23-01-2022

SundAy

DhAkA: January 23, 2022; Magh 9, 1428 BS; Jamadi-us Sani 19,1443 hijri

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www.bangladeshtoday.net

Regd.No.DA~2065, Vol.19; N o. 263; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00

internAtionAl

Booster shots needed

against omicron,

CDC studies show

>Page 7

SportS

Shakib, Mustafizur in

IPL auction with highest

base price of INR 2 cr

>Page 9

ArtS & Culture

Priyam to star

in Nirban

>Page 10

Much-hyped EC formation Bill

set to be placed in JS today

DHAKA : The much-talked-about Bill,

"Appointment of Chief Election

Commissioner and Election

Commissioners Bill-2022", will be placed

in parliament on (Sunday) as the government

wants to have a law in this regard as

per the Constitution.

According to the business schedule of

Sunday's parliament sitting, Law Minister

Anisul Haq will place the draft law on the

Election Commission formation.

After placing of the proposed law, the

law minister will propose to send the Bill

to the parliamentary standing committee

on the respective ministry for scrutiny and

submit it before the House, according to a

notice on parliament activities.

The Cabinet, in its Monday's meeting

held at the Cabinet Room of the Jatiya

Sangsad with Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina in the chair, cleared the draft Bill.

As per the proposed law, a search committee

will be formed taking approval

from the President over the constitution of

the Election Commission.

The search committee will recommend

Lower courts,

tribunals to run

virtually from today

DHAKA : All the subordinate courts and

tribunals across the country have been

directed to operate judicial proceedings

virtually except emergencies in a bid to

stem the fresh surge of the Covid-19 cases.

A notification signed by the Registrar

General of the Supreme Court

Mohammad Ali Akbar in this regard was

issued yesterday following the directive of

the chief justice.

"Judges of all civil and criminal subordinate

courts and tribunals across the country

should be present physically in the

courts in case of necessity or operate judicial

proceedings virtually using the information

technology," said the notification.

All kinds of cases can be filed with these

courts in-person maintaining necessary

health safety while judges will take depositions

being present physically in the

courts, it added. Besides, the notification

said, the accused persons can submit surrender

papers physically.

The session judges of district and metropolitan

and Chief Judicial Magistrate and

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate will take

necessary steps to ensure the social and

physical distancing as per the health

guidelines in consultation with the president

and general secretary of the concerned

District Bar Association, it said.

Noting that there is no obligation to

wear gowns in conducting the virtual proceedings,

it said if there is any problem in

obeying this order, the direction of

Bangladesh Supreme Court can be sought

if necessary.

This order will come into effect immediately

and continue until further notice, the

notification said.

Zohr

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the names of suitable candidates before

the President to appoint the CEC and

other election commissioners," the Bill

says. The move came just one month

before the expiry of five-year tenure of

incumbent Election Commission, led by

CEC KM Nurul Huda, as it is going to

complete its five-year term in mid-

February.

Qualifications of CEC and election commissioners

are: they must be Bangladeshi

citizens with minimum 50 years of age,

and have at least 20 years of work experience

in important government, semi-government,

private or judicial posts.

If a person is declared 'insane' by any

court; has not been released from the jail

after being declared as 'bankruptcy';

acquires the citizenship of or affirms the

allegiance to, a foreign country surrendering

Bangladeshi citizenship; has been convicted

for a criminal offence involving

moral turpitude and sentenced to at least

two-year imprisonment; convicted by

international crime tribunal; and is disqualified

for such posts by or under any

The bridge has been in

dilapidated condition

for 36 years. Dilapidated

bridge, no soil in

approach; There is no

initiative of the

concerned administration

or public representatives

to reconstruct the

bridge. In this situation,

despite the misery of the

movement of people in

10 villages, the Malpara

bridge in Islampur

upazila of Jamalpur has

not been repaired or the

road connecting the two

sides has not been constructed

in three eras.

Photo: osman Harunee

law, he or she would not be eligible for the

post of CEC and election commissioners.

A person once held the post of CEC or

the Chief Justice, he or she would not be

eligible for the post of the CEC. But if a person

held the post of election commissioner,

he or she might be considered for

appointment to the CEC.

In order to give legal protection to the

constitution of previous election commissions,

it would be considered that these

were made under this law, he said.

A justice of the Appellate Division, nominated

by the Chief Justice, will be the head

of the six-member search committee.

The five other members will be a justice

of the High Court Division nominated by

the Chief Justice, the Comptroller and

Auditor General, the Chairman of the

Bangladesh Public Service Commission,

two other personalities nominated by the

President.

Though the Constitution suggests the

appointment of the CEC and other election

commissioners under a law, the law

was not formulated in the past.

Negligence of officials, owners

behind MV Abhijan-10 fire:

Citizens' probe body

DHAKA : A 16-member Citizens'

Investigation Committee has found the

negligence of four government officials,

four launch owners and four others in the

Jhalakathi MV Abhijan-10 fire incident

that claimed the lives of 50 people.

Ashish Kumar Dey, the chief coordinator

of the committee, came up with the

information while speaking at a press

briefing at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU)

on Saturday.

The committee was formed to find out

the reasons behind the fire that caused so

many casualties in the MV Abhijan-10

passenger launch, identify those responsible

and make necessary recommendations

for building a risk-free, peoplefriendly

marine communication system.

Those who were found responsible in

the investigation are Joynal Abedin, joint

director of Marine Safety and Traffic

department of Bangladesh Inland and

Water Transport Authority (BIWTA),

Dinesh Das, its transport inspector,

Mohammad Habibur Rahman, inspector

of Department of Shipping, Ship Surveyor

of the same department Mahbubur

Rashid, four owners of the launch-

Hamjalal Sheikh, Shamim Ahmed, Russel

Ahmed and Ferdous Hasan Rabbi, firstclass

master Md Riaz Shikdar, secondclass

master Khalilur Rahman, first-class

driver Masum Billah and second-class

driver Abul Kalam.

The committee also placed 25 recommendations

like bringing those responsible

for the incident to book. "Or else, the

tendency of negligence in duty will

increase alongside accidents," said the

committee.

The committee also suggested realising

the compensation money from those

responsible for the accident, including

owners, masters, drivers and government

officials.

It also recommended deployment of

Ansar members or security guards at the

water vessel for ensuring security of the

passengers, installation of necessary close

circuit cameras in engine rooms, launch

entrances and sensitive points like master

bridge, inclusion of fire safety issues while

designing vessels, building vessels following

proper designs, ensuring fire-safety

measures and collecting permits from Fire

Service Department and steps for examining

water vessels by fire service men by the

next six months.

It also suggested BIWTA to conduct regular

mobile court drives against unfit and

unauthorised vessels, transparency in

river dredging and removing soil through

dredging, bringing all water vessels under

BIWTC and BIWTA survey, ensure supply

of carbon dioxide (CO2) for extinguishing

fire at engine rooms and forming a national

probe body for the fair investigation into

water vessel accidents.

Corona's aggressive claws are becoming terrible. Infections and deaths are on the rise. Another

17 people have died in the 24 hours. Patients from different districts are coming to Dhaka

Medical College Hospital for treatment of cold and respiratory problems. The photo was taken

in front of Dhaka Medical's Corona Unit on Saturday.

Photo : Star Mail

Covid getting

deadlier

Bangladesh reports 17

more deaths

DHAKA : Bangladesh logged 17 more

Covid-linked deaths with 9,614 fresh cases

in 24 hours till Saturday morning with a

slight decline in the infection rate, reports

UNB. The daily positivity rate declined to

28.02 per cent from Friday's 28.49 per

cent after testing 34,311 samples, according

to the Directorate general of health

Services (DGHS).

The country last logged 17 deaths on

October 13 last with 513 cases.

Bangladesh reported 1,434 fresh cases

with 12 deaths on Friday. The fresh numbers

took the country's total fatalities to

28,209 while the caseload mounted to

1,674,230 on Saturday. Among the new

deceased, 11 were men and six women.

Eleven cases were reported in Dhaka

division while two each in Chattogram,

Khulna, one each in Barishal and

Mymensingh divisions.

Meanwhile, the mortality rate further

declined to 1.68 per cent. However, the

recovery rate also declined to 92,94 per

cent with the recovery of 482 more

patients during the 24-hour period.

Bangladesh's total tally of Omicron cases

reached 64 with the detection of nine more

cases till Thursday, according to GISAID, a

global initiative on sharing all influenza

data.

On December 9 last year, Bangladesh

again logged zero Covid-related death after

nearly three weeks as the pandemic was

apparently showing signs of easing.

The country reported this year's first

zero Covid-related death in a single day on

November 20 last year along with 178

infections since the pandemic broke out in

Bangladesh in March 2020.

17 students still at hospitals

as SUST unrest continues

SYLHET : Even though the indefinite

hunger strike by 24 students of Shahjalal

University of Science and Technology

(SUST) rolled into day four, there has

been no headway in breaking the 10-day

standoff, reports UNB.

Campus sources said 17students have

been admitted to different hospitals in

the city, including Osmani Medical

College and Hospital (OMCH) till

Saturday noon as they fell sick due to the

hunger strike and shivering cold.

The protesting students vowed to continue

their strike until the resignation of

Vice-Chancellor Farid Uddin Ahmed.

The students brought out a symbolic coffin

procession on the campus on Saturday

afternoon. They started the march from

the university's Golchattar area.

Dr Md Mostakim, a physician of OMCH

said, 15 doctors have been giving treatment

to the students on the campus. "The glucose

level of some students has dropped while

the blood pressure of some others fell substantially.

We've given them saline. Those

who're falling seriously ill are being referred

to hospitals."

If they refrain from taking food for a

longer time, their physical problems will

SM AkASH, CHATTogrAM CorreSPonDenT

Information and Broadcasting Minister

Dr Hasan Mahmud yesterday said those

who are conspiring against Bangladesh

from home and abroad are talking a lot

about the role of RAB.

However, this RAB has played a praiseworthy

role to curb drug-terrorism and

militancy in Bangladesh, he said.

"That is why we have been able to tackle

drug-terrorism and militancy in

Bangladesh more effectively than many

developed countries," he said.

Dr Hasan said that those who are talking

about the role of RAB today, they

really want a sanctuary of terrorism and

militancy and drugs to spread more.

Otherwise, they cannot speak against

them in this way, he said.

The information minister made the

remarks as chief guest while addressing a

reception and training workshop for new

lawyers at Chattogram District Bar

Association auditorium yesterday noon.

CDBA President Mohammad Enamul

Haque presided over the function while

Bangladesh Bar Council ad-hoc committee

member Advocate Mujibul Haque

increase, he added. Two ambulances

were seen at the spot to deal with emergencies.

Dipu Moni's drive

On Friday, Education Minister Dipu

Moni talked to the students and said she

wants a solution to the crisis as soon as

possible.

Earlier, in the small hours of Friday,

the students brought out a torch rally and

burnt the effigy of the VC on the campus.

Hours before, a delegation of teachers

met the students and requested them to

break their fast, a request that went

unheeded. On Monday, the students wrote

an open letter to President Abdul Hamid,

demanding the immediate removal of VC

Farid Uddin Ahmed. The president is the

chancellor of the university.

The students also turned down the

notice of shutting down the university for

an indefinite period and the directive to

leave their dormitories. Currently, the

students are staying on the campus.

SUST was to close following a clash on

the campus between police and the

protesting students on Sunday (Jan 16).

Its students were asked to leave the dormitories

by 12 pm on Monday.

RAB played laudable role to curb

drug-terrorism and militancy : Hasan

addressed the function as special guest.

CDBA secretary AHM Ziauddin delivered

the welcome speech.

Dr. Hasan Mahmud said that if any

member of RAB made a mistake, they

are facing trial and will face trial.

"Anyone who makes a mistake, then

the incident is under investigation. Many

western countries, including the United

States, have continued to provide technical

assistance to RAB," he said.

Saying that Begum Khaleda Zia established

RAB unit in 2004, Dr Hasan said

that when they had given assistance to

RAB, the elite force have been working

since then, the issues have not come up.

Why is it coming suddenly now, but there

must be something behind it, he said.

"When a country moves forward, the

various international powers want to

pull-down that country. They then bring

various issues including human rights.

But there are no human rights violation

incidents in their country. Thousands of

people go missing and many shot dead

by security forces every year in the

United States. Human rights organizations

never make statements about

them," he said.

SUNdAY, JANUArY 23, 2022

2

US inflation spike also due to

generous pandemic stimulus

WASHINGTON, Jan 21, 2022 (BSS/AFP) -

President Joe Biden blames global supply

snarls for the wave of price increases hitting

US consumers and businesses, but the

trillions of dollars injected into the economy

during the pandemic also share

responsibility.

The Covid-19 crisis disrupted

manufacturing worldwide and caused

shipping snags, creating global shortages of

key materials that combined to push prices

higher.

Amid a rapid recovery from the pandemic,

US consumer prices soared seven percent

last year, the highest in nearly four decades.

"Inflation has everything to do with the

supply chain," Biden said during his lengthy

press conference Wednesday.

But many economists and Biden's

Republican opposition say massive federal

stimulus and new spending also bear some

of the blame for the inflation wave-which the

president's critics have labeled

"Bidenflation." "The last year, the glut of

federal dollars that's been pumped into our

economy, has fueled the surge in prices,"

said Stephanie Bice, a Republican lawmaker

from Oklahoma.

Not long after he took office one year ago,

Biden pushed a $1.9 trillion American

Rescue Plan through Congress, the third

pandemic aid program, despite

overwhelming Republican opposition.

Some economists say the package should

have been more compact and targeted.

"My view last year was that the stimulus

bill was needed but should be smaller," said

Harvard economics professor Jason

Furman, who was an adviser to former

president Barack Obama.

"In retrospect, rather than being $2

trillion, it could have been $1 trillion,

Furman told AFP. Another Democratic

economist, former US Treasury secretary

Larry Summers, long warned that the

additional stimulus though "admirably

ambitious," could "set off inflationary

pressures of a kind we have not seen in a

generation."

However, current Treasury Secretary

Janet Yellen said Thursday she expects price

pressures to recede, and inflation to fall back

close to two percent by the end of 2022, as

supply issues ease and the Federal Reserve

raises borrowing rates.

"If we are successful in controlling the

pandemic I expect inflation to diminish over

the course of the year and hopefully to revert

to normal levels by the end of the year,"

Yellen said on CNBC.

But she noted that the Federal Reserve has

a role to play and "needs to recalibrate

monetary policy to facilitate those

adjustments."

The Fed is expected to lift the benchmark

borrowing rate off zero in March and hike as

many as four times this year to contain

inflation.

2 motorcycle riders

killed in Cumilla

road accident

CUMILLA : Two motorcycle

riders were killed in a road

accident on the Dhaka-

Chattogram Highway in

Amtoli area of Sadar upazila

yesterday, reports BSS.

The deceased were

identified as Rubel, 25, and

Shayon, 30, residents of

Burichong upazila of the

district.

Officer-in-Charge

of

Moinamoti Highway Police

Station Belal Uddin Jahangir

said the accident occurred at

around 2 pm in the area

when an unknown vehicle

hit the motorcycle, leaving its

two riders dead on the spot.

One held with

ganja in

Rangpur

RANGPUR : The Detective

Branch (DB) of Rangpur

Metropolitan Police (RpMP)

arrested an alleged drug trader

with 1.50 kilograms of ganja

from Modern Mour area in the

metropolis yesterday

afternoon, reports BSS."On a

tip off, a team of DB police led

by Inspector Md Mostafizur

Rahman conducted a raid and

arrested the man with ganja

from the spot," a press release

issued by Additional Deputy

Commissioner of Police (DB

and Media) of RpMP Sajjad

Hossain said.

Birds that migrate to warmer regions than their home country to survive the winter are called guest

birds or migratory birds. Similarly, a flock of guest birds can be seen in the Jahangirnagar University

area on Saturday.

Photo: PBA

Initiatives to enforce restrictions to

curb Covid-19 spread in Rangpur

RANGPUR : The district administration

has taken initiatives to enforce the new

restrictions imposed by the government

to curb spread of the Covid-19 during the

current third wave of the virus.

As part of the initiatives, mobile courts

and awareness raising campaigns were

conducted and face masks distributed

among common people at different areas

of the city on the first day yesterday.

Officials and personnel of Rangpur

Metropolitan Police and district

administration and Rover Scouts

extended assistance in conducting

mobile courts, distributing masks and

inspiring people to abide by the

restrictions.

Led by Assistant Commissioner of the

Deputy Commissioner's Office and

Executive Magistrate Most Maliha

Khanam, a mobile court was conducted

at City Bazaar in Rangpur city yesterday.

In addition to encouraging people to

wear masks, the mobile court distributed

masks among buyers, commoners and

traders free of cost and campaigned to

control spread of the coronavirus

through raising public awareness.

Everyone was urged to follow the

government instructions without panic

and abide by the health directives to

prevent community spread of the Covid-

19 amid detection of its new Omicron

variant.

Talking to reporters, Maliha

Khanam said the district

administration has taken a strict

stand to impose the government

directives.

"Awareness activities are

continuing to prevent community

spread of the coronavirus. We are

more active and on the ground than

ever before in implementing

government directives," she said.

"Omicron, a new variant of

coronavirus, is now spreading to

people of all ages. We are trying to

make people aware of the directives to

control vertical transmission of the

lethal virus," she mentioned.

Dbœq‡bi MYZš¿

†kL nvwmbvi g~jgš¿

Now the boro paddy cultivation season is going on. The buffalo is cultivating

the land. The picture is taken from Laxmipur beel of Gomstapur upazila

of Chapainawabganj on Saturday.

Photo: PBA

EU nations quarrel over whether

nuclear, gas are 'green'

AMIENS : Hours before the window for lodging

objections closes, EU environment and energy

ministers meeting in France Friday differed

sharply on a European Commission provision

that would classify nuclear and natural gas

energy as "sustainable".

The controversy pits countries led by Francewhere

nuclear generates a world-leading 70

percent of electricity-against Germany, Austria

and others in the 27-nation bloc, reports BSS.

Debate over the Commission's so-called

"taxonomy" is not on the agenda of the

informal, three-day talks in Amiens, but flared

nonetheless.

In late December the European Commission

unveiled a classification labelling investment in

nuclear gas-based energy as sustainable, in

order to favour sectors that reduce the

greenhouse gas emissions driving global

warming.Nuclear power is carbon-free, and gas

is significantly less polluting than coal.

Countries in the European Union had until

midnight Friday to suggest modifications.

After that, the Commission-taking these

suggestions into account-must "rapidly"

publish a final text that will be definitely

adopted four months later.

Passage in its current form seems more than

likely: it would take a majority of deputies in the

EU parliament or 20 of the 27 members states

to derail it, and critical mass is lacking in both

cases. A letter to the executive European

Commission from some European Parliament

deputies protesting that the period for

suggesting changes was too short has fallen on

deaf ears.

And among EU member states, a dozen have

backed France's position and the Commission's

proposed taxonomy.

Many are central European nations looking

to switch from carbon-intensive coal-fired

power to natural gas.

