31-10-2022

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ART & CULTURE

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MonDay, oCtobEr 31, 2022

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Community Policing Day 2022

celebrated in Chattogram

Community Policing Day 2022 has been celebrated in the port city of Chattogram like the rest of the

country.

Photo: M Foysal Elahi

Cop among

three arrested

with heroin

RAJSHAHI : Detective Branch

(DB) of police arrested a cop

with 500 gram heroin from

Godagari upazila in Rajshahi

on Saturday night.

The arrestee-Nur Nab was

attached to Chandrima police

station under Rajshahi

Metropolitan Police and hailed

from Godagari upazila in the

district.

Abul Hai, officer-in-charge of

the district DB police, said on

information a team conducted

a drive in Rail Gate area of the

Godagari upazila and arrested

him with 500 gram heroin on

Saturday night.

With information received

from him, two other people

identified as Mithun Ali, 32

and Raibul Islam, 33, were also

arrested with 500 gram more

heroin from Sarengpur

Policepara under the upazila,

he said.

Mohiuddin Shagor, Chattogram

City Correspondent : Community

Policing Day 2022 has been celebrated

in the port city of Chattogram like the

rest of the country. The formalities of

the event started with a colorful rally

from Chattogram Metropolitan

Police's Dampara Police Lines at 10

am. The rally was held on Saturday

started from the police lines and

circled the important roads of the city

and ended at the police lines again.

After the rally, a discussion meeting

was organized with all police station

and ward level leaders of Chattogram

Metropolitan Community Policing at

Dampara Police Lines multi-purpose

shed. Chattogram Metropolitan Police

Commissioner Krishnapad Roy

presided over the discussion meeting

and Chattogram City Corporation

Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury was

present as the chief guest.

In the speech of the chief guest,

Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury said,

those who are in community policing,

should rise above everything and

observe the motto of community

policing, peace and order everywhere,

you will see that the society will

become beautiful and pure. Money is

not everything and Greed for money is

one of the main causes of social

degradation, from where crime

originates, we need to shun greed for

money. Drugs and those who are

related to drugs should be collectively

eradicated from the society no matter

how different they are, if we all stand

together against them then on some

time in the future no one will have the

courage to deal with drugs and drug

addiction. Police-army cannot change

the society, through community

policing, the platform of that dream is

being built.

In the President's speech

Chattogram Metropolitan Police

Commissioner Krishnapad Roy said,

we work against all those people who

condone crime. If anyone thinks that

by being a member of community

policing they will benefit themselves

by being associated with irregularities,

then I say community policing is not

for you. By increasing trust in

community policing, people's trust in

the police will increase. No member of

community policing should detract

from the status of community policing.

In the discussion meeting, Member

Secretary of Metropolitan Community

Policing Ahid Siraj Chowdhury

Swapan said in his speech to the

Metropolitan Police, 14 thousand

community policing members are

2969(6)

ready to lend their hands at the call of

the police at any moment as friends of

the police in Chattogram city of 7

million people. He also said to the

leaders of community policing that the

responsibility of community policing

members is to keep themselves

engaged in building a beautiful,

orderly and safe society through the

cooperation of the administration.

Deputy Police Commissioners of 4

Zones of Chattogram Metropolitan

Police, Additional Deputy Police

Commissioners,

Assistant

Commissioners, Officers-in-Charge of

16 police stations and leaders of all

levels of metropolitan community

policing were also present in the

event.

In the last part of the discussion

meeting, several officers of CMP and

several members of community

policing were awarded with crests and

certificates in recognition of their

special contribution to community

policing. Later the cultural program

started after mid-day feast.

Community Policing Day 2022

program of Chattogram Metropolitan

Police concluded by organizing a

friendly football match at the parade

ground of Dampara Police Lines

around 4 pm.

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MonDAY, oCToBER 31, 2022

3

Charles Whiteley, Ambassador, and Head of Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh inaugurating

Erasmus+ Capacity Building Higher Education Harmony Project Lab. Dr. Md. Sabur Khan,

Chairman, Board of Trustees, Daffodil International University, Prof. Dr. S M Mahabub Ul haque

Mazumder, Pro Vice Chancellor, were present at the program.

Photo : Courtesy

Ted Kennedy

Jr, family

members call

on PM

DHAKA : Late US Senator

Edward M Kennedy's son Ted

Kennedy Jr and his three

family members paid a

courtesy call on Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina at her

official Ganabhaban residence

on Sunday morning, a press

release said.

During the meeting, the

prime minister expressed her

gratitude for the outstanding

contribution of late US

Senator Edward M Kennedy

to supporting the then East

Pakistan (now Bangladesh)

during the Liberation War,

although the then Nixon

administration favoured

Pakistan.

PM's Press Secretary

Ihsanul Karim briefed the

newsmen after the meeting.

The prime minister recalled

the visit of Kennedy Sr to

Bangladesh in February, 1972,

Karim said.

She also called Kennedy Sr

"a true friend of Bangladesh".

During the meeting,

Kennedy Jr. was

accompanied by

Dr. Katherine Kennedy

(wife), Dr Kiley Kennedy

(daughter) and Teddy

Kennedy (son).

Ted Kennedy Jr, a former

member of Connecticut State

Senate, is now on seven-day

visit to Bangladesh from

October 29-November 5 to

join the yearlong celebration

of the 50th anniversary of US-

Bangladesh relations.

Global recognition proves Bangladeshi architecture

can become an example for countries

MUSCAT : Bangladesh can be an example

for other countries if people from all

disciplines, not just the architects, can put

in their best efforts for the country, says a

young architect.

"We got the recognition relatively in a

very early stage. It proves that those in the

architecture discipline are demonstrating

world class examples," architect Saad Ben

Mostafa told UNB.

Mostafa is one of the three young

architects whose project titled "Community

Spaces in Rohingya Refugee Response,

Cox's Bazar" won the prestigious 2022 Aga

Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA).

Six winners, who will share the USD 1

million award, one of the biggest in

architecture, show promise for

communities, innovation and care for the

environment.

Mostafa along with his two teammates -

architects Khwaja Fatmi and Rizvi Hassan

- will receive the award with other winners

on Monday.

The graduate from the Bangladesh

University of Engineering and Technology

(BUET) laid emphasis on focusing on work

while understanding people's needs and

roots, not just replicating foreign designs.

"I would say, we are going to receive the

award on behalf of all. I see it as a big

recognition for Bangladesh," architect

Fatmi told UNB.

Architect Hassan said they wanted to see

whether they can work based on local

elements - taking materials and creating a

beautiful, sustainable and an advanced

Another witness testifies in actor

Sohel Chowdhury murder case

DHAKA : One more witness testified and was cross-examined

by the defence in the case lodged over murder of actor Sohel

Chowdhury.

Diayan Khan, former employee of prime accused Afakul Islam

alias Banti Islam, on Sunday testified as the third prosecution

witnesses at Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-2. After his crossexamination,

Judge Zakir Hossain of the tribunal adjourned the

hearing till November 13.

Sohel Chowdhury was shot and killed on December 18, 1998,

in capital's Banani area and his brother Touhidul Islam filed the

case with Gulshan Police Station the next day. Police on July 30,

1999, filed charge-sheet against nine and Dhaka 3rd Additional

Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court on October 30, 2001, had

framed charges in the case.

The case was later transferred to Dhaka Speedy Trial

Tribunal-2 for further proceedings.

Following a petition of an accused in the case, the High Court

stayed the proceedings of the trial and it remained that way for

long 19 years. On February 27, 2022, the stay on the case

proceedings was withdrawn.

The accused in the case are- Adnana Siddiqui, Afakul Islam

alias Banti Islam, Aziz Mohammad Bhai alias Abdul Aziz, Tarek

Sayeed Mamun, Selim Khan, Harun Ur Rashid alias Leather

Liton alias Boss Liton, Faruk Abbasi, Sanjidul Islam Emon and

Ashish Roy Chowdhury alias Bottle Chowdhury.

design. In future, he said, they want to

work in rural areas. "We want to engage

people from the villages in our work. We

want to see them join hands with us. We

will work together."

The three architects said the latest

achievement is part of a long journey and

they want to work keeping people and the

country's needs in focus.

Recalling the challenges of working in a

crowded Rohingya camp, Mostafa said it

was difficult but they tried to create

something extraordinary.

"Through our work, we explored how

such a structure's longevity can be extended

with sustainability," said architect Hassan.

Architect Fatmi said this was the best

time for them to focus on the skills,

creativity and wisdom of the local

community to reflect on the spaces and the

design. "We wanted to give voices to their

skills and expertise."

Architect Mostafa said they decided to

involve all the craftsmen and people in the

community as they tried to create a

dignified space, a space that represents

their identity with the touch of their hands.

Architect Hassan said they tried to

develop and propose a new solution in this

tropical monsoon climate.

Rather than separate projects, the six

sustainably built structures in the world's

largest refugee camps - housing Rohingyas

fleeing genocide in Myanmar - are a

collection of practice exercises. Each

created scope for the next according to

need.

Bharatiya Janata Party 's

former general secretary

calls on Obaidul Quader

DHAKA : Former National

General Secretary of

Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) Ram Madhav

yesterday paid a courtesy

call on Awami League

General Secretary and Road

Transport and Bridges

Minister Obaidul Quader at

his secretariat office.

During the meeting, Ram

Madhav, who served as

BJP's National General

Secretary during 2014-20,

said Bangladesh Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina and

Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi have been

working for the welfare the

two countries.

He invited Qbaidul

Quader to visit India at a

convenient time.

Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdur Razzaque addressing the review meeting

of Annual Development Programme (ADP) at the conference room of

the ministry.

Photo : PID

Much of the design was created

collaboratively in the field. A womenfriendly

space, very low to withstand

cyclones, features a complex roof truss built

by Rohingya bamboo craftsmen without

drawings or models.

A safe space offering practical support to

women and girls employed local materials

and an exterior scheme that avoids

disturbance caused to visiting elephants by

the blues and pinks of standard camp

structures.

A facility for women to create and

showcase their handmade products is built

of bamboo and thatch.

One community support centre uses

colourful mattresses as roof insulation;

another mixes natural materials with

industrial ones; another is built around

existing betel nut trees, resisting the

tendency to deforestation.

Another project from Bangladesh titled

"Urban River Spaces, Jhenaidah" is also

among the six winners.

Through consistent community

participation and appropriation, extensive

involvement of women and marginalised

groups, and a local workforce, the

seemingly simple undertaking of cleaning

up the access to the Nabaganga river in

Jhenaidah led to a thoughtful and minimal

landscaping project with local materials

and construction techniques, thus

transforming a derelict informal dump site

into an attractive and accessible

multifunctional space that is valued by

Jhenaidah's diverse communities.

EU Ambassador inaugurates Erasmus+

CBEH Harmony Project Lab at DIU

Erasmus+ Capacity Building Higher

Education (CBEH) Harmony Project Lab

was inaugurated on Sunday at Daffodil

International University for the first time

in Bangladesh. H. E. Charles Whiteley,

Ambassador, and Head of Delegation of

the European Union to Bangladesh

inaugurated the Lab as Chief Guest while

Dr. Md. Sabur Khan, Chairman, Board of

Trustees, Daffodil International

University was present as the Guest of

Honour. Prof. Dr. S M Mahabub Ul

haque Mazumder, Pro Vice Chancellor,

Presided over the program. The

inaugural ceremony was also addressed

by Dr. Rafael de Miguel González,

Harmony Project Grant Coordinator and

Associate Dean for International

Relations, Faculty of Education,

University of Zaragoza, Spain,

Dr. Md. Fokhray Hossain, Director,

International Affairs, and Syed

Raihanul Islam, Assistant Director,

International Affairs, Daffodil

International University. Dr.Md

Ashiqur Rahman, President Erasmus

Mundus Association virtually joined

the program.

Addressing as the chief guest Charles

Whiteley said, I have visited many of the

universities, but DIU is really great.

They look for this kind of Eramus

opportunity and never lose to grab

them. Also it has amazing campus and

eco system that I already got

experience.

Dr. Md. Sabur Khan Said, We are very

focusing to our students and faculty.

We are also concern about our

administrative employee. We want

them to have the experience from

various country and universities.We

have developed eco system. These are

for students. They will visit, learn from

other cultures and countries so be

expert on what they learn.

Daffodil International University

(DIU) is a partner of a successful

HARMONY project of Erasmus+

Capacity Building in Higher Education

harmony project under the KA2

funding from European Commission

since 2021.European Union and

Erasmus are supporting us and globally

to ensure quality education,

international mobility experiences,

share prospects and more. Through this

Erasmus CBHE Harmony lab, DIU will

be having more harmonious journey to

achieve mutual goals for a better world.

DU VC Prof. Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman inaugurated the daylong program of 27th anniversary of Dhaka

University Tourist Society (DUTS).

Photo : Courtesy

DMP arrests 64

for consuming,

selling drugs

in city

DHAKA : As part of the antidrug

drive in the capital, the

members of the Dhaka

Metropolitan Police (DMP)

have arrested a total of 64

people on charges of selling

and consuming drugs

during the last 24 hours till

6am, Sunday, reports BSS.

According to a release

issued by the DMP, police

conducted the operations

against the drug sellers and

consumers in different areas

under various police stations

of the metropolis. They also

detained a total of 64 drug

traffickers and recovered

huge drugs from their

possession from 6am of

October 29 to 6 am Sunday.

During the anti-drug

drives, police seized 24.965

kilograms of cannabis

(ganja), 38 grams and 50

puria (small packets) of

heroin, 2,381 pieces of yaba

tablets, 10 litres of locallymade

liquor and 10 drug

injections from their

possession, it added.

Police filed 48 cases

against the arrestees in these

connections with respective

police stations under the

Narcotics Control Act.

HC to hear death references

in Aug 21 grenade attack

cases from today

DHAKA : The High Court is finally all set to

hear death references and appeals of the

convicts in the two cases lodged over the

barbaric grenade attack on an Awami

League rally in capital's Bangabandhu

Avenue on August 21, 2004, as it fixed today

to commence the hearing on the matters.

A High Court division bench comprising

Justice Shahidul Karim and Justice Md

Mostafizur Rahman set the date yesterday.

Following a plea of Attorney General AM

Amin Uddin, Chief Justice Hasan Foez

Siddique recently designated this bench to

hold hearing on the matters.

"The two cases, one for murder and

another filed under Explosives Substances

Act, are very important for us. The plotters

behind the heinous crime had tried to

destroy our democratic system through that

unprecedented attack," the Attorney General

said.

At least 24 people were killed and around

500 injured in the gruesome attack on an

Awami League rally on the capital's

Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004.

Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, the

then opposition leader in parliament,

narrowly escaped the attack with severe ear

injuries. A Dhaka court on October 10, 2018,

sentenced to death 19 people, including

former state minister for home Lutfuzzaman

Babar, and awarded life imprisonment to

another 19, including BNP acting chairman

Tarique Rahman, in the murder case filed

over that heinous incident.

Judge Shahed Nuruddin of Dhaka's

Speedy Trial Tribunal in his judgement also

sentenced 11 others to different terms of jail.

The judge also made a 12-point

observation on the background, motive and

consequences of the attack, mainly targeting

incumbent Prime Minister and the then

opposition leader Sheikh Hasina, who

narrowly escaped the assault sustaining

wounds.

The death penalty convicts are:

Lutfuzzaman Babar, Abdus Salam Pintu,

Mawlana Tajuddin, intelligence officials

Major General (Retd) Rezzakul Haider

Chowdhury and Brigadier General Abdur

Rahim, transport operator Md Hanif,

militants Mowlana Sheikh Abdus Salam,

Abdul Mazed Bhat, Abdul Malek, Shawkat

Osman, Mohibullah, Abu Sayeed, Abul

Kalam Azad, Jahangir Alam, Hafez Abu

Taher, Hossain Ahammed Tamim, Moin

Uddin Sheikh, Rafikul Islam and Md Uzzal.

