23-11-2020

Monday

DhAKA : November 23, 2020; Agrahyan 8, 1427 BS; Rabi-us Sani 7, 1442 hijri www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www.bangladeshtoday.net

Regd.No.DA~2065, Vol.17; N o.227; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00

InternatIonal

G-20 summit opens as

leaders urge united

response to virus

>Page 7

art & culture

Mandana Karimi alleges

'mental harassment'

by Mahendra Dhariwal

>Page 8

sports

'Aguero will follow

Guardiola in signing Man

City contract': Richards

>Page 9

Bangladesh sees

another surge in

Covid-19 deaths

DHAKA : Bangladesh reported 38

more Covid-19 deaths in the past 24

hours until early Sunday, taking the

fatalities to 6,388, reports UNB.

The country also recorded 2,060

new cases at that time, pushing the

infection number to 447,341.The

death rate stood at 1.43%, said the

Directorate General of Health

Services.

So far, 362,428 patients - 81.02%

- including 2,076 new ones in the

last 24 hours have recovered.

Bangladesh reported its first

Covid-19 cases on March 8. The

infection number reached the

300,000-mark on August 26. The

first death was reported on March

18 and the death toll hit 6,000 on

November 4.

Up to now, 2,649,072 tests have

been carried out, including 13,870

new ones, and 14.85% of the

patients turned out to be positive.

Bangladesh is seeing 2626.68

infections, 2128.09 recoveries, and

37.51 deaths per million.

So far, 3,377 have died in Dhaka

division, 1,234 in Chattogram, 389

in Rajshahi, 488 in Khulna, 215 in

Barishal, 262 in Sylhet, 291 in

Rangpur, and 132 in Mymensingh.

Zohr

05:00 AM

11:50 PM

03:35 PM

05:15 PM

06:35 PM

6:18 5:11

68 policemen fail's dope

test, 10 terminated

TBT REPoRT

Sixty-eight policemen including seven

sub-inspectors, one sergeant, five assistant

sub-inspectors, five nayeks, and

50 constables have failed the tests.

Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan

Police (DMP) has terminated 10

policemen and suspended 18 more for

failing dope tests.

DMP Deputy Commissioner for

Media and Public Relation Walid

Hossain confirmed this.

Also, allegations - including taking and

selling drugs, falsely implicating people

with it, and taking a bribe to show a lesser

number of recovered drugs - were

made against 29 other policemen.

Most of the policemen, caught out in

dope tests, were assigned to work at different

police stations and have initially

been suspended.

On Sept 26, DMP Commissioner Md

Shafiqul Islam told informed the media

that they have initiated the process to

sack those who failed dope tests and

make sure the unit does not have place

for any drug abusers.

Those who failed the tests are mostly

addicted to yaba and marijuana.

Police sources said there have been

many allegations against the police concerning

their involvement in the drug

trade and their personal drug abuse.

In addition to the various units making

their own list, the DMP commissioner's

own intelligence department, the

Intelligence Analysis Division (IAD),

also worked to make the list of drug

abusers.

Earlier this year, DMP Commissioner

Md Shafiqul Islam said: "All the suspected

drug-addict policemen will have to

take drug tests. If anyone is found positive,

he will be sacked."

Shafiqul also said police personnel

involved in drugs are already under

intelligence surveillance.

HC calls money launderers 'enemies

of state', seeks info on them

DHAKA : The High Court on Sunday

sought information on money launderers

it termed as "national traitors" and

"enemies of the state" who should be

brought to book, reports UNB.

It issued a rule asking the government

to explain why the ineffectiveness of

government institutions concerned to

prevent money laundering should not

be declared illegal.

The bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam

Talukder and Justice Ahmed Sohel

issued the suo-mote rule after noticing

the comment of the Foreign Minister

published in different newspapers.

It also ordered the Anti-Corruption

Commission, the Bangladesh Bank governor

and National Board of Revenue

(NBR) chairman to submit the list of

those involved in money laundering

with their names and identification to

the court within December 17.

Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin

Uddin Manik represented the state

while Advocate Khurshid Alam stood

for the ACC.

On November 18, Foreign Minister Dr

AK Abdul Momen said government officials

are involved in siphoning-off

money.

"I thought that the number of the

politicians (involved in money laundering)

would be higher but [according to]

the report I received ... many government

officials have houses in foreign

countries and their children are studying

there. I've received 28 cases and

among them four are politicians while

some are RMG businessmen. We're trying

to collect more information," he said

at a programme at the Dhaka Reporters

Unity.

A number of newspapers carried the

minister's remarks.

A report of the Global Financial

Integrity (GFI) in March said that

Bangladesh lost Tk 63,924 crore ($7.53

billion) a year between 2008 and 2017

to trade misinvoicing.

According to Swiss National Bank's

(SNB) annual report for 2019, deposit of

money by Bangladeshis and enterprises

went down by 2.38 percent to 603 million

Swiss Francs (CHF) in 2019 from

617 million CHF in the previous year.

Bangladesh is gearing up for a crackdown

on black money. The government

is reportedly planning to sign taxation

agreements with as many as 12 countries

for allowing exchange of information

in order to bring back black money

stashed abroad.

Municipalities elections

to start from Dec 28: EC

Elections to municipalities across the country

will be held from December 28, the

Election Commission announced yesterday.

"The first phase of municipal election

will be held on December 28," said EC

Senior Secretary Md Alamgir at a press

briefing at the EC office yesterday evening.

In four to five phases, the elections to all

municipalities will be completed by

March and April next year. Voting will be

conducted through EVM, said the EC secretary.

According to the announced

schedule, the last date for submitting

nomination papers in the first phase is

December 1 and the last date for withdrawal

of candidacy is Dec 10. The EC will

scrutinise nomination papers on Dec 3.

'BNP denied recent arson

attacks only to protect

criminals within'

DHAKA : The way vehicles were

torched on November 12 is quite similar

to the incidents of 2014-2015. What

was worse was the denial that followed,

reports UNB.

Those who pulled the strings from

behind the scene and gave financial

support are also to blame. Also, the

ones who are trying to cover up the

attackers should be brought to book.

Information Minister Hasan

Mahmud said this on Sunday while

talking to reporters at the secretariat.

"BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul

Islam Alamgir and other top leaders of

the party tried to protect the criminals

within it by denying the allegation."

Monir to lose 200 plots if

fraudulence found:Rajuk

The pitch of

the road, the

stones have

gone up and

big holes

have been

created. The

picture was

taken from

from the

bottom of

Mayor

Mohammad

Hanif flyover

yesterday.

Photo : Star

Mail

DHAKA : 'Golden Monir' will be stripped

of the ownership of 200 plots if the allegations

ofirregularitiesagainst him are

proved,said Chairman of Rajdhani

Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) Md

Sayeed Noor Alam, reports UNB.

The chairman came up with the

remarks while talking to journalists at

LGD office on

Sunday.

Talking about

the recovery of

documents of 200

plots from Monir's

house, Alam said,

"We're investigating

the matter.

Legal action will

be taken against

all those to be

found involved in

the irregularities."

Responding to a

question regarding

Rajuk officials'

involvement in the matter, he said, "I

believe this is not a thing that happened

overnight ...it's a long process that has

come to light recently."

It first came in the limelight last year

when Rajuk took steps and the process

will continue until it is fully unveiled, the

chairman said.

Talking about recovering some documents

from an office of Rajuk Bhaban

last year, Alam said they seized 72 documents

in a drive from a room which was

earlier rented to outsiders.

A case was filed with Motijheel Police

Station and an official was arrested in this

regard, he said adding that a departmental

case was filed against him.

"We'll take action if any other official is

found involved in the matter after police

investigations," Alam said. Talking about

the allegation of providing VIP protocol

to Monir, the Rajukchairman said: "We

followed the government procedures, no

one was given VIP protocol; there had

been no irregularity in this regard."