"Nuclear is a decarbonised energy," French

environment minister Barbara Pompili told

journalists in Amiens.

"We cannot deprive ourselves of it at the same

time that we need to very rapidly reduce our

carbon emissions."

" 'A very bad signal' -

Despite the strong headwinds, anti-nuclear

resistance has not subsided.

"It is neither sustainable nor economic",

countered Germany environment minister

Stefan Tidow. "It is not a green energy."

Luxembourg and Austria have gone even

further, threatening to take the case to court if

nuclear is certified as sustainable, citing the risk

of accidents and the as-yet unresolved problem

of nuclear waste.

"It would be greenwashing," Luxembourg's

environment minister, Carole Dieschbourg,

told AFP.

Guests seen at the inaugural ceremony of Science Fair-2021 at Basail,

Tangail.

Photo : Nasir Uddin

GD-138/22 (12x5)

SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 2022

3

A human chain and rally was organized by non-governmental development organization 'Leaders'

and civic organization' Sundarbans and Coastal Protection Movement 'at Dhaka Reporters' Unity

premises on Saturday.

Photo : Courtesy

Special allocation required for tackling

adverse effects of climate change

Representatives of civil society demanded a special allocation

in the national budget for tackling the adverse effects of

climate change and development of coastal areas. They said

that the crisis on public life along the country's coast is

growing due to the harmful effects of climate change. Since

then, corona infections and natural disasters each year have

exacerbated the crisis. In this situation, special funds need to

be allocated for the construction of sustainable

embankments, provision of potable water and protection of

livelihood of the coast.

The demand was made at a human chain and rally

organized by non-governmental development organization

'Leaders' and civic organization' Sundarbans and Coastal

Protection Movement 'at Dhaka Reporters' Unity premises

on Saturday. Nikhil Chandra Bhadra, coordinator of the

Sundarbans and Coastal Protection Movement, presided

over the rally. Abu Naser khan, chairman (POBA), Aminur

Rasul Babul, Unnayon Dhara trust, Hazi Mohammad

Shahid, President of Rail and Boat safty committee, Mihir

Biswas, Joint-Secretary of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan

(BAPA), Ashis Kumar Dey of (GCC), Moniruzzaman Mukul,

General Secretary of Scan, Rafiqul Islam Sujan, former

student leader, Shakila Parveen of Sachetan Sangstha,

Shafiqul Islam of Leaders also spoke in the meeting.

Scope still there for

cooperation on Teesta water

allocation: Prof Imtiaz

DHAKA : International

affairs expert Dr Imtiaz

Ahmed has said there is still

room for cooperation on

Teesta River water

allocation and it cannot be

resulted in a zero-sum

game.

"The solution should

come keeping in mind the

human and nature-based

perspective," said the

professor at the Department

of International Relations,

Dhaka University on

Saturday.

He said this while

delivering his speech on the

last day of the three-day

virtual 7th International

Water Conference titled

'Teesta River Basin:

Overcoming the Challenges'

organised by ActionAid

Bangladesh.

Dr Imtiaz said it is time to

come out from an

engineering perspective in

river water governance.

Farah Kabir, Country

Director of ActionAid

Bangladesh said people live

with rivers, but they were

not included in river-related

discourse.

The idea for establishing a

Water Museum in Kalapara,

Patuakhali came from the

inclusion of community

people in the discourse and

the first-ever communitybased

Water Museum in

South Asia was established

in 2014 by ActionAid

Bangladesh, she said.

The Water Museum now

has become a hub for idea

generation, voice of riverbased

grassroots people,

educational platform, and

networking with global

water museums, said Farah

Kabir.

Dr Eriberto Eulisse,

Executive Director of

the?Global Network of

Water Museums, said the

Teesta River is a symbol of

changes like other rivers.

"Cooperation and good

practices are needed to

resolve any kind of waterrelated

resources dispute."

At the rally, the speakers demanded effective measures to

improve the living standards of the people in the coastal

areas and said that adaptation process should be enhanced to

address the adverse effects of climate change. In the future,

the interests of the people at risk of disaster should be given

priority in the adoption of government projects. Dams

damaged by floods and cyclones need to be constructed. The

local government should be involved in the formation of

emergency funds for the maintenance of the dam and in the

management of the dam. Permanent solution of potable

water is required. The speakers said that the government

led by Bangabandhu's daughter Sheikh Hasina has taken up

two mega projects for construction of sustainable

embankments emphasizing the aspirations of the people. But

the implementation of that project has not started yet. In the

public interest, the implementation of the project should

start soon. Other projects undertaken by the government to

build sustainable coastal embankments and to protect

livelihoods need to be approved fast. They called on the

government to ensure coordination and transparency and

accountability in the implementation of development

projects.

The meeting also demanded the formation of a coastal

board for the development of the coast.

Thoughts of younger generation to be

given priority in literature: Speaker

DHAKA : Speaker of Parliament Dr. Shirin

Sharmin Chowdhury yesterday said that the

young generation's thoughts on art and

literature would be given priority.

She was speaking as the chief guest at the

BRAC Bank-Samakal Sahitya Puraskar

2019-20 at the Carnival Hall of

Bangabandhu International Conference

Center, said a press release.

Reputed novelist Selina Hossain, eminent

cultural personality and author Sanjida

Khatun and young poet Swaralipi have won

the BRAC Bank-Samakal Literary Award

2018.

National Professor Dr Anisuzzaman was

the chief guest at the event, while Daily

Samakal Acting Editor Mustafiz Shafi and

Managing Director and Chief Executive

Officer of BRAC Bank Selim RF Hussain

were present among many prominent

literary personalities.

Acting Editor of Daily Samakal Mozammel

Hossain presided over the function while AK

Azad and BRAC Bank MD and CEO Selim R

F Hossain also spoke.

Dr Chowdhury said that literature

preserves the history and heritage of the

society and the state.

"Today, under the leadership of Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina, the worthy

daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman, the country is in a state of

development," she said.

Therefore, in order to preserve the

originality and creativity of this benevolent

state, the practice of literature is absolutely

necessary, she said.

The Speaker said, "Bangabandhu is an

unfinished autobiography because of his

deep love for art literature."

Industries Minister Nurul Majid Humayun virtually inaugurated the 5

road development work in Narsingdi.

Photo : PID

Transgender beauty vlogger held

captive, tortured in Dhaka

DHAKA : Transgender beauty vlogger Saad

Mua has claimed that she was held captive

and tortured by a man and a woman she

met at a restaurant in the city's

Bashundhara residential area four days

ago, reports UNB.

In her police complaint, Saad claimed

that the man and the woman later invited

her to their house for lunch. And when she

went to their house, the accused allegedly

held her captive, snatched her bag and cell

phone, and also tortured her.

Based on her complaint, a case was filed

at Vatara police station against the accused

on Friday. Officer-in-charge of Vatara

police station, Sajedur Rahman said that if

the allegations turned out to be true, "then

legal action will be taken against the

accused".

In fact, on Friday night, Saad posted the

photos of the two accused on her Facebook

wall and narrated her ordeal on the social

media platform. On Facebook, she

identified the woman as Saima Sikder Nira,

a student of Daffodil International

University, and the man as Ishtiaq Fuad, a

former Air Force official and a student of

North South University.

JS sitting

resumes

today

DHAKA : The 16th session

of the 11th Jatiya Sangsad

(JS) will resume at 11 am

today after a five-day

adjournment.

Jatiya Sangsad Speaker

Dr Shirin Sharmin

Chaudhury adjourned the

sitting on January 17 after

holding general

discussion on the

thanksgiving motion on

President's speech in the

House.

Chief Whip Noor-E-

Alam Chowdhury moved

the thanksgiving motion

in the house on

President's 169-page

speech while treasury

bench lawmaker ASM

Feroz seconded it.

Earlier, the maiden JS

session of 2022 began on

January 16 while

President M Abdul Hamid

addressed the House on

the day as per the

parliamentary practice.

BMP Commissioner

promoted to

Additional IGP

Jihad Rana, Barisal Bureau Chief

Sahabuddin Khan, the

Deputy Inspector General

of Police (DIG) of Barisal

Metropolitan Police has

been promoted to the post

of Additional IGP, Grade-2.

Seven officers including

have been promoted. They

are officers of 12th and 15th

batch of Bangladesh Police.

On January 22, the

promotion was given in a

circular signed by Anwarul

Islam Sarkar, the Joint

Secretary of the Ministry of

Public Administration.

The promoted persons of

the 12th batch are: DIG

Abu Hassan Muhammad

Tariq of Police

Headquarters, Chief DIG of

Police Bureau of

Investigation (PBI) Banaj

Kumar Majumder and

Chief DIG of Central Police

Hospital Dr. Hasan ul

Haider.

From the 15th batch,

Additional IGP in charge of

the current special branch

of the police (SB) chief

Monirul Islam, Barisal

Metropolitan Police

Commissioner (BMP)

Shahabuddin Khan,

Industrial Police Chief DIG

Mahbubur Rahman and

Mymensingh Range DIG

Barrister Harun Aur

Rashid.

Earlier, on May 17 last

year, four DIGs were

promoted to additional IGP

posts. According to the

police headquarters, seven

of the eight vacancies in the

additional IGP posts have

been filled out.

FM Momen mourns

Malaysian envoy's

mother's death

DHAKA : Foreign Minister

Dr AK Abdul Momen has

expressed deep shock over

the death of Midah Binti

Omar, mother of

Malaysian

High

Commissioner to

Bangladesh Haznah Md

Hashim.

In a condolence message

on Saturday, Dr prayed for

the salvation of the

departed soul and

conveyed sympathy to the

bereaved family members.

The mother of the

Malaysian

High

Commissioner died on

Saturday morning while

undergoing treatment at

the Combined Military

Hospital in Dhaka.

Scope still there for cooperation on

Teesta water allocation: Prof Imtiaz

DHAKA : International affairs expert Dr

Imtiaz Ahmed has said there is still room for

cooperation on Teesta River water allocation

and it cannot be resulted in a zero-sum

game, reports UNB.

"The solution should come keeping in mind

the human and nature-based perspective,"

said the professor at the Department of

International Relations, Dhaka University

on Saturday.

He said this while delivering his speech on

the last day of the three-day virtual 7th

International Water Conference titled

'Teesta River Basin: Overcoming the

Challenges' organised by ActionAid

Bangladesh.

Dr Imtiaz said it is time to come out from an

engineering perspective in river water

governance.

Farah Kabir, Country Director of ActionAid

Bangladesh said people live with rivers, but

they were not included in river-related

discourse.

The idea for establishing a Water Museum in

Kalapara, Patuakhali came from the

inclusion of community people in the

discourse and the first-ever communitybased

Water Museum in South Asia was

established in 2014 by ActionAid

Bangladesh, she said.

The Water Museum now has become a hub

for idea generation, voice of river-based

grassroots people, educational platform, and

networking with global water museums, said

Farah Kabir.

Dr Eriberto Eulisse, Executive Director of

the?Global Network of Water Museums, said

the Teesta River is a symbol of changes like

other rivers. "Cooperation and good

practices are needed to resolve any kind of

water-related resources dispute."

While developing any water museum, he

said, they should not only keep in mind

about the infrastructural development but

also on the cultural landscape.

Former Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque

said in the 'negotiative' world, they can find a

better way of collaboration regarding the

Teesta water allocation.

"There's need to have more interactions

between the international stakeholders,

people and the political leaders. Narratives

also should be different considering climate

change," he added.

Shahidul Haque laid emphasis on a change

in mindset and framing of policymakers

from a broader people-centric frame rather

than government-centric frame.

Rahima Sultana Kajal, Executive Director,

Association of Voluntary Actions for Society

(AVAS), and Member of General Assembly

ActionAid International Bangladesh Society

in her presentation showed how Water

Museum in Kalapura, Patuakhali,

established by ActionAid Bangladeshis

working as a medium of upholding right of

the marginal people.

"River-centric civilisation is being

jeopardised as a result of obstructing the flow

of rivers. Due to the so-called development,

river water is not being distributed evenly

which has resulted in shortage of usable

water. The existing laws on river water usage

are not being properly enforced," said

Rahima Sultana Kajal.

Dr Shashwata Bhattacharjee, Head, Bangla

Department Kaunia College, said if the river

dies, the community people's lives centering

the river also die. "If that community 's life is

detached from the river-centered livelihood,

then the thousand-year-old cherished

culture is also ruined."

Ajaya Dixit, Advisor, ISET-Nepal ; Dr. Sara

Ahmed, Adjunct Professor, Centre for Water

Research, IISER-Pune (Indian Institute for

Science Education and Research), Founder-

Director, Living Waters Museum, Shamim

Arfeen, Executive Director, AOSED also

discussed in the last day of the water

conference.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud addressing a

workshop of Chattogram District Lawyers Association. Photo : PID

Dhaka is world's second-most

polluted city

DHAKA : The densely populated capital of

Bangladesh continues to dominate the list of

cities with the worst air quality in the world.

On Saturday, Dhaka was ranked the

world's second-most polluted city, as its air

quality index (AQI) was recorded at 302 at

8.56am, which is considered 'hazardous'.

Russia's Krasnoyarsk and Pakistan's

Karachi occupied the first and third spots

with AQI scores of 307 and 224,

respectively, in the latest list of world cities

with the worst air quality.

An AQI above 300 is considered

'hazardous' for everyone and doctors advise

people to avoid all outdoor activities.

AQI, an index for reporting daily air

quality, is used by government agencies to

inform people how clean or polluted the air

of a certain city is, and what associated

health effects might be a concern for them.

In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five

criteria pollutants-Particulate Matter

(PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and

Ozone.

Dhaka's air quality usually turns

unhealthy during winter and improves

during monsoon.

A report by the Department of

Environment (DoE) and the World Bank in

March 2019 pointed out that the three main

sources of air pollution in Dhaka "are brick

kilns, fumes from vehicles and dust from

construction sites".

With the advent of winter, the city's air

quality starts deteriorating sharply due to

the massive discharge of pollutant particles

from construction works, rundown roads,

brick kilns and other sources.

Air pollution consistently ranks among

the top risk factors for death and disability

worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long

been recognised as increasing a person's

chances of developing heart disease, chronic

respiratory diseases, lung infections and

cancer, according to several studies.

As per the World Health Organization

(WHO), air pollution kills an estimated

seven million people worldwide every year,

largely as a result of increased mortality

from stroke, heart disease, chronic

obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer

and acute respiratory infections.

Assistant Commissioner and Executive Magistrate Maliha Khanam conducting

mobile court and distributing masks at the City Bazar of Rangpur

yesterday to curb the Covid-19 spread on Saturday.

Photo : BSS

SUNDay, JaNUary 23, 2022

4

Why do police attacks on students happen?

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Sunday, January 23, 2022

FDI:Fresh

outlook needed

THE Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) issue in Bangladesh

lacks a coherent and comprehensive outlook and

commitment of ensuring doors of accesses in investment.

There is widespread notion that the policies are FDI friendly. But

the reality tells a somewhat different story.

There are some undeniable hurdles to the investment

climate which challenge the FDI growth and reduce the chances

of booming in the sector. These recurrent issues are pointed to

lack of proper governance, slow paced bureaucracy, shortage of

energy resources and proper infrastructural facilities.

The FDI has seen a surge in manufacturing and service

sectors in recent inflows. In current decade, Bangladesh

witnessed a huge shift in sector-wise and country-wise FDI

inflows. It changed from import-substitutes to export oriented

manufacturing. Besides, the country received FDI from 36

different countries, both developed and developing countries

across the globe. Some 70% of total FDI inflow is from 11 countries

but the major investors are from the EU members and the USA.

In recent times the expected FDI is aspired to be from 24% to 32%

of the economy. But how the benchmark could be achieved, is yet

to be vividly clear, both to the concerned authorities and the

investors. A country's regulatory framework consisting of a set of

commercial laws and regulations and the institutions

established for their enforcement, should have transparency and

economic aspiration in mind.

But when these regulations are designed and implemented

in inefficient and arbitrary manner, then it alienates any future

interest from foreign investors. Some years back, cell phone

manufacturing giant Samsung came to Bangladesh to assess

setting up large scale mobile phone factory. It sought a 2000

acre land in BEPZA but that didn't happen. Lack of a timely

decision deprived the chances of tapping the international

cellular phone market.

Rather than protecting the rights and obligations of the

investors and assisting the smooth functioning of the market,

sometimes the regulations bring in unprecedented complexities

and obstructions.Sportswear giants Nike, Reebok and Adidas

planned to shift manufacturing plants from China to Bangladesh

in 2010, they sought only 65 acres of land. But they were not

provided with the land whereas some 1700 acres of land are there

as abundant land in state owned factories, according to report of

the privatization commission.

It is recurrent experience that overpowering bureaucracy is not

compatible with an environment conducive to FDI growth.Some

other challenges are power supply, high inefficiency cost, absence

of autonomous regulatory bodies, taxauthority's discretion, time

wasting customs processing etc.

From the Mckinsey & Company Report , some 54 percent of

CPOs shared their plans to decrease their sourcing activities in

China. If a certain share of this percentage could be attracted with

proper policy guidelines, Bangladesh could have easily surpassed

China in the apparel industry.

Garments industry is the biggest example of success where the

government incentives and policy supports have made the total

economy exceptionally vibrant. It is now the highest forex earner

and in 2013 the amount amounted to $20 billion.

Very recently, government settled for lower tax at sources to

0.3 percent from 0.8 percent. Centre for Policy Dialogue have

estimated that government might lose an amount of Tk500 crore

as advanced income tax (AIT).

However, the proportional growth supported by the tax cut

would automatically increase the total export earnings as well as

create more jobs, adding total economic value. If the FDI is geared

up with visionary policy supports and implementations, it would

be no wonder that big multinationals will hit Bangladesh market

for outsourcing.

While Toyota, Honda and Ford look forward to India as

outsourcing center, Bangladesh certainly possess competitive

edge for its cheap labor market. Not only in automobile sector,

FDI could hit record, making ways for Bangladesh towards a

well entrenchedmiddle-income country if technical and

strategic issues are fixed.

FDI enables a country like Bangladesh to build up

physical capital, create employment opportunities, develop

productivecapacity, enhance skills of local labor through transfer

of technology andmanagerial know how, and help integrate the

domestic economy with theglobal economy.

However, Bangladesh stands in the back row in attracting

FDIs. Despite the grounds, there is a positive side of the FDI

phenomenon. A Pew Global Attitudes Survey, conducted by Pew

Research Center, showed a remarkable positive attitude towards

foreign companies. When asked whether they had a positive

impact, a large number of people in countries like Brazil, India and

Bangladesh said yes. The survey was conducted in 47 countries

and of them, it was found some 75 percent of the respondents from

Bangladesh bear better positive attitudes towards foreign direct

investment than those of in India and Brazil.

This FDI friendly approach might have been developed from

the contribution to Bangladesh economy of the 189 members of

Foreign Investor's Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).

The combined contribution of FICCI members exceeds 30% of

total tax revenue collected by the government.