Other than Rahman, the political figures

who were handed down life imprisonments

are - ex-premier Khaleda Zia's the then

political adviser Haris Chowdhury and

former BNP lawmaker Qazi Shah Mofazzal

Hossain Kaikobad.

The others to serve the life term are -

militants Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel, Abdur

Rouf, Sabbir Ahmed, Arif Hasan, Hafez

Yahia, Abu Bokor, Ariful Islam, Mohibul

Muttakin, Anisul Mursalin, Mohammad

Khalil, Jahangir Alam Badar, Mohammad

Iqbal, Liton, Shafikur Rahman, Abdul Hai

and Ratul Ahmed Babu.

Director General of Bangladesh Water Development Board Engineer Fazlur Rashid was present as

chief guest at a program at Pani Bhaban of the capital city yesterday.

Photo: Courtesy

MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2022

4

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Monday, October 31, 2022

Crop insurance and

sustainable poverty

reduction

M

any

poor families in Bangladesh climb

out of poverty one year to slip back into

extreme poverty conditions in the

next. Natural calamities like floods, cyclones

and river erosions increase the number of the

poverty afflicted or push them back into poverty

after they had achieved considerable success

in getting rid of poverty from their lives.

What can the policies be to conquer poverty

on a sustainable basis ? One way can be hedging

the rural poor with insurance policies to

cover risks like crop losses, damage to homesteads

by floods, loss of poultries and cattle, etc.

According to media reports, a crop insurance

pilot project was about to be launched in a limited

way. The project would be funded jointly

by GOB, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and

Japan. This project's outcome should be monitored

and, if found effective, should be replicated

all over the country. The small insurance

policies can help poor people at the grass roots

from getting some financial assistance directly

at the time of their acute distresses.

Rural marketing systems may be improved so

that rural producers can sell directly to buyers

at good value, regularly, without having to sell

to exploitative middlemen at a loss. The overall

availability of micro credits to the poor must be

increased with repayment of the loans at substantially

lower rate of interests and on other

easy terms.

Government will have to run special programmes

to take care of the needs of the victims

of river erosion, monga (periodic famine conditions

in northern areas). It should provide food

and housing supports and create planned

employment for affected people under these

special programmes and operate them with

some regularity. Greater availability of energy

and other means of production in the rural

areas that have the highest concentration of

poverty can also have a positive effect against

poverty.

The fastest results against poverty at the

national level can come from much increasing

the rate of economic growth. Economic growth

creates jobs, earnings and employment that

have the most effect in reducing poverty. But

the economic growth is vitally dependent on

greater investment activities. The first requirement,

thus, is to create an environment more

conducive to investments.

The creation of an investment-friendly environment

in the country is linked to a host of

factors such as increasing the availability of

power and other forms of energy, long term

favourable and unchanging fiscal and monetary

policies of the government that create confidence

for the investors, improved law order

conditions, upgradation and addition to infrastructures

supportive of investments, prevention

of smuggling, etc.

Until now, efforts to introduce agricultural

insurance have largely remained limited to

piloting schemes.including the ongoing one by

state run Sadharan Bima Corporation (SBC).

But average annual costs of disasters are $300

million according to the Bangladesh

Agricultural Situation analysis published by the

World Bank Group in 2018. Only one insurer,

Green Delta Insurance Company (GDIC) has so

far incorporated crop insurance as a commercial

product.

A pilot scheme-Weather Index based crop

insurance-has been underway since 2021, in

partnership with Brac and Syngenta

Foundation and under a Swiss Agency for

Development and Cooperation-supported

Bangladesh microinsurance market development

project.

SBC and GDIC are offering crop insurance

policies to farmers under the project. And participants

said they got positive response from

farmers. Under the scheme, farmers get coverage

against weather perils like drought, unseasonal

rainfall, and low and high temperature,

said Monirul Haque, lead of the non-life insurance

under the microfinance programme of

Brac. " We have already settled a number of

claims to boro paddy and potato farmers, and

farmers are positive. Quick claim settlement is

the biggest marketing too, Hoque said.

Thus, crop insurance is no more looked at as

an elusive idea. It is gradually becoming a realistic

and hope generating prospect among distress

stricken farmers in the realm of our agriculture

.

Made in Tehran: narcotics, missiles and killer drones

Iran may be falling apart before our

eyes, as furious mass protests and

general strikes enter their sixth week

and continue to gain momentum. But

some economic sectors are enjoying a

golden age: The exporters of crystal meth,

weaponized drones and a broad spectrum

of other murderous contraband goods

have never had it so good.

It came as a wake-up call to many that

the kamikaze drones raining death on

civilians throughout Ukraine were in fact

Iranian imports. Moreover, intelligence

experts established that Iranian military

personnel had based themselves in Crimea

to exert direct control over these killing

machines, and to learn lessons with a view

to future advances in Iranian military

hardware. Devastating strikes on Ukraine's

energy infrastructure have prompted a

new exodus of refugees toward Europe

before the cold of winter sets in.

Tehran has already delivered 1,750

drones to Moscow, in defiance of a UN

Security Council resolution. Iran has also

agreed to export hundreds of surface-tosurface

missiles, with widespread concern

that these relatively low-cost weapons

could significantly reconfigure the

contours of the Ukraine conflict. Iranian

officials boast that a further 22 countries

have expressed interest in weapons

purchases as a result of the opportune

publicity afforded by the carnage in

Ukraine.

Iranian drones and missiles have also

been used to stage attacks against Saudi

Arabia and the UAE, and Hezbollah in

Lebanon threatened drone strikes against

Israeli offshore drilling facilities if it didn't

get what it wanted. The Iran-backed

Houthi militia used drones to target

international shipping last week at a

Yemeni oil terminal. Iran's missile

program, the largest and most

sophisticated in the region, now comprises

thousands of warheads, and missiles with a

range of 2,000km.

As for narcotics, an investigation by the

Washington Post exposed the devastating

consequences of Iran's growing role in the

methamphetamine trade. As of 2017,

innovations in methamphetamine

production - including the sourcing of a key

Israeli politics is adversarial at the best of

times. However, in the weeks leading up to

a general election it becomes

contaminated with extreme partisanship and

bigotry, where collecting a few more votes

takes precedence over civilized and

constructive debate - not to mention sound

judgment.

The decision by Israel's current government,

led by Prime Minister Yair Lapid, to agree a

deal with the Lebanese government over their

maritime border dispute, with the help of US

mediation, has been heralded in many

quarters in Israel, Lebanon and the

international community as a notable success

for brinkmanship negotiations and

statesmanship. However, the Israeli

opposition, led by former prime minister

ingredient from a plant endemic to Central

Asia - made the drug much cheaper to

synthesize, and Iran has become a global

production center.

Turkish authorities report how crossborder

smuggling networks are controlled

by Iranian nationals, with a near doubling

of seizures over the past year. Jordan's

anti-narcotics department, meanwhile,

reported a 20-fold increase in seizures of

methamphetamine (more than 45 tons)

already this year.

Matters are infinitely worse in Iraq,

where Basra has become an immense

regional hub for the narcotics trade,

controlled by powerful Iran-backed

militias with government connections.

These Hashd Al-Shaabi militias make a

killing by monopolizing the mass

movement of contraband goods, including

heroin from Afghanistan.

Social workers and medics testify to the

devastating impact this has on Iraq's society,

where sky-high unemployment, political

chaos, and the absence of a social safety net

create optimal conditions for a hopeless

generation seeking to lose themselves in

chemical oblivion. Until recently, drug

addiction levels in Iraq were negligible.

The consequences for Iran itself have

been devastating. According to (probably

massively inaccurate) official Iranian

statistics there are about 4.4 million

nationwide drug users and addicts, and at

least 5,000 drug deaths per year.

Western states apparently regard Iran's

multibillion-dollar narcotics and military

exports as a distant problem, destabilizing

faraway states, but these massive revenuegenerating

activities are allowing Iran to

mutate into a global threat.

BARIA ALAMUDDIN

In two other states under Iranian

tutelage - Syria and Lebanon - legitimate

economies have imploded, to be replaced

by multibillion-dollar narco economies

dedicated to producing immense volumes

of the highly addictive drug Captagon.

Hundreds of millions of Captagon tablets

are being smuggled through ports in south

Europe and across the Arab world.

Powerful vested interests this year

pressured Lebanon's judicial system to

indefinitely suspend a verdict against the

"King of Captagon," Muhammad Daqou,

on charges of attempting to smuggle

800,000 Captagon tablets worth $94

million from Latakia to Malaysia. Daqou

controls vast production facilities on the

Lebanon-Syria border. His wife Sahar

Mohsen is a close relative of Wafiq Safa,

Hezbollah's head of security, who controls

the movement of weapons and drugs in

and out of Lebanon. Daqou was released

To exert control over a swath of territory in the lawless

Lebanon-Syria border region, Hezbollah has overseen a

policy of demographic engineering, bussing in new

residents whose loyalty can be guaranteed. In late 2021,

paramilitary forces linked to Daqou subjected the border

village of Tfail to an eight-hour armed assault, with the

goal of terrorizing local people into leaving.

Benjamin Netanyahu, is accusing the

government of anything from incompetence to

selling out the country's interests very cheaply.

These two diametrically opposed narratives

of the Israeli-Lebanese maritime agreement

owe more to the nature of political discourse

in Israel than the reality of the situation. But it

begs the question of whether criticizing the

deal with little evidence to support such

criticism is going to make any difference to the

result of the election on Nov. 1.

The answer, most probably, is no, due to the

extreme rigidity of the Israeli electorate's

voting patterns, especially so close to polling

day. Most voters will have already made up

their minds and the maritime dispute with

Lebanon is hardly a big vote-winner or loser.

However, a considered examination of the

YOSSI MEKELBERG

from custody despite a photo of the invoice

for the Malaysian drugs consignment

being found on his phone.

To exert control over a swath of territory

in the lawless Lebanon-Syria border

region, Hezbollah has overseen a policy of

demographic engineering, bussing in new

residents whose loyalty can be guaranteed.

In late 2021, paramilitary forces linked to

Daqou subjected the border village of Tfail

to an eight-hour armed assault, with the

goal of terrorizing local people into leaving.

Hezbollah also has a massive stake in the

cocaine trade, facilitated by Lebanese

émigré communities stretching from

South America to West Africa and back

through a network of Lebanese and

regional financial institutions.

The profits are clandestinely invested

deal should reward the parties that form the

current coalition government for having the

courage and wisdom to sign it. Even this will

sway only a small number of voters but since

the person who will form the next coalition

government, and those who might be part of

it, will be decided by the finest of margins,

every single vote counts.

Lapid and his defense minister, Benny

Gantz, have asserted, with much justification,

that the deal with Lebanon strengthens

Israel's security, will inject billions into the

Israeli economy, and helps ensure the stability

of the country's northern border.

It would be naive to assume that in the

volatile political and social environment in

Lebanon, and to a large extent in Israel as well,

in which things change quickly that any deal

back into paramilitary and terrorist

activities, enabling Tehran to reinforce its

preeminent regional posture. In the same

way, international oil sanctions prompted

the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to

take over large segments of the oil export

industry, meaning that billions of dollars in

revenues are funneled back into warmaking

and bankrolling instability, as well

as into the corrupt pockets of leading

ayatollahs and Revolutionary Guard

officers.

Western states apparently regard Iran's

multibillion-dollar narcotics and military

exports as a distant problem, destabilizing

faraway states, but these massive revenuegenerating

activities are allowing Iran to

mutate into a global threat.

Where do people think the massive funds

have come from to pay for an acceleration

of uranium enrichment? How has a state

besieged by decades of sanctions come to

possess the largest and most sophisticated

missile arsenals in the region, which it

generously distributes to its paramilitary

puppets? Where has the money come from

for vast reinforced underground bunkers

and tunnels, making both conventional

and nonconventional arsenals

invulnerable to attack? And who ultimately

underwrites the salaries and equipping of

hundreds of thousands of Khomeinist

militiamen throughout the region?

This is not as much a threat for Iran's

immediate neighbors as it is for a planet

that doesn't in the near future desire to

have to grapple with a terrorist state that

possesses the globe-straddling annihilative

capacities of 100 North Koreas.

This is yet another example of the failure

of global leadership, as world leaders

neglect to take seriously the malign

consequences of the tide of drugs,

weapons, nuclear technology and

terrorism flooding out of Iran. Do they

seriously not recognize the threat, or do

they simply lack the vision and resolve to

take action?

Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning

journalist and broadcaster in the Middle

East and the UK. She is editor of the Media

Services Syndicate and has interviewed

numerous heads of state.

A Hindu son of South Asians is Britain’ new PM

It is a huge relief. For the first time in

many years, Britain's ruling

Conservative Party has made a sane,

even boring choice as its new leader. The

selection of Rishi Sunak gives the country

its first prime minister of Indian ethnic

origin, its youngest ever prime minister (at

42, pipping David Cameron, who when

entering office in 2010 was 43) and, thanks

to his marriage, its richest-ever leader (at

least in modern times; some aristocratic

prime ministers probably were even

richer). Yet his most crucial characteristic is

that he is not Boris Johnson and not Liz

Truss. We have had enough of such

excitement.

Sunak's task won't be simple. But please

let us English celebrate the positive: We

have dodged the bullet of the return of

Boris Johnson, which would have been

devastating for our democracy because it

would have proved that breaking laws and

ignoring ethical codes no longer mattered.

Johnson's return would also have been

absurd from the point of view of his own

party: It is only 16 weeks since he was

forced to resign when 60 members of his

government resigned within 24 hours. It

was simply not credible to think that he

could have become acceptable again to

those members of Parliament, let alone the

public as a whole, in such a short time.

Nonsensically, some Tories of the Taliban

persuasion have labeled Sunak as

"socialist" for having built generous

income-support programs during the

Covid-19 pandemic while he was chancellor

of the exchequer and for having opposed

the Liz Truss/Kwasi Kwarteng "growth

strategy" of massive unfunded tax cuts.

Most of us would just label this as sensible.

Mr Sunak, by contrast, is thoroughly

decent and, by political standards, honest.

He was an early advocate of Brexit, was said

during the pandemic to have been resistant

to lockdowns, and is generally labeled as

right-wing, albeit not of the dogmatic

variety. He might be best described as a

right-wing pragmatist.

Moreover, the maturity of British society

is shown by the fact that Sunak's ethnicity -

his parents emigrated to Britain from East

Africa in the early 1960s, and he practices

the Hindu religion - is of no political

importance at all. Recent Conservative

governments have been full of the sons and

daughters of African and South Asian

parents. Some have been successful, some

not, but their ethnic origin has played little

part in their political careers.

More important for Sunak is the fact that

he is very wealthy. His Indian wife Akshata

is the daughter of Narayana Murthy, one of

the co-founders of the Indian digital

services firm Infosys, and the equity

BILL EMMOTT

bequeathed to her in that firm accounts for

most of their capital.

Rishi Sunak was already personally

wealthy, having worked for Goldman Sachs

and for an investment fund, but his

marriage lifted him into the financial

stratosphere. This will make him

vulnerable to criticism that he has no

understanding of ordinary people's lives.

Nonetheless, Sunak's biggest underlying

problem is what he has inherited from his

predecessors rather than from his fatherin-law.

The chaos and casual rule-breaking

by Johnson have discredited the

Conservatives' claim to be a party of law

and order, and the reckless mishandling of

Regaining either of those images will be a steep uphill

struggle. Only one thing can be said for sure: Britain will,

under Prime Minister Sunak, remain a big supporter of

Ukraine in its attempts to drive Russian troops out of its

territory. That foreign-policy stance is shared by both major

political parties and by all factions in the Conservatives.

fiscal policy by Liz Truss has destroyed the

idea that Tories are safe managers of the

economy.

Regaining either of those images will be a

steep uphill struggle. Only one thing can be

said for sure: Britain will, under Prime

Minister Sunak, remain a big supporter of

Ukraine in its attempts to drive Russian

troops out of its territory. That foreignpolicy

stance is shared by both major

political parties and by all factions in the

Conservatives.

