.

The extreme weather, combined with

a lack of preparation, stretched the

United States' biggest city to breaking

point.

"It's no big surprise that the city

seems to break down every time there's

a big storm," said Jonathan Bowles,

executive director of the think-tank

Center for an Urban Future.

"The city's infrastructure hasn't kept

pace with the population growth that

New York's had in the last couple of

decades, let alone the increasing

ferocity of storms, and rising sea levels

that have come with climate change,"

Bowles said.

While there has been a lot of

investment in big projects-train

stations, airports, new bridges-less

funding has gone to "unsexy" projects

such as sewer lines and water mains, he

Covid restrictions

bring blip in better

air quality: UN

GENEVA: Pandemic

lockdowns and travel

restrictions caused dramatic

but

short-lived

improvements in air quality

and drops in pollution, the

UN said on Friday, but

warned the blip was no

substitute for long-term

action, reports BSS.

A new report from the

UN's World Meteorological

Organization (WMO) found

that Covid-19 restrictions last

year temporarily improved

air quality in a number of

places, especially in urban

areas.

But they also spurred an

increase in some pollutants

that were both hazardous to

health and had an unclear

impact on climate change.

"Covid-19 proved to be an

unplanned air-quality

experiment," WMO chief

Petteri Taalas said in a

statement.

"It did lead to temporary

localised improvements," he

said.

"But a pandemic is not a

substitute for sustained and

systematic action to tackle

major drivers of both

pollution and climate change

and so safeguard the health

of both people and planet."

Air pollution, especially

involving small particles,

seriously affects human

health, and is linked to

millions of deaths each year.

WMO's report was based

on studies of how key air

pollutants behaved in and

around dozens of cities

around the world.The

analysis showed decreases of

up to 40 percent in small

particle concentrations

during full lockdown

compared to the same

periods in 2015-2019.

said.

Nicole Gelinas, an urban economics

expert at the Manhattan Institute,

another think-tank, said New York's

infrastructure "was not built for seven

inches of rainfall in a few hours."

Drains for the city's sewer system get

clogged, Gelinas said, and "there's not

enough green space to catch some of

the water before it runs into the drains.

"So some of these avenues, they

become canals when there's a big

storm."

New York, New Jersey and

Pennsylvania were the hardest hit by

Ida, which ravaged the southern state

of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast earlier

in the week before sweeping northeast.

President Joe Biden, who has made

threats from climate change a priority,

flew to Louisiana, where more than

800,000 people remained without

power after Ida made landfall as a

Category 4 storm.

He said costly improvements to the

levee system around New Orleans after

the far deadlier Hurricane Katrina in

2005 had proved their worth in

preventing more catastrophic damage

this time.

Similarly

transformative

infrastructure projects-rather than

simply rebuilding-will have to become

the new norm, he said, pushing for

passage of his giant $3.5 trillion

infrastructure bill in Congress.

"Things have changed so drastically

Biman to restart Delhi, Kolkata

flights within air bubble Sep 5

DHAKA : Biman Bangladesh Airlines will

resume Bangladesh-India air bubble flights

on the Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka route from

September 5 and the Dhaka-Delhi-Dhaka

route three days later, reports UNB.

The flights will restart within the air bubble

agreed between the two countries before the

resumption of scheduled international

passenger flights.

The national flag carrier will operate flights

on the Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka route two days

per week (Tuesday and Thursday) and two

days per week (Sunday and Wednesday) on

the Dhaka-Delhi-Dhaka route, according to

Tahera Khondoker, deputy general manager

(public relations), of Biman.

On September 2, the Civil Aviation

Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) accepted

the Indian civil aviation ministry's proposal

to resume Bangladesh-India air bubble

flights on September 4.

Also, it accepted the proposal of

resumption of air bubble flights with "seven

frequencies."However, a proposal of

allocation of 10 frequencies is in place for

consideration.

in terms of the environment, you've

already crossed a certain threshold," he

said.

"You can't build back a road, a

highway or a bridge to what it was

before."

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy

said Storm Ida had left 25 people dead

in his state, most of them "individuals

who got caught in their vehicles."

Thirteen deaths were reported in

New York City, including 11 victims

who could not escape their basements,

police said.