In recent times it was found that some of the reputed foreign

companies paying highest taxes to government have received

unlawful claims from government authorities.The basis of these

claims is contradictory to the existing laws of the land. It is

further noted that there have been no such observations on local

companies operating in the same industry.

To ensure an even playing ground, a common and general

policy is needed to encourage all types of FDIs in Bangladesh.

Accountability and transparency must be ensured in all stages,

predictable rules for investment and a sound legal framework

for all as well as a political promise from contending parties to

make the FDI a big fish for total economic development. Since

the developing economic trend of any country can be identified

by its FDI and export scenario, it is high time all parties acted

coherently.

Recently a movement has spurred in

the campus of Shahjalal University of

Science and Technology (SUST) in

Sylhet. The students are demanding the

resignation of Vice Chancellor (VC)

Professor Farid Uddin Ahmed after a police

attack on students and the closure of the

university. More than five hundred students

of the university took part.

Earlier, the students clashed with the

police in the wake of the students'

movement demanding three points and the

protesters blocking the way of the Vice-

Chancellor. Police used batons, sound

grenades, and tear gas to disperse the

protesters. At least 50 people including

police, teachers, and students were injured.

The students alleged that the police carried

out the attack on the instructions of the VC.

During this demonstration, instructions

were given to close the university and vacate

the residential halls. Protests intensified as

soon as the authority published the orders.

And in this case, the police have filed a case

against more than three hundred students

of the university! And behind this incident is

the resignation of the principal and assistant

principal of Begum Sirajunnesa Hall of the

university, removal of all mismanagement

of the hall to ensure a healthy and normal

environment and movement of several

hundred students in the hall demanding

appointment of student friendly and

responsible principal committee. And the

main reason for the student movement is

the mismanagement in the residential halls

and the abuse and arbitrary behavior of the

provost.

As soon as the television screen or the

magazine is opened, questionable incidents

against the students of SUST are coming up

one after another. And again and again the

question arises as to what was the crime of

Technology alone will not save us from climate crisis

ON what is known as Blue Monday -

the third Monday of the new year - I

set off in search of a cheerful topic to

write about. And since time and again we are

told that technology is likely to save us from

climate doom, I decided to browse through

some of the ideas and promising

developments that could save humanity and

the planet.

From the pig's tissue-based human heart

implant to the tearless onions finally going

on sale in British supermarkets, and from

how lab-produced meat replacements could

remove a chunk of the methane that is sent

into the atmosphere by cattle to talk of

fitting mirrors in the sky to deflect the sun's

rays and help cool our overheating planet.

All of these sound great and could allow

humanity to hope that all is not lost and

believe that technology and science are

conscience of those students which resulted

in such an incident! The incident repeatedly

made a healthy conscientious nation think.

This was the demand of the students of

Shahjalal University of Science and

Technology. Just as a child can express his

wishes and reluctance to his parents, so too

can university students express their

desires, wishes and aspirations to their

guardians at the university. That is a

university teacher or an administrative

officer in charge of that sector. The

responsibility of a teacher, such as

enlightening the students, enlightening

them or educating them as an enlightened

person is the responsibility of the teacher for

the good of the students and also the

responsibility of the students to see the good

and bad things of the students but not to

solve these problems. When the students

were beaten by the police, it took the form of

autocracy. Such is the case with the students

of SUST.

The supreme guardian of a university is

the Vice-Chancellor of that university. A

Vice-Chancellor has to keep his eyes and

ears open for all time. If a person in a lower

position makes a mistake, there is a person

in a higher position to correct or correct it.

But in order for a person with the highest

power or the highest position to take any

likely to save the planet on their own.

The COP26 climate change summit held in

Glasgow late last year failed to provide the

breakthrough that many had hoped for as

humankind attempts to find the agreement

necessary to ensure global warming is

limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial

levels. Though the US and China

issued a joint declaration to work together to

reduce emissions, blueprints for such work

might come very late, if at all. But on the third

Monday of January, one must stay

optimistic. Meanwhile, one hopes that 2022

will not resemble 2021 in terms of the

summer floods in China and Germany that

killed hundreds and destroyed crops or the

wildfires that ravaged Greece, Italy, Turkey,

Israel and Algeria. But that might be

ambitious, as all indications point to more of

the same, with humankind likely to continue

IMraN HOSSaIN

MOHaMeD CHeBarO

action, he must verify the truth of everything

and take action. It is the responsibility and

duty of the university to meet the needs of

the students. It is very normal for students to

have demands from the university. It is real

that the people in charge should be

informed about their demands, benefits and

disadvantages, and understand their rights.

Because a university student is much more

aware of his rights. Because he has to think

about others. If being a student of a

university cannot protest against injustice,

cannot understand one's own rights, then

the understanding of ordinary students will

as soon as the television screen or the magazine is opened,

questionable incidents against the students of SUST are coming

up one after another. and again and again the question

arises as to what was the crime of conscience of those students

which resulted in such an incident! The incident repeatedly

made a healthy conscientious nation think.

not be able to express their distant

condition.

If a student of one of the highest

educational institutions of the country

cannot call injustice unjust, then the next

generation will be prone to abuse of power,

the next generation will be speech impaired.

University students have to consider all

these.

One thing to think about in general is

when do people choose a difficult situation

or a crooked path? When do all the students

in a hall join the movement? When do they

unite for the realization of their rights? The

students of SUST, after a long period of

silence, started a movement to assert their

rights. They came together in a peaceful

its long sleepwalk to doom. The Netflix

movie "Don't Look Up," which caused a stir

recently, showed how modern day

individuals are unable to see beyond their

respective bubbles and be concerned about

impending catastrophe.

The most promising of the technologies I

looked into, which made me somewhat

hopeful, was a planetary-scale engineering

scheme designed to cool the Earth's surface

and lessen the impact of global warming. This

plan is based on so-called solar radiation

modification and it works by injecting billions

of sulfur particles into the middle atmosphere

in the hope of turning back some of the sun's

rays that warm our planet. However, my

happiness was short-lived, as it seems that

60-plus experts and scientists this week

warned governments and asked them to

block this process, stating that its

human chain to inform the administration

about their problems. But incidentally

university students have been humiliated by

the police. The police did not come inside

the university on their own. They did not

attack the students at will. At the behest of

any force they attacked the students!

According to the report, the student

movement started, mismanagement of the

hall and abuse and arbitrary behavior of the

provost.

The university administration cannot call

the allegations of mismanagement of the

university hall as false or fabricated.

Although the students conspired to slander

the provost, it was the duty of the university

administration and the vice-chancellor to

conduct a proper investigation and stand up

for justice in this regard. It is true that the

students blocked the vice chancellor. But the

students have blocked it to assert their

rights. To cure their issues unattended. For

justice. The Vice-Chancellor could have

easily solved this if he had wanted to.

Instead, such an attack on students by

pushing is not acceptable in any way.

University students have been beaten by the

police even before independence.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was

always by the side of the students as a result

of the attack on the students during the

Pakistani period.

But today, even in autonomous

universities, students have been attacked by

the police, which is a very disgusting

incident. Those involved in such barbaric

attacks on university students must be

brought under the law and appropriate

punishment must be meted out. Such

attacks on students are unacceptable.

Why Bangladesh needs inclusive society

Inclusiveness is the cornerstone of

Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs). Inclusiveness is the practice or

policy of providing equal access to

opportunities and resources for people

who might otherwise be excluded or

marginalized. If we disregard

inclusiveness, it would be tough to achieve

SDGs. People with Disabilities (PwDs)

comprise a large section of our

population, but they have been excluded

from the mainstream of our society. SDGs

are a collection of 17 interlinked global

goals designed to be a blueprint to achieve

a better and more sustainable future for

all. The SDGs were set up in 2015 by

United Nations General Assembly and are

intended to be achieved by the year 2030.

With the adoption of 2030 Agenda, UN

Member States pledged to ensure 'no one

will be left behind' and to 'endeavour to

reach the furthest behind first'.

In Bangladesh, we see that PwDs are

facing many barriers to inclusion in many

key aspects of our society. Hence, they have

been deprived of getting access to society on

an equal basis with others, which includes

areas of transportation, employment and

education as well as social and political

participation. They are mainly living a life of

poverty. They are entitled to government

support, but programmes have been limited

in scope and restricted to urban areas, and

the question of disability has not been

integrated into general development

programmes.

The PwDs can prove their worth and can

also contribute to the country's development

if they get necessary supports. They are

victims of discrimination and neglect due to

misconception about them.

Citing a survey of World Health

Organization (WHO), Blind Education and

Rehabilitation Development Organization

(BERDO) said, about 8%-10% people in

Bangladesh have impairment in somehow

or others. According to that tally, there are

roughly 17 million PwDs in our country.

PwDs have poor or little access to jobs,

different government services, training and

above all social justice. Their opinions are

not generally heard for and their rights are

often violated resulting in their

marginalization and exclusion. The

formation of a separate ministry titled

'Disability Ministry' is essential for

improving the condition of PwDs in respect

of job, education, skill development training,

ensuring social justice, assistance in natural

calamities, ensuring social security and

ending harassments to PwDs.

Md. Saidul Huq, Executive Director of

BERDO, said it would be helpful if a

separate ministry is in place. This ministry

would be helpful in increasing the social

status of the PwDs. There is a link between

national development and development of

PwDs. If the condition of PwDs is improved

with access to necessary support, they can

contribute to the national development, he

observed.

BERDO has been working to provide

education, employment, training and

medical services for the PWDs. In addition,

BERDO is implementing social

rehabilitation activities along with socioeconomic

development through income

generation activities. BERDO hope that

more rights-based organizations would be

established in the country and other

organizations currently working at

development sector should take up steps for

ensuring the rights of PWDs.

Initiatives have been undertaken at

national as well as international level to

MD. SazeDUL ISLaM

protect the rights of all the people. The UN

Convention on the Rights of Persons with

Disabilities (UNCRPD) was agreed on

December 13, 2006 by UN General

Assembly and came into force on May 3,

2008 to promote, protect and ensure the full

and equal enjoyment of all human rights

and fundamental freedoms by all persons

with disabilities, and to promote respect for

their inherent dignity.

Bangladesh government had ratified it on

November 30, 2007. After the ratification,

Bangladesh is bound to take up

SDGs were adopted by all UN Member States as a universal

call to ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by

2030. Through the pledge to 'Leave No One Behind', the

countries have committed to fast-track progress for those

furthest behind first.

programmes aimed at ensuring the rights of

PwDs.

SDGs were adopted by all UN Member

States as a universal call to ensure that all

people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.

Through the pledge to 'Leave No One

Behind', the countries have committed to

fast-track progress for those furthest behind

first.

In our country, there are two laws titled

'Persons with Disabilities Rights and

Protection Act 2013' and 'Neuro

Developmental Disabilities Act 2013', which

need to be implemented properly. PwDs are

not being included in different development

committees due to lack of full

implementation of the laws. Rights of the

PwDs have been clearly identified and

defined in clause No. 16 of that law. Those

are accessibility, full and active participation

of PwDs in social, economic and state

activities according to nature of disabilities;

protection from oppressions, and safe and

healthy environment; accepting Sign

The writer is a student of

Jagannath University.

language as main language by person with

Hearing and Speech impairments;

formation of Self-help groups and welfare

organizations, and operation of those

groups.

A country cannot go ahead if a large

number of its people remain excluded.

Hence, it is needed to build an inclusive

society. But how? According to BERDO, the

following measures can be helpful:

It is needed to create awareness, share

information, and increase greater

coordination among Disabled People's

Organizations (DPOs); define strategies and

involve PwDs from the very beginning of

planning; work closely with local, regional

and national level agencies/departments to

implement "Persons with Disabilities Rights

and Protection Act 2013" by DPOs to

achieve the SDGs goals; build good rapport

and keep constant touch, liaison and

communication with different ministries,

departments and institutions.

The steps also include to make correlation

between UNCRPD and SDG strategies of the

government; ensure participation of PwDs

in different platforms, committees and

forums and to monitor SDG

implementation. We need a rights-based

inclusive society where all the people can

enjoy their rights without any

discrimination. We have constitutional

obligation to build up such society.

Article 19 of Bangladesh Constitution

called for ensuring equality of opportunity to

all the citizens. Article 28 (1) says that the

State shall not discriminate against any

citizens on grounds only of religion, race,

caste, sex or place of birth.

Article 28(4) called for making special

provision for the advancement of any

backward section of citizens.

It is hoped that the PwDs would be

integrated into the mainstream of society

with the adoption of inclusive approach,

which would contribute achieving the SDGs.

The writer is a freelance journalist

consequences could outweigh any benefits.

The experts wrote an open letter stating that

the deployment of solar geoengineering

cannot be governed globally in a fair,

inclusive and effective manner. They asked

governments, the UN and other world actors

to prevent the normalization of solar

geoengineering as a climate policy option.

Pushed to buy time until better solutions

emerge to stall climate change, some want to

embrace solar geoengineering and artificially

dim the sun's radiative force, but studies

have shown that this could disrupt monsoon

rains and, in parts of Asia and Africa, ravage

rain-fed crops that feed hundreds of millions

of people. Some want to embrace solar

geoengineering and artificially dim the sun's

radiative force, but studies have shown this

could disrupt monsoon rains.

Source: Arab news

sunDay, JanuaRy 23, 2022

5

Google’ solar-powered roof encourages

sustainable workspaces

caRly olson

About 40 miles south of San Francisco,

three futuristic structures rise from the

earth. With sloping roofs clad in

thousands of overlapping tiles, the

buildings could be mistaken for the

world's most architecturally advanced

circus tent.

They are, in fact, part of Google's new

Bay View campus, which is due to

welcome employees this year - pandemic

allowing - and is situated a few miles east

of its existing HQ campus in Mountain

View.

The firm says the finished buildings will

have 90,000 tiles which form a "solar

skin" roof, which its designers have

named "dragonscale" and estimate will

generate almost 7 megawatts of power, or

40% of the electricity needs of the

campus. It sees this as part of its efforts to

hit the pledge made by CEO Sundar

Pichai that Google will run every data

center and campus on carbon-free energy

by 2030.

Corporations have never been under

more pressure to follow through and

make meaningful progress on carbon

emissions from regulators and amid

greater scrutiny around "greenwashing"

from environmentalists - and their own

employees.

Demand for low-emission offices is

larger than it ever has been, according to

several US architects the Guardian spoke

to. That's especially true in California,

where manifestations of the climate crisis

are obvious: hotter summers, drought

and an annual wildfire season.

"Buildings are awful for the

environment," said Eric Corey Freed, the

sustainability director at architecture firm

CannonDesign. "If we're going to solve

climate change, we have to fix our

buildings."

In the US, buildings consumed around

40% of the country's electricity in 2020,

according to data from the US Energy

Information Administration, and are also

one of the planet's biggest emitters of

greenhouse gasses, accounting for 37% of

the world's energy-related CO2

emissions. That's not including all the

emissions from refrigerants - chemicals

that maintain air conditioning systems

and refrigerators - which have a global

warming potential that's hundreds to

thousands of times higher than carbon

the finished building in Mountain View will have an estimated 90,000 tiles forming a 'solar

skin'.

Photo: Google Real estate

dioxide.

Designers must consider the

"operational carbon" of running the

building and the "embodied carbon" of

creating it, such as the emissions from

producing materials, constructing the

project and transporting waste offsite.

Freed is optimistic, however, because

the costs of being sustainable are coming

down. "Considering solar [panels] for

your campus or your building is so much

less expensive than it used to be," added

Maria Papiez, the director of sustainable

design for EwingCole. "That really was

only for the Googles in the past, who had

the dollars to do that. And now, it's the

least expensive form of electricity in some

places."

As well as the "dragonscale" solar

panels, Google's new campus also plans

to have a geothermal battery

underground where it will store heat to

warm the building, Asim Tahir, the tech

giant's lead on its sustainable energy

strategy, told Grist. The idea behind all

the Bay View innovations is "to kickstart

this market in the US by showing it can be

done", Tahir said. Google has been

working on the project with architecture

firms Heatherwick Studio and Bjarke

Ingels Group (BIG) as well as

Switzerland-based company SunStyle,

which has created arrays of solar panels

on multiple buildings in Europe and

wants to expand in the US.

"I really do like the idea of a tipping

point," said Papiez of EwingCole. "Once

we get enough critical mass, there's this

opportunity to really tip in the right

direction."

Chris Chatto, a principal at architecture

firm ZGF who has focused on

sustainability for the past 15 years, says

that he has seen a substantial uptick in

clients requesting sustainable buildings.

"Honestly, the amount of conversations

I've had in the last three to six months is

probably the same amount that I've had

in the last few years," he said. ZGF is

currently working with Microsoft, which

has also made major goals to cut down

carbon emissions. "I think in some ways",

he added, "we've probably seen more

consistent signals and interest from the

tech industry on the west coast."

Architect Anthony Brower, a Leed

fellow and director of sustainability at

architecture firm Gensler has seen this

too, beyond just the big tech giants.

"Some clients have very general

requests," he said, "They want to see

sustainability integrated into their work.

Other clients are getting very specific

about exactly what they want in a very

sophisticated manner."

Aside from contributing to global

climate goals, sustainable architecture

has increasingly become a recruitment

strategy, specifically when competing for

Gen-Z workers who deeply care about the

climate and want to work for a company

that embodies their values. Even Pichai,

Google's CEO, said that shifting to

renewables will help the company attract

employees. "If you don't do this correctly,

you won't be able to attract talent," Pichai

told Bloomberg. "When I look at the

younger generation, people who are

teenagers now, I can't see them making

the choice to work for a company which

they feel is polluting."

Ruth Michaelson

In the offices of AltCoin, a cryptocurrency

hub tucked away in a sidestreet in

Istanbul's bustling Kad?köy

neighbourhood, two wall-mounted TV

sets showed the live value of currencies

bitcoin and Ethereum, both graphs

sloping downwards.

AltCoin's all-male inhabitants were not

worried - in the chaotic world of

cryptocurrency, their fortunes could soon

change.

"A lot of people come here, some are

rich, some are poor. But the target is

always getting rich - although a lot of

people think that if they invest a hundred

dollars, they will get a million," said one

founder of AltCoin known only as Shark,

who pointedly added that he has

trademarked his nickname.

"Other people come here to take their

first lessons in the technical side of

crypto, and then start to trade," he said.

AltCoin was founded to teach Turkish

citizens about how to invest in

cryptocurrencies, which provide a digital,

decentralised alternative to the

mainstream financial system.

Cryptocurrency trading has boomed in

popularity in Turkey during a financial

crisis that halved the value of the lira last

year, while inflation recently surged

above 30%, a two-decade high. While

most Turkish citizens looking to avoid the

devaluation of their savings in lira tend to

reinvest in dollars or gold, an increasing

number of younger investors see

cryptocurrencies as the way forward.

This has drawn the ire of the

government, particularly President

Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, who declared that

"we are in a war against Bitcoin" and

recently unveiled a programme to

encourage Turkish citizens to switch their

savings to lira and stash the cash in the

banks.

To cryptocurrency believers, the

increasing lack of trust in government

a cryptocurrency exchange kiosk in istanbul.