What is much less clear is how the Sunak

government will handle its relations with

the European Union, particularly the

sensitive issue of the status of the UK's

province of Northern Ireland.

Both Johnson and Truss used the threat

to renege on our withdrawal treaty from the

EU over Northern Ireland as a way to keep

the support of right-wing, anti-European

Tories. Sunak is believed to favor a more

diplomatic approach, but he too will need

those right-wingers' support. His first

effort, however, will be to try to persuade

financial markets there is no need for a

special "Britain premium" on our

borrowing costs, a premium that arose

thanks to Truss' recklessness. To win that

argument, the public finances are going to

have to be painfully austere - which will not

make it easy for him to narrow the more

than 50-percentage-point lead that the

Labour Party currently holds in the opinion

polls. Formerly editor-in-chief of The

Economist, which he had served earlier as

Tokyo bureau chief, Bill Emmott is

currently chairman of the Japan Society of

the UK, the International Institute for

Strategic Studies and the International

Trade Institute. A version of this article was

first published by La Stampa. This

expanded version, published by Bill

Emmott's Global View, is republished here

with kind permission.

Bill Emmott, a former editor-in-chief of

The Economist, is the author of The Fate of

the West.

Israeli opposition indulges in gaslighting over maritime agreement with Lebanon

can be an ultimate guarantee of avoiding

future friction and conflict.

Yet, the strength of this agreement is that it

serves everyone's interests in both the short

and long terms and is guaranteed by a major

international power. For Israel, a deal that

bolsters the central government in Lebanon

over Hezbollah by ensuring a stream of

revenue to its struggling economy, not to

mention the same benefit to Israeli coffers,

should be a welcome development.

Yossi Mekelberg is professor of

international relations and an associate

fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham

House. He is a regular contributor to the

international written and electronic

media. Twitter: @YMekelber

MoNdAY, sePTeMBeR 31, 2022

5

seAN suTToN

In the early hours of the

morning, before sunrise, the

refugees in Borama gather

around vendors selling bread

out of wheelbarrows, hoping for

handouts.

The nearby tea shops do what

they can to help, dishing out hot

drinks to hundreds of people

who have left fighting and

drought in Ethiopia for

sanctuary in Somaliland's

border city. At night, families lie

in rows on the pavements,

huddled under blankets.

In January, Anajow Abana

travelled 300km from Tigray, in

northern Ethiopia, to

Somaliland. She and her threeyear-old

daughter are living on

the city's streets, surviving on

the charity of local people.

"We fled fighting and

drought," she says. "The fighting

was so bad and they killed my

husband and two of my

children. It took us 12 days to get

here and was such a difficult

time," she says.

Mimi Tadasse is also living on

the streets of Borama. It took

her 14 days to reach the city.

"We got here a week ago," she

says. "It was a hard journey. We

had to go through areas of

fighting, and it was very

dangerous."

Tadasse is from the Amhara

region of Ethiopia, which has

been engulfed in conflict during

the war that began between

forces loyal to the Tigrayan

regional government and the

Ethiopian armed forces in

November 2020, and quickly

spiralled to include a number of

armed groups, regional militias

and the Eritrean military.

Mohamed Warsame

(Baradho), the mayor of

Borama, which is home to about

200,000 people, believes the

number of refugees in the city is

much higher than estimates.

According to immigration

officials, at least 10,000 people

arrived in the first two months

of 2022, he says, and many

more will have crossed the

porous border unofficially.

Many refugees travel on to the

capital Hargeisa and other

areas, rather than staying in

Borama. Some walk as far as

Bosaso on the coast and try to

get a boat across the Gulf of

Aden to Yemen. From there,

they walk to Saudi Arabia in the

hope of finding employment as

labourers or shepherds. People

arriving from the Somali region

of Ethiopia find it easier to

assimilate and set up a shelter in

the refugee camps, as they speak

the language; it is much more

challenging for those from

Tigray, Amhara or Oromia.

There are two refugee camps

in Borama, where it is estimated

more than 2,000 families

reside. Some have been in the

camps for more than 20 years,

others just a few days. There is

little infrastructure, but there is

a school built by Unicef, and

local and international NGOs

have assisted with latrines and

water points.

The plight of the refugees in

Borama is part of a growing

crisis engulfing the Horn of

Africa, where 16 million people

in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia

are in dire need of food.

Consecutive droughts have

exacerbated the effects of war,

leading to water scarcity,

livestock deaths, soaring food

prices and acute insecurity. A

poor start to the 2022 rainy

season coupled with the war in

Ethiopians escaping violence

face hunger in Somaliland

The Abdi Rahman family set up shelter after arriving at a camp for displaced people in Baligubadle.

Ukraine could have catastrophic

results, Save the Children

warned in April.

The mass movement of

vulnerable people over insecure

border areas threatens to

further destabilise the region

and harm communities, with

many migrants facing the

additional threat of unexploded

ordnance (UXO) and

landmines as they move

through unfamiliar territories.

The border with Ethiopia has

been heavily fought over since

the 60s, particularly during the

80s and 90s, meaning former

battle sites are heavily

Photo: Collected

contaminated with UXO.

Dayis Amin and his wife,

Suldan, are living in a refugee

camp in Borama with their eight

children having fled a disputed

area close to Harar, Ethiopia.

They say they were unable to

grow any crops because of

fighting and drought. Amin

says: "It is difficult here. Some

days we eat nothing.

"We had a good life before.

We had 20 cows and 30 sheep.

Then there was trouble, and we

couldn't get by. We couldn't

farm because of the fighting, so

when the drought came all the

animals died.

"There were also explosions

where we were, from the

fighting. About six months ago,

a group of children were playing

with a metal item just 150

metres from our house. There

was an explosion and five

children died."

Omar Mohammed, Somalia

country director for MAG, a

humanitarian organisation that

clears UXO and landmines,

says: "Moving across borders

into Somaliland to seek

humanitarian assistance or

better conditions is the only way

to cope for these people - while

the UXOs and mines litter both

sides of the border from

previous wars. The UN

estimates there were more than

317,000 newly displaced people

within Somalia in January 2022

due to conflict and droughtrelated

issues.

"We are doing our best to

keep people safe by advising

them of the risks of unexploded

ordnance and landmines in the

border areas, but they face

multiple other risks because of

the drought. Women and girls

are having to walk longer

distances to access water, for

instance, exposing them to

gender-based violence."

In the town of Baligubadle,

approximately 170km southeast

of Borama, refugees from

Ethiopia arrive on a daily basis,

along with displaced Somalis

seeking water and food.

"People are dying," says Abdi

Karim Mohamed, director of

families and livelihoods for the

local government, "We don't

have enough water and we need

help. Our reservoirs are dry. We

bring water trucks all the way

from Hargeisa, but that is very

expensive and we can't manage

to do that very often."

The Abdi Rahman family

have just arrived in the town

and are setting up makeshift

shelters. "We had to leave our

home because the animals were

dying because of the drought,"

says the family matriarch, Koos.

"We had 200 goats before, but

now we have only five. We have

one cow - we lost four. The first

animal died three months ago

and then more died as they

became weaker. We had lived

there for generations but every

year it became harder and

harder to survive."

Rein Paulsen, director for

emergencies and resilience at

the UN Food and Agriculture

Programme (FAO) says: "We

are most definitely now sitting

on the brink of catastrophe, time

is running out." "Harvests are

ruined," says Michael Dunford,

regional director for the east

Africa bureau of the UN World

Food Programme (WFP).

"Livestock are dying, and

hunger is growing."

Should the rains continue to

fail, it will be the first time in

more than 40 years that four dry

seasons will have occurred

consecutively. For people like

Abana, and the millions of

already vulnerable people in this

part of the world, that is a

terrifying prospect.

Kenya needs tourists for wildlife's survival

Cassava flour on sale at a market in Bariga district, Lagos, Nigeria.

Photo: Temilade Adelaja

The demand of cassava soared

amid wheat shortage

Chiedozie egesi

Growing up in Nigeria, a staple of our

family dinner table was a doughy dish

called fufu. In the US or Europe, fufu

would be called a dumpling. The

difference is that dumplings, typically

made with wheat flour in the

northern hemisphere, in Nigeria are

made from cassava flour.

I think about this crucial difference

as the escalating food crisis in

Ukraine exposes a dangerous global

dependence on a single commodity:

wheat. Nigeria, for example, is the

world's sixth largest wheat importer,

with a significant portion coming

from Ukraine and Russia. Like many

African countries, Nigeria is bracing

for the impact of surging wheat

prices.

In response, the African

Development Bank has ear-marked a

whopping US $1 billion to boost

wheat production across Africa. But it

would be wise to spend a significant

portion of this money on the

continent's most reliable crop,

cassava.

Nigeria is the world's largest

cassava producer and it is playing a

huge role in a revolution of sorts. This

shrubby, hardy root crop looks

nothing like wheat, though cassava

flour is often used as an alternative to

wheat flour and has a wide range of

other uses. There's even cassava beer.

Moreover, if you think of wheat

dependence as the food equivalent of

oil dependence, cassava can help the

world address a longstanding need

for different sources of caloric fuel -

because the food crisis we are now

experiencing did not originate with

the war in Ukraine. For the past

decade, the combination of food

production challenges from the

climate crisis, severe crop diseases,

armed conflicts and the Covid

pandemic have caused a steady

increase in hunger and poverty.

Cassava can make an important

contribution towards shock-proofing

global food systems. Especially in

sub-Saharan Africa where it is already

the fourth most important source of

daily calories. Cassava can produce a

good harvest in hot, dry conditions

that kill off other crops. That makes it

ideal for adapting to stressful growing

conditions caused by the climate

emergency, such as the series of

droughts now impoverishing millions

of agriculture-dependent people in

east Africa.

While it is one of the most world's

most sustainable food crops, cassava

also has been one of the most

neglected. When I started my career

as a crop scientist, I had little interest

in it. My parents grew cassava on the

small farm they kept to supplement

their teachers' salaries and I had

enormous respect for the crop, seeing

how, in years when our maize crop

was poor, our cassava never wavered.

So when I was offered a position as a

cassava breeder with Nigeria's

National Root Crops Research

Institute (NRCRI), I took it.

Now, I consider myself a cassava

evangelist. I have been fortunate to

arrive on the cassava scene when

support has finally started to increase.

Cassava breeders in Africa now have

access to advanced tools that can

screen varieties to quickly identify

plants with valuable genetic traits,

such as resistance to disease or

improving a particular taste or

texture.

I have also seen a global network of

cassava enthusiasts emerge. There

are now more than 1,000 - including

experts from South America, where

cassava originated, and Asia, where

there is significant interest in the crop

- interacting through an open data

platform called CassavaBase. It's a

virtual community that explores the

results of field trials and contributes

to a data bank cataloguing cassava's

genetic diversity. Cassava breeders

are also moving beyond the science

world to develop partnerships with

farmers and social scientists. For

example, a significant portion of

cassava producers in Africa are

women and we're learning that the

qualities they value in cassava can be

different from men.

I'm not claiming that cassava is the

cure for all that ails the global food

system. However, I do believe it can

contribute to much-needed diversity.

Outside Africa, many people only

encounter cassava hidden in a dessert

- it is the main ingredient in tapioca

pudding - or in gluten-free products.

But I would encourage more people

to enjoy cassava in their daily diets - it

could be a crucial step towards

shaking the world's destabilising

dependence on wheat.

PeTeR MuiRuRi

Every day, for the past 20

years, Joyce Naserian has laid

out her handmade curios

near an entrance to the Masai

Mara park to sell to passing

tourists. Her earnings have

helped the 46-year-old feed

and educate all four of her

children.

In northern Kenya, about

1,200 semi-nomadic women

earned more than 9m

Kenyan shillings (£62,000)

selling beadwork to visitors at

43 community wildlife

conservancies in 2020. Just

as it was Naserian in the

Mara, selling the beadwork

was a solid money earner for

these women. But that was

before Covid.

The collapse of eco-tourism

during the pandemic has

spelled disaster for

conservation initiatives and

livelihoods in Kenya and

beyond. Cuts to budgets and

staff, reduced salaries and

stalled development and

education projects have

plunged communities into

poverty, leading to a rise in

poaching and the illegal

wildlife trade.

Reuters reported that in the

first three months of 2020,

the African continent lost

$55bn (£44bn) in travel and

tourism revenues - funds that

go towards running

conservation programmes

that benefit local

communities.

Kenya's government has

relaxed a raft of travel

restrictions, but the return of

international tourists has

been slow, while concerns

about carbon emissions from

long-haul air travel may be

putting people off flying into

conservation areas.

"It is a real struggle for

survival," says Daniel Sopia,

head of Masai Mara Wildlife

Conservancies Association.

"Women who relied solely on

beadwork were badly affected

as there was not a single

tourist coming to the Mara at

the height of Covid-19

restrictions. Household

income dropped significantly

and they had to rely on food

from well-wishers."

The 15 wildlife

conservancies that Sopia

heads comprise individual

blocks of land owned by

Maasai people. The

landowners lease the land,

covering 14,0426 hectares

(347,000 acres), to safari

camps and lodges, which pay

fees that fund projects

providing water, healthcare

and education, as well as

setting up small businesses.

In return, the 14,500

landowners protect

biodiversity within the Mara

ecosystem while preserving

their traditional lifestyle.

Four years before the

pandemic, the conservancies

contributed almost 120m

Kenyan shillings to social

programmes in the region.

Two years ago, payments to

landowners fell by 50%,

forcing conservancies to scale

back operations and focus on

priorities such as allowances

to wildlife rangers. Sopia and

his team had to scramble to

prevent the total collapse of

conservation programmes.

"Conservancies remained

operational throughout the

pandemic despite the lack in

tourism income," says Sopia.

"We were fortunate to

mobilise some resources

from development partners

and private foundations.

These helped to cover

rangers' salaries, food rations,

fuel, and vehicle

maintenance.

"We hope the arrangement

will be in place till June 2022

as we slowly wean the

conservancies off such aid,"

he says.

Some foreign organisations

are now making a comeback

after a two-year hiatus. In

March 2022, UK charity Tusk

brought together

conservation professionals

from across Africa for a

symposium in Masai Mara to

help organisations diversify

fundraising and build

resilient units.

Since 1990, Tusk has raised

more than £80m towards

conservation projects across

more than 20 African

countries and helped to

protect more than 40

threatened species. Tusk's

upcoming Wildlife Ranger

Challenge seeks to raise

money for rangers whose pay

was slashed in the pandemic.

"The last two years have

been extremely tough for

everyone. The conservation

sector in particular has had to

endure huge losses, dramatic

cutbacks in operating

budgets, and, sadly,

redundancies," says Charlie

Mayhew, Tusk Trust chief

executive.

Wanjiku Kinuthia,

strategyhead at Maliasili,

hopes the renewed interest in

broadening discussions

about African conservation

will boost small organisations

that are often left out of big

decisions, despite being

closest to the vulnerable

communities bearing the

brunt of a collapsing

environment.

"They often miss out on

global dialogues," says

Kinuthia, whose group

supports about 20 other

organisations in seven

countries, including smaller

ones that lack the networks to

make their voices heard.

"They do not understand how

the media works or how to

tell their stories. We can be

catalysts of change for such

grassroots organisations."

Involving communities in

conservation would

safeguard the 65% of wildlife

that lives outside protected

areas, she says. "All people

need are tools to help them

coexist with animals in the

21st century while benefiting

from conservation."

However, some

conservationists say the only

way to sustain conservation

programmes and avoid

disruption is by governments

increasing budgets to the

sector, a challenge

considering the current low

levels of state investment.

Dickson Kaelo, who heads

the Kenya Wildlife

Conservancies Association,

says African countries

depend on foreign donors to

fund development and

conservation is no exception.

"There is no single answer

to cutting off foreign aid,"

says Kaelo. "There are no

government incentives for

setting up a conservancy to

protect an elephant that

walks all over destroying life

and property.