Earlier, three cases were filed against

'Golden Monir' in connection with the

recovery of foreign currencies, firearms

and liquor from his Badda residence on

Saturday.

MONDAY, NOVeMBeR 23, 2020

2

64 more test

positive for

COVID-19 in Ctg

A reception has been accorded to former vice president of Bangladesh Chhatra League Md. Nurul

Karim Jewel for being nominated as a member of the central committee of Bangladesh

AwamiJuboLeague. Md. Nurul Karim Jewel, a member of the Central Committee of JuboLeague,

was given a crest at a reception held at Basurhat Municipality Hallroom on Saturday evening at the

initiative of CompaniganjUpazila and Basurhat Municipality Jubo League.CompaniganjUpazila

Juba League President Azam Pasha Chowdhury Rumel presided over the occasion

whileCompaniganjUpazila Parishad Chairman Mohammad Sahab Uddin was the chief guest at the

occasion. Photo: Manik Bhuiyan

CWIS-FSM Cell launching

ceremony held

The launching ceremony of Citywide

Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) FSM

Support Cell was held at the Department

of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) in

the capital with an aim to ensure safe

sanitation, a press release said.

Local Government, Rural

Development and Cooperatives Minister

Md Tajul Islam inaugurated the Cell at a

virtual inaugural function on

Thursday.The CWIS FSM Support Cell

has been set up at the DPHE in

collaboration with the Bill and Melinda

Gates Foundation.

Speaking at the function, Tajul Islam

GD- 1574/20 (5 x 3)

sought cooperation from various partner

organisations and stakeholders to

achieve the target of safe sanitation for

all by 2030. The minister also expressed

his profound gratitude to all the

development organisations supporting

Bangladesh with their overall, technical

and financial assistance and mentioned

that Government is working very

minutely targeting 'VISION -2041'to

tackle all kinds of waste and to reduce

environmental pollution to achieve 'SDG

2030'.

Local Government, Rural

Development and Cooperatives Minister

Md Tajul Islam extended his special

thanks to Bill & Melinda Gates

Foundation for providing support to

establish and operationalize the CWIS-

FSM Cell at DPHE.

Helal Uddin Ahmed, Senior Secretary,

Local Government Division chaired the

virtual launching event organised by

Department of Public Health (DPHE).

Participants of the key stakeholders in

sanitation sector and development

partners joined the event while MsZuena

Aziz, Principal Coordinator of SDG

Affairs, Prime Minister's Office and Mr

Rodger Voorhies, President, Global

Growth & Opportunity of the

Bill & Melinda Gates

Foundation were also present

as Special Guests. Mr. Md.

Saifur Rahman, Chief

Engineer, Department of

Public Health Engineering

delivered the welcome speech

in the launching ceremony.

Representatives from

various development

partners also expressed their

strong willingness to continue

working with the Local

Government Division and

Department of Public Health

Engineering to achieve safely

managed sanitation

nationwide.

It is to be mentioned that

the support cell has been

established following the

'National Action Plan' in line

with the execution of the

Institutional and Regulatory

Framework of Faecal Sludge

Management (FSM). The

Support cell shall work to

support Local Government

Institutions in efficient

planning,

project

development, stakeholders'

capacity building, public

awareness raising and

monitoring and evaluation of

both faecal sludge and solid

waste.

CHATTOGRAM : A total of

64 people were tested

positive for coronavirus in

the last 24 hours after

testing 1,930 samples at

eight COVID-19 laboratories

in the district. Among the

newly detected patients, 57

are from Chattogram city

and seven from different

upazilas of the district,

hospital sources said.

The number of

coronavirus (COVID-19)

positive cases reached at

23,628 amid the frequent

rising trend in the daily

infection rate in recent days

only in the district, Dr

Sheikh Fazle Rabbi, civil

surgeon of Chattogram, told

BSS.

Among the total 23,628

coronavirus patients, 17,779

are the residents of the port

city and the rest 5,848 are

residents of different

upazilas of the district.