Bitcoin boom in

Turkey amid

Lira crisis

solutions is proof that digital currencies

are the best alternative to Turkey's

embattled lira. Yet whether

cryptocurrencies genuinely provide an

opportunity to get rich is unclear.

Evangelists such as the AltCoin founders

say that if the influx of unknowing

investors risk falling prey to scams or

simply wasting their money, it is the fault

of the individual.

"People play at cryptocurrency trading

like they're gambling, like betting," said

Shark. I ask if this means people are

essentially trying to gamble in order to

get rich. "Yes, yes. It's exactly like

betting," he said, laughing.

Shark declined to reveal how much

money he has made through

cryptocurrency investments, citing

concerns that the government might

suddenly swoop in and tax his gains.

AltCoin members - by their own

estimates - have trained more than 300

people since the hub started five years

ago, and more attend a weekly event they

host to preach the wonders of crypto.

But they are careful how they operate

in an uncertain regulatory environment,

sticking purely to teaching people how to

trade rather than directly assisting or

discussing the benefits of any one

currency. "We're providing a point of

view," said Shark.

Cryptocurrencies exist in a legal grey

area in Turkey. The government banned

their use to pay for goods and services in

April last year, while trading them is still

permitted.

Photo: Getty images

Snapchat fights drug dealing on app

KaRi Paul

Snapchat has announced new efforts to combat drug

dealing on the platform, changes that come as drugrelated

deaths among US high school and college-aged

youth are exploding. The company said it has improved

automated drug detection systems, enhanced

partnerships with law enforcement, and launched a new

portal educating users on

the dangers of drugs.

"Our position on this

has always been clear:

we have absolutely zero

tolerance for drug

dealing on Snapchat,"

the company said in a

blog post announcing

the move this week.

"We have a unique

opportunity to use our

voice, technology and

resources to help

address this scourge,

which threatens the

lives of our community

members."

The new steps come

after the CDC warned

in late 2021 of a major

spike of drug overdoses

driven by fentanyl, with

young people being the

most impacted.

The cheap, synthetic

opioid is up to 100

times more potent than

heroin and is often

mixed into counterfeit

pills that young people

buy on social media,

mistaking them for pharmaceutical drugs.

Fentanyl fatalities rose to more than 93,000 in 2020, a

32% increase from 2019. According to a recent Guardian

analysis of federal data, youth under 24 have been the

hardest hit, with drug deaths up by 50% in that age

group.

"Every drug you try now is a game of Russian roulette,"

Shabbir Safdar, director of the Partnership for Safe

Medicines, a non-profit fighting pharmaceutical

counterfeits, previously told the Guardian.

Pills labelled as Oxycontin, Percocet, Xanax or Adderall

are readily available on platforms like Snapchat,

Instagram and Craigslist, studies have shown. A recent

report from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) found

that Instagram offers an instant "drug pipeline" for kids

that enabled them to find drugs with just a few clicks.

Snapchat said it increased its proactive detection of

drug sales by 390% in the past year, increasing them by

50% in the last quarter alone. It added that when its

systems detect drug dealing activity, the account is

promptly banned and the creator blocked from creating

new accounts on Snapchat.

The company said it has increased collaborations with

law enforcement and improved response times to law

enforcement inquiries by 85% over the past year. In its

blog post, Snapchat said it is working with experts to

continually update the

list of slang and drugrelated

terms blocked

from search results on

Snapchat.

Other platforms

should also take

measures to put a stop

to the massive rise in

online drug dealing,

said Christine

Elgersma, a senior

editor at children's

safety non-profit

Common Sense Media.

"This is not just a

Snapchat problem," she

said. Indeed, Instagram

executive Adam

Mosseri faced questions

about the issue in a

2021 congressional

hearing.

"Why are children's

accounts even allowed

to search for drug

the company said to have zero tolerance for drug dealing on snapchat.

Photo: Peter Byrne

content to begin with,

much less allowed to

do so in a way that

leads them to a drug

dealer in two clicks?"

asked the Republican senator Mike Lee of Utah.

"Accounts selling drugs or any other regulated goods

are not allowed on the platform," said Mosseri.

Instagram has previously said it uses technology to

proactively take down a huge number of drug-related

posts.

Parents of children who died of fentanyl overdoses

previously shared with the Guardian screenshots of

Snapchat accounts selling pills. One woman, Perla

Mendoza, said her 20-year-old son died in September

2020 after buying fake Xanax.

"It was one deadly pill that was strong enough to kill

four adults," said Mendoza, who hopes that other

parents will get a chance to warn their children before it's

too late. "I feel like a lot of parents are like: 'My kids

aren't into that.' Well, neither was mine," she said. "But

that's what kids are getting."

Dan MilMo

The UK data watchdog has intervened

in the debate over end-to-end

encryption, warning that delaying its

introduction puts "everyone at risk"

including children. The Information

Commissioner's Office said strongly

encrypting communications

strengthens online safety for children

by reducing their exposure to threats

such as blackmail, while also allowing

businesses to share information

securely.

The watchdog was responding to the

launch of a government-backed

campaign that said social media

platforms would be "willingly

blindfolding" themselves to child abuse

if they pushed ahead with end-to-end

encryption for private messaging.

"E2EE [end-to-end encryption]

serves an important role both in

safeguarding our privacy and online

safety," said Stephen Bonner, the ICO's

executive director for innovation and

technology. "It strengthens children's

online safety by not allowing criminals

and abusers to send them harmful

content or access their pictures or

location."

Child safety campaigners have

warned that the encryption plans

would prevent law enforcement, and

tech platforms, from seeing messages

by ensuring that only the sender and

recipient can view their content - a

process known as end-to-end

encryption.

Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook

Messenger and Instagram apps are

preparing to introduce end-to-end

encryption and their plans were

strongly criticised last year by the home

secretary, Priti Patel, who described

them as "not acceptable".

Bonner said accessing encrypted

content was not the only way to catch

abusers. Other methods used by law

enforcement include infiltrating abuse

rings, listening to reports from children

targeted by abusers and using evidence

from convicted abusers.

He added: "Until we look properly at

the consequences, it is hard to see any

case for reconsidering the use of E2EE

- delaying its use leaves everyone at

risk, including children."

The ICO, which oversees the

protection of people's data in the UK,

believes that end-to-end encryption is

one of the most reliable ways of

protecting the data of people who use

large messaging platforms. Bonner said

encryption protects children by

preventing criminals and abusers from

accessing their pictures - which could

expose them to the risk of blackmail -

and their location.

Whatsapp messaging is already encrypted end to end.

End-to-end encryption

protects children

Meta, the owner of Messenger and

Instagram, said in November last year

it would delay its end-to-end

encryption plans by a year to 2023. Its

WhatsApp messaging service already

uses end-to-end encryption.

Damian Hinds, the home office

minister, said the government-backed

campaign, called No Place to Hide, was

calling for a "more balanced debate" on

the issue. Writing in the Times, he

added: "There is a risk that end-to-end

encryption, without the right safety

capabilities, blinds companies and law

enforcement, taking us backwards.

Neither this government, nor society as

a whole could accept that."

Responding to the ICO, the NSPCC

said end-to-end encryption offered

privacy benefits but put children at risk

if it was poorly implemented. "That's

why the NSPCC wants companies to

risk assess end-to-end encryption and

balance the privacy and safety

requirements of all users, including

young people, to ensure it is rolled out

in the best interests of the child," said

Andy Burrows, head of child safety

online policy at the charity.

Photo: alamy

SUNdAY, JANUARY 23, 2022 6

159 more test positive for

Covid-19 in Rajshahi

Upazila of Panchagarh Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Masudul Haque exchanged views with the

journalists yesterday.

Photo : Md Anamul Haque

Two killed in

Joypurhat

road accident

JOYPURHAT : Two people

were killed in a collision

between a passenger bus of

Hanif Paribahan and a

pickup van in Khetlal

Upazila of the district

yesterday morning.

The deceased was

identified as the driver of the

pickup van Masud Rana, 37

and Monoranjon , 38. Both

were the residents in

Chapainawabganj district.

Police said the accident

occurred in Shalbon area on

Joypurhat-Bogura Road due

to dense fog. Masud Rana

died on the spot while

Monoranjon succumbed to

his injuries on the way to

Shaheed Zia Midecal College

Hospital in Bogura. Officerin-Charge

of Kheltal Thana

Dhirendonath Mondol

confirmed.

Ice worth Tk

5cr seized in

Cox's Bazar,

2 detained

COX'S BAZAR : Border

Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on

Friday detained two

suspected drug smugglers in

Cox's Bazar and seized one

kg of crystal meth or ice

worth Tk 5 crore from their

possession, reports UNB.

The detainees have been

identified as Syedul Amin,

34, son of Foyez Ahmed, and

a teenager hailing from

Ukhia upazila.

Acting on a tip-off, a team

of BGB-30 raided the West

Goalia area of the district's

Ramu upazila and stopped a

CNG-run auto-rickshaw

around 5:45 pm for checking,

said Mahmudul Hasan of

BGB.

Being challenged by the

BGB members, three

occupants of the auto,

including its driver, jumped

into a nearby pond in a bid to

escape.

Later, the BGB men

detained two of them and

seized ice worth Tk 5 crore

from their possession. The

detainees were later handed

over to the local police.

Arms peddler

held with arms,

ammo in

C'nawabganj

CHAPAINAWABGANJ :

Members of Rapid Action

Battalion (RAB) arrested an

alleged arms peddler with

two one shooter guns and

two bullets from

Gomostapur in the district

last night.

The arrested person is Md.

Khairul Islam, 37, of

Durgapur village under

Gomostapur upazila in

Chapainawabganj district.

RAB said, being informed,

an operation team of RAB-5

from Chapainawabganj

camp conducted a raid at

Palashbona village under

Gomostapur upazila in the

district at 9.05 pm and

arrested Khairul with the

arms and ammunition.

Later, the arrested person

was handed over to the

police of Gomostapur thana

with a case.

Polls violence: 12 injured

in attack by AL in Cumilla

CUMILLA : At least 12 persons were injured

in an attack reportedly by supporters of

ruling Awami League candidate for the

upcoming union parishad election at

Khoskandi area of Damoti union on Friday.

The injured are-Aiyub Ali, Sharif, Shafiqul

Islam, Shanto, Zillur Rahman, Billal, Imran,

Mehedi, Rahman, Tofazzol, Rakib Munshi

and Khokon.

All the injured persons are now

undergoing treatment at Upazila Health

Complex, except critically injured Aiyub Ali,

who was referred to Cumilla Medical

College and Hospital for advanced

treatment.

According to eye-witnesses, AL backed

chairman candidate Jasim Uddin's brother

Shah Poran and his supporters carried out

the attack on supporters of independent

candidate Mohiuddin Mithu, when they

were preparing for an election rally in the

evening.

Jasim Uddin however denied the

allegations, saying that he knew nothing

about the attack.

Mithu told UNB that supporters of AL

candidate Jasim Uddin were threatening

his supporters after submission of

nomination papers.

"They even threatened to kill my

supporters if they voted for me and not the

AL candidate," he added.

The OC of Debidar police station Arifur

Rahman confirmed the incident of violence

took place, but said legal action will only be

taken upon receiving a written complaint.

Blankets were distributed among more than four hundred poor, helpless,

uprooted and destitute families at Magura Mandal house in Kishoreganj upazila

of Nilphamari on Saturday.

Photo : Mafe Mohiuddin

Babul Hossain elected general

secretary in Mymensingh

Press Club polls

MYMENSINGH :

Janakantha and 71

television representative

Babul Hossain has been

elected as the general

secretary of Mymensingh

Press Club.

Voting was held on Friday

January 21 from 2.30 pm to

5.30 pm. Out of 80

members of Mymensingh

Press Club, 71 members cast

their votes in the election.

Ataur Rahman Jewel has

been elected as the joint

secretary in the election.

Besides, Asim Moin Uddin

and Salim Hasan have been

elected as vice-presidents

and Jahangir Kabir Jewel as

treasurer.

MA Motaleb has been

elected as Sports Secretary,

Aminul Islam as Literature

and Culture Secretary,

Hossain Shahid as Publicity

and Publication Secretary,

Mamun Mahfuz Advocate as

Drama and Entertainment

Secretary. Besides, elected

members are AZM

Imamuddin Mukta of BSS,

Amit Roy Advocate ,

Md.Mozammel Haque,

Niyamul Kabir Sajal, Mir

Golam Mostafa and Sheikh

Mohiuddin Ahmed. The

election was held in a festive

atmosphere.

Rab members arrested a man with 198 pieces of yaba tablets in Faridpur

yesterday.

Photo : Shajahan Helal

RAJSHAHI : A total of 159 more

people have tested positive for Covid-

19 in five districts of the division on

Friday, taking the caseload to 1,02,253

since the pandemic began in March,

2020.

The new positive cases are showing a

significant declining trend compared

to the previous day's figure of 475, said

Dr Habibul Ahsan Talukder, divisional

director of health.

Meanwhile, the recovery count rose

to 97,013 in the division after 49

patients were discharged from the

hospitals on the same day.

The death toll remained steady at

1,695, including 688 in Bogura, 327 in

Rajshahi with 209 in its city and 175 in

JU follows suit

as Covid bites

education

once again

JAHANGIRNAGAR

UNIVERSITY : The

Jahangirnagar University

authorities on Friday

announced suspension of

all offline activities till

February 6, in light of the

latest surge in Covid-19

cases across the country,

reports UNB.

However, online classes

will be held and the

dormitories will remain

open during this period.

The decision came from

an administrative meeting

of the university.

All educational activities

like classes, tutorial,

assignment and

presentation will continue

through online till further

order but the final

examinations will remain

postponed.

Fresh dates will be

communicated later on for

those who have routine

exams.

If the situation does not

become normal by this

period, the final exams will

be completed by applying

online policy, it added.

Man killed

by nephews

in Feni, 3

held

FENI : A man was allegedly

killed by his two nephews

as he tried to stop a family

dispute in Feni's

Daganbhuiyan upzaila on

Friday night.

The deceased was

identified as Nurul Afsar

(45), a CNG-run

autorickshaw driver of the

upazila's Jailashkar area

and son of Afshar Abdul

Barik.

Both his nephews-Jahed

and Jonny-and their

mother Rokeya Begum

have been arrested in

connection with the killing,

according to police m

Cops said that women of

both the families had an

argument over garbage

dumping near the house.

Later the men of the two

families joined them.

When Nurul tried to end

the quarrel, Jahed and

Jonny attacked him with a

brick. He collapsed on the

spot.

Jahed and Jonny had an

old feud with their uncle,

said Mamunur Rashid

Milon, local UP chairman.

Daganbhuiyan Police

Station OC Partha Dev said

the victim's wife Parveen

Akhter filed a complaint

based on which an FIR for

murder was filed.

Apart from those

arrested, Shafiqur

Rahman, father of Jahed

and Jonny, has also been

made an accused, he said.

"The body has been sent to

the Feni General Hospital

morgue for an autopsy."

Natore as no new fatality was reported

during the past 24 hours, Dr Talukder

added.

Besides, all the positive cases of

Covid-19 have, so far, been brought

under necessary treatment while

23,509 were kept in isolation units of

different dedicated hospitals for

institutional quarantine.

Of them, 20,136 have been released.

Meanwhile, 103 more people have

been sent to home and institutional

quarantine afresh while 39 others were

released from isolation during the

same time.

Of the 159 new cases, 107 were

detected in Bogura, followed by 29 in

Rajshahi city, 16 in Sirajganj, five in

Chapainawabganj and two in Natore

districts.

With the newly detected patients, the

district-wise break-up of the total cases

now stands at 29,161 in Rajshahi,

including 23,703 in its city, 5,724 in

Chapainawabganj, 6,631 in Naogaon,

8,573 in Natore, 4,861 in Joypurhat,

22,502 in Bogura, 11,624 in Sirajganj

and 13,177 in Pabna.

A total of 1,16,910 people have, so far,

been kept under quarantine since

March 10, 2020 to prevent community

transmission of the deadly virus. Of

them, 1,14,725 have, by now, been

released as they were given clearance

certificates after completing their

quarantine period.

Siraj Memorial Foundation distributed winter clothes among the destitute in

Morelganj.

Photo : M Palash Sharif

Two brick kilns

fined Tk 1.1 lakh

in Gaibandha

GAIBANDHA : A mobile court formed by the district

administration fined the owners of two brick kilns Taka

1.10 lakh on Friday for manufacturing low standard

bricks.

The court led by executive magistrates of the district

administration S. M. Foyes Uddin and Md. Lokman

Hossain conducted the drives at TPL Brick Kiln located in

Dholvanga area under Sadullapur upazila in the district

and fined the owner of the brick kiln Taka 80,000 on

charge of manufacturing low standard bricks.

Then the court also conducted the drive at Janata Brick

Kiln of the area and fined the owner of the brick kiln Taka

30,000 for the same charge.

The drives were conducted following the ACT -2018 of

Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI). The

cases filed by the court were settled instantly after

realizing the fines of Taka 1.10 lakh from the owners of the

brick kilns. Md. Dewar Hossain, field officer of BSTI

Rangpur divisional office, also accompanied the court

during the drives.

RUET suspends

classes for two weeks

RAJSHAHI : Rajshahi University of Engineering and

Technology (RUET) has suspended classes and

examinations from January 22 to February 6

complying with the government decision amid the

present escalation of Covid-19 infection.

However, academic and administrative activities

will remain operational through maintaining health

protection measures. Students' dormitories will also

remain open for the sake of the students' welfare.

The decision was taken in the 95th meeting of the

syndicate held on Friday evening.

Restriction has been imposed on entering the

campus without any necessary official work.

Outsiders have also been asked not to remain in the

campus unnecessary. RUET teachers, officers and

employees were asked to perform duties remaining

in their offices with supervision of their respective

heads.

Man held with

940 yaba tablets

in Rajshahi

RAJSHAHI : Rapid Action

Battalion (RAB) in an anticrime

drive arrested an

alleged drug peddler with

940 pieces of contraband

yaba tablets in the district

last night.

The arrestee was identified

as Shahiduzzaman Tapan,

23, son of late Abdus Sattar

of Bazarpara area in

Charghat upazila of the

district.

RAB sources said, on

information, a team of the

elite force conducted a raid

in Charghat Bazar area and

arrested him with the yaba

tablets at around 8.25 pm.

A case was recorded with

Charghat police station in

this connection and the

arrested person along with

the seized goods was handed

over to police yesterday

morning.

704 more test

positive for

Covid-19 in Ctg

CHATTOGRAM : A total of

704 more people were

detected positive for

coronavirus in the last 24

hours after testing 2,480

samples in 16 laboratories

designated for Covid-19 test

in Chattogram district.

During the last 24 hours

till yesterday morning, the

infection rate of the virus in

the district is 29.05.

Health officials said the

number of Covid-19 cases

again reducing trend rose to

110,097 as 704 more people

were reported positive till

Saturday morning.

A discussion meeting was held at Segunbagicha of the capital city yesterday on

the occasion of the 6th death anniversary of farmer leader Lear Khan.