A Maasai man wears traditional beaded bracelets. Photograph: eric Lafforgue

moNdAy, oCtoBer 31, 2022

6

Community Policing day-2022 was observed in sreepur thana under magura district on saturday

in a befitting manner.

Photo: m.r.Jinnah

4,010 yaba

tablets recovered

in C'nawabganj

CHAPAINAWABGANJ:

Members of Border Guard

Bangladesh (BGB), in a

drive, recovered 4,010

pieces of contraband yaba

tablets from Shibganj

frontier in Chapainawabganj

district early yesterday

morning, reports BSS.

Acting on a tip-off, a patrol

team of the BGB from

Chakpara Border Out Post

conducted a raid in Naldubi

frontier area about 200

yards inside Bangladesh

territory from the border

pillar No. 183 around 4.50

am and found the yaba

tablets in an abandoned

condition, BGB sources said.

Protest rally held

in Sonagazi

KAmAl UddIN BHUIyAN,

FeNI CorresPoNdeNt:

Human chain and protest

rally was held in Sonagazi to

demand the punishment of

the involved, Police Bureau

of Investigation (PBI) chief

Banaj Kumar Majumder,

investigation officer of the

case Shah Alam and

Nusrat's family in false

accusation and demanding

the reevaluation of the

murder case of Nusrat

Jahan Rafi.

This program was held

with the participation of

thousands of people in the

zero point area of the upazila

city from 10 am to noon on

Saturday. In the program,

relatives of the convicts who

were sentenced to death in

the Nusrat murder case

rolled on the streets and

screamed. Tears came to the

eyes of the visitors coming to

the human chain program as

the relatives of the accused

mourned.

Former General Secretary

of Upazila Awami League

Samsul Arefin, President of

Upazila Women's Awami

League Sahin Gani, Joint

General Secretary of Upazila

Awami League Noor Nabi

Liton, General Secretary of

Municipal Awami League

Abu Taiyob, Municipal

councilor Jamal Uddin

Nayan, Sonagazi

Government College

Chhatra League former

president Shah Jahan,

Awami League leader Ruhul

Amin's brother Nur

Hossain, Abdul Quader's

father Abul Kashem, Jabed

Hossain's father is the

general secretary of Awami

League 2nd ward of the

municipality Rahmat Uliah,

Kamrun Nahar Monir's

mother Noor Nahar, Umme

Sultana Popi's mother

Hosne Ara Begum, Afsar

Uddin's wife Suraiya

Hossain, Iftekhar Hossain's

mother Hajera Khatun, Md.

Shakil's father Ruhul Amin,

son of Maqsud Alam Bijoy

spoke in the two-hour-long

human chain and protest

rally.

The speakers demanded

that PBI chief Banaj Kumar

framed 16 accused in a false

case without proper

investigation including

judicial investigation of the

case for the sake of justice

and they demanded

punishment of Banaj

Kumar.

Clash between supporters of

MP and mayor in Bhuapur

mAsUdUl HAsAN mAsUd, BHUAPUr CorresPoNdeNt:

In the extended meeting of the upazila

Awami League in Tangail's Bhuapur, there

was a fight and clash between the supporters

of the local parliament member Chhota

Monir and the president of the upazila

Awami League and the municipal mayor Md

Masudul Haque Masud and the extended

meeting was canceled.

The incident happened at the Upazila

Awami League office on Saturday.

It is known that an extended meeting of

Bhuapur Upazila Awami League was called

to make Tangail district Awami League

conference worthwhile and successful on

November 7. The meeting was going on at

the upazila Awami League office from 11:30

am under the chairmanship of Mayor

Masudul Haque Masud. At around 12:30

noon, local Member of Parliament Chhota

Monir went to attend the extended meeting

with his workers and supporters from the

upazila parishad premises. At this time,

some leaders from the district also came to

the extended meeting place.

As a large number of leaders and workers

attended the party office, ruckus, scuffles

and later clashes arose over seats. In this

situation, the district leaders announced the

suspension of the extended meeting. To

avoid further unpleasant incidents, the

police removed both parties from the party

office and took control. The member of

parliament came to the upazila parishad

square along with his workers and

supporters. On the other hand, Upazila

Awami League President and Municipal

Mayor Masudul Haque Masud gathered

with his supporters in front of his house. In

this incident, extreme tension is prevailing

between two groups of Awami League in

Bhuapur.

Upazila Awami League President and

Municipal Mayor Md. Masudul Haque

Masud said, I was holding an extended

meeting to make the tri-annual conference of

Tangail district Awami League successful

and beneficial on November 7. At that time,

a group of activist supporters came under the

leadership of MP Chhota Monir. Chairs were

being arranged for the MP but when he left

through another door, his men attacked us

and disrupted the extended meeting. 6

people were injured. They have been

admitted to Tangail Hospital.

Tangail-2 Constituency Member of

Parliament Chhota Moni denied the

allegations and said that I have no conflict

with the Upazila Awami League President.

No untoward incident occurred in the

extended meeting. But there was a slight

ruckus among the workers outside.

Bhuapur police station officer-in-charge

Muhammad Faridul Islam said that

tension arose between the two sides

around the extended meeting. Police

attended the meeting to avoid any

untoward incident. At present the

environment is calm.

In the extended meeting of the upazila Awami league in tangail's

Bhuapur, there was a fight and clash between supporters of mP and

mayor.

Photo: masudul Hasan masud

Record 23.39-lakh tonnes potato production

target for Rangpur region

rANGPUr: The government has fixed an

all-time record target of producing 23,39,930

tonnes of potato from 92,675 hectares of land

for all five districts in Rangpur agriculture

region during the current Rabi season,

reports BSS.

Officials of the Department of Agricultural

Extension (DAE) said farmers have started

sowing potato seeds after harvesting short

duration varieties of Aman rice to harvest those

from late November and earn more profits like

in the previous years.

Talking to BSS, Additional Director of the DAE

for Rangpur region Agriculturist Mohammad

Shah Alam said sowing potato seeds will get

further momentum with the progress in Aman

rice harvesting and continue till Decemberm next.

The DAE, Bangladesh Agricultural Development

Corporation (BADC), Bangladesh Agricultural

Research Institute (BARI) and other related

organisations have started assisting farmers to

make the intensive potato farming program a

success.

"Tender plants of early varieties of potato are

growing wonderfully on crop fields both in the

mainland and riverine char areas amid

favourable climatic conditions across the

region," Alam said. Farmers of different villages

and Chandanpat union under Rangpur sadar

upazila said that they are sowing early varieties

of potato seeds after harvesting short duration

Aman rice from the first week of the current

month.

Farmers Mozammel Hossain, Akhil Chandra

and Nurul Islam of Badarganj upazila in

Rangpur said they have already completed

sowing of early varieties of potato seeds and are

expecting to harvest their cultivated potato

from late November next.

Vegetable trader Hafizur Rahman at

Rangpur City Bazar and Fazlur Rahman at

Keranipara Kitchen Market in the city said early

varieties of potato might appear from the

middle of November next in the local markets.

Deputy Director (Leave Reserved) of the DAE

at Khamarbari in Dhaka Abu Sayem said the

DAE, BADC and other agriculture-related

organisations have taken steps to provide

quality potato seeds to the farmers for

successful potato cultivation this season. "Field

level officials of the DAE, other agriculturerelated

organisations and some NGOs are

providing latest technologies to farmers for

proper sowing of potato seeds and nursing

tender potato plants to get maximum yield," he

said.

Independence Award-2018 (food security)

winner Agriculturist Dr. Md. Abdul Mazid

appreciated different initiatives taken by the

government to assist farmers in enhancing

production of potato and other winter crops

during the current Rabi season.

Community policing

day observed in

Sreepur

m.r.JINNAH, sreePUr

CorresPoNdeNt:

Community Policing day-

2022 was observed in

Sreepur Thana under

Magura district on Saturday

in a befitting manner.

Marking the day with a

colorful rally, discussion

meeting and cultural

program were organized by

the Sreepur Thana Police.

Officer In-charge of

Sreepur Thana Md.

Jabbarul Islam presided

over the discussion meeting.

Additional police Super

(sadar circle) Magura Md.

Nazim Uddin Al Azad was

present and spoke as the

chief guest,

Among others Sreepur

Upazila Parishad Chairman

Mia Mahmudul Gani Shain,

Principal of Sreepur Gov:

College Nirmal Kumar Saha,

Sreepur Upazila Awami

League president Md Abul

kalam Azad, Convener of

Sreepur Upazila Community

Policing Committee and

Nakol Union Parishad

Chairman Humayun-ur-

Rashid Muhit, Upazila

Muktjoddha Commander

(former) Ikram Ali Biswas,

were present as special guest.

The program was conducted

by Professor Shishir Shikder.

Community Policing

Committee Members, journalists,

leaders of civil society and Law

discipline force participated in

the program. The programs

ended with a cultural show.

Tanveer Imam holds tea

party in Salanga

BAdrUl AlAm dUlAl, sIrAJGANJ CorresPoNdeNt:

Tanveer Imam MP's tea party was held at

Charbera Government Primary School

premises of Salanga Union of Ullapara

Upazila of Sirajganj at 3 pm on October 29.

Chief guest of the tea party event Tanveer

Imam said that there is so much

development in the country today because of

Sheikh Hasina's government. As a result,

development in Ulapara has taken place and

Salanga will not be left out. You strengthen

Sheikh Hasina's hand and you will see that

she will transform this Salanga into a

modern Salanga.

Awami League leader and Zilla Parishad

member Golam Mostafa, Awami League

leader Ataur Rahman, UP Chairman

Mokhleshur Rahman Talukdar, Union

Union Awami League General Secretary

Faizul Islam, Union Awami League

President Akbar Hossain Badsha gave a brief

speech at this tea party event organized by

Salanga Union Awami League.

Awami League and local residents along

with the leaders and activists of the

organization were present on the occasion.

On the occasion MP Tanveer Imam

inaugurated the foundation stone of the

work (Salanga Union) implemented by

LGED Ullapara, Sirajganj.

LGED Executive Engineer Safiqul Islam

and Ullapara Upazila Engineer Md. Abu Said

and other LGED officials were present.

tanveer Imam mP's tea party was held on october 29 in salanga Union of

Ullapara Upazila of sirajganj.

Photo: Badrul Alam dulal

CU halls face water problems

JUNAed KHAN, CU CorresPoNdeNt:

The problem of food and

water in the residential halls

of Chattogram University(CU)

is increasing day by day. In

several halls, students are

forced to drink iron-fortified

water due to filter problems.

In several halls including

Alaol Hall, AF Rahman of

the university, the image of

irony over water was seen

around the halls.

Students complain that

the halls have been plagued

with water problems for a

long time. Despite several

complaints to the hall

authorities, they do not

take any complaint of the

students

into

consideration. If you

complain to them, you will

end up saying 'we are

seeing the matter'. Besides,

the provosts are not

supervising the hall

properly.

A tour of the boys' halls of

the university showed each

with only one small water

filter for several hundred

students.

On inquiry, it was found

that A F Rahman and Alaol

halls have only two water

filters for a total of about

800 students. About half

of the day these filters do

not hold water. Without

proper maintenance, the

filters are worn out over a

long period of time. When

there is no water in this

water filter, students are

forced to drink iron-rich

red water.

Alaol Hall have more

than 350 students but only

1 water filter has been

allocated for them. This

water filter is broken for

about 5 months. Water is

not being filtered. After

connecting the filter pipe

and supply water line

together water fall directly

without filtration.

Students of A F Rahman

Hall complain that there is

no proper water supply in

the hall. This problem

occurs about 5 to 6 times a

day. Besides, the water

supplied to us is rich in

iron. It can be seen that

various small rashes

appear on the body.

Again,students have the

same complaint about the

water filter in Shah Amanat

Hall. There are also two

filters for the students.

Even Suhrawardy and Rab

hall have problems with

water.

According to experts,

drinking water containing

more iron than the

tolerable level can cause

severe damage to various

organs of the human body,

including bone infection

and liver cirrhosis. Iron

accumulates in different

parts of the body and

causes lesions. This

damage to the human body

is gradual and is not

immediately noticeable.

Atikuzzaman Joy,a

student of A F Rahman

Hall, said, 'Provost does not

come to our hall. The new

students who have joined

the hall do not know the

name of the provost.'

University Chief

Engineer (Acting) Engineer

Sayed Jahangir Fazal

refused to accept the issue

of iron in water. He said,

all underground water has

iron. There's not much to

it. Regarding the problem

of iron in the water of AF

Rahman Hall, he said, "No

one has complained to

me."I will send people

today to inspect it.

Regarding not getting

water on time, he said, the

work of our engineering

office is to supply water. It

is the responsibility of the

department and hall staff

to pump water.

Alaol Hall Provost Prof.

Dr. Faridul Alam also

refuses to accept this

complaint when

questioned about the

water problem saying,

"We install the water filter

taps of Alaol Hall every

few days. Every month I

spend 3 to 3.5 thousand

taka here. We do not

change the tap so often

even at home. It has been

a month and I have

changed the tap twice.

Now the whole filter is

broken. That's why we

want to install a 1000 liter

tank where the water will

be filtered. We will talk

about a team coming from

Hathazari today.

Hopefully we can resolve

it within the next two

days".

A F Rahman Hall Provost

Professor Dr. Kazi S.

M.Khasrul Alam Quddusi

was contacted several times

on the phone but he did not

pick up the call.

second officer (sI) Habibur rahman (PPm) of Baralekha police station of moulvibazar received the

award as the best community policing officer. He was conferred with the award on behalf of

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-mamun BPm (Bar) PPm in recognition of

his exemplary contribution to community policing activities.

Photo: Abdur rob

moNday, octobER 31, 2022

7

Russia announced Saturday that it will immediately suspend its implementation of a U.N.-brokered grain deal

that has seen more than 9 million tons of grain exported from Ukraine during the war and has brought down

soaring global food prices. Ukraine accused Russia of creating a world "hunger games." Photo : Internet

Russia suspends Ukraine grain

deal over ship attack claim

KYIV, UKRAINE : Russia announced

Saturday that it will immediately

suspend its implementation of a U.N.-

brokered grain deal that has seen more

than 9 million tons of grain exported

from Ukraine during the war and has

brought down soaring global food

prices. Ukraine accused Russia of

creating a world "hunger games."

The Russian Defense Ministry cited

an alleged Ukrainian drone attack

Saturday against Russia's Black Sea

Fleet ships moored off the coast of

occupied Crimea as the reason for the

move. Ukraine has denied the attack,

saying that the Russians mishandled

their own weapons.

The Russian declaration came one

day after U.N. chief Antonio Guterres

urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the

grain export deal, which was scheduled

to expire on Nov. 19. Guterres also

urged other countries, mainly in the

West, to expedite the removal of

obstacles blocking Russian grain and

fertilizer exports.

The U.N. chief said the grain deal -

brokered by the United Nations and

Turkey in July - helps "to cushion the

suffering that this global cost-of-living

crisis is inflicting on billions of people,"

his spokesman said.

U.N. officials were in touch with

Russian authorities over the

announced suspension.

"It is vital that all parties refrain from

any action that would imperil the Black

Sea Grain Initiative, which is a critical

humanitarian effort that is clearly

having a positive impact on access to

food for millions of people," said

Guterres' spokesman, Stephane

Dujarric.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr

Zelenskyy called the Russian move

"predictable." He accused Moscow of

"blockading" ships carrying grain since

September. Currently, he said, 176

vessels are backed up at sea, carrying

more than 2 million tons of food.

"This is a transparent attempt by

Russia to return to the threat of largescale

famine in Africa and Asia,"

Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly

video address. He called for a tough

response against Russia from

international bodies like the U.N. and

the G-20.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro

Kuleba, accused Russia of playing

"hunger games" by imperiling global

food shipments.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of

State Antony Blinken said the

suspension was regrettable and urged

"all parties to keep this essential, lifesaving

Initiative functioning."