Three people were killed in the New

York suburb of Westchester, while

another five died in Pennsylvania and

one-a state trooper-in Connecticut,

officials said.

"I'm 50 years old and I've never seen

that much rain ever," said Metodija

Mihajlov, whose Manhattan restaurant

basement was flooded with three

inches of water.

"It was like living in the jungle, like

tropical rain. Unbelievable. Everything

is so strange this year," Mihajlov told

AFP.

The National Weather Service

recorded 3.15 inches of rain in New

York's Central Park in just an hourbeating

a record set just last month

during Storm Henri.

The US Open tennis tournament was

halted as howling wind and rain blew

under the corners of the Louis

Armstrong Stadium roof.

"Frequencies" simply denotes the number

of flights to be included under the bubble

each week.

Under the present sevenfrequencies

arrangement, India has informed

Bangladesh that three of its operators have

been allocated the flights each week -

threefor SpiceJet, and two each for Air India

and Indigo.

What Biman have announced so far would

indicate Bangladesh has some frequencies

left over. Will the government bring in the

private sector to fill those, as Delhi has?

Irrespective of the Covid-19 vaccination,

any passenger travelling from India will

have to complete a 14-day strict home

quarantine.

All other related provisions, including the

requirement of mandatory RT-PCR test,

would apply to such passengers as

mentioned in the Air Transportation

Circular issued on August 16, which may be

amended from time to time, according to

CAAB. However, the carriage of passengers

can be restricted to 90% of the total seating

capacity of the aircraft used, it said.

Wildfire evacuees flood Lake

Tahoe roads in rush to flee

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE : A popular vacation

haven normally filled with tens of thousands

of summer tourists was clogged with fleeing

vehicles Monday after the entire resort city of

South Lake Tahoe was ordered to leave as a

shrugged him off, certain that if an

evacuation order came, it would be later in

the week.

"Before, it was, 'No worries ... it's not going

to crest. It's not gonna come down the hill.

ferocious wildfire raced toward Lake Tahoe, There's 3,500 firefighters, all those

a sparkling gem on the California-Nevada

state line.

Vehicles loaded with bikes and camping

gear and hauling boats were in gridlock

traffic in the city of 22,000, stalled in hazy,

brown air that smelled like a campfire. Police

and other emergency vehicles whizzed by.

Ken Breslin was stuck in bumper-tobumper

traffic less than a mile (1.6

kilometers) from his home, with only a

quarter-tank of gas in his Ford Escape. His

son begged him to leave Sunday night, but he

bulldozers and all the air support,'" he said.

"Until this morning, I didn't think there was

a chance it could come into this area. Now,

it's very real."

By Monday night the fire had crossed state

highways 50 and 89 and burned mountain

cabins as it churned down slopes toward the

Tahoe Basin. Flames came within just a few

miles of South Lake Tahoe and residents of

communities just over the state line in

Douglas County, Nevada were warned to get

ready to evacuate.

Tomader Pashey

distributes

mask

When the coronavirus

pandemic is raging in

Bangladesh as well as

around the world, a

voluntary and charitable

initiative "Tomader

Pashey" [We Stand by

You] has started its

journey.

Considering the Covid-

19 situation in the

country, this organisation

held a mask distribution

programme in Khulna city

on Friday

Under this programme,

Tomader Pashey handed

over 1,000 facemasks to

Khulna Oxygen Bank, a

well-known organisation

in the city. The handover

ceremony was held at

Oxygen Bank's Shivbari

office, a press release said.

Besides, 200 more

masks were distributed

among general people at

the city's different

important places to create

awareness among them

about health guidelines.

Tomader Pashey

activists distributed these

masks in Khulna Press

Club,

Shivbari

Intersection and Khulna

Medical College Hospital

areas.

Organising Secretary

Md Shofiqul Islam, Social

Welfare Secretary Bipul

Chandra Shil, and Joint

General Secretary Protap

Kumar Shil were present

among others. At that

time, Saiful Islam, a wellwisher

of the

organisation, assisted

them.

"Tomader Pashey" is a

welfare initiative of

Khulna city's Khalishpur

Secondary School

Alumni Association [SSC

Batch '96].

A press conference was held at the auditorium of Bangladesh Photo Journalist Association yesterday

marking photo journalist sports festival-2021.