Photo : TBT

SuNDAY, JANuArY 23, 2022

7

7 die, 15 hurt in

India highrise

fire

NEW DELHI : At least seven

people died and some 15

others sustained injuries in a

massive fire that broke out at

a residential highrise in the

western Indian city of

Mumbai on Saturday,

reports UNB.

Officials said the blaze

started on the 18th floor of

Kamla complex in Mumbai's

Tardeo area in the morning

and soon engulfed the two

upper floors of the 20-storey

building.

Some 13 fire tenders were

pressed into service but it

took them nearly three

hours to douse the flames, a

senior police official told the

local media.

"While seven residents lost

their lives in the fire, the

injured have been

hospitalised. The condition

of six of the injured is

critical," the official said.

"The remaining residents

were safely evacuated."

Local TV channels beamed

footage of white smoke

billowing out of the highrise

building, with firefighters

using hydraulic cranes to

evacuate the trapped

residents.

DiCaprio lauds Bangladesh for protecting

biodiversity around Saint Martin's Island

DHAKA : Oscar-winning Hollywood A-lister

Leonardo DiCaprio has congratulated the

Government of Bangladesh and other

relevant stakeholders for establishing a

Marine Protected Area (MPA) around Saint

Martin's Island.

Taking to his verified Twitter account,

DiCaprio said that this move will safeguard

the biodiversity in that significant area.

"Congrats to the Government of

Bangladesh, local communities and NGOs

on a newly established Marine Protected

Area around Saint Martin's Island that will

protect an incredible community of

biodiversity and provide key habitat for

Bangladesh's only coral reef," DiCaprio

wrote.

He also shared a photograph crediting

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS),

showcasing the picturesque view of the

mentioned area.

Posted at 8:30 pm (Bangladesh Time) on

Friday, the tweet has been garnering massive

attention with retweets and likes from his

followers around the world.

He said the initiative will protect an

incredible community of biodiversity and

provide key habitat for Bangladesh's only

coral reef.

"This newly declared marine protected

area spans 672 square miles on Bangladesh's

southernmost tip," said the actor and

environmentalist.

In a separate post from his verified

Facebook page, he said the tropical waters

are home to the country's only corals, as well

as pods of elusive Indo-Pacific humpback

dolphins and endangered whale sharks, now

sheltered by the region's newest protected

area.

"Next steps will be to develop a sciencebased,

community-informed management

plan, raise awareness about regulations in

the MPA, build capacity for conducting

government and community-led

enforcement and monitoring patrols,

controlling domestic waste, and beginning to

restore degraded corals," he mentioned.

He congratulated the Government of

Bangladesh, Wildlife Conservation Society

with support from Re:wild, the local

communities and NGOs on this important

accomplishment.

A high-profile and vocal advocate of the

battle against climate change, DiCaprio often

uses his social media profiles to discuss

climate change. This is the first time

Bangladesh has been in one of his tweets.

To safeguard marine biodiversity, the

Bangladesh government has designated a

1,743-square-kilometer section in the Bay of

Bengal around Saint Martin's as the 'Saint

Martin's Marine Protected Area.'

According to the Ministry of Environment,

Forest and Climate Change, the decision was

taken to help prevent uncontrolled ships and

motor boats, overfishing, dumping of waste

and harmful chemicals in the sea,

destruction of coral colonies and depletion of

the area's biodiversity.

Three studies released Friday offered more evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are standing up to the

omicron variant, at least among people who received booster shots.

Photo : AP

Sherpa sibling

daredavils aim

for 'Grand Slam'

KATHMANDU : Two out of

three Sherpa brothers have

proudly returned home after

becoming the first Nepalis to

reach the South Pole, part of

their mission to achieve the

hallowed Explorers' Grand

Slam.

This holy grail of

adventuring involves climbing

the highest peaks in the seven

c o n t i n e n t s - E v e r e s t ,

Aconcagua, Denali,

Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Vinson,

and Puncak Jaya-and reaching

both poles.

"We saw flags of many

countries, but the flag of our

country was not there,"

Chhang Dawa Sherpa said

after returning from Antarctica

where they also ticked off the

4,892-metre (16,050-feet) Mt.

Vinson.

"We felt very happy to add

Nepal's flag there," he told AFP

on Friday. Sherpa and his elder

sibling Mingma-due back in

Nepal in the coming weeksalready

hold the record for the

first siblings to climb the 14

highest mountains in the

world.

Their little brother, Tashi

Lakpa Sherpa, holds the crown

as the youngest person, at 19,

to climb Everest without using

supplementary oxygen.

For the Explorers' Grand

Slam the siblings still have to

climb another five peaks and

reach the North Pole, but they

are confident they can

complete it within a year.

The brothers run the aptly

named Seven Summits Treks

in Kathmandu, the largest

expedition organiser in Nepal,

taking hundreds of climbers

up Himalayan peaks every

year.Nepali guides-usually

ethnic Sherpas from the

valleys around Everest- are

considered the backbone of the

climbing industry in the

Himalayas for bearing huge

risks to carry equipment and

food, fix ropes and repair

ladders.

Booster shots needed

against omicron, CDC

studies show

NEW YORK : Three studies released Friday

offered more evidence that COVID-19

vaccines are standing up to the omicron

variant, at least among people who received

booster shots.

They are the first large U.S. studies to look at

vaccine protection against omicron, health

officials said, reports UNB.

The papers echo previous research -

including studies in Germany, South Africa

and the U.K. - indicating available vaccines are

less effective against omicron than earlier

versions of the coronavirus, but also that

boosters doses rev up virus-fighting

antibodies to increase the chance of avoiding

symptomatic infection.

The first study looked at hospitalizations

and emergency room and urgent care center

visits in 10 states, from August to this month.

It found vaccine effectiveness was best after

three doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines

in preventing COVID-19-associated

emergency department and urgent care visits.

Protection dropped from 94% during the

delta wave to 82% during the omicron wave.

Protection from just two doses was lower,

especially if six months had passed since the

second dose.

Officials have stressed the goal of preventing

not just infection but severe disease. On that

count, some good news: A third dose was at

least 90% effective at preventing

hospitalizations for COVID-19, both during

the delta and omicron periods, the study also

found.

The second study focused on COVID-19

case and death rates in 25 states from the

beginning of April through Christmas. People

who were boosted had the highest protection

against coronavirus infection, both during the

time delta was dominant and also when

omicron was taking over.

Those two articles were published online by

the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

The Journal of the American Medical

Association published the third study, also led

by CDC researchers. It looked at people who

tested positive for COVID-19 from Dec. 10 to

Jan. 1 at more than 4,600 testing sites across

the U.S. Three shots of the Pfizer and

Moderna vaccines were about 67% effective

against omicron-related symptomatic disease

compared with unvaccinated people. Two

doses, however, offered no significant

protection against omicron when measured

several months after completion of the

original series, the researchers found.

"It really shows the importance of getting a

booster dose," said the CDC's Emma Accorsi,

one of the study's authors.

Americans should get boosters if at least five

months have passed since they completed

their Pfizer or Moderna series, but millions

who are eligible have not gotten them.

"If you are eligible for a booster and you

haven't gotten it, you are not up to date and

you need to get your booster," CDC Director

Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White

House briefing Friday.

India reports over 3.37

lakh cases, active Covid-19

cases highest in 237 days

NEW DELHI : India added 3,37,704 new

coronavirus infections taking the total tally of

COVID-19 cases to 3,89,03,731, which includes

10,050 cases of the Omicron variant, according

to Union health ministry data updated on

Saturday, reports BSS.

The active cases have increased to 21,13,365,

the highest in 237 days, while the death toll has

climbed to 4,88,884 with 488 fresh fatalities,

the data updated at 8 am stated. There has been

a 3.69 per cent increase in Omicron cases since

Friday, the ministry said.The active cases

comprise 5.43 per cent of the total infections,

while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has

decreased to 93.31 per cent, the ministry said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 17.22

per cent while the weekly positivity rate was

recorded at 16.65 per cent.

The data stated that 71.34 crore tests have

been conducted so far and 19,60,954 tests were

conducted in the last 24 hours.

So far, 161.16 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses

have been administered, it saidIndia's COVID-

19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August

7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on

September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

Oscar-winning Hollywood A-lister Leonardo DiCaprio has congratulated the Government of

Bangladesh and other relevant stakeholders for establishing a Marine Protected Area (MPA) around

Saint Martin's Island.

Photo : AP

Coalition denies

Yemen prison air

strike that killed 70

SAADA, Yemen : The Saudiled

coalition on Saturday

denied carrying out an air

strike on a prison in Yemen's

rebel-held north that aid

groups said killed at least 70

people, including migrants,

women and children.

Claims the military

coalition ordered the raid,

which reduced buildings to

rubble and left rescuers

scrabbling for survivors with

their bare hands, were

"groundless", the alliance

said.

The attack, which

coincided with a coalition

strike on Hodeida that killed

three children and knocked

out the impoverished

country's internet, was

condemned by the United

Nations secretary-general.

But "these claims adopted

by the militia are baseless

and unfounded", said

coalition spokesperson

Turki al-Malki, referring to

the Iran-backed Huthi

insurgents.

The latest violence in

Yemen's intractable, sevenyear

war came after the

Huthis claimed their first

deadly attack on Abu Dhabi,

capital of coalition partner

the United Arab Emirates,

on Monday.

This week has witnessed a

dramatic upswing in the

conflict that has already

killed tens of thousands of

people and displaced

millions, creating what the

UN calls the world's worst

humanitarian crisis.

The rebels seized the

capital Sanaa in 2014,

prompting the Saudi-led

intervention-supported by

the US, France and Britainin

March 2015. It was

intended to last just a few

weeks.

Russia sees record

virus cases second

day running

MOSCOW : The Russian

government on Saturday

reported a record number of

new coronavirus cases after

the Kremlin warned of a

looming surge in cases

driven by the Omicron

variant.

An online portal dedicated

to the coronavirus outbreak

registered 57,212 new daily

cases, surging past the

previous record set Friday of

49,513.

Following a strict but brief

national lockdown at the

beginning of the pandemic,

Russia has held back on

curbs hoping instead to

protect its struggling

economy.

Russian President

Vladimir Putin warned last

week that the country

needed to ready for an

Omicron-driven surge,

calling for more testing and

vaccinations.

In the capital Moscow-the

epicentre of the virus

outbreak in Russia- there

was a record 16,094 new

cases.

Several vaccines

developed in Russia have

been freely available for

months but still only around

half of the country is fully

innoculated due to

widespread

scepticism.

vaccine

Texas man charged with election

threats to Georgia officials

AUSTIN : The U.S. Justice Department said

Friday that a Texas man has been arrested on

charges of posting threatening messages on

Craigslist about killing government officials in

Georgia following the 2020 election.

It was announced as the first arrest by the

Justice Department's new Election Threats

Task Force that was created last summer.

Chad Stark, 54, is charged with one count of

communicating interstate threats, which

carries a maximum penalty of five years in

prison. Federal prosecutors accuse Stark of

posting a message on Jan. 5, 2021, titled,

"Georgia Patriots it's time to kill (redacted) the

Chinese agent - $10,000."

Prosecutors did not name the officials in

documents filed in federal court in Georgia.

Stark appeared before a federal judge in

Austin, Texas, on Friday for an initial

appearance. He was not required to enter a

plea and asked the court to appoint him an

attorney.

He told the court he did not own any

firearms and was granted release under

conditions that included instructions to not

leave the Austin area. He did not comment to

reporters after leaving the courthouse.

"The Justice Department has a

responsibility not only to protect the right to

vote, but also to protect those who administer

our voting systems from violence and illegal

threats of violence," Attorney General

Official: 1 officer killed, 1 seriously

hurt in NYC shooting

NEW YORK : A New York Police

Department officer was killed and another

gravely injured Friday night after responding

to a domestic disturbance call, according to a

law enforcement official.

A suspect was also killed in the shooting in

Harlem, said the official, who was not

authorized to speak publicly and did so on

condition of anonymity, reports UNB.

The official said a call had come in shortly

after 5 p.m. of a mother needing help with

her son. Three officers responded to the

ground floor apartment on 135th Street.

They spoke to the mother in a front room,

and then two officers went to a back room

where the son was, and shots rang out, the

official said.

The officer who died was 22 and had been

on the job since November 2020 and the

injured officer, 27, has been on the job for

four years, the official said.

Police dispatch audio captured some of the

chaotic scene, including an officer screaming

for assistance and another officer informing

the dispatcher that two officers had been

shot.

One officer asks for "three buses" or

ambulances to the scene, a six-story

apartment building, and police to block off

traffic on the route to nearby Harlem

Hospital. The building is on a block between

two iconic Harlem avenues: Malcolm X

Boulevard and Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

Boulevard. Mayor Eric Adams, himself a

former police officer, was at the hospital

Merrick Garland said.

According to the indictment, Stark's

message stated, "Georgia Patriots it's time for

us to take back our state from these Lawless

treasonous traitors." It goes on to urge

Georgia residents to "militia up" and calls for

shooting several unnamed officials as well as

local and federal judges.

Former President Donald Trump has made

repeated unproven claims that widespread

fraud cost him the election, and some of his

supporters have targeted election officials

and workers in It went past 60 lakh on

September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80

lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and

surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19,

2020.India crossed two crore cases on May 4 and

three crore cases on June 23 last year.

The 488 new fatalities include 106 from Kerala,

52 from Maharashtra, 38 from Delhi and 35 from

West Bengal. A total of 4,88,884 deaths have been

reported so far in the country including 1,42,023

from Maharashtra, 51,607 from Kerala, 38,537

from Karnataka, 37,145 from Tamil Nadu, 25,541

from Delhi, 23,022 from Uttar Pradesh and 20,265

from West Bengal.The ministry said that more than

70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to

comorbidities.Georgia and elsewhere, making

violent threats against them. Trump called

Georgia GOP Secretary of State Brad

Raffensperger an "enemy of the people" after

the election.

where the officers were taken after the

shooting, the third time in four days that

officers have faced gunfire on the job. Inside

the hospital entrance, a line of officers stood

shoulder to shoulder at the top of some

stairs.

An officer was wounded in the leg Tuesday

night in the Bronx during a struggle with a

teenager who also shot himself. On

Thursday, a narcotics detective was shot in

the leg on Staten Island.

The last NYPD officer fatally shot in the

line of duty, Brian Mulkeen, was hit by

friendly fire while struggling with an armed

man after chasing and shooting at him in the

Bronx in September 2019.

Mulkeen's death came about seven

months after Det. Brian Simonsen was killed

by friendly fire while he and other officers

were confronting a robbery suspect at a cell

phone store in Queens.

In 2017, Officer Miosotis Familia was

ambushed by a gunman as she wrote in a

notebook in a mobile command post. In

2016, Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo was killed in a

gunfight with a man who'd broken into his

estranged wife's home.

In 2015, Officer Randolph Holder was shot

and killed by a man riding a stolen bicycle in

Manhattan and Officer Brian Moore died

after he was shot by a man in Queens.

The year before, Officers Wenjian Liu and

Rafael Ramos were fatally shot by a man who

ambushed them as they sat in their patrol car

in Brooklyn.

A New York Police Department officer was killed and another gravely

injured Friday night after responding to a domestic disturbance call,

according to a law enforcement official.

Photo : AP


8

The Chairman of ServicEngine Limited and the Additional Managing Director of Abdul Monem

Limited, A. S. M. Mohiuddin Monem has received the CIP honors from the government of

Bangladesh for his contribution to the country's export trade in the year 2018. This is the 9th time

for Monem to receive the prestigious accolade through ServicEngine's dedicated involvement in

country's computer and software sector development. Being country's leading business process outsourcing

company, ServicEngine Limited has service centers in various locations in abroad. At present,

more than 1000 skilled young professionals are working consistently in this organization and

playing an important role in the national economic growth by earning foreign currencies for the

country.

Photo : Courtesy

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited has been awarded as 'Strongest Islamic

Retail Bank in Asia' in 7th Islamic Retail Banking Awards conferred by UKbased

Cambridge IFA and Islamic Retail Banking Awards. The award is

based on a global ranking of Islamic banks and retail financial institutions

from USA, Asia and Africa carried by Cambridge Institute of Islamic

Finance. Mohammed Monirul Moula, Managing Director & CEO of IBBL

handed over the recently received award to Professor Md. Nazmul Hassan,

Ph.D, Chairman of the Bank.

Photo : Courtesy

17 January 2022 is the 8th Anniversary of Founding of Agent Banking in

our country. To Mark the day, Bank Asia observed 17 January as Agent

Banking Day every year. A. Rouf Chowdhury, Chairman of the bank celebrated

the day by cutting cake at Bank Asia Tower, Karwan Bazar, Dhaka.

Rumee A Hossain, Chairman of Board Executive Committee, Dilwar H

Choudhury, Chairman of Board Audit Committee, Ms. Romana Rouf

Chowdhury, Md. Abul Quasem, Ms. Tania Nusrat Zaman, Directors and

Md. Arfan Ali, President & Managing Director were present at the program.

Deputy Managing Directors and officials from Agent Banking

Division of the Bank were also present.

Photo : Courtesy

Standard Bank Ltd. holds its "Annual Business Conference-2022" on Tuesday.

Managing Director &CEO of the Bank Khondoker Rashed Maqsood presided

over the conference, which was organized on a virtual platform due to reduce

the risk of transmission of Covid-19 (Corona virus). Honorable Chairman of

the Bank, former International Director of Lions Clubs International & former

President of FBCCI KaziAkram Uddin Ahmed was present on the occasion as

the Chief Guest. In his keynote address, KaziAkram Uddin Ahmed expressed

satisfaction for the previous success achieved by the Bank and congratulated

all the employees of the Bank for their contribution towards that success. He

emphasized on providing quality services and providing dynamic multipurpose

banking services based on modern technology in order to continue the

trend of improvement of the bank. Managers of all branches of SBL were

attended the conference virtually. Khondoker Rashed Maqsood, in his speech,

discussed various issues including business review and debt collection and

presented the annual business target for 2022 and gave directions for achieving

the target. Among others Additional Managing Director, CRO & CAMLCO

Md. Touhidul Alam Khan, Deputy Managing Director & COO Mohammad

Rafiqul Islam, Deputy Managing Director & CBO M. LatifHasan, Coordinator

of SBL Islami Bank Conversion Project Md. Mohon Miah, Head of Human

Resources Division Alkona K. Choudhuri and acting Company Secretary Md.

Ali Reza FCMA, CIPA were present at the conference. Photo : Courtesy

Sri Lanka inflation hits

record 14 percent as

food crisis worsens

COLOMBO : Sri Lanka

consumer prices shot up a

record 14 percent in

December, surpassing a

previous high of 11.1 from a

month earlier, official

figures showed on Saturday

as food and fuel shortages

worsen, reports BSS.

Senior ministers warned

parliament earlier in the

week of a growing food crisis

with rice harvests due in

March expected to be

drastically lower after an

agrochemical import ban

last year saw farmers

abandoning more than 30

percent of agricultural land.

The island's tourismdependent

economy has

been hammered by the

pandemic with the

government imposing broad

import restrictions to avert a

foreign exchange crisis,

triggering a shortage of

essential goods.