"Any act by Russia to disrupt these

critical grain exports is essentially a

statement that people and families

around the world should pay more for

food or go hungry," Blinken said in a

statement Saturday night. "In

suspending this arrangement, Russia is

again weaponizing food in the war it

started, directly impacting low- and

middle-income countries and global

food prices, and exacerbating already

dire humanitarian crises and food

insecurity."

Russia's Foreign Ministry on

Saturday accused British specialists of

being involved in the alleged attack by

drones on Russian ships in Crimea.

Britain's Defense Ministry had no

immediate comment on the claim.

"In connection with the actions of

Ukrainian armed forces, led by British

specialists, directed, among other

things, against Russian ships that

ensure the functioning of the

humanitarian corridor in question

(which cannot be qualified otherwise

than as a terrorist attack), the Russian

side cannot guarantee the safety of

civilian dry cargo ships participating in

the Black Sea initiative, and suspends

its implementation from today for an

indefinite period," the Russian

statement said.

Ukraine's Ministry of Infrastructure

said that Ukraine has never threatened

the Black Sea grain corridor which "is

exclusively humanitarian in nature,"

and would continue to try to keep

shipments going. It said since the first

ship left Odesa on Aug. 1, more than 9

million tons of food have been

exported, including more than 5

million tons to African and Asian

countries. As part of the U.N. World

Food Program, it said, 190 thousand

tons of wheat have been sent to

countries where there is hunger.

Poland chooses US to build its

first nuclear power plant

WARSAW : Poland has

chosen the U.S. government

and Westinghouse to build

the central European

country's first nuclear power

plant, part of an effort to burn

less coal and gain greater

energy independence.

Prime Minister Mateusz

Morawiecki said late Friday

on Twitter that Poland would

use the "reliable, safe

technology" of the

Westinghouse Electric

Company for the plant in

Pomerania province near the

Baltic Sea coast. The exact

location remains to be

identified.

A strong Poland-U.S.

alliance "guarantees the

success of our joint

initiatives," Morawiecki said.

Poland is planning to

spend $40 billion to build

two nuclear power plants

with three reactors each, the

last one to be launched in

2043. The deal with the U.S.

and Westinghouse is for the

first three reactors of the

Pomerania plant, which

officials saying should start

producing electricity in 2033.

Poland has planned for

decades to build a nuclear

power plant to replace its

aging coal-fired plants in a

country with some of the

worst air pollution in Europe.

Construction of a Soviettechnology

nuclear plant

began in the early 1980s,

when Poland was in the East

Bloc.

Protests by residents and

environmentalists, the 1986

disaster at the Chernobyl

nuclear power plant in

Ukraine and budget

shortages led to the scrapping

of the project.

Russia's invasion of

Ukraine this year and its use

of energy to put economic

and political pressure on

European nations have

added urgency to Poland's

search for alternative energy

sources.

Polish government

spokesman Piotr Mueller

said Saturday that the

government would adopt a

decision at its meeting

Wednesday, which will

launch environmental

approval and investment

procedures.

Mueller said the nuclear

plant in northern Poland

would require improving

infrastructure in the area,

including roads.

U.S. Energy Secretary

Jennifer Granholm said the

project would create or

sustain more than 100,000

jobs for American workers.

"This is a HUGE step in

strengthening our

relationship with Poland to

create energy security for

future generations to come,"

Granholm said.

"This announcement also

sends a clear message to

Russia: We will not let them

weaponize energy any

longer," Granholm said.

"The West will stand

together against this

unprovoked aggression,

while also diversifying

energy supply chains and

bolstering climate

cooperation."

Poland had also

considered offers from

France and South Korea.

Poland State Assets Minister

Jacek Sasin suggested there

could still be a role for South

Korea in the project and

more talks are scheduled in

Seoul next week.

Westinghouse has sued in

federal court to block a

potential deal for competitor

Korea Hydro and Nuclear

Power to sell reactors to

Poland.

Poland has chosen the U.S. government and Westinghouse to build the

central European country's first nuclear power plant, part of an effort to

burn less coal and gain greater energy independence. Photo : Internet

Victims of a huge mudslide set off by a storm in a coastal Philippine village that

had once been devastated by a killer tsunami mistakenly thought a tidal wave

was coming and ran to higher ground toward a mountain and were buried

alive by the boulder-laden deluge, an official said Sunday. Photo : Internet

Philippine storm victims feared

tsunami, ran toward mudslide

MANILA : Victims of a huge mudslide set off

by a storm in a coastal Philippine village that

had once been devastated by a killer tsunami

mistakenly thought a tidal wave was coming

and ran to higher ground toward a mountain

and were buried alive by the boulder-laden

deluge, an official said Sunday.

At least 18 bodies, including those of

children, have been dug out by rescuers in the

vast muddy mound that now covers much of

Kusiong village in southern Maguindanao

province, among the hardest-hit by Tropical

Storm Nalgae, which blew out of the

northwestern Philippines early Sunday.

Officials fear 80 to 100 more people,

including entire families, may have been

buried by the deluge or washed away by flash

floods in Kusiong between Thursday night and

early Friday, according to Naguib Sinarimbo,

the interior minister for a Muslim autonomous

region run by former separatist guerrillas.

Nalgae, which had a vast rain band, left at

least 61 people dead in eight provinces and one

city in the Philippine archipelago, including in

Kusiong, and a trail of destruction in one of the

world's most disaster-prone countries.

The catastrophe in Kusiong, populated

mostly by the Teduray ethnic minority group,

was tragic because its more than 2,000

villagers have carried out disasterpreparedness

drills every year for decades to

brace for a tsunami because of a deadly history.

But they were not as prepared for the dangers

that could come from Mount Minandar, where

their village lies at the foothills, Sinarimbo said.

"When the people heard the warning bells,

they ran up and gathered in a church on a high

ground," Sinarimbo told The Associated Press,

citing accounts by Kusiong villagers.

"The problem was, it was not a tsunami that

inundated them but a big volume of water and mud

that came down from the mountain" he said.

What is known about

the attack on Speaker

Pelosi's husband

SAN FRANCISCO : A man

broke into House Speaker

Nancy Pelosi's home in San

Francisco and severely beat

her 82-year-old husband,

Paul Pelosi, with a hammer

early Friday while the

Democratic lawmaker was

in Washington.

Paul Pelosi had surgery to

repair a skull fracture and

serious injuries to his right

arm and hands, and his

doctors expect a full

recovery, the speaker's office

said. In a letter to

congressional colleagues

Saturday night, Nancy Pelosi

said her husband's condition

"continues to improve."

David DePape, 42, was

arrested on suspicion of

attempted murder, elder

abuse and burglary, police

said.

"This was not a random

act. This was intentional.

And it's wrong," San

Francisco Police Chief

William Scott said.

The violence was the latest

jolt to an increasingly

splintered political Dennis

Almorato, who went to the

mudslide-hit community

Saturday, said the muddy

deluge buried about 60 rural

houses in about 5 hectares (12

acres) of the community. He

gave no estimate of how many

villagers may have been

buried but described the

extent of the mudslide .A look

at what is known about the

attack and the suspect:

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2022

8

General Banking Module of National Bank Limited has been concluded at the Training Institute of the

bank on 27 October 2022. 40 (Forty) Probationary officers from different branches of NBL participated

in this Training Course. Sheikh Akhter Uddin Ahmed, SEVP & Divisional Head, Human Resources

Division of NBL was present in the Concluding ceremony as the chief guest and distributed certificates

among the participants. Shah Syed Rafiul Bari, Vice President & Principal of NBTI was also present in

the program.

Photo : Courtesy

50 thousand CVs submitted at

Khulna BDjobs job fair

50 thousand CVs were

submitted in the day-long job

fair held to recruit 1,000

employees in various

organizations at BdJobs job

fair held in Khulna on

Thursday. Around 20

thousand job aspirants

gathered at the gymnasium

hall adjacent to Khulna

district stadium to participate

in the job fair.

"More than 20,000 jobseeking

boys and girls from

Khulna and its surroundings

have applied for jobs in tha

fair", said the founder and

chief executive officer (CEO)

of BdJobs A. K. M. Fahim

Mashroor.

Fahim Mashroor said,

leading companies of the

country including including

Akiz Group, Walton, Crown

Cement, Bangladesh Edible

Oil, Kazi Farms Group, Quazi

Enterprises, Sushilan, CSS,

Rupantor, Jagrata Jubo

Sangha participated in the

fair, a press release said.

Twenty thousand job

aspirants have applied for

more than 50,000 jobs in 200

posts of these institutions, he

said. The government's

special program for building

digital Bangladesh, A2I and

BRAC Skill Development

Program has given full

support to this job fair, he

added.

Prokash Roy Chowdhury,

marketing director of the

organization, said Bdjobs.com

aim is to facilitate the

employment of the educated

unemployed youth in the

remote areas of the country.

"By organizing fairs in

different cities of the country

like Dhaka, Chattogram,

Sylhet, the employment

system of the private remains

somewhat balanced and the

employer organizations find

regionally qualified and

skilled workers. The

participation of women job

seekers in the Khulna job fair

was remarkable", he added.

BGMEA calls on South

Korea's Youngone to invest

more in Bangladesh

DHAKA : The Bangladesh

Garment Manufacturers and

Exporters Association

(BGMEA) has called on South

Korea's Youngone

Corporation to invest more in

Bangladesh and increase

apparel sourcing from here.

A delegation headed by

BGMEA President Faruque

Hassan visited Youngone

Corporation headquarters in

Seoul Friday.

Faruque stressed the

importance of collaborative

growth and exploring the

areas of excellence, especially

a shift to non-cotton textiles

and garments, product

development and innovative

capacity building.

Youngone Chairman Kihak

Sung showed interest in

working for expanding

business in Bangladesh and

collaborating with the

BGMEA.

The BGMEA delegation

included its Vice-President

Shahidullah Azim, Director

Asif Ashraf; Managing

Director of DBL Group MA

Jabbar, Managing Director of

Hams Group Md Shafiqur

Rahman, and Director of

Giant Group Ashaab Adeeb

Hassan, and Managing

Director of Youngone

Corporation Shaikh Shahinur

Rahman.

Nuzhat Anwar, senior

country officer of the

International Finance

Corporation (IFC)

Bangladesh, and Nishat

Chowdhury, programme

manager of IFC's

"Partnership for Cleaner

Textile: PaCT," were also

present.

Key US inflation

measure maintains

pace in September

WASHINGTON : A key

measure of US inflation

kept its pace in September

while consumer spending

remained strong,

government data showed

Friday,

fueling

expectations of a further

interest rate hike by the

central bank next week.

The latest data fails to

provide reprieve to

President Joe Biden or the

Federal Reserve, with price

pressures still elevated

ahead of key midterm

elections.

The Fed's preferred

inflation measure, the

personal consumption

expenditures (PCE) price

index, rose 6.2 percent

from a year ago in

September, the same rate

as the month before,

Commerce Department

data showed.

While the index held

steady from August as well,

in line with expectations, a

measure removing the

volatile food and energy

components edged closer

to a multi-decade high.

Policymakers have been

battling to cool surging

inflation, worsened by

supply chain snarls and the

fallout from Russia's

invasion of Ukraine, which

sent food and energy prices

soaring globally.

The Fed focuses on the

PCE price index as it

reflects consumers' actual

spending, including shifts

to lower cost items, unlike

the more well-known

consumer price index

(CPI).

Although the CPI has

come down from June's

decades-high rate of 9.1

percent, higher prices

remain top-of-mind for

voters days before

elections.

While inflation "slowed

in the third quarter, with

energy prices coming

down," Biden said in a

statement, he reiterated

that policymakers have

more work to do to lower

costs.

Friday's data also showed

that household spending

rose 0.6 percent in

September, with housing

and utilities, along with

transportation services,

becoming more pricey.

"Consumers earned

more and ramped up their

spending," said Oren

Klachkin of Oxford

Economics.

But this is "a dynamic

that can't persist

indefinitely," with

households dipping into

savings to keep up with

price hikes, he said.

Food prices were 11.9

percent higher than a year

ago in September, while

energy prices spiked 20.3

percent, data showed.

The Fed has raised

interest rates aggressively

this year to try to cool

demand and lower

inflation pressures, and

officials are widely

expected to press on with

rate hikes at an upcoming

policy meeting next month.

Excluding food and

energy, the PCE price index

rose 5.1 percent from last

year, pointing to broader

increases in the costs of

goods and services.

This brings it "closer

towards a multi-decade

high," noted Klachkin.

Compared with the prior

month, the index rose 0.5

percent, excluding food

and energy.

High inflation is "forcing

the Fed to hike rates

further," said Rubeela

Farooqi, chief US

economist at High

Frequency Economics,

adding that this means

there are risks ahead to

consumption and growth.

Kuakata tourism, fisheries sector

hit hard by load shedding

PATUAKHALI : Already hit-hard by the

Covid-19 pandemic when the tourism

and fisheries sectors in Kuakata, are

trying to make a comeback the recent

increase is load shedding has become

another blow to the local businesses.

Among those who are taking the brunt

the most are hotel-motel owners in

Kuakata, wholesale fish traders in the

district's Alipur and Mahipur landing

stations and the trawler owners.

When the government decided to stop

buying liquified natural gas (LNG) from

the international spot market because of

a sharp price increase in July, the power

supply situation began to deteriorate.

Daily one hour area-based load-shedding

started across Bangladesh from July 19 in

a bid to tackle the ongoing energy crisis.

Owners of hotels-motels, ice mills and

fish traders said they are incurring huge

losses due to incessant power cuts.

However, Kuakata Palli Bidyut Samity

authorities seem unwilling to accept the

fact. According to them, power cuts have

no impact on the hospitality industry of

the district.

Motaleb Sharif, General Secretary of

Kuakata Hotel Motel Owners Association

and Owner of Kuakata Guest House, said

that the number of tourists in Kuakata is

decreasing due to load shedding.

"There are a total of 150 big and small

hotels and motels in Kuakata. Although

these places used to buzz with tourists in

the past, this isn't the case anymore.

We're frustrated as load shedding

happens five to six times a day. As a

result, tourists are losing their interest in

coming here," Motaleb said.

Motaleb added that although they had

informed the Prime Minister's Energy

Advisor Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury

about the problem and demanded the

establishment of a power sub-station in

the area, no steps have been taken yet.

Rahim Khan, Owner of Khan Palace,

said that electronic products including

refrigerators and air conditioners are

getting damaged due to the rampant

power outages.

"We've to spend more than what we

earn from the boarders. We experience

load shedding even on peak days like

Friday and Saturday, which is resulting in

the arrival of fewer tourists here.

Although a 1320MW thermal power

plant has been built in Payra, the people

of Patuakhali are yet to reap its benefits,"

Rahim said.

Ahsan Kabir, Assistant General

Manager (AGM) of Kuakata Palli Bidyut

Samity, denied the allegations, saying

that they supply sufficient electricity to

the southern part of the district.

"We've kept 6MW-7MW electricity in

reserve for Kuakata. There is no shortage

in electricity supply. Sometimes load

shedding happens if branches of trees fall

on the transmission lines during natural

disasters," Ahsan said.

The situation started getting worse in

July when the government decided to

stop purchase of liquified natural gas

(LNG) from the international spot

market due to a massive price hike.

Catching and selling of fish are the

primary sources of income for the coastal

people. There are a total of 5,000 fishing

trawlers, 25,000 fishermen and 86

warehouses in Alipur and Mahipur of

Patuakhali. Besides, a total of 46 ice mills

have been built on the two sides of

Khapravanga river to preserve fish.

Almost half of the district's ice mills

have been shut down due to load

shedding. As a result, traders have to

spend extra bucks in buying ice from

Khulna and Barishal and transport it to

Patuakhali.

First Security Islami Exchange, Italy S.R.L organized a Meet the Clients Program at Milan,

Italyregarding providing of modern technology based remittance payment. The program was organized

by First Security Islami Exchange, Italy S.R.Lwith the participation of its agent and clients. Syed

Waseque Md. Ali, Managing Director of First Security Islami Bank Ltd. was present as the chief guest

in the program. Among others, Md. Hamid Alam, Country Manager, Mr. Farid Ahmed Bhuyian,

Operations Manager, Rahat Jaman, Executive Officer, First Security Islami Exchange, Italy S.R.L

were present in the program.