Photo : TBT

GD-1280/21 (6x4)

Taliban prepare for government

as fighting rages in Panjshir

KABUL : The Taliban are due to form a

government within days despite fighting in

Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley where forces

battling the hardline Islamists say they are

enduring "heavy" assaults, reports BSS.

The Islamists face the enormous challenge

of shifting gears from insurgent group to

governing power, days after the United States

fully withdrew its troops and ended two

decades of war.

But they are still battling to extinguish the

last flame of resistance in the Panjshir Valley,

which held out for a decade against the Soviet

Union's occupation and also the Taliban's first

rule from 1996-2001.

Late Friday, celebratory gunfire rang out

across Kabul as rumours spread the valley had

fallen, but the Taliban made no official claim

and a resident told AFP by phone the reports

were false.

Fighters from the National Resistance

Front-made up of anti-Taliban militia and

former Afghan security forces-are understood

to have significant weapon stockpiles in the

valley, which lies around 80 kilometres (50

miles) north of Kabul.

Earlier Friday, Ali Maisam Nazary, a

spokesman for the Panjshir resistance, who is

understood to be outside the valley but in close

contact with key leader Ahmad Massoud, said

the fighting was "heavy" and that Massoud

was "busy defending the valley".

Pro-Taliban Twitter accounts aired video

clips purporting to show the new regime's

fighters had captured tanks and other heavy

military equipment inside the valley.

Taliban and resistance tweets suggested the

key district of Paryan had been taken and lost

again, but that could also not be

independently verified.

While the West has adopted a wait-and-see

approach to the group, there were some signs

of engagement with the new leaders gathering

pace.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due

on Sunday to head to Qatar, a key hub for the

Afghan evacuation and the location of the

Taliban's political office, though he was not

expected to meet with the militants.

He will then travel to Germany to lead a

virtual 20-nation ministerial meeting on

Afghanistan alongside German Foreign

Minister Heiko Maas.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterreres

was also to convene a high-level meeting on

Afghanistan in Geneva on September 13 to

focus on humanitarian assistance for the

country.

The United Nations has already restarted

humanitarian flights to parts of the country,

while the country's flag carrier Ariana Afghan

Airlines resumed domestic flights on Friday

and the United Arab Emirates sent a plane

carrying "urgent medical and food aid".

Western Union and Moneygram,

meanwhile, said they were restarting money

transfers, which many Afghans rely on from

relatives abroad to survive, and Qatar said it

was working to reopen the airport in Kabul-a

lifeline for aid. China confirmed it will keep its

embassy in Kabul open.

Cuba starts vaccinating

children in order to re-open

schools amid Covid surge

HAVANA : Cuban authorities on Friday

launched a national campaign to vaccinate

children aged two to 18 against Covid-19, a

condition set by the Communist government in

order to reopen schools for in-person

instruction amid a spike in infections, reports

BSS.

Children aged 12 and older will be the first to

receive one of the two domestically produced

vaccines, Abdala and Soberana, followed by

younger kids.

Schools have mostly been closed in Cuba since

March 2020 and students have been following

lessons on television. With the school year

starting Monday, they will continue learning

remotely until all eligible children are

vaccinated.Laura Lantigua, 17, came to receive

the first of three injections at Saul Delgado high

school in the Cuban capital Havana.

"I always wanted to be vaccinated," Lantigua

told AFP. She said that doctors measured her

blood pressure and temperature before giving

her the shot, then told her to wait for an hour to

make sure she didn't have any side effects. "I felt

normal, fine," Lantigua said. As the Delta

variant spread across the island of 11.2 million

the country's health care system has been

pushed to the brink.

sunday, Dhaka: september 5, 2021; Bhadra 21, 1428 Bs; Muharram 26, 1443 hijri

BNP's call for mass movement

is ridiculous:Hasan

DHAKA : Information and

Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan

Mahmud yesterday said BNP's call for

mass movement is ridiculous as the

leaders and workers of the party don't

respond to the call of Mirza Fakhrul

Islam Alamgir.

"The call of mass movement doesn't

suit Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. . .

the call for mass upsurge by Fakhrul

with some Jubo Dal and Chhatra Dal

activists is ridiculous," he told

reporters.

Earlier, the minister addressed a

seminar on Bangabandhu and golden

jubilee of the independence and Press

Council Award giving ceremony at

Tathya Bhaban in the city's Circuit

House Road.