The Census and Statistics

Department said year-onyear

inflation in December

was the highest since the

National Consumer Price

Index (NCPI) was

established in 2015.

It said food inflation also

hit a record 21.5 percent, up

from 16.9 percent in

November and 7.5 percent a

year ago.

The use of substandard

organic fertiliser and

pesticides has sharply

reduced vegetable and fruit

crop yields.

Biden hails Intel’s

$20b chip plant

investment amid

shortage

WASHINGTON : President

Joe Biden on Friday praised

Intel's plans to spend $20

billion on a new US

semiconductor facility,

hailing the "historic"

investment even as a global

chip shortage fans the

inflation wave weighing on

his leadership, reports BSS.

Biden is urging

manufacturers to bring

production back to the

United States, which was

once a leader in making the

chips key to everything from

vacuums and televisions to

cars which have become

scarce during the pandemic.

Intel said it plans to begin

construction at the end of

the year on two plants in the

Midwestern state of Ohio,

and chip production could

start as early as 2025.

"This is a truly historic

investment in America and

American workers," Biden

said at the White House,

where he spoke alongside

Intel's CEO Pat Gelsinger.

Biden called it "one of the

largest investments in

semiconductor

manufacturing in American

history."

Problems in global supply

chains have highlighted the

fundamental importance of

semiconductors, as well as

the risks of overreliance on

imports.

Nagad receives global economics’ Best

DFS Innovative Award in Dubai

Nagad, the mobile financial venture of

Bangladesh Post Office, has officially

received the 'Best Innovative DFS-2021

awardfrom the UK-based Global

Economics Ltd, one of the prominent

global financial and bi-annual business

publication.

Earlier in July 2021, Global Economics

ltd declaredNagad as the winner of the

"Best InnovativeDFS Award". As a part of

the announcement, the publication has

recently arranged an award ceremony on

January 20th, 2022 at Sangri - La

Hotel,Dubai.Representatives and

delegates from all across the world

attended the ceremony.

Faisal Choudhury, Director of Nagadand

K M Ayreen Aziz, Head of Strategic

Alliance receivedthe award on behalf

Nagad.

'The Global Economics Awards' aimed at

recognizing the best market players within

their respective industry. The publication

acknowledged and recognized Nagad,

under the criteria of digital

transformations in technological

innovation through the 'Best DFS Award'.

Since its inception in March 2019, Nagad

has been recognized for its innovative

service across the world. Nagad's

innovation - the electronic Know Your

Customer (KYC)- was the first of its kind

innovation in the country. The MFS

operator has been relentless in its efforts to

bring innovative and affordable digital

payment options from the very begin of its

journey.

Through strategic collaborations, Nagad

is consistently deliveringstate-of art

payment technologies to support financial

inclusion goals, makingtransactional

activities easier, affordable and more

Southeast Bank Limited (SEBL) organized "Business Policy and Planning

Conference 2022" to evaluate the business position of the Bank on

Saturday. Alamgir Kabir, FCA, Chairman of the Bank virtually connected

to the Conference. Mrs. Duluma Ahmed, Vice-Chairperson, Mr. Azim

Uddin Ahmed, Chairman, Risk Management Committee and Director of

the Board and other members of the Board of Directors- Mrs. Jusna Ara

Kashem, Mrs. Rehana Rahman, Md. Akikur Rahman, M. Maniruz Zaman

Khan (nominee of Bay Leasing & Investment Limited), Nasir Uddin

Ahmed, Md. Rafiqul Islam (nominee of Asia Insurance Limited), Syed

Sajedul Karim, Chairman of Audit Committee and Independent Director

and Quazi Mesbahuddin Ahmed, Independent Director were also connected

the Bank's conference virtually. M. Kamal Hossain, Managing Director

of the Bank presided over the Conference.

Photo : Courtesy

The much-anticipated Monash University Foundation Year (MUFY)

Orientation program has taken place recently. The historic program

marked the pioneering step of the official batch under Universal College

Bangladesh (UCB), the only Ministry of Education-approved international

education provider in Bangladesh. The event was held successfully, with

the presence of eminent academicians, distinguished UCB officials, and

respected guests, along with the batch of aspiring students. Among the

attendees were - Dr. Sandeep Ananthanarayanan, Group Chief Executive

Officer, STS Group; Prof. Sarwar Ahmed, Ph.D., Dean of Academic Affairs,

UCB; Alphonsa Pakiam, Head, South Asia and Africa, Monash University,

Admission and Communication, Australia; Daniel Lum, Senior Executive,

International Recruitment and Development and others. Photo : Courtesy

MetLife Bangladesh has announced a strategic partnership with the

former captain of the Bangladesh National Cricket Team, one of the

finest sports personalities, and world-renowned cricketer, Mushfiqur

Rahim.

Photo : Courtesy

efficient for everyone.Nagad'sremarkable

innovation allows anyone with a mobile

phone to open a Nagad by simply dialing

*167# and entering their four-digit

personal identification number.

Commenting on the Global Economics

Limited Ltd Award, Nagad's Cofounder

and Managing Director Tanvir A

Mishuksaid, 'Thisaward is a wonderful

milestone for Nagad, as we have been

working towards digitalizing the country

through introducing affordable innovative

solutions for our customer, from the

beginning of our journey. Hope Nagad will

achieve more recognitions by the latest

innovations."

Throughout the three-year journey,

Nagad won numerous awards and

recognition for playing pivotal role in

pursuit of country's the Digital Bangladesh

vision.

Chile's president-elect

unveils young,

woman-majority cabinet

SANTIAGO : Chile's leftist

president-elect Gabriel

Boric, whose victory at the

polls last month unsettled

the markets, on Friday

named the country's Central

Bank governor as his finance

minister in a young, diverse

and woman-majority

cabinet.

Mario Marcel, an

independent politician and

former member of the

Socialist Party, with which

he maintains strong ties, had

held various roles under

center-left governments

from 1990 to 2008.

Now 62, he was appointed

Reserve Bank governor by

Socialist former president

Michelle Bachelet for a fiveyear

term that started in late

2016 and continued under

her center-right successor

Sebastian Pinera.

Marcel was the favorite of

the markets, which view his

appointment as a sign of

moderation in the economic

reforms Boric had vowed to

implement.

Boric, painted by his

detractors as a

"communist," succeeded in

mobilizing record turnout in

the December 19 vote, and

garnered nearly 56 percent

of votes cast, compared to 44

percent for ultraconservative

Jose Antonio

Kast.

In a leftist coalition that

includes Chile's Communist

Party, Boric campaigned on

promises of creating a

"welfare state," increasing

taxes and social spending.

Kast, in turn, had pledged

to protect the neo-liberal

economic model left behind

by dictator Augusto

Pinochet-credited with

Chile's relative wealth but

blamed for a yawning gap

between rich and poor.

Omicron will

pinch, not derail

US economic

growth: Yellen

WASHINGTON : The latest

coronavirus variant will weigh

on US economic growth in the

months ahead but will not

derail it, Treasury Secretary

Janet Yellen will assure the

nation's mayors Wednesday

as they gather in Washington,

reports BSS.

"Yes, Omicron has

presented a challenge and will

likely impact some of the data

in the coming months, but I

am confident it will not derail

what has been one of the

strongest periods of economic

growth in a century," Yellen

will say according to remarks

released ahead of her speech.

"None of this was

guaranteed. I think it's

important we recognize that,"

she adds in her appearance

before the US Conference of

Mayors.

"There's a very real

counterfactual where

Omicron did derail our

recovery; a scenario where the

new variant hurdled our

economy backwards towards

its state on Inauguration Day

2021" when Joe Biden

assumed the presidency.


9

Underperforming Egypt and Senegal

look to Salah and Mane for goals

Bangladesh ace allrounder Shakib Al Hasan and pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman have listed their

base price at the maximum of INR 2 crore (US $ 269,000 approx and 2.31 crore BDT approx) for the

2022 mega IPL auction. Photo : Internet

Shakib, Mustafizur in IPL auction

with highest base price of INR 2cr

DHAKA : Bangladesh ace allrounder

Shakib Al Hasan and pace bowler

Mustafizur Rahman have listed their

base price at the maximum of INR 2

crore (US $ 269,000 approx and 2.31

crore BDT approx) for the 2022 mega

IPL auction.

The two-day long IPL auction will

be held on February 12 and 13 at

Bangalore. A total of nine

Bangladeshi players, including those

however registered their names for

the auction.

Shakib and Mustafizur have been

the top performer of the IPL for

sometimes now and both of them got

the taste of IPL trophies with their

respective side. Shakib won IPL

trophy two times with Kolkata Knight

Riders (KKR) while Mustafizur on his

debut IPL season won the trophy with

Sunrisers Hyderabad. Mustafizur

even became the first overseas player

to be the best emerging player of the

year in IPL in 2016.

Mustafizur in fact was the only

shining spot of Rajasthan Royals'

terrible IPL campaign in the last

season. Shakib however was off

colour with KKR in the last season.

A total of 49 players, including 17

Indians and 32 overseas players set

their base price at maximum,

according to popular cricket website

ESPNcricinfo. Among the notable

absentees from the initial longlist are

Mitchell Starc, Sam Curran, Ben

Stokes, Chris Gayle, Jofra Archer and

Chris Woakes.

Overall, a total of 1214 cricketers,

including 270 capped players, 312

uncapped players and 41 from

Associate teams, have registered for

the auction, and the list was sent to

Quinton de Kock won a stroke-filled battle with rival wicketkeeper

Rishabh Pant as South Africa clinched their one-day international

series against India at Boland Park in Paarl on Friday. Photo : Internet

Vandersay stars as Sri Lanka crush

Zimbabwe to clinch ODIs 2-1

KANDY : Sri Lankan spinner Jeffrey

Vandersay returned figures of 4-10 to lead

Zimbabwe's 184-run rout in the third one-day

international as the hosts clinched the series 2-

1 on Friday.

Zimbabwe crashed out for 70 in 24.4 overs as

Sri Lankan bowlers combined to defend their

total of 254-9 in Kandy.

Fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera and

offspinner Ramesh Mendis claimed two

wickets each.

Opening batsman Pathum Nissanka topscored

with 55 and Charith Asalanka made 52

to boost Sri Lanka's score despite a disciplined

bowling effort by Zimbabwe.

But leg-spinner Vandersay made the match

his own with career-best figures as Sri Lanka

earned crucial Super League points in their

attempt to get a direct entry into the 2023

World Cup.

"We played really good cricket throughout,

but I think winning the toss played a really big

role, especially today," skipper Dasun Shanaka

said after the win.

"It was more on the slower side, we thought

270 would be ideal, so we felt we were maybe

20 runs short. But we always knew we were in

it with our spinners were always in with a

chance."

Sri Lanka bounced back from their opening

loss despite missing several key players

including Wanindu Hasaranga and

Dhananjaya de Silva.

"It's really good to have so many good players

sitting out, we haven't had such depth for many

years and it's a good sign for Sri Lanka cricket

for the coming years," said Shanaka.

Sri Lankan bowlers came all guns blazing to

defend the lowest total of the series that

witnessed a successful chase of 297 in the

opening match by the hosts who then fell 22

runs short of their target of 303 in the second

game. - Chatara's 100 wickets -

Chameera struck on successive deliveries to

send back Regis Chakabva for one and skipper

Craig Ervine for nought in the third over of the

chase.

Sean Williams avoided the hat-trick but soon

got bowled by off spinner Maheesh

Theekshana for six.

Vandersay got Takudzwanashe Kaitano, who

made his ODI debut in the series, stumped for

19 with wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis taking off

the bails in a flash.

Ramesh, who made a valuable 26 with the

bat, made it count with two wickets after he

replaced Nuwan Pradeep and the opposition

batting fell like a pack of cards.

Earlier Nissanka got Sri Lanka off to a good

start as he put on 80 runs with opening partner

Kusal Mendis.

Zimbabwe hit back with wickets to dent the

hosts who wobbled despite a 56-ball knock

Asalanka who became Tendai Chatara's 100th

ODI scalp.

Chatara became the fastest Zimbabwe

bowler to a century of ODI wickets in 76

matches as he surpassed former captain and

fast bowler Heath Streak's effort from 81

matches.

the ten franchises on Friday. A final,

trimmed list will be prepared by the

IPL governing council closer to the

two-day auction, once the franchises

send back their wishlists.

This will be the first mega auction

conducted by the IPL since 2018,

when the tournament featured eight

teams. This auction, there are two

more teams after the IPL sold two new

franchises - to be based in Lucknow

and in Ahmedabad - last October for

record sums. The ten franchises have

already spent nearly INR 338 crore

(US$ 45 million approx.) to retain and

acquire 33 players.

Most of the franchises will enter the

auction with significant money to

spend in order to compile a fresh

squad, but the likes of Punjab Kings,

Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan

Royals will have a swollen purse.

De Kock outshines

Pant as South

Africa clinch series

PAARL : Quinton de Kock

won a stroke-filled battle with

rival wicketkeeper Rishabh

Pant as South Africa clinched

their one-day international

series against India at Boland

Park in Paarl on Friday.

South Africa chased down

India's 287 for six and won the

second match in the threegame

series with 11 balls to

spare.

De Kock was named man of

the match after scoring 78

runs off 66 balls and pulling

off a spectacular leg side

stumping, trumping Pant,

who made a hard-hit 85 but

missed a crucial stumping

chance offered by De Kock.

"It's great to have Quinny

back," said South African

captain Temba Bavuma. "He

reminded us again why he is

such a valuable player."

De Kock, who announced a

shock retirement from Test

cricket after the first Test

against India last month, was

back to his best after taking

paternity leave to be with his

wife for the recent birth of a

baby daughter.

He was in sparkling form as

he and Janneman Malan put

on 132 for the first wicket in

just 22 overs.

De Kock raced to a halfcentury

off 36 balls in an

innings comprising seven

fours and three sixes, before

he missed a full toss and was

leg before wicket to Shardul

Thakur.

But he was lucky when he

was on 32 when he went down

the wicket to a delivery from

off-spinner Ravichandran

Ashwin which went past his

bat and eluded Pant, who had

an opportunity to make a

straightforward stumping.

Malan provided solid

support for De Kock and went

on to make 91 before he was

bowled by a Jasprit Bumrah

off-cutter which lifted off a

length and deflected into the

stumps off the batsman's

elbow.

On a day when the

temperature reached 40

Celsius, Pant scored his runs

off 71 balls. He shared a third

wicket partnership of 115 with

captain KL Rahul, who made

55.

YAOUND : Underperforming Egypt

and Senegal hope Liverpool stars

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane can

recapture their Premier League form

when the Africa Cup of Nations enters

the last-16 stage in Cameroon.

Salah and Mane netted once each in

three group matches while receiving

close attention and some rough

treatment from opponents aware of

their scoring potential.

Record seven-time champions Egypt

face the Ivory Coast in the highlight of

an eight-match schedule spanning four

days from Sunday having managed

only solitary-goal wins over Guinea-

Bissau and Sudan.

An Ivory Coast side including

Sebastien Haller from Ajax and Nicolas

Pepe from Arsenal were among the

most impressive qualifiers from the six

groups and eliminated holders Algeria

with a 3-1 triumph.

Senegal face dogged Cape Verde,

whose forward Garry Rodrigues scored

one the best of the 68 goals in the first

round with an exquisite back-heel past

Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana.

Here, AFP Sport looks ahead to the

round of 16 with Gabon, Nigeria,

Gambia, Cameroon, Senegal, Morocco,

Ivory Coast and Mali the possible

winners. Burkina Faso v Gabon

Gabon, often flops at the finals,

impressed when holding Morocco

despite the absence of stars Pierre-

Emerick Aubameyang, Mario Lemina

and Denis Bouanga due to the

coronavirus.

Jim Allevinah is a clinical finisher

and he could give the Gabonese the

edge over a Burkina Faso team that

Underperforming Egypt and Senegal hope Liverpool stars Mohamed Salah

and Sadio Mane can recapture their Premier League form when the Africa

Cup of Nations enters the last-16 stage in Cameroon. Photo : Internet

Comilla win cliffhanger to

make good stat in BPL

DHAKA : Hot favourite Comilla Victorians

made a decent start to the Bangladesh Premier

League (BPL) by registering a two-wicket win

over Sylhet Sunrisers at Sher-e-Bangla

National Cricket Stadium yesterday.

The victory was not straightforward despite

Sylhet being bowled out for 96 in 19.1 overs as

Comilla had to play 18.4 overs and lose eight

wickets before confirming the victory.

At one phase, a victory looked highly unlikely

but Mahidul Islam Ankan and Tanvir Islam

held the nerve to overcome the nerve-wrecking

moment to help the side clinch the victory.

Ankan was not out on 9 with Tanvir on 3.

The simple chase got tougher due to the

failure of their top order who played one shot

too many in the typically slow and low wicket in

Mirpur.

Faf Du Plessis, playing his first match in the

BPL, was dismissed for 2 when Sohag Gazi

removed him with a superbly taken return

catch. His fellow opener Camron Delport

needs to improve with a heavy burden

on the shoulders of Aston Villa forward

Bertrand Traore. Nigeria v Tunisia

Form and tradition suggest Nigeria,

the only nation to win all three group

matches, will be too strong for

opponents who fell to Mali and

minnows Gambia in the first round.

Nigeria have never lost to Tunisia at

the Cup of Nations and remain in

Garoua while their rivals spent Friday

relocating from Limbe at the other end

of Cameroon, leaving them little time to

prepare. Guinea v Gambia

Guinea are under severe pressure

with junta leader Colonel Mamady

Doumbouya telling the squad they will

have to repay the cost of state-funded

preparations if they do not bring the

trophy back to Conakry.

The absence of suspended captain,

Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita, will

weaken Guinea and offer hope to Musa

Barrow-inspired Gambia, whose

performances have mocked being

ranked 150th in the world. Cameroon v

Comoros

After a stunning victory that

eliminated four-time champions

Ghana, Comoros tackle hosts

Cameroon, who boast the leading

scorer after the group stage in five-goal

Vincent Aboubakar.

"Nothing is impossible in football,"

says Comoros coach Amir Abdou, and

his team have clinical forwards in

Ahmed Mogni from the French third

division and Serbia-based El Fardou

Ben Mohamed. Senegal v Cape Verde

Unpredictable Cape Verde battled to

overcome Ethiopia, lost to Burkina

Faso and held star-studded Cameroon

though started well, was out on 19.

The middle order comprised with Mominul

Haque (15), captain Imrul Kayes (10) and

Nahidul Islam (16) got dismissed once they

crossed double digit figure. Ariful Haque too

was out on 2, leaving the side 55-5 as Sylhet

sensed a victory, defending this below par total.

Afghanistan recruit Karim Janat however

edged the side closer to victory, hitting 18 off 13.

Once he was removed by Taskin Ahmed, match

again titled toward Sylhet.

To their delight, Ankan and Tanvir quelled

the fear and sailed the side home. Nazmul

Islam Opu was the highest wicket-taker for

Sylhet with 3-17 while Sohag Gazi and

Mosaddek Hossain took two wickets apiece.