Photo : Courtesy

Social Islami Bank Limited (SIBL) opened its 178th branch in Chuadanga on 30 October 2022. Dr.

Md. Mahbub Ul Alam, Chairman of SIBL, was present as the chief guest while Zafar Alam, Managing

Director and CEO of the Bank, presided over the program. Among others, Abu Reza Md. Yeahia,

Additional Managing Director of SIBL, Syed Asaduzzaman, Managing Director of Zaman Group, Md.

Shamsul Alam, Executive Director of SEHEO, Touhid Hossain, eminent political & social personality,

Md. Mohibul Kadir, Head of Khulna Zone, Md. Moniruzzaman, Head of Marketing and Brand

Communication and Saif Al-Amin, Head of BC & GBD, bank officers, local businessmen, journalists,

and dignitaries were also present at the event. Manager of Chuadanga Branch Md. Ashraful Haque

expressed thanks & gratitude at the end of the program.

Photo : Courtesy

Comfy introduces thirty new

designs of comforter in winter

Comfy, bedding brand of

country's leading business

conglomerate RFL Group,

has introduced thirty new

designs of comforter with

eye-catching designs for the

winter. R N Paul, Managing

Director of RFLGroup,

unveiled the new designs of

comforter at the head office

of the Group at Badda in the

capital on Sunday, a press

release said.

The comforter, made from

high quality raw materials

and using of automatic

machine, are now available

across the country. Not only

this, these comforters are

easily portable, light in

weight, comfortable and

easy to clean.

Addressing the occasion,

RN Paul said, "The demand

for comforters as an

alternative to blankets is

increasing day by day in our

country during the winter

season. Once, this comforter

was almost imported. RFL

always manufactures

products keeping in mind

the needs of the customers.

That is why, we are

producing the best quality

comforters in our own

factory with quality raw

materials using of automatic

machine and are getting

huge response from the

customers".

He also said that currently

there are ten designs with

two size-single and doubleare

available now in the

market. This winter 30 new

designs are launched

keeping in mind the

customer's choice.Now-adays,

people are fashion

conscious. They emphasize

on design of any product

apart from quality. That is

why,Comfy has brought

such a large number of

designs in the market so that

the customer can buy their

desired design.

KaziRashedul Islam,

Executive Director of Comfy,

said, "Currently, Comfy

Comforter is available across

the country through Regal

Emporium, Best Buy, Daily

MoNDAY, oCtoBer 31, 2022

9

Newcastle United's Miguel Almiron celebrates scoring their fourth goal with teammate Callum

Wilson.

photo: Ap

Newcastle comfortable at Premier League’s

top table after 4-0 win over Aston Villa

SportS DeSk

If anyone in the Premier League

remained in any doubt after last week,

Newcastle United underlined to their

rivals that they are very much part of the

top flight party, reports UNB.

For far too long the Magpies have been

passengers in the Premier League -

present but not a threat to anyone, and all

too happy to just exist.

But with the Public Investment Fund

now at the helm, and Eddie Howe at the

wheel, those days are long gone.

And it is becoming every bit more

obvious by the week just why the

established, so-called "big six," and others

with aspirations, fought so hard to make

sure that the PIF did not get their hands

on Newcastle.

Their wings were once clipped, but now

the Magpies are flying high - and doing so

with real purpose.

This was a rampant win, one done at a

canter - and one that left many Newcastle

fans flooding the city center on Saturday

evening asking "is this what it feels like to

Daniil Medvedev

reaches final of

ATP tournament

in Vienna

SportS DeSk

Daniil Medvedev made

short work of his last-four

match against Grigor

Dimitrov on Saturday to

reach the final of the ATP

tournament in Vienna,

reports UNB.

The former world No. 1 did

not face a single break point

in a dominant 6-4, 6-2

victory.

Medvedev will face Denis

Shapovalov on Sunday as he

bids to win his second title of

the season.

The Russian's only

tournament success this

year came in an ATP 250

event in Mexico in August,

which ended a run of five

straight final defeats.

"There were a few

moments in the match

where I thought I should

have done just a little bit

better, to go in front earlier

and try to build the pressure

earlier," said Medvedev.

"Then I managed to stay

consistent and, in the most

important points, managed

to raise my level. That was

enough today, and I'm really

happy with my level."

He had lost his previous

meeting with Dimitrov at

Indian Wells last year but

had no such problems this

time around, securing

victory by winning the last

five games of the match.

Medvedev is edging closer

to securing his place at the

ATP Finals which get

underway in Turin on Nov.

13.

The 26-year-old, who won

the season-ending event in

2020, sits fifth in the

standings.

actually be good?"

Callum Wilson netted twice against the

Villains, who were 4-0 winners

themselves last weekend, and Miguel

Almiron made it seven for the season,

with Joelinton getting a well-deserved

first, as Newcastle made it five wins in six.

But for a narrow Spurs win over

Bournemouth, the Magpies would be

sitting in third place. As it stands, though,

they had to settle for fourth - a

remarkable statement in itself, given

recent footballing history on Tyneside.

With England and Brazil bosses Gareth

Southgate and Tite watching on from the

stands - a first for St. James' Park - Howe

picked an unchanged team from the XI

who beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 last

weekend.

And in usual style, the Magpies started

the game very much on the front foot.

After just three minutes, Newcastle

swarmed down the right as Almiron

found skipper Kieran Trippier, making

his 300th English league appearance.

The right-back chipped on to the head of

Wilson, who peeled away from his man,

Swiatek confused,

but the effort went over. It was an early

warning shot that the visitors did not

heed.

It took Howe's men until the 45th

minute, plus five added minutes, to break

the deadlock after a rather disjointed half

of football, punctuated in the most part

by injuries to Emi Martinez and Emi

Buendia.

United threatened first with a sweeping

move down the right as Trippier found

Almiron, and Robin Olsen, on for

Martinez minutes earlier, saved well with

his outstretched leg.

Just minutes later, a similar move, with

Newcastle clearly targeting left-back

Ashley Young, broke down the stubborn

Villa defense as Almiron was again teed

up and his curling effort, bound for the far

corner, was stopped by the outstretched

arm of Young.

Wilson made no mistake, putting his

penalty straight down the middle, giving

Olsen no chance. Southgate take note.

Wilson had the ball in the net again

moments later, this time rounding Olsen,

but the offside flag denied him.

Simona Halep tested positive for the banned blood-booster roxadustat.

photo: Ap

disappointed by Halep's

failed drugs test

SportS DeSk

World number one Iga Swiatek said she was

left feeling confused after Simona Halep was

handed a provisional ban for doping and

hoped there would be more clarity soon on

the future of the Romanian player she has

looked up to, reports UNB.

Two-times major winner Halep was

provisionally suspended by the International

Tennis Integrity Agency this month after she

tested positive for the banned blood-booster

roxadustat.

Halep was tested during the US Open and

both her A and B samples confirmed the

presence of the anti-anaemia drug that

stimulates the production of red blood cells,

much like the prohibited substance

Erythropoietin.

"Well, for sure it was confusing to me

because I wouldn't expect hearing this news.

Simona, from my point of view, seems like a

person who always cared about being fair

and she was a great example for me,"

Swiatek said, speaking ahead of the WTA

Finals tournament which begins in Fort

Worth, Texas on Monday.

Halep had described the ban as the

"biggest shock of her life" and denied

knowingly taking any banned substance.

"I don't know how it works in terms of the

system … Is she going to be tested a couple of

more times or whatever? Hopefully it's going

to be more clear for fans and for us," Swiatek

added.

"But it's disappointing and she must feel

really bad. From my point of view, the most

important thing for me is just taking care of

myself, being safe always, making my

environment more safe and being careful. So

we'll do that."

Halep's ex-coach Darren Cahill, who

worked with the former world number one

for six years and guided her to her first

Grand Slam title, said last week there was

"no chance" she had knowingly taken a

prohibited substance.

Messi inspires

shaky PSG in

win over Troyes

SportS DeSk

Lionel Messi grabbed a goal

and an assist to inspire Paris

St Germain to a 4-3 comeback

victory over Troyes yesterday

as they restored their lead at

the top of Ligue 1 to five

points, reports UNB.

The result moved unbeaten

PSG to 35 from 13 games,

ahead of second-placed Lens

who beat Toulouse 3-0 on

Friday.

Mama Balde had given

mid-table Troyes the lead

twice before Messi assumed

control to score his seventh

Ligue 1 goal of the season and

take his tally of assists to 10 -

a league high.

PSG started slowly and

Troyes needed just three

minutes to stun the crowd at

the Parc des Princes as Abdu

Conte raced down the

touchline to send a cross into

the box where Rony Lopes set

up the chance for Balde to

volley into the net.

Liverpool's long unbeaten

home run ends in shock

2-1 defeat by Leeds

Road cycling, golf and goalball competitions

conclude at Saudi Games 2022

SportS DeSk

SportS DeSk

Saturday saw the first day of action

following the previous night's

spectacular opening ceremony of the

Saudi Games 2022 in Riyadh. Here are

some of the highlights across all

competitions.

para Games: Goalball

Prince Fahd bin Jalawi bin Abdulaziz

bin Musaed, vice president of the Saudi

Olympic and Paralympic Committee,

and director of the Saudi Games,

awarded Al-Baha the gold medal for

winning the goalball competition at the

Saudi Games 2022 at the Prince Faisal

Bin Fahd Olympic Complex.

Al-Baha defeated Riyadh 11-1 in the

final, while third place and bronze went

to Al-Rass after they beat Asir 8-2.

In addition to being honored by

Prince Fahd, the medallists were also

congratulated by Majid Al-Usaimi,

president of the Asian Paralympic

Committee, governing board member

of the International Paralympic

Committee and UNICEF national

ambassador.

Swimming

A full day of swimming heats and

medal events took place at the SAOC

Complex, starting off with the men's

50m freestyle, in which Emadaldeen

Basim Zaben took gold with a time of

23:88 seconds. He was followed in

second place by Yousif Buareesh (23:91

secs), while Faisal Al-Shilaty claimed

bronze with a time of 24:57 seconds.

In the men's 100m backstroke, Ali

Alessa won gold with a time of 58:98

seconds, silver went to Mohammed

Boksmati (1:00:81) and bronze to

Mohamed Agendi (1:02:76).

The third finals of the day saw Suktan

Alotaibi take gold in the men's 50m

breaststroke with a time of 29:72

seconds. Loai Tashkandi won silver

(29:89 secs), while Mahomoud Khalid

Yacoub took bronze (30:68 secs).

The men's 400m freestyle gold was

claimed by Ahmed Ali AL-Hashim with

a time of 4:16:92, while Zaid Al-Sarraj

took bronze with 4:20:00. Hassan Al-

Bagshi came in third place in a time of

4:20:79.

The winners in all categories were

awarded their medals by Ahmed Al-

Kudmani, president of the Saudi

Liverpool suffered a surprise 2-1 loss to Leeds

United after Dutch winger Crysencio

Summerville's 89th minute strike in their

Premier League clash at Anfield yesterday that

took the visitors out of the relegation zone,

reports UNB.

The Reds' first top-flight home defeat in 30

games follows last week's loss at bottom side

Nottingham Forest and further deepens the

crisis around the struggling Merseyside club,

who are ninth in the table on 16 points after 12

games.

The win takes Leeds up to 15th on 12 points.

Liverpool got off to another disastrous start

after four minutes when Joe Gomez played a

blind backpass to Alisson who had moved out

of his goal and slipped, leaving a gaping space

for Rodrigo to run in and tap the ball into the

empty net.

Mohamed Salah levelled for Liverpool 10

minutes later when Andy Robertson crossed

for the Egyptian international to hook a volley

into the net from close range, igniting the

Swimming Federation, and Abdullah

Al-Yami, executive director of the Saudi

Swimming Federation.

Weightlifting

Three weightlifting events took place

at the Al-Riyadh Club Main Court,

starting off with the women's 71 kg

category, which saw Al-Ahli Club's

Amal Al-Sharani take gold with a total

lift of 147 kg.

Alanoud Al-Khelaifiwon silver (139

kg), while Lilia May claimed bronze

(136 kg).

In the men's 89 kg category, Ismail

Al-Swyleh took first place and the gold

medal after lifting 329 kg. With a lift of

just two kilograms less, Ali Al-Abandi

secured silver, while Nawaf Alaid took

bronze with 319 kg.

The final weightlifting competition of

the day was the men's 102 kg, with Ali

Al-Othman taking gold (332 kg). Silver

went to Khalil Al-Hamqan with 317 kg,

and bronze to Jehad Al-Ghazwi with

316 kg.

The winners received their medals

from Mohamed Ahmad Alharbi,

president of the Saudi Arabian

Weightlifting Federation and member

of the International Weightlifting

Federation, and Ali Dhafir Hakami,

vice chairman of the board of directors

of the Saudi Arabian Weightlifting

Federation.

Golf

Taking place over two days at the

Riyadh Golf Club, the men's golf

competition saw the participation of 38

players, with Faisal Al-Sahlab coming

out on top.

Saud Al-Sharif took silver, and

Othman Al-Mulla bronze.

The winners were awarded their

medals by Mohamed Al-Muhanna,

board member of the Saudi Golf

Federation.

Cycling (road)

The men's and women's individual

road race cycling events concluded in

Riyadh on Saturday, with the men's

event taking place over 126 km, and the

women's totalling 56 km.

Gold in the men's individual road

race went to Mohammed Al-Jaber, who

finished in 2:50:20. Taking second

place and silver was Fahad Al-Ghamadi

(2:50:22), while Hassan Al-Ibrahim

Action from the men's road cycling race at the Saudi Games 2022 on Saturday.

Liverpool supporters as their team began the

chase for a winner.

Leeds continued to threaten on the break,

though, and Brenden Aaronson almost put

them back in front a few minutes later, meeting

Rasmus Kristensen's cross from the right with

a deft volley that cannoned off the crossbar.

Leeds French keeper Illan Meslier kept his

side in the game almost single-handedly in the

second half, pulling off a superb save from

Darwin Nunez in a one-on-one after 67

minutes and then clawing away a shot from the

same player 11 minutes later.

Meslier's saves set the scene for Summerville

to steal the three points with a last-gasp

poacher's finish.

On the eve of his 21st birthday, the forward

snapped up a ball in the box from Patrick

Bamford and quickly pulled the trigger, firing

across Alisson into the net.

It was Leeds' first away win of the season and

a first league loss for Dutch defender Virgil van

Dijk at Anfield since he signed for Liverpool in

January 2018.

(2:50:52) secured bronze.

The women's individual road race

was won by Mishael Al-Hazmi with a

time of 1:47:10. Silver went to Monirah

Al-Draiweesh (1:47:20) and bronze to

Erika Martinez (1:47:28).

The medallists were honored by

Princess Mashael Bint Faisal, head of

the women's committee of the Saudi

Arabian Cycling Federation, as well as

Abdullah Alwathlan, president of the

Saudi Arabian Cycling Federation, and

board member Amin Al-Halili.

padel

The women's doubles competition

concluded with Areej Fareh and Sarah

Salhab taking gold after defeating

Alexia Tashbaeva and Samaher Kurdi,

who had to settle for silver. The bronze

medal went to Najwa Salhab and

Noura Al-Soliman.

The medals were presented by Khalid

Alsaad, president of the Saudi padel

committee, and managing director,

Munirah Al-Barrak.

Basketball

The women's basketball group

matches continued on Saturday at Al-

Hilal's Main Court with the following

results:

Abha 56-41 Al Hilal

Al-Wehda 50-44 Al-Ittihad

Riyadh 36-31 Al-Nassr

Handball

Three group matches in the men's

handball took place at KSU Arena's

Center Court with the following

outcomes:

Al-Khowildiah 30-30 Al-Trraji

Al-Wehda 43-37 Al-Adalah

Al-Safa 25-21 Al-Ahli

Volleyball

Five group matches took place at the

SAOC Complex today.