Hasan, also Awami League joint

general secretary, said BNP has been

giving same statements of mass movement

for the last twelve and a half

years. In fact, the leaders and activists

of the party (BNP) don't give response

to their call, he added.

Criticising another comment of the

BNP leader, he said democracy has

been established under the dynamic

leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina and multi-party and multidimensional

democracy exists in the

country. Multi-party including BNP is

represented in parliament, he added.

The minister said Mirza Fakhrul is of

the habit of telling loudly in every

morning, afternoon and evening that

there is no democracy and his

(Fakhrul) unnecessary criticism

proves that there is democracy in the

country and there is freedom of

speech.

About increasing the capability of

Press Council, the minister said the

law of the council would be modernized.

Mass media witnessed a vast revolution

in the last decade under the

dynamic leadership of Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina, said Hasan.

In line with the progress, the capability

of the Press Council would be

increased. For this, work is going on to

modernize the existing law, he added.

State Minister for Information and

Broadcasting Dr Murad Hasan and

Secretary of the ministry Md Mokbul

Hossain addressed the function as

special guests with Bangladesh Press

Council panel chairman Advocate

Syed Rezaur Rahman in the chair.

Parliament passes Delimitation

Bill replacing ordinance

Valiant freedom fighters to get

digital certificates:Minister

SANGSAD BAHBAN : The government

will distribute permanent digital

certificates among the country's

valiant freedom fighters while all the

living freedom fighters will get smart

cards.

"A process in this regard is underway,"

Liberation War Affairs Minister

AKM Mozammel Huq told Parliament

on Saturday while replying to a tabled

question from ruling party MP Benjir

Ahmed.

Once prepared, he said, the digital

certificates will be distributed simultaneously

among the freedom fighters

SANGSAD BHABAN : The Delimitation

of Constituencies Bill, 2021 seeking to

formulate an act to replace a military

regime-era ordinance in line with a court

judgment was passed in Parliament on

Saturday.

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs

Minister Anisul Haq piloted the Bill and

it was passed by voice vote, reports UNB.

The proposed law has been designed

aiming to make an act instead ofthe existing

Delimitation of Constituencies

Ordinance 1976, which was promulgated

during the military regime of Ziaur

Rahman. As per the Bill, the Election

Commission shall, for the purpose of elections

to the seats in Parliament, divide the

country into as many single territorial

constituencies as the number of members

to be elected as per the Constitution.

Theconstituencies shall be so delimited,

having regard to administrative convenience,

that each constituency is a

compact area.In doing so,due regard

shall begiven to the distribution of populationas

per the latest census report.

After making such enquiries and examining

such records as it may deem necessary,the

Commission shallpublish in the

official Gazettea preliminary list of territorial

constituencies specifying the areas

proposed to be included in each such constituency

together with a notice inviting

objections and suggestions within such

period as may be specified in the notice.

After hearing and considering the objections

and suggestions, if any,the

Commission shallmake such amendments,

alterations or modifications in the preliminary

list published as it thinks fit and shall,

also after correcting any errors arising from

any accidental slip or omission, publish in

the official Gazette the final list of territorial

constituencies showing the areas included

in each such constituency.

The validity of the delimitation or formation

of any constituencyor of any proceedings

taken oranything done by or

under the authority of the Commission,

under this law shall not be called in question

in or before any Court or other

authority.

The territorial constituencies shall be

delimited afresh - upon the completion of

each census, for the purpose of general

election to Parliament to be held following

such census; and unless otherwise

directed by the Commission for reasons

to be recorded in writing, before each

general election to Parliament.

across the country through Union

Nirbahi Officers (UNOs).

He said the certificates issued temporarily

have been invalidated.

Responding to a question from AL

MP Nurnnabi Chowdhury, the minister

said some 10,000 certificates of

fake freedom fighters, issued from

BNP regime to 2010, have been

annulled after scrutiny . "Actually, the

number of gazetted freedom fighters

in the country is 183,560."

He said a scrutinyprocess is going to

include genuine freedom fighters and

exclude fake ones.

Dengue

265 more

hospitalized

in 24 hrs

DHAKA : Dengue claimed two more

lives in Bangladesh in 24 hours till

Saturday morning, raising the death

tally to 51, reports UNB.