Put into bat first, Sylhet looked never likely

to get a total past 100. Their batter started

poorly and played wretched shot to dig their

own graveyards. However Comilla bowlers

also bowled well to make the matter worse

for them.

while coach Bubista remains at home

in the island nation due to Covid-19.

Kalidou Koulibaly-captained Senegal

have disappointed, needing 97 minutes

to beat Zimbabwe through a Mane

penalty then held to goalless draws by

Guinea and Malawi. Morocco v Malawi

It is 46 years since Morocco won their

only Cup of Nations title and hopes are

high that the Vahid Halilhodziccoached

class of '22 can go all the way.

Malawi have an impressive forward

in Frank Mhango and run relentlessly,

but it is hard to imagine the Flames

succeeding despite a dramatic recent

improvement under a new coach,

Romanian Mario Marinica. Ivory Coast

v Egypt

Two-time champions Ivory Coast

outclassed Algeria and will be

favourites to win the match of the

round despite having succeeded only

once in 10 previous Cup of Nations

clashes against Egypt.

But Egypt coach Carlos Queiroz

remains hopeful, saying "we have been

concentrating on our finishing.

Sometimes we try too hard to score and

complicate matters." Mali v Equatorial

Guinea

Cameroon has been a happy hunting

ground for Mali-they achieved their

highest Cup of Nations finish of second

place 50 years ago and were 2020

African Nations Championship

runners-up there.

They won Group F thanks largely to

the penalty-taking of top forward

Ibrahima Kone while the well

organised Equatoguineans exceeded

expectations by finishing second in

Group E.

Sadom and

Sihwan tie

at the top at

S’pore Open

SINGAPORE : Thailand's

Sadom Kaewkanjana fired a

bogey-free 65 to haul himself

into contention and share the

third-round lead at 11-under

par with American Sihwan

Kim at the SMBC Singapore

Open on Saturday.

Overnight leader Kim, who

started the day with a threeshot

advantage, traded four

birdies against two bogeys for

a 69, letting slip his outright

lead at the Sentosa Golf Club.

South Korea's Kim Joohyung

remains in the mix after

a two-under 69, but he trails

the co-leaders by three shots

with the US$1.25 million event,

co-sanctioned by the Japan

Golf Tour Organisation and

Asian Tour, heading into its

final round on Sunday.

Trailing Sihwan Kim by

four shots at the start of the

day, Sadom came out

charging with four birdies in

his first seven holes. He made

further gains on the 10th hole

before closing with another

birdie on 18 for a three-day

total of 11-under-par 202.

"I had many birdie chances

today, and I'm happy I took

advantage of them. I'm feeling

nervous, and it's not going to

be easy for me to handle the

pressure. But I'll try to do my

best. I'm just going to focus on

every shot and enjoy my game

tomorrow," said Sadom.

Sihwan Kim expressed

relief at having birdied his

closing hole and retained his

position atop the leaderboard.

"I wish I had made more putts,

but it is what it is, and I'm still

leading. It is a very demanding

course. I don't know how the

winds are going to be tomorrow,

but I'll just do what I did for the

first three rounds," he said.

Thailand's

Sadom

Kaewkanjana

fired a bogeyfree

65 to haul

himself into

contention

and share the

third-round

lead at 11-

under par

with American

Sihwan Kim

at the SMBC

Singapore

Open on

Saturday.

Photo :

Internet

suNaY, JaNuaRY 23, 2022

10

Priyam to star

in Nirban

TBT REPORT

Young actress Priyam Archi ever since her debut, has played many

prominent roles on the silver screen. From playing the challenging

role of a girl struggling with her family in a flooded village, to

playing a female footballer, Priyam has been experimenting

with different roles on each occasion.

Currently, she is all set to act in another experimental role in the

upcoming movie 'Nirban'.

Earlier, she drew attention as a female footballer in the serial

'Icchedana', produced by UNDP and Asiatic. Besides, Priyam

Archi's film 'Payer Tolay Mati Nai' was screened in the 52nd

International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the oldest film festival

in the subcontinent, held in Goa, India, last month. The actress said

her new film Nirban is completely different.

"Nirban is the story of a girl searching for herself through a real and

psychological journey. The way this journey is presented in the story made

me interested in working in the movie. Currently, Nirban's

preparations are underway; with shooting set to begin in February."

In the meantime, the movie's website has been launched.

Other cast and crew have also been finalised. The director of the

film Asif Islam said, "Nirban is actually a journey of selfdiscovery.

It was a pleasure for us to cast Priyam for this

journey. I believe she will be able to portray the character

appropriately. '

He also said, "we are fully prepared for the

shooting. We will begin shooting at the end of

winter."

The crew want to wrap up the

shooting as early as

possible to arrange

screenings at various

international film

festivals.

Vanessa to replace

Jodie in ‘Kitbag’

Vanessa Kirby is currently in talks to replace

actress Jodie Comer in Ridley Scott's upcoming

film, Kitbag. Kitbag is set to star Joaquin

Phoenix as French leader, Napoleon Bonaparte,

as the film sets a heavy focus on the explosive

relationship between Bonaparte and his wife,

Josephine, as well as his military exploits.

Comer was previously cast to portray the French

leader's significant other, but she has since

announced that she would be stepping away

from the role due to scheduling conflicts.

As per reports, following Comer's departure,

Scott now has his eyes on Kirby to play the

French Empress, Josephine, in Kitbag.

According to reports, Kirby's representatives are

currently negotiating a deal for her to be a part

of Scott's historical drama film, which will start

production this spring.

Kirby is most known for her role on the first

two seasons of Netflix's 'The Crown', where she

portrayed Princess Margaret, and more recently

for her Oscar nominated depiction of Martha in

Pieces of a Woman. Kirby is already on board to

star opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in the upcoming

thriller film, suddenly, as well as reprising her

Mission Impossible role as The White Widow in

the next two films in the 'Mission Impossible'

series. If Kirby takes on the role of Josephine

Bonaparte, it will be her first appearance in a

Ridley Scott movie. With Phoenix already on

board, Kirby's packed resume notes that she

would make the perfect addition to 'Kitbag'.

Source: Variety

DUFS to arrange

132nd edition of

World Film today

Dhaka University Film Society (DUFS) is going to arrange

the 132nd edition of World Film Manifestation Program

(WFMP). The program will take place at the Munir

Chowdhury Auditorium in TSC, University of Dhaka, says a

press release.

WFMP was introduced in 2000 to provide the cinema

buffs an opportunity to watch classic and contemporary

films from different countries of the world. Till now DUFS

has successfully arranged 131 editions of this event. After a

break of almost two years due to the covid pandemic, the

132nd edition of WMFP will celebrate the illustrious career

of two times Palme d'Or winner film director, Emir

Kusturica.

The event will start with the screening of 'Black Cat, White

Cat' at 3.30 PM on January 23, sunday. Another screening

session will take place on his film 'Underground' at 6 PM

that day. On January 24, Monday, 'Arizona Dream' will be

screened at 3.30PM with the screening of 'Time of the

Gypsies'. Curtains will fall at 6 PM.

All screenings are free of cost and open for all. Everyone is

requested to wear a mask and maintain proper health

regulations at the event.

Cultural evening organised by

English Department of JnU

NakiBul ahsaN Nishad

Jagannath University English

Departmental Cultural Evening was

held on Wednesday evening at the

university's social science faculty

premises aimed at increasing cultural

exchange and seniors to juniors contact

among batches.

The cultural program including BBQ

party was jointly hosted by JnU English

Department Debating Club (EDDC) and

JnU English Department Career Club

(EDCC).

Jagannath University English

Department Alumni Association

convener Saidur Rahman Jewel and

Akshay Kumar,

KritiSanon Starrer Books

Holi For Big Release!

'Bachchan Pandey' starring Akshay Kumar and KritiSanon has a

new release date as it is set to arrive in cinemas on the occasion of

Holi on March 18 this year.

The film, which is the first big festival release of 2022, has been

helmed by writer-director FarhadSamji, who has films like

'Housefull 3', 'Housefull 4', 'Singham' (screenwriter) under his belt.

Akshay Kumar took to his Instagram to share a set of the film's

posters as he wrote in the caption, "Action, Comedy, Romance,

Drama. L-O-A-D-I-N-G this Holi! #SajidNadiadwala's

#BachchanPandey in cinemas on 18th March, 2022 Directed by

@farhadsamji"

The Bachchan Pandey posters have a grungy feel with earthy

colours and tones dominating the frame, they show Akshay's

character as a desi gangster. While one poster features Akshay

seated on a truck pointing gun at the sky along with a group of

people, the other one sees the superstar in a rugged avatar, sporting

chains around his neck and a bag loaded with guns and weapons.

In addition, the film also stars Jacqueline Fernandez, Arshad

Warsi and Pankaj Tripathi and has been produced by

SajidNadiadwala and Warda Khan Nadiadwala.

Source:IANS

member secretary Jyotirmoy Saha Opu

attended the inaugural ceremony. The

program started from 5:00PM and

ended at 9:00PM.

English departmental artistes

performed music and dances at the

function. About 250 participants

including current students and alumni

members from mostly batches were

present there.

Mostafizur Rahman, one of the

organizer of program and student from

11 batch of the department said that

cultural event will help boost up

communications among all batches'

students and facilitate all and strengthen

strong relationship ties.

English Department Alumni

Association's convenor and member

secretary hoped that current students of

the department and alumni association

would play an effective role in

implementing the initiatives and goals

as well as in building a strong network

and an effective industry-academia

relationship. They thanked concerned

authorities for arranging such cultural

evening program.

h O R O s c O P E

aRiEs

(March 21 - April 20) : Today you might learn

something about a friend that could be rather

disconcerting, Aries. There could be a dark

side to this person that you weren't previously aware of, and

this could cause you to want to withdraw for a while and

reevaluate your involvement with this individual. When

considering it, remember that we all have our dark sides.

Could what you've discovered simply be this factor, or does

this go too far beyond it for you? Think about it!

TauRus

(April 21 - May 21) : Outside responsibilities

might temporarily interfere with your love

life, Taurus. You may feel a strong desire to

get together with a love partner early in the

evening, but circumstances may necessitate your working

odd hours. This can be frustrating, as you've been looking

forward to this for a long time, but you could meet your

friend later in the evening. Don't be afraid to ask. Most

people understand when situations like this crop up.

GEMiNi

(May 22 - June 21) : Today you're likely to find

your routine too boring for words, Gemini,

and may have a sudden powerful urge to cut

loose and play some serious hooky. Still, you

may feel the pull of obligation. This conflicted feeling should

pass. If it persists beyond today, however, you might need to

reevaluate certain areas of your life. There are lots of

opportunities out there, and life is too short to be stuck in a

situation that doesn't allow you to grow.

caNcER

(June 22 - July 23) : You could be feeling

especially sensual and passionate today,

Cancer, and you'll want to get together

with a love interest. However, other responsibilities

could get in your way. This could provide you with the

perfect excuse to sink into gloom, but don't fall into this

trap. Get whatever business you're facing handled and

out of the way. Or perhaps you can arrange to finish it

tomorrow. Then set up that hot date!

lEO

(July 24 - Aug. 23): You may feel a bit of

disappointment today, Leo. You might

tend to view whatever snags you've hit on

the path to accomplishing your goals as

personal failures, and if you let it, this idea could persist

with you throughout the day. Try to remain objective,

and don't lose sight of the big picture. You haven't even

lost a battle - at worst, it's a minor conflict! Chances are

that if you continue working hard you'll still win the war!

ViRGO

(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23): A rather disheartening

phone call could come to you today, Virgo.

This might bring news of a setback in one

of your projects that is only temporary but

nonetheless frustrating. You'll probably have to deal with

some trivial little details you'd rather not bother with,

and this could take up too much valuable time. Hang in

there - you're still doing well! Don't let your frustrations

get the best of you.

liBRa

(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): After the rush of

energy over the past few days, Libra,

today you may feel a powerful letdown.

Not every day can be filled with

adventure and excitement. For now, you just need to

take care of the routine matters that are a byproduct

of life on Earth. However, keep in mind that there are

many weekends coming up, and with the right kind

of planning you can get excitement back into your life.

scORPiO

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) : A goal that you've been

trying to reach may be temporarily

stalled, Scorpio, and you could be

tempted to slip into despair, wondering

if it will ever really happen. Remember that the

keyword for today is "temporary." Whatever obstacles

are in your way will eventually be overcome and your

goal should be to continue to advance in the direction

you want. In the meantime, take care of your chores.

saGiTTaRius

(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): Today you might realize

that you need to make a certain purchase,

Sagittarius. Perhaps your home or car

requires some important repairs, or maybe

some new equipment is necessary for your work. This could

prove rather disheartening, as it might involve spending

money that you'd rather use for something more exciting.

Think of the trouble this expenditure should save you,

however, and you'll see the value of it all.

caPRicORN

(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20): The weight of too many

responsibilities, perhaps involving family, a

job, or group affiliation, could be very much

on your mind today, Capricorn. You may feel like Atlas,

carrying the world on your shoulders! You're tired. Perhaps

you need to reevaluate your commitments - your innate

kindness may have caused you to make too many. Fulfill the

ones you have, but think twice before making any new ones.

You're important too, after all.

aQuaRius

(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) : You may have your

ups and downs today, Aquarius. You

could get at least one phone call of the

"good news, bad news" variety, and this

could have your moods swinging back and forth like a

pendulum. Try to stay centered. Take the good news

as encouragement, and as for the bad news, try to

consider it objectively and figure out ways to turn it to

your advantage. There's always a way. Hang in there!

PiscEs

(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20) : Normally you tend to be a very

spiritually oriented person, Pisces, but today you

might find metaphysical concepts of all kinds

rather baffling. Whether these are ideas you've

embraced for a long time or new ones you've just discovered, you

may find nagging little doubts creeping in, temporarily causing

your faith to waver. This is a healthy development, however. A

little doubt now and then can weed out concepts that don't work

for you and reaffirm your belief in others.

SundAY, JAnuArY 23, 2022

11

The fertile soil of the crop land is being picked up by Veku and sold at the brick kiln. As a result, the dream crop lands of many farmers

are being ruined. The picture is taken from Komarpur of Ballamjhar union of Gaibandha Sadar upazila on Saturday. Photo: PBA

Canada, US and allies talk

aid for Haiti at meeting

TORONTO : Haiti's spiraling

insecurity and growing concerns about

its ability to hold general elections

following the killing of President

Jovenel Moise prompted two dozen

international senior officials to meet

Friday and agree to increase aid.

Canada, which hosted the more than

three-hour-long meeting with

representatives from countries

including the U.S., France and Mexico

as well as U.N. officials, pledged $39

million in aid while other countries

promised to improve Haiti's security

situation so it could hold successful

elections. They also committed to

bolstering Haiti's National Police as

violence spikes and gangs become

more powerful, with more than

20,000 Haitians forced to live in

unhygienic shelters amid the

pandemic after losing their homes in

recent months to gang turf battles.

"The increase in violence is only

worsening the already precarious

humanitarian situation," said

Canadian Prime Minister Justin

Trudeau ahead of the meeting, which

was behind closed doors. "We must

work together to restore stability, and

to protect the safety and well-being of

the Haitian people."

Representatives of 19 countries took

part, including Haitian Prime Minister

Ariel Henry, U.S. Deputy Secretary of

State Wendy Sherman and French

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

"In order to tackle insecurity, the

partners agreed to strengthen their

current and future support of the

security sector, including the Haitian

National Police, with a focus on respect

for the rule of law, justice and human

rights," the office of Canadian Foreign

Minister Melanie Joly said in a

statement after the meeting.

Joly said all stakeholders in Haiti

need to work together and "that

without such an agreement, reestablishing

security will remain a

challenge, as will the holding of free

and credible elections."

Henry, Haiti's prime minister, said

he expects to have a provisional

electoral council in place in upcoming

days and has pledged to hold elections

this year, although he has not provided

a date. He thanked the international

community for helping Haiti during "a

particularly trying time" and noted

that violence was considerably

disrupting everyday life and isolating

several cities and towns in the

southern part of the country, cutting

off much needed aid.

"There is an urgent need to address

these problems and find lasting

solutions," he tweeted during the

meeting. "I am convinced that the root

cause of such a situation lies mainly in

the abject poverty in which a

significant part of our population

lives."

Haiti is a country of 11 million

Biden starts second year with

charm offensive-and bad polls

WASHINGTON: The White

House launched a charm

offensive, complete with a Tom

Hanks video, to mark Joe

Biden's first year as president

Thursday, but dire new polls

and a major congressional

setback told another story,

reports BSS.

Biden, who was sworn in to

replace Donald Trump at noon

last January 20, marked the

day by meeting with top

cabinet members in charge of

rolling out his signature

infrastructure spending plan, a

$1.2 trillion splurge he got

passed in November with rare

bipartisan support.

"Our nation has never fully

made this kind of investment,"

Biden said, celebrating one of

his biggest wins of last year-and

a project that should keep

delivering good news as

bridges, roads and other large

public works roll out.

The previous evening, the 79-

year-old Democrat held an epic

press conference lasting an

hour and 52 minutes, longer

even than the famously

rambling events Trump used to

stage.

Defending himself on his

handling of the Covid

pandemic and roaring

inflation, Biden said he'd got "a

lot done" in the face of

unprecedented difficulties for a

president.

"He was having a good time,"

Press Secretary Jen Psaki said

of his marathon performance.

Despite the cheerful

messaging, Biden begins his

second year as president facing

a slew of bad news, including

failure in the Senate late

Wednesday of his cherished

push for election law reformssomething

he has said is

needed to safeguard US

democracy from Trump

supporters' attempts at fixing

the vote.

The polls also seem to be

getting only worse. According

to new NBC and AP-NORC

polls, 54 percent and 56

percent of Americans

respectively disapprove of

Biden's performance.

The numbers point

ominously to what most

analysts expect to be a heavy

defeat for Democratic

legislators in November

midterm elections, leading to

Republicans taking control of

Congress.

Asked about his sliding

popularity, which is now in the

area that Trump consistently

inhabited, Biden told the press

conference Wednesday: "I

don't believe the polls."

Biden likes to laugh off

doomsayers, telling them to

share his trademark sunny

outlook.

And his aides and allies did

their best to spread the mood

Thursday.

In a two minute video,

Hollywood legend Hanks

recounted in his gravelly voice

how the country's economy is

bouncing back from the

pandemic. The video featured

clips of ordinary people, like a

UPS delivery driver declaring

"the fear is gone."

inhabitants where about 60% earn less

than $2 a day, and it is facing a

deepening economic crisis, with

inflation spiking and an estimated 4.4

million people at risk of hunger. It is

also struggling to recover from the July

7 assassination of Moise at his private

residence and a 7.2 magnitude

earthquake that struck last August,

killing more than 2,200 people and

destroying or damaging some 137,500

homes.

Moise's killing complicated an

already fragile political situation in

Haiti.

He had been ruling by decree for

more than a year after dissolving a

majority of Parliament in January

2020 amid a delay in legislative

elections that have yet to be held, with

only 10 senators currently in power.