In the women's groups, Al-Etihad

beat Al-Taraje 3-0, while Al-Hilal

overcame Alanka 3-1. Finally, Al-

Nasser beat Al-Nahda 3-0.

In the men's group matches, Al-Ahli

beat Abha 3-0 and Al-Hilal defeated Al-

Nassr 3-0.

Futsal

The latest results from the men's

preliminary group matches:

Al-Nassr 5-5 Al-Qadisiyah

Riyadh 3-3 ALula

Musadaa 16-2 Amjaad.

photo: Ap

MONdAY, OcTOBER 31, 2022

10

Apurba, Keya

Payel to star

in ‘Irsha’

TBT REPORT

Ziaul Faruq Apurba is one of the most popular small

screen actors of the country. He has presented many

dramas to the audience in his career. The actor now

will be seen in a new drama titled 'Irsha'.

Written by Mezbah Uddin Sumon, the drama has

been directed by Syed Shakil. The shooting of the play

has already been completed at 'Ananda Bari Shooting

House' in the capital's Uttara area on Friday.

Talented actress Keya Payel will be seen acting in the

drama with Apurba.

About the drama, Apurba said, "Earlier, I've worked

with Shakil in a number of dramas. He always makes

dramas with utmost care. That's why I always feel good

to work with Shakil bhai. Keya Payel is also a talented

actress. I hope the audience will enjoy our chemistry in

the drama Irsha."

Keya Payel said, "It is my second work with Shakil. I

always enjoy working with Shakil. And Apurba is my

favourite artiste. He is very cooperative. I've earned a

lot from Apurba."

Earlier, Apurba and Keya Payel have paired up in

many audience-acclaimed dramas, including 'Aponjon',

'Boss I Hate You', 'Bibah Korite Icchuk', 'Boyosh Kono

Bapar Na', Urchi Tomer Preme' and 'Shuvo+Neel'.

Halloween Ends petition demands

reshot of the movie

A new petition demands that David

Gordon Green's Halloween Ends be

reshot in its entirety following the

film's lackluster reception with fans.

Following Halloween Ends'

lackluster reception, a new petition

demands that the film be entirely

reshot. After first being introduced

in John Carpenter's 1978 original

film, Michael Myers returns in

director David Gordon Green's

Halloween reboot trilogy, which

started with 2018's Halloween. The

reboot sees the return of Jamie Lee

Curtis' Laurie Strode, who once

more faces off against the

unstoppable killer. Last year's

Halloween Kills earned mixed

reviews but set up an emotional and

action-packed finale showdown

between Laurie and Michael, with

the recently-released Halloween

Ends marking the conclusion to

Laurie's story.

Picking up 4 years after the events

of Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends

sees Laurie writing a memoir in an

attempt to move past her extensive

trauma. Much of the film's story

revolves around a new character

named Corey (Rohan Campbell),

who is revealed to have a special

connection with Myers. Although

Corey's downfall into evil is a central

focus of the film, Halloween Ends

does deliver a final battle between

Laurie and Michael, as was teased in

the film's trailers. With the help of

her granddaughter, Allyson (Andi

Matichak), Laurie is eventually able

to kill Michael for good and gives the

villain a definitive end by disposing

of his body in a large industrial

shredding machine.

Now, a new petition has been

launched on Change.org that

demands Halloween Ends be reshot

in its entirety. The petition was

started by a user named Dj Jones,

with most of Jones' frustration

regarding the film stemming from

its treatment of Michael Myers. At

the time of writing, the petition has

garnered over 5,600 signatures.

Check out Jones' impassioned

reasoning behind the petition below:

"Halloween Ends was NOT a film

that the Fans wanted! This was an

Origins Story! The Corey Story! We

deserve a movie worthy of Michael

Myers & the Halloween Franchise!

We love this Franchise whole

heartily and this version of a

Halloween Movie left us sad, mad,

disappointed, and Infuriated. Please

give us a movie that shows us what

Halloween is really about. Our Apex

Predator.... the King of Slasher

Movies Michael Myers! This movie

gave us a weak pathetic Michael who

needed his mask to survive! This

isn't OUR MICHAEL MYERS! Our

Killer is Strong , relentless, &

unstoppable! Please right this

wrong! We beg of you !!! "

Source: Collider

Release of Moushumi's

starrer ‘Bhangon’ postponed

TBT REPORT

Popular film actress Moushumi starrer

upcoming movie 'Bhangon', which was

scheduled to be released on November 4, has

been postponed. The film's director Mirza

Sakhawat Hossain confirmed the matter

through a post on his Facebook page on

Thursday. "The release date of the film

'Bhangon' has been postponed. The new

theatrical release date will be announced

soon," the post reads.

'Bhangon' is a government-granted film.

Mirza Sakhawat has also written the story,

dialogue and screenplay of the film.

Moushumi will be seen as a 'churiwali' in the

movie while noted actor Fazlur Rahman Babu

will be seen acting in an important role in it.

The movie tells the story of homeless

people. There are various characters such as

hawkers, prostitutes, pickpockets and

flute players who are fighting hard to

survive in the concrete jungles of

Dhaka. Moushumi-acted latest

movie 'Bosonto Bikel' was

released in the theatre on

October 21. Directed by Rafiq

Shikdar, Omar Sani has also

acted in the film.

Moushumi's other upcoming

movies include Zahid Hossain's

'Sonar Chor' and Ashutosh Sujon's

'Deshantar'. The movie

'Deshantar' is based on the novel

by Nirmalendu Goon will be

released on November 11.

Talented actor Ahmed Rubel

will be seen opposite

Moushumi in the film.

Tultul's song written, composed

by SM Sohail released

TBT REPORT

A beautiful song 'Man Oviman' in

the voice vocalist Tultul Rahman

has been released. The lyrics and

tune was composed by composer

SM Sohail. The music of the song

was composed by Shimul Deep.

The song with extraordinary

lyrics, made in the form of a music

video, was released on B Music

Express YouTube channel on

Friday.

The music video was directed by

talented cinematographer S.

Kamal Parvez. Suravi was the codirector.

Alia Bhatt’s delivery

date revealed!

Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt, who is currently basking in the success of

her latest release 'Brahmastra: Part One - Shiva' co-starring husband

Ranbir Kapoor, is expected to deliver her baby in October. The due date

was said to be October 28.

After tying the knot in a private ceremony in April, Alia and Ranbir

announced the pregnancy in June, with an Instagram post. She

shared a picture that showed an ultrasound machine and the

actors gazed at the screen with their backs to the camera.

Meanwhile, 'Brahmastra', helmed by Ayan Mukerji, also

stars Amitabh Bachchan, Mouni Roy, and south actor

Nagarjuna in the lead roles, and hit the theatres on

September 9, 2022, in Hindi and Tamil, Telugu,

Malayalam, and Kannada.

Alia will also be seen making her Hollywood debut

with the spy thriller 'Heart of Stone'. Besides that,

she has Karan Johar's directorial 'Rocky Aur Rani

Ki Prem Kahani', which stars Ranveer Singh,

Shabana Azmi, Jaya Bachchan, and

Dharmendra.

Source: Hindustan Times

Mon bolay valobashe, Baray

Baray firay ashe, monay nahi soi

sudu lage bhoy the song with

poetic lyrics is like a true story of

love.

When asked, SM Sohail said, the

song is my favorite song written

and composed by me. Overall the

song is great. Best wishes for

Tultul to do better in the future.

Also best wishes to all associated

with the song.

Vocalist Tultul Rahman said, the

lyrics and melody of the song are

good, besides, the music is also

very good. However, I seek

everyone's love so that I can do

better in the future. I will appear

with more good work soon,

inshallah.

In this context, Shimul Deep

said, the song is great overall, the

words and melody are good.

It should be noted that Tultul

Rahman is a promising singer of

modern songs, currently busy with

stage shows, the singer's dream is

to establish himself in original

songs. This vocalist wants to win

everyone's love

through music.

H O R O s c O P E

ARIEs

Some close friends could turn you on to a new

interest or perhaps a group you might want to join.

Intellectual stimulation through those closest to

you could open the way to new plans and

innovations. You might want to try combining artistic interests

with technology, Aries, perhaps expanding your knowledge of

photography, computer graphics, or filmmaking. Success and good

fortune through such activities are strongly indicated.

TAURUs

Sudden, unexpected news could arrive

today, perhaps by mail or phone. You

could host a virtual group meeting of

some kind. A lot of exciting information

and stimulating conversation could take

place, Taurus, bringing fresh ideas that spark new

interests. Expect a very busy but productive day,

looking ahead toward the future rather than back

toward the past.

GEMINI

Short journeys in your neighborhood,

perhaps connected with a group you're

associated with, could take up a lot of

your time today, Gemini. Fascinating

and stimulating emails or calls could

arrive. Books and magazine articles could provide

information that sends you in a new direction in

some way. Write down your ideas! You will want to

remember them all.

cANcER

Technology could pave the way for you to

greatly increase your income, possibly

through new skills or investments. This is

likely to be a very positive development,

setting the stage for future financial success. Some

unusual, interesting dreams could come your way,

bringing unexpected revelations about you and your past

- and possibly your future. Write them down! They could

hold important messages for you from your higher self.

LEO

A surprising revelation, either from

within or from sources like books, the

Internet, or communications from others

could set you in an entirely new direction.

You will have an increased sense of freedom, as well as

a clearer and more progressive outlook. You might

consider some pretty heavy changes in your life, Leo,

but don't make any final decisions or arrangements

today. Wait before putting your ideas into action.

VIRGO

Discoveries made through occult sciences

such as astrology or numerology could

see you embrace some rather

revolutionary ideas about yourself, the

world, and life. You could become involved with a

group associated with metaphysical studies or take an

online class or workshop of some kind. This could

mean a new direction for you in some way, Virgo. It

might greatly enhance your life and thinking.

LIBRA

Sudden lucky breaks could come your

way today, Libra, possibly through

friends or groups with which you're

involved. A long-term goal you've been

working toward might bring unexpected but

wonderful results. Virtual group activities,

particularly those involving social or political issues,

could take up a lot of your time. This promises to be

a busy, productive day. Expect the unexpected!

scORPIO

Today you might feel the desire to break

free from your daily routine, Scorpio,

particularly regarding career matters.

You might consider developing a

business of your own, one that would give you a lot

more freedom than you currently have. This is a good

day to start looking into it. You might find that there are

more possibilities out there than you expected.

sAGITTARIUs

A sudden and unexpected opportunity

to take a journey by air could come your

way today, Sagittarius. This might be

something you've wanted for a long

time finally manifesting. Certainly, adventure is in the

air, although it might be mental adventure as much as

physical. Some information could come your way that

catapults you into a new and exciting field of interest.

This promises to be a thoroughly stimulating day.

cAPRIcORN

Technology could pave the way for you to

greatly increase your income, possibly

through new skills or investments. This is

likely to be a very positive development,

setting the stage for future financial success. Some

unusual, interesting dreams could come your way,

bringing unexpected revelations about you and your past

- and possibly your future. Write them down! They could

hold important messages for you from your higher self.

AQUARIUs

The unexpected need to take a journey

by air or spend a lot of time working

could bring about an inconvenient

separation from your partner. While the

reasons for this situation and the projected outcome

are very positive, it can cause a temporary upset in

your relationship. Don't worry about it. The upset will

pass, particularly when the desired results are

attained. Concentrate on the matter at hand.

PIscEs

Is your workplace upgrading its

equipment? Are you in the process of

increasing your technology skills?

Today's planets show that success and advancement

through technology are definitely in the offing for

you, Pisces. If you've been thinking about purchasing

a computer, do it today if you can. Whatever your

goals, you can harness current innovations to help

them along. Give it some thought!

monday, october 31, 2022

11

Premier Bank

Inaugurates

Farmgate Branch

The Premier Bank Limited has

recently launched Farmgate

branch at Dhaka to provide the

most modern banking services

to the customers of the locality,

a press release said.

Managing Director & CEO

of the Bank M. Reazul Karim,

FCMA and Advisor of the

Bank Muhammed Ali

inaugurated the branch at

76/A, Kazi Nazrul Islam

Avenue, Farmgate, through a

ribbon cutting ceremony in the

presence of Syed Nowsher Ali,

Deputy Managing Director;

Shamsuddin Chowdhury,

Deputy Managing Director,

prominent businessman and

the owner of Babul Tower Mr.

Babul Mia and local eminent

business personalities.

M. Reazul Karim, FCMA,

Managing Director and CEO

of the bank, thanked everyone

and stated "In 23 years of

success and prosperity,

Premier Bank has had an

important role in contributing

to the financial sector and the

economic growth of the

country, earning the trust of

the people. We are hopeful that

within the next years our bank

will be one of the top

performing banks of the

country based on all

parameters."

Muhammed Ali, Advisor to

the bank, stated in his speech

"Bangladesh is moving

forward towards the goal of

becoming a developed and

prosperous nation and in this

23 year's journey Premier

Bank continues to be a major

and significant contributor due

to the various progressive

strategies we have adopted.

StanChart came forward to start

'FRIENDSHIP Solar Village'

DHAKA : Standard Chartered Bank

Bangladesh (SCB) in collaboration with

Friendship launched a new environmental

sustainability project in a remote

sedimentary river island (char), named

Ghughumari Char under Ulipur Upazila

of Kurigram district.

The 54 KW solar power project is jointly

implemented by International Social

Organisation FRIENDSHIP and

Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh,

said a press release.

The established Char Ghughumari solar

power project is named the

'FRIENDSHIP-SCB Solar Village Project.

On this occasion, an agreement signing

ceremony was organized at the head office

of FRIENDSHIP in Baridhara of the

capital.

FRIENDSHIP founder executive

director Runa Khan and Standard

Chartered Bank Chief Executive Officer

Naser Ezaz, signed the agreement on

behalf of their respective organisations.

The project encompasses three

components: three types of tree plantation

across 150 households, 60 tube well

installations and a solar village (solar

micro-gird) to provide uninterrupted

electricity for all the char households.

This particular char is selected as it is one

of the most remote chars of the district,

and there's no scope for grid electricity

connection there.

As such, the installation of a costefficient

54 KW solar microgrid is essential

to connect over 750 beneficiaries (of 150

households) to a much-needed renewable

energy source. In addition to electricity,

each family is getting various types of local

environment-friendly trees for sustainable

development. And 60 tube wells are being

provided for drinking water. The project

officials hope that the benefits will be

ensured among the residents by 2023.

Runa Khan, the founder and Executive

Director of FRIENDSHIP, explained the

reason behind the establishment of the

solar village at char Ghughumari.

She said that it is very difficult to supply

electricity from the main grid to the

Brahmaputra River. "So char

Ghughumari has been chosen to ensure

electricity facilities. The executive director

of FRIENDSHIP also said that the Plants

of the Project will play an important role to

face natural disasters like Monsoon floods

and river erosion," she added.

Naser Ezaz, Chief Executive Officer of

Standard Chartered Bank said, "This

initiative is a multi-pronged effort that is

targeted at helping a once isolated island to

become more connected to the mainland.

By facilitating access to energy, residents

across the Ghughumari Char will be given

the power to explore new opportunitieschildren

on the island will be empowered

to learn with ease, new avenues of work

will come into the light.

Six get life-term jail for

killing man in Ctg

CHATTOGRAM : A

Chattogram court yesterday

awarded life- term

imprisonment to six people

for killing a man at East

Borogona under Banskhali

upazila of the district in

1993.

Sixth Additional District

and Sessions Judge Saifur

Rahman Mozumdar

delivered the verdict on

Sunday in presence of the

six accused.

The convicts are-Dil

Mohammad, Nazrul Islam

and Kabir Ahmed, sons of

Siddik Ahmed, Md Ali, son

of Amir Hamza, Dula Mia,

son of late Shehab Mia and

Harunur Rashid, son of

Saber Ahmed hailed from

Borogona area of

Gondamara union under

Banskhali upazila of the

district.