Besides, 265 new Dengue patients

were hospitalised during the period, said

the Directorate General of Health

Services (DGHS).

Of the new patients, 232 were in

Dhaka while the remaining cases were

reported from outside the division.

Some 1,273 patients diagnosed with

dengue fever are receiving treatment in

the country as of Saturday morning,

DGHS said.

Among them, 1,137 patients are

receiving treatment at different hospitals

in the capital while the remaining

136 were listed outside Dhaka.

According to DGHS, 11,501 patients

have been diagnosed with dengue this

year and 10,174 of them have been

released from hospitals after recovery,

according to DGHS.

Of the deaths so far, 47 were reported

in Dhaka city, two in Chattogram division

and one each in Khulna and

Rajshahi divisions.

RAB arrests

militants from

Mymensingh city

Ali AhsAn RAj

Exchange of fires occurred between RAB

forces and some militants at the heart of

Mymensingh city. RAB has arrested four

militants with weapons in the incident.

The incident took place in Khagdahar

area of the city on Saturday morning.

RAB-14 Additional Superintendent of

Police (ASP) Hannanul Islam confirmed

the information in the morning.

The RAB official said the operation

was launched at night on suspicion of a

militant hideout in Khagdahar area of

Mymensingh. RAB Wing Commander

Rokonuzzaman led the drive from the

front. Sensing the presence of the RAB,

the militants started firing. The visiting

team of RAB also fired back in selfdefense.

At one stage, RAB arrested the

four militants with weapons.

RAB has arrested four militants with weapons from Khagdahar area of Mymensing on

saturday morning.

Photo : TBT

The readymade garment sector has been leading Bangladesh's export earnings for a long time.

This sector is coming out of the bad times of Corona.

Photo : star Mail

Experts suggest use of

bandoned Sangu platform as

storage for imported LNG

DHAKA : Abandoned seven years ago

Sangu, the country's first offshore gas

field platform, can be used as a storage

for imported liquefied natural gas

(LNG) before being supplied to the end

users, energy experts suggest, reports

UNB.

According to the experts, the offshore

platform has a strong potential to serve

this purpose as many countries exploit

such mechanism to reduce the cost.

"The Sangu platform should be

utilised for this purpose with its subsea

pipeline before its damage", Prof. Dr.

Ijaz Hossain, head of the Department of

Chemical Engineering told UNB on

Saturday.

"As the facility remains unutilised

after investment of millions of dollars,

the government can invite and allow

interested firm to install FSRU and supply

re-gasified LNG to end users

through the existing pipeline with the

platform," he opined.

Sangu was the country's maiden offshore

gas field when it was discovered in

1996 in the Bay of Bengal, 50km away

from the land near Silimpur.

Australian oil and gas firm Santos

was in charge of operation when the

field was permanently shut down and

declared abandoned in October 1, 2013

SANGSAD BHABAN : TheBangladesh

Legal Practitioners and Bar Council

(Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed in

Parliament on Saturday allowing the

government to form an ad-hoc committee

for a maximum one-year tenure

to arrange Bar Council elections in an

unusual situation, reports UNB.

Law Minister Anisul Huq piloted the

Bill in the House and it was passed by

voice vote.

The Bill was placed in Parliament on

Friday.

On Wednesday, the minister placed

the Bangladesh Legal Practitioners

and Bar Council (Amendment)

Ordinance, 2021 in the House.

It was approved by the Cabinet on

July 26 and later the President promulgated

the Ordinance on July 28.

The ordinance was promulgated as

Parliament was not there in session at

that time. As per rules, the ordinance

was placed in Parliament on the first

day of the session for its approval.

The Bill has a provision of allowing

the government to form an ad-hoc

committee for a maximum one-year

tenure to arrange the Bar Council election

in an unusual situation.

It said if the regular Bar Council

election cannot be held by May 31 after

every three years, the government can

form a 15-member ad-hoc committee

for a maximum one year.

as gas production dropped to 2.0-3.0

mmcfd. Initially it produced around 50

mmcfd of gas, which went up to 180

mmcfd.

According to Petrobangla around 488

billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas was produced

from this gas field from 1998 to

2013. Sangu was operated by different

foreign companies of which Santos and

its predecessors Cairn and Shell invested

over $ 1.0 billion in the gas field.