Opponents, meanwhile, claimed that

Moise's own term should have ended

in February 2021, while he insisted it

should continue to Feb. 7 this year - the

fifth anniversary of his inauguration,

which had been delayed by

controversy over his election.

Some worry Haiti's instability will

deepen in early February when the

term of the slain president expires.

Shortly before his death, Moise had

tapped Henry to serve as prime

minister and many observers think

that Henry's term should end on Feb. 7

as well, though he is not expected to

step aside on that date.

Malaysian ex-PM

Mahathir admitted

to hospital again

KUALA LUMPUR : Former

Malaysian prime minister

Mahathir Mohamad has

been admitted to a specialist

heart hospital for the third

time in the space of a few

weeks, a spokesperson said

Saturday.

The 96-year-old is in the

cardiac care unit of the

National Heart Institute in

Kuala Lumpur, a

spokesperson who asked not

to be named said, without

giving further details, reports

BSS.

Media descended on the

hospital as news spread that

Mahathir had been admitted

again, about a fortnight after

he had a procedure at the

same facility.

He was also admitted in

December for several days to

undergo a check-up.

He has had numerous

heart problems over the

years, suffering several heart

attacks and undergoing

bypass surgery.

Mahathir is one of

Malaysia's most dominant

political figures, having

served twice as prime

minister for a total of 24

years. He was leader from

1981 to 2003, then returned

to power in 2018 at the age of

92, heading a reformist

coalition. But that

administration collapsed in

2020 due to infighting.

Global Covid

cases surpass

345 million

DHAKA : Amid the global

scare over the rising

Omicron cases, the overall

number of Covid cases has

now surpassed 345 million.

According to Johns

Hopkins University (JHU),

the total case count mounted

to 345,747,702 while the

death toll from the virus

reached 5,584,037 Saturday

morning.

The US has recorded 70,

166,329 cases so far and

884,489 people have died

from the virus in the country,

the university data shows.

India's Covid-19 tally rose

to 38,566,027 Friday as

347,254 new cases were

registered in 24 hours across

the country, as per the

federal health ministry data.

Amid coronavirus spreading, arrangements are on the way to hold Trade fair in Kushtia. Photo : TBT

GD-139/22 (5x4)

Yemeni rebels say

Saudi-led airstrike

on prison killed 70

SANAA, Yemen : A Saudi-led coalition

airstrike hit a prison run by Yemen's Houthi

rebels on Friday, killing at least 70 detainees

and wounding dozens, a rebel minister said.

The strike was part of a pounding aerial

offensive that hours earlier knocked the Arab

world's poorest country off the internet,

reports UNB.

The intense campaign comes after the Iranbacked

Houthis claimed a drone and missile

attack that struck inside the United Arab

Emirates' capital earlier in the week - a major

escalation in the conflict in Yemen where the

Saudi-led coalition, backed by the UAE, has

battled the rebels since 2015.

Taha al-Motawakel, health minister in the

Houthi government which controls northern

Yemen, told The Associated Press that 70

detainees were killed at the prison and that he

expects the number to rise as many others

were seriously wounded.

"The world cannot be quiet when faced with

these crimes," Al-Motawakel said and asked

for international aid organizations to send

medical staff and aid. He said medical workers

in Yemen have been exhausted by the influx of

injured from the strikes, after already

operating with scarce resources during the

pandemic.

Earlier Friday, a Saudi airstrike in the port

city of Hodeida - later confirmed by satellite

photos analyzed by the AP - hit a

telecommunication center that's key to

Yemen's connection to the internet. Airstrikes

also hit near the capital, Sanaa, held by the

Houthis since late 2014.

The escalation was the most intense since

the 2018 fighting for Hodeida and comes after

a year of U.S. and U.N. efforts failed to bring

the two sides to the negotiating table.

Basheer Omar, an International Committee

of the Red Cross spokesperson in Yemen, said

rescuers continued to search for survivors in

the rebel-run prison in the northern city of

Saada. The Red Cross had moved some of the

wounded to facilities elsewhere, he said.

Doctors Without Borders put the number of

wounded alone at "around 200." Ahmed

Mahat, MSF's head of mission in Yemen, said

they had reports of "many bodies still at the

scene of the airstrike, many missing people."

The organization Save the Children said the

Saada prison holds detained migrants.

"Migrants seeking better lives for themselves

and their families, Yemeni civilians injured by

the dozens, is a picture we never hoped to

wake up to in Yemen," said Gillian Moyes,

Save the Children's director in Yemen.

The Saudi-led coalition did not confirm the

Saada attack. It has frequently struck civilian

locations during the war, now in its eight year.

It remained unclear if the detention facility

was the intended target.

As for the airstrike in Hodeida, NetBlocks

said the nationwide internet disruption began

around 1 a.m. local and affected TeleYemen,

the state-owned monopoly that controls

internet access in the country after a strike on

a telecommunications building. TeleYemen is

now run by the Houthis who have held Sanaa

since late 2014.

Over 18 hours later, the internet remained

down. The Houthi's Al-Masirah satellite news

channel said the strike on the

telecommunications building killed and

wounded an unspecified number of people. It

released chaotic footage of people digging

through rubble for a body as aid workers

assisted bloodied survivors.

Save the Children said the Hodeida strike

killed at least three children playing on a

soccer field. Satellite photos analyzed by the

AP corresponded to photos shared on social

media of the telecommunications building

being flattened by the airstrike.

The Saudi-led coalition acknowledged

carrying out "accurate airstrikes to destroy the

capabilities of the militia" around Hodeida's

port. It didn't immediately confirm striking a

telecommunications target, but instead called

Hodeida a hub for piracy and Iranian arms

smuggling to back the Houthis.

Iran has denied arming the Houthis, though

U.N. experts, independent analysts and

Western nations point to evidence showing

Tehran's link to the weapons.

On Friday, Houthi supporters rallied, calling

the airstrikes "an American escalation."

Houthi media distributed video of thousands

in the street. The Houthis commonly equate

the Saudi-led coalition with the United States,

condemning America in fiery terms.

The undersea FALCON cable carries

internet into Yemen through the Hodeida port

along the Red Sea for TeleYemen. The

FALCON cable has another landing in

Yemen's far eastern port of Ghaydah as well,

but the majority of Yemen's population lives in

its west along the Red Sea.

A cut to the FALCON cable in 2020 caused

by a ship's anchor also caused widespread

internet outages in Yemen. Land cables to

Saudi Arabia have been cut since the start of

the war, while connections to two other

undersea cables have yet to be made amid the

conflict, TeleYemen previously said.

Sunday, dhaka: january 23, 2022; Magh 9, 1428 BS; jamadi-us Sani 19, 1443 hijri

265 meter wire

stolen from

Rooppur NPP

iShwArdi CorreSpondent

A case of theft of BDT 65 lakh worth of

wires from two cranes of Rooppur nuclear

power plant (under construction) in

Ishwardi has been registered, police said.

The case was registered at Ishwardi police

station around 11 pm on Wednesday,

police chief Asaduzzaman said.

The OC said, referring to the case file,

"VN Turtin, Director (Security) of the

Russian company Asher, filed the lawsuit.

In the case, he alleged that the "275-

meter important wire" was lost at some

point between Dec 30 and January 9,

between the two cranes at the designated

place for loading and unloading of cargo

inside the project. It costs 65 lakh taka. "

The OC said SI Atiqul Islam, in-charge of

Pakshi police outpost, has been assigned to

investigate the case. "Those involved in the

theft of the crane may have been there regularly

or had an idea about the machine.

Otherwise, how could such an important

thing be stolen? "

Earlier, on the night of December 27,

security personnel detained five people

from the gate while trying to steal about

10 tons of iron (rods and pipes) from

inside the project. They were later handed

over to the police.

Khan Ahmed

Shuvo takes

oath as MP

DHAKA : Newly elected Member of

Parliament (MP) from the Tangail-7 constituency,

Khan Ahmed Shuvo took the

oath at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban yesterday.

Jatiya Sangsad (JS) Speaker Dr

Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury administered

the oath to Khan Ahmed Shuvo

elected in the by-poll with the ruling

Awami League's ticket.

Additional Secretary of the Parliament

Secretariat Tandra Shikder conducted

the swearing-in ceremony, said a JS

press release. Chief Whip Noor-E-Alam

Chowdhury was present at the function.

After taking oath, Shuvo signed the

oath book as part of the traditional ceremony

for the lawmakers.

Ruling Awami League candidate Khan

Ahmed Shuvo won the by-polls to

Tangail-7 (Mirzapur), defeating Jatiya

Party's candidate Jahirul Islam Jahir on

January 16. The parliamentary seat fell

vacant after the death of Awami League

lawmaker Ekabbar Hossain on

November 16 last year.

Digital Bangladesh

now a reality: Palak

NATORE : State Minister for

Information and Communication

Technologies Zunaid Ahmed Palak yesterday

said Digital Bangladesh is not just

a dream now but a reality.

"Under the leadership of Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh

achieved a remarkable advancement in

technology and people are getting the

maximum benefit out of it," he told a

stipend distribution programme here for

the students.

Palak said digital platforms have

helped people of various professions to

overcome challenges during the COVID-

19 pandemic. Virtual learning, online

telemedicine services and online programme

were among those services

which are helping people to deal with the

crisis situation during the pandemic, he

added. The state minister urged all to

wear face masks, maintain social distancing

and get vaccinated to fight the deadly

disease.

Singra Upazila Nirbahi Officer SM

Samirul Islam chaired the function.

degree students of seven government colleges affiliated to dhaka university (du) blocked the nilkhet

crossing in the capital on Saturday morning in protest of the postponement of exams. photo : Star Mail

Schools, colleges to return to

online classes: Ministry

DHAKA : The Ministry of Education on

Saturday issued 11-point directives,

including resuming online classes, for

schools and colleges during the closure till

February 6 to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The ministry issued a notification in this

regard for schools and colleges under the

Directorate of Secondary and Higher

Education followed by a notice of the

Cabinet Division issued on Friday.

According to the notice, all the schools,

colleges of the country will remain closed

from January 21 to February 6.

The other directives of the ministry are

" Vaccination of students aged between

12 to 17 years against Covid-19 will continue

following the health guidelines in

coordination with the zonal offices of

the Directorate of Secondary and

Higher Education, District Education

Office, Upazila Secondary Education

Offices, local administration and Civil

Surgeons.

" the authorities will take measures to keep

electricity, telephone, water, internet connections

uninterrupted and safe in classes,

libraries and laboratories.

DHAKA : 'For Bangladesh Association,

Germany' yesterday donated an ultrasound

machine to Father of the Nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Memorial Trust for Bangamata Sheikh

Fazilatunnessa Mujib Memorial KPJ

Specialized Hospital and Nursing

College.

It is hoped that this Ultrasound

machine will be used in the treatment of

patients of all levels in Bangamata Sheikh


specialized Hospital and Nursing

College, a press release said.

The Chief Executive Officer of

Bangabandhu Memorial Trust Mdm

Mashura Hossain accepted the

Ultrasound machine from Hasnat Mia,

President of For Bangladesh Association,

Germany.

" Special importance will be given on

maintenance and security of assets of

the educational institutions during the

period.

" The head of the educational institutions

can engage teachers and staff in

work for emergency need on condition

of maintaining health guidelines properly.

The institutions having dormitories may

keep the dormitories open maintaining

health protocols until any further

notice is issued in this regard.

" All the staff, officers and teachers of

offices, institutions under the directorate

need to collect vaccine certificates.

" Offices of the educational institutions

will remain open and operate following

the health guidelines.

" The ongoing sports competitions

arranged by National Madrasa, School

and Technical Sports Association will

remain suspended until further notice

Regular cleaning activities at the educational

institutions will continue as

before.

Ultrasound machine donated to

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman Memorial Trust

Physicians and officials of Bangamata

Sheikh Fazilatunnessa Mujib Memorial

KPJ Specialized Hospital and Nursing

College, among others, were present on

the occasion.

In 2017, For Bangladesh Association,

Germany and Bangamata Sheikh


Specialized Hospital and Nursing College

jointly organized a Free Neuro and

Plastic Surgery Camp. Many poor and

disadvantaged people received free treatment

at the camp.

For Bangladesh Association, Germany

and Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnessa

Mujib Memorial KPJ Specialized

Hospital and Nursing College are looking

forward to collaborate in Scientific,

Medical and Humanitarian endeavors in

the future.

Exams scrapped,

students block busy

Dhaka crossing

DHAKA : Students of seven government

colleges affiliated to Dhaka University

blocked the Nilkhet intersection on

Saturday morning in protest against the

government's decision to suspend exams,

reports UNB.

Over 100 students took to the streets

around 9am and staged demonstrations

for nearly two hours, disrupting morning

rush-hour traffic in the busy area.

A student, who did not wish to be named,

told UNB that they were not intimated

about the suspension of their exams earlier

and they came to know about the same

only after reaching the test centers. After

staging their protest till 11am, the students

went to the Dhaka University campus to

meet the controller of exams. Later they

went to meet the Eden College authorities

at the controller's request.

Government Bangla College student

Rabeya said, "We blocked the busy

Nilkhet crossing to protest the sudden suspension

of our exams."

Vehicular movement on the busy road

remained halted for two hours following the

protest, causing immense sufferings to commuters.

Earlier on Friday, the government

announced the closure of all schools, colleges

and universities of the country from

January 21 to February 6 in an effort to curb

the spread of Covid-19 in Bangladesh.

Dozens missing

after 2 boats capsize

in Arabian Sea off

southern Pakistan

ISLAMABAD : Dozens of fishermen went

missing after two boats capsized in the

Arabian Sea near the country's southern

Sindh province on Saturday, police officials

and local reports said, reports BSS.

The boats carrying over 35 fishermen

capsized in the Arabian Sea off Thatta's

coastal area in the province, police in

the area told local media, adding that

five people have been rescued. The survivors

have been rushed to a nearby

medical center, while rescue efforts are

underway to save the remaining fishermen,

said the police. Local authorities

said that strong winds coupled with overload

are the reasons behind the accident.

Special teams of the Pakistan Navy have

launched a full-fledged operation to trace

the missing fishermen.

America should provide

training to correct

RAB's fault: FM

A K Milon, SunAMgAnj CorreSpondent

Foreign Minister Abdul Momen said

"some people who do not like the credentials

of law enforcement, those who like

terrorism or other types of drugs dislike

RAB. Because the members of RAB have

also worked against them. It is very sad."

"We'll let them know, maybe not.

Because many have received information

unilaterally. Those who do not like

them. In all countries, there are some

deaths due to law enforcing agencies.

Something has happened in Bangladesh

too. There was more before but now

there is less. Whenever there is a death,

it is investigated in the judicial process.

They say 600 people have gone missing

in the last 10 years. One million people

are missing in America every year. So

who will take the responsibility? And

those who are missing in our country are

seen coming out again later. If there is

any fault of RAB, it is the responsibility

of America (USA) to correct it through

training. And without verifying this

information, the big foreign countries

complain without knowing it. I call on

those who have complained. Come, see,

talk to people, reveal the truth. Then you

decide" he further added.

The Foreign Minister made the

remarks while inspecting Nagdipur

Chaihara Islamia Arabia Madrasa, Syed

Manohar Ali Ashtagram College, Shirilab

Chowdhury Child Kindergarten in Dirai

Upazila of Sunamganj on Friday afternoon.

Member of Parliament Adv.

Shamima Khanam, UK MP Tom Hunt,

UK Expatriate ZI Foundation founder

Zillur Hossain, Sunamganj District

Awami League General Secretary

Barrister M Enamul Kabir Emon and

others were present on the occasion.

dhaka north City Corporation Mayor Md. Atiqul islam inaugurated

the 10-day public awareness campaign "Mask Amar,

Suraksha Sobar" at Karwan Bazar on Saturday. photo: pBA

Upazila vice-chairman, 9 others

held over 'govt job question

paper leak' in Dhaka

DHAKA : Detectives have arrested 10

members of a gang, including a female

upazila vice chairman, for their suspected

involvement in leaking government

job recruitment test question paper.

A team of Detective Branch (DB)

arrested them conducting drives at

Mirpur, Tejgaon industrial area and

Kakrail from 3 pm to 10 pm on Friday,

said a press release of Dhaka

Metropolitan Police.

The arrestees are Mahbububa Nasreen

Rupa, vice-chairman of Dhupchanchia

upazila of Bogura, Mahmudul Hasan

Azad, an official of Comptroller General

of Accounts (CGA) office, Noman

Siddique, Al Amin Roni, Nahid Hasan,

Shaheed Ullah, Tanjir Ahmed, Raju

Ahmed, Hasibul Hasan and Rakibul

Hasan.

Six ear devices, master cards, six

mobile SIM holders, five bank checques,

seven non-judicial stamps, 10 smartphones,

18 admit cards and 3 sets of

leaked question papers of a recruitment

test were seized from their possession.

A test was held on Friday for recruiting

550 auditors for Defence Finance

Department of Office of Controller

General Defence Finance.

Police arrested the gang members

based on secret information that the

gang members were involved in leaking

question paper of the test and supplying

answers to candidates through digital

devices and mobile apps.

The arrestees reportedly confessed that

they had earned huge money by leaking

question papers of different recruitment

tests for government service.

From vegetable seller to university student

Story of an indomitable dream

detectives

have arrested

10 members of

a gang, including

a female

upazila vice

chairman, for

their suspected

involvement

in leaking

government

job recruitment

test

question

paper.

photo :

Star Mail

RAJSHAHI : For Md Asif Ali, it has been a

saga of loss, sadness and success.

Asif, undaunted by extreme poverty

caused by his father's desertion and then

the death of the grandfather, has pursued

his dream of higher studies.

Today, he has turned from a vegetable

seller to a student of Jagannath University

thanks to his determination and had work.

Talking to UNB this week Asif narrated

how the wonder happened and how the

humble boy from Swarupnagar village in

Puthia Upazila of Rajshahi made it to a

premier university of the country.

Asif was in class three when his wifebeating

father left home one day leaving

his grandfather as the only breadwinner of

the family.

By breaking bricks the old man somehow

managed to feed the family. But life

had more miseries planned for Asif as his

grandfather died two years later.

Then a student of class five, Asif learned

to endure the horrific pain of hunger when

his mother couldn't earn the daily meal for

the family even after buying a goat with

borrowed money.

"My grandmother tried to help by working

in other people's vegetable fields but

what she got at the end of the day was not

even enough for one meal," said Asif.

By the time Asif was in class six, he got a

job in a hotel on condition of free meals

and Tk 5 to 10 per day as wages.

"We could buy 30 kg of rice per month

with Tk 300 through the government's

VGF (Vulnerable Group Feeding) card but

still didn't have enough to buy something

to eat with the rice. There were days we

had only a pinch of salt with rice, unable to

buy vegetables."

Asif recalled the days when he used to

stand for hours in front of the neighbours,

houses in hope they would offer him

something good to eat.

While in class seven he started working

at a distant uncle's vegetable shop at

Mahendra Bazar. There he had to work for

the whole day on Sunday and Wednesday,

the two busiest days of Bazar by dodging

classes.

23-01-2022

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