The court also fined each

convict Taka 20,000, in

default, to suffer six months

more in jail.

Another six people were

acquitted for death during

the trial of the case.

The prosecution story, in

brief, the convicts beaten to

death one Md Hasan in the

area over previous enmity

around 3 pm on October 23,

1993.

Victim's father

Mohammad Jane Alam

filed a murder case with

Banskhali Police Station

against 12 people.

Police submitted chargesheet

on April 30 in 1994

against them while the court

framed charges against

them on June 11, 1998.

The court pronounced the

verdict yesterday after

examining 12 prosecution

witnesses out of 20 and

awarded the judgement.

They have been sent to jail

after announcing the

verdict.

Biman to launch

Sylhet-Sharjah direct

flight tomorrow

SYLHET : Biman

Bangladesh Airlines

(Biman) is going to launch

direct flight from Sylhet to

Sharjah of the United Arab

Emirates (UAE) from

November 1.

The BG-251 flight of

Biman's Boeing-737 model

will leave Sylhet's Osmani

International Airport for

Sharjah with 164 passengers

on board at 10:30pm on the

day.

According to airport

officials, the runway and

terminal of Osmani

International Airport is

being expanded, which is

increasing the capacity of the

airport.

GD-1750/22 (6x3)

evK…DK=102

cvwb-224/2022-2023

GD-1749/22 (6x3)

GD-1748/22 (7x3)

Monday, Dhaka : October 31, 2022; Kartik 15, 1429 BS; Rabi-us-Sani 4 , 1444 Hijri

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday addressing a programme to induct two maritime patrol aircraft

(MPA-8322 and MPA-8327) into Bangladesh Navy.

Photo : Star Mail

Thailand for concluding

FTA for strengthening

bilateral trade

DHAKA : Bangkok is keen to concluding

an Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with

Dhaka for further strengthening the bilateral

trade and business between Thailand

and Bangladesh.

This was revealed yesterday while visiting

Thai Permanent Secretary-designate

Sarun Charoensuwan called on Foreign

Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen at foreign

ministry here, a foreign ministry press

release said.

The Thai secretary also emphasized on

holding the Joint Commission Meeting

between the two countries at a mutually

convenient time at the earliest.

During the meeting, both the dignitaries

exchanged warm greetings on the milestone

occasion of the 50 Years of

Diplomatic Ties between Bangladesh and

Thailand, which is being celebrated on

both sides with fervor and enthusiasm.

Dr Momen requested more Thai support

and expertise for improving the

tourism sector of Bangladesh, which is

endowed with immense potentials.

Aug 21 grenade attack case

Date for death

reference hearing

likely today

DHAKA : The date for hearing on the

death reference and appeals of the convicted

in the August 21 grenade attack case

is expected to be announced by the High

Court on Monday, said Attorney General

AM Amin Uddin, reports UNB.

The death reference of a murder

case filed in this regard and appeals

were in the cause list of the High Court

bench of Justice Sahidul Karim and

Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman on

Sunday, he said.

But as the case filed under the Explosive

Substances Act didn’t come up, the bench

asked to enlist it in the cause list for

Monday, said Attorney General AM Amin

Uddin.

On August 21, 2004, a grenade attack

was carried out on an Awami League rally

at Bangabandhu Avenue when the BNP-

Jamaat alliance was in office. Sheikh

Hasina, the then leader of the opposition,

was apparently the target.

At least 24 people, including Awami

League women affairs secretary and late

President Zillur Rahman’s wife Ivy

Rahman, were killed. Three hundred others

were also injured. Sheikh Hasina

escaped the attack but her hearing was

affected badly.

A Dhaka court on October 10, 2018, sentenced

19 people, including former state

minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman

Babar, to death.

Tarique Rahman, the eldest son of BNP

Chairperson Khaleda Zia, and 18 others

were sentenced to life in prison.

We must be strong enough to

thwart external enemies: PM

DHAKA : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

on Sunday said Bangladesh must attain

capabilities to protect the country from

external enemies even though it is against

war.

"We want peace, we do not want war.

But to protect the country from external

enemies we have to attain capability," she

said.

The premier said this while addressing a

programme to induct two maritime patrol

aircraft (MPA-8322 and MPA-8327) into

Bangladesh Navy.

The Bangladesh Navy organised the

function at Naval Aviation Hanger at

Patenga in Chattogram while the PM

joined through video conference from her

official residence Ganabhaban.

She said that the government is preparing

all related institutions properly so that

they could protect country's independence

and sovereignty appropriately.

"... Keeping eyes on that we are preparing

our all institutions properly. So that we

could protect our independence and sovereignty,"

she said.

She said since coming to power in 2009

her government has transformed the

Navy into a true three dimensional force to

protect seabed, sea and the sky.

"I believe that induction of these two

MPAs will strengthen Navy's aviation

capability to manifold," she said.

She said that the government also

inducted two submarines-'BNS Navajatra'

BD cops play unique contribution to UN

peacekeeping missions for peace: Kamal

DHAKA : Home Minister Asaduzzaman

Khan Kamal yesterday said the

Bangladesh Police with sincerity, dedication

and professionalism, has been playing

an important role at the United Nations

peacekeeping missions to establish peace

in war-torn and conflicted countries.

"Bangladesh is currently the top contributing

country in sending women police

to peacekeeping missions," he said this

while inaugurating the United Nations

Police Day-2022 (UNPOL Day-2022) at

Hotel Sonargaon.

In his speech as the chief guest Kamal

said, "Our women peacekeepers are working

as the main driving force in reducing

gender-based violence, conflict, especially

in providing security to women and children."

He said that currently 500 members of

the Bangladesh Police have earned

remarkable appreciation from the world

by performing their duties professionally

in various peacekeeping missions, adding,

"Bangladesh's gained respect and dignity

through their unique contribution."

"If more members of Bangladesh Police

and 'BNS Joyjatra' in 2017.

She mentioned that work is underway to

build a permanent submarine base with

modern basin facilities at Pekua in Cox's

Bazar to provide safe jetty facilities to submarines

and warships at the harbour.

PM Hasina said the construction work

of 'Sher-e-Bangla Base' has progressed a

lot to enhance the operational and communication

facilities of naval vessels in the

coastal areas of southwestern Bangladesh.

She said the government has worked on

various infrastructural developments, procurement

of warships and strengthen the

operational capacity of the existing ships.

Since 2009, the government started

implementing the 'Forces Goal-2030' in

light with the defence policy formulated by

Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh

Mujibur Rahman, she said.

"Our Navy personnel staying from out of

sight are constantly ensuring the overall

security of the maritime area by facing

many natural challenges, which deserves

appreciation."

She said the government has already

incorporated a significant number of

modern warships, helicopters, maritime

patrol aircraft (MPA) and submarines to

the Bangladesh Navy with state-of-the-art

combat equipment and technology.

She also said that the construction of a

second hangar with all modern facilities

for operation and maintenance of helicopters

and MPA is going on.

are deployed in the United Nations

Peacekeeping Mission, they will be able to

show skills through their services of the

world community," the minster hoped.

Bangladesh Police and Department of

Peace Operations Division of the United

Nations jointly organised the day.

"The great architect of our independence

Father of the Nation Bangabandhu

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman expressed his

desire to unite with the global people to

ensure peace and cooperation in the

world. Following the glorious path of

Bangabandhu, Bangladesh Police started

its journey with the United Nations

Peacekeeping Mission to establish global

peace in 1989," Inspector General of Police

(IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun

said.

He said that the brave members of

Bangladesh Police have won the appreciation

of the global people with their professionalism,

sincerity and honesty.

"Especially our women policemen have

been able to prove themselves as iconic

peacekeepers in the UN peacekeeping

missions," Mamun said.

Somalia's leader says

at least 100 killed in

Saturday attack

MOGADISHU : Somalia's president says

at least 100 people were killed in

Saturday's two car bombings at a busy

junction in the capital and the toll could

rise. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

in a statement at the site of the explosions

told journalists early Sunday that nearly

300 other people were wounded.

It was the deadliest attack in Somalia

since a truck bombing at the same spot in

October 2017 killed more than 500 people.

Somalia's government has blamed the

al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist

group, which often targets the capital. The

group doesn't make claims of responsibility

when large numbers of civilians are

killed. Somalia's president, elected this

year, said the country remained at war

with al-Shabab "and we are winning." The

government, along with militia groups,

has been engaged in a new offensive

against the extremists who hold large

parts of the country.

Ex-MD of Standard

Bank sent to jail

DHAKA : A Dhaka court yesterday sent

Mamun-Ur-Rashid, former Managing

Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer

(CEO) of Standard Bank Limited, to jail in

a case lodged over embezzlement of Taka

four crore.

Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md

Asaduzzaman passed the order as

Mamun surrendered before the court and

pleaded for bail in the case. On February 4

in 2021, Assistant Director Mohammad

Joinul Abedin of the Anti-Corruption

Commission (ACC) filed the case against

eight including Mamun-Ur-Rashid.

According to the case documents, the

accused in collusion with each other, allotted

Taka four crore for so-called microcredit

organisations in the name of 'SOD

(Secured Overdraft) Loan' and embezzled

the money without giving to any NGOs.

The other accused in the case are-

Jesmin Rashid, Hasna Hena, Nasrin

Akter, Shoaib Mahmud Tuhin, Sheikh

Mohammad Monsurul Karim, Md

Tarikul Azam and Md Aminu Islam.

Crude bomb blasts

at C’nawabganj

newspaper office

CHAPAINAWABGANJ : Some unknown

miscreants blasted a crude bomb at the office

of Daily Chapai Chitra, a local newspaper, in

Chapainawabganj town early Sunday.

The bomb was thrown around 1:30 pm

but no one was at the office that time, said

Alamgir Zahan, Officer-in-Charge of

Chapainawabganj sadar police station.

The incident occurred after all the

employees left the office around 10:30 pm,

said editor of the newspaper Kamal

Uddin. Night guards of the office informed

police about the blast, he said.

Kamal Uddin said he suspects someone

aggrieved by any report published by

them has made the attack. OC Alamgir

Zahan said police collected evidences from

the spot immediately after being informed

and investigating the matter seriously.

Meanwhile, Shahidul Huda Alak, president

of Chapainawabganj Press Club

demanded immediate arrest and punishment

of those involved in the attack.

Govt gives utmost priority

to restraining inflation, says

Dr Shamsul Alam

DHAKA : A total of 11 preparation subcommittees

have been formed to hold the

upcoming 22nd national Council of

Bangladesh Awami League (AL) on

December 24.

AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader

disclosed this to the journalists after holding

a meeting with the party secretaries at

the political office of the Awami League

President in city's Dhanmondi area yesterday,

reports BSS.

With AL President Sheikh Hasina in the

chair, the council will be held at the historic

Suhrawardy Udyan on December 24

next.

Of the council preparation subcommittees,

Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim and Dr

Dipu Moni were made Convener and

Member Secretary respectively for AL's

reception subcommittee.

In the Finance subcommittee, Kazi

Zafarullah was made convener while HN

Ashequr Rahman member secretary.

Convener of Declaration Sub-

Committee is Sheikh Fazlul Karim Salim

while Abdur Rahman is its member secretary.

Office Subcommittee convener and

member secretary are Anupam Sen and

Barrister Biplab Barua respectively.

Convener of the constitution subcommittee

is Abdur Razzaque while Dr Salim

Mahmud is member secretary.

Shahabuddin Chuppu got the post of

convener of Publicity and Publication

Subcommittee while Abdus Sobhan Golap

became its member secretary.

Voluntary and discipline subcommittee

DHAKA : State Minister for Planning Dr

Shamsul Alam yesterday said that the

government is giving utmost priority to

controlling inflation in the country and it

is taking necessary measures to this end.

"The trend of inflation whatever you're

witnessing now is mainly import-based

while the inflation has increased mainly

because of the hike in the import cost," he

said.

The state minister said this while addressing

a launch event on "Realizing Development

Aspirations with Domestic Resource Mobilization

Amidst Macroeconomic Challenges" as special

guest held at a city hotel.

Dr. Mashiur Rahman, Adviser to the

Prime Minister for Economic Affairs,

spoke at the event as the chief guest.

Presided over by PRI Chairman Dr Zaidi

Sattar, bKash founder and chief executive

officer Kamal Quadir, ACI managing

director Dr Arif Dowla, FNF, Bangladesh

country representative Dr Nazmul

Hossain, Foreign, Commonwealth and

Development Office (FCDO), Bangladesh,

Development Director Matt Cannell

spoke, among others, at the event.

PRI Chairman Dr Zaidi Sattar, Director

Dr MA Razzaque and Director Dr Bazlul

Haque Khondker presented three separate

key-note papers.

The state minister said in order to curb

inflation, the government has reduced

duty on import of essential items side by

side the import procedures of agricultural

items has been simplified.

Besides, he said, necessary steps are

being taken to make stable the exchange

rate of foreign currencies.

Dr Alam also said that the government

has been trying its best to reduce the Non

Performing Loans in the country as well

as boosting the foreign currency reserve.

PM's Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman

said that the main objective behind providing

incentives on remittance is to

facilitate the expatriate Bangladeshis.

Through this, the government is trying

to give social safety to a community, he

said, adding that the government would

have to go for uniform exchange rate for

the sake of sound economic management

in future.

Dr Zaidi Sattar in his presentation said

that it becomes risky when the deficit on

current account balance of a country goes

over 3 percent of GDP.

He informed that the deficit of current

account balance in the country reached 4

percent in the last fiscal year.

AL forms 11 subcommittees

for Dec 24 national council

convener and its member secretary are

Abul Hasanat Abdullah and AFM

Bahauddin Nasim respectively.

Advocate Jahangir Kabir Nanak

becomes the convener of the stage and

decoration subcommittee while Mirza

Azam gets the post of its member secretary.

Cultural subcommittee convener and

member secretary are Ataur Rahman and

Asim Kumar Ukil respectively.

Food Subcommittee convener is

Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya Bir

Bikram while Advocate Qamrul Islam gets

the post of Member Secretary.

Dr Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin and Dr

Rokeya Sultana are made the convener

and member secretary of Health

Subcommittee respectively.

This time, the national council of AL will

be held within one day while the 21st

council was held on 20-21 December in

2019.

This year's daylong council includes the

inaugural ceremony in the morning, the

council session in the afternoon and the

cultural programme in the evening.

Bangladesh Awami League was formed

on June 23 in 1949, which later transformed

into the biggest political party of

the country to lead struggles of freedom,

the War of Liberation and all democratic

movements.

Established in 1949 as Awami Muslim

League at Rose Garden in the capital's old

part on the day and later the party

appeared as Bangladesh Awami League

(AL) to give it a secular look.

Razzaque orders bringing fallow lands

of govt institutions under cultivation

DHAKA : Agriculture Minister Dr

Muhammad Abdur Razzaque yesterday

instructed the officials concerned to

bring the fallow lands of various government

institutions, including sugar mills,

under cultivation.

He gave the order at a meeting to

review the implementation progress of

the Annual Development Program

(ADP) at the conference room of the

Ministry of Agriculture here.

"The sugar mills have huge fallow

land. Those fallen lands should be

brought under cultivation. Besides, the

land of various government institutions

should be traced out and brought under

cultivation as well," he said.

The minister directed the officials to

take action in this regard by contacting

the authorities of sugar mills and various

government institutions.

He also said that the demand for food

is increasing every year with the increase

of population.

"Therefore, food production must be

increased at any cost. We want to use all

the opportunities to increase production,"

he added.

With Secretary of the Ministry of

Agriculture Md Sayedul Islam in the

chair, the meeting was attended by senior

officials of the ministry, heads of

organizations and project directors.

War criminal Fazlul Quader Chowdhury and his son Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury's

'Rajakarer Bari' written on the wall of 'Goods Hill' in Jamalkhan, Chattogram city, has been

erased with black paint. The picture is taken on Sunday.

Photo : Star Mail

31-10-2022

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