But the Sangu platform remained

abandoned over the past seven years

posing a threat of permanent damage of

the gas receiving and supply facility

worth millions of dollars.

State-run Petrobangla, the owner of

the platform, is yet to take any decision

over the use of Sangu platform either by

state-run entities or by private entrepreneurs.

Petrobangla sources said a number of

international firms, however, are eyeing

to utilize the platform mainly as a gateway

to import LNG, re-gasify it and supply

the re-gasified LNG through the

Sangu facility.

Sangu facilities include the platform in

the Bay of Bengal, sub-sea pipeline and

onshore gas process plant.

The onshore gas process plant is located

at Fouzdarhat in Chittagong.

JS passes Legal Practitioners

and Bar Council Bill

In the existing Bangladesh Legal

Practitioners and Bar Council Order,

1972, there is no alternative provision,

if the regular election cannot be

arranged in time due to any natural

disaster or something else like 'acts of

God'.

It said elections to the Bar Council

shall always be held so as to conclude

on or before the [thirty first day of

May] in the year in which the term of

the Bar Council expires.

It said if the elections to the Bar

Council cannot be held within the time

specified in clause due to pandemic,

epidemic, act of God or for any other

unavoidable circumstances as may be

determined by the government from

time to time, the government may, by

notification in the official Gazette, constitute

an Ad-hoc Bar Council consisting

of fifteen members for a term not

exceeding one year and this term shall

not be further extended.

The Attorney-General of Bangladesh

shall be one of the members of the Adhoc

Bar Council and shall also be its

chairman, it said.

"Notwithstanding anything contained

in any other provision of this

Order, the Ad-hoc Bar Council shall

exercise such powers and functions of

the Bar Council as specified in this

Order and the rules made thereunder,"

it added.

Tourists throng

Sundarbans as govt

withdraw ban

KHULNA : Tourists have started to visit

Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove

forest, from September 1 after a fivemonth-long

closure because of the outbreak

of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19),

reports BSS.

Earlier, the Forest Department

announced that tourists will be able to

enter every tourist spot inside the forest

from November 1, 2020, as the infections

of coronavirus significantly reduced.

The Forest Department made the decision

after holding a meeting of the

Parliamentary Standing Committee on

Forests and Environment on August 29 in

a view to gear up Sundarbans-centric

tourism industry as well as feeling a sense

of relief ahead of the upcoming tourist

season.

According to the Forest Department, to

prevent the spread of Covid-19, a temporary

shutdown was imposed from March 19 over

the entire Sundarbans for tourists, boats

and villagers, adjacent to Sundarbans, who

are dependent on the forest.

Talking to BSS, General Secretary of

Tour Operator Association of Sundarbans

Nazmul Azam Devid said tourists have

started to visit Sunderbans from

September 1.

Earlier, tour operators completed

their necessary preparations and many

of them have opened tour pre-bookings

after banning closure, he said,

adding that some vessels (Launch) and

Ships begin towards Sundarbans

tourist spots every day.

Rifat murder case

Absconding

accused Musa

Bond arrested

BARGUNA : Police arrested Musa

Bond, 23, the absconding accused of

Rifat Sharif murder case on Friday

night from Barguna Mach Bazar area,

reports UNB.

Though Musa was acquitted from the

charges in this case police are yet to

receive any documents, said KM Tariqul

Islam, officer-in-charge of Barguna

sadar police station.

Musa will be shown arrested in Rifat

murder case and four other cases as an

arrest warrant was issued against him

already during the trial of the case,

added the OC.

After the murder incident Musa fled to

India and remained fugitive during the

period of trial, said the OC.

Musa was a close ally of Ahmed alias

Nayon Bond, the main accused in the

murder case who was killed in an alleged

gunfight with police on July 2.

He was also an active member of the

Bond gang in Barguna.

On Sept 30, Minni and five others

were sentenced to death for killing Rifat

in broad daylight last year. Four others

were acquitted.

On Tuesday, 11 juveniles were sentenced

to different jail terms in the case.

The court sentenced six of them to 10

years in jail, four to five years and one to

three years' imprisonment.

The court acquitted three others as

charges brought against them could not

be proven.

05-09-2021

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