The number of

coronavirus (COVID-19)

fatalities in Chattogram

reached at 315 while a single

death case was reported

during the 24 hours.

With the healing of 89

more infected patients, the

total number of recovered

COVID-19 patients rose to

18,261.

"The healed patients were

discharged from different

home isolations and

Dedicated Corona Isolation

Hospitals of the district as

two consecutive real-time

PCR tests were found

negative," he said.

Besides, 1,351 patients are

undergoing treatment at

isolation units of different

hospitals in the port city.

Rail link with

Khulna resumes

after 8 hours

JASHORE : Rail

communications between

Khulna and other parts of

the country resumed on

Sunday after being cut off for

eight hours following an

accident, reports UNB.

Asit Kumar Biswas, a

railway official, said train

services resumed around

4am after a relief train

removed the damaged

vehicle from the rail track.

Earlier, on Saturday,

trucker Akbar Ali was killed,

and his assistant was injured

as a train hit his vehicle at

Murli railway crossing of

Khulna-Benapole highway.

The accident happened as

the coal-laden truck did not

slow down near the rail

track, ignoring the railway

crossing sign at 8pm, said

the gateman.

A relief train from Khulna

reached the spot around

midnight on Saturday to

remove the vehicle from the

rail track and restore rail

communications.

GD- 1577/20 (4 x 3)

RPRD No. 4980, Date. 22/11/20

GD- 1572/20 (9 x 3)

AvBGmwcAvi/wewea/2020/2328

22/11/20

Iqvmv- R: Z: 416/2020

GD- 1575/20 (5 x 4)

GD- 1576/20 (5 x 4)

METRO

mondAY, november 23, 2020

3

884/1(14)

the first synergy team program of rotary international bangladesh district-3281 was held in dhaka

on saturday.

Photo : Courtesy

rotary plans to set up a

nationwide comfort zone

for female students

The first synergy team program

of Rotary International

Bangladesh District-3281 was

held in Dhaka on Saturday.

Rotary Governor (Elect)

Barrister Mutasim Billah

Farooqi presented plans for

various long-term service

projects including setting up

comfort zones for female

students of various educational

institutions across the country,

provision of pure water,

implementation of mass

education programs.

District Governor Md.

Rubaiyat Hossain, FDFL

Rokeya Faruqi, PDG Khairul

Alam, Governor Nominee MA

Wahab, former Governor

Magfur Uddin Ahmed, Dr. Mir

Anisuzzaman, Selim Reza, AFM

Alamgir, Shamsul Huda,

Shawkat Hossain, Event Chair

Ibrahim Zayed Pinak, Secretary

General Nurul Huda Pintu, Tipu

Khan, Iqbal Karim and others

leaders attended in the program.

It is to be noted that

Bangladesh Rotary is the largest

district organization of Rotary

International, the biggest

voluntary organization of the

world.

Anisul for upgrading

all to survive in

changing-world

DHAKA : Law, Justice and

Parliamentary Affairs Minister

Advocate Anisul Haque yesterday

called for upgrading everyone for

surviving in this ever changing world.

"In order to survive successfully in

this changing world, everyone from the

lowest position to the highest position

must be promoted to a timely, modern

and global standard. And for this there

is no alternative to training," he said.

He was speaking at the inauguration

programme of the 143rd online

refreshers' course for district and

session judges and special judges at the

Judicial Administration Training

Institute here.

Today's online training courses are

also one of the outputs of the changing

world especially in the coronavirus

pandemic, he said, adding that

COVID-19 has forced all to organize

the online training course, even the

courts have enacted IT laws and

introduced virtual courts during the

pandemic.

He said under the leadership of

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,

Bangladesh has achieved all the

qualifications to be recognized as a

developing country by the United

Nations.

On the eve of Bangladesh's transition

from Least Developed Country (LDC)

status and embarking on its journey as

a developing country, the country is in

a state of transition, he said, adding

that at this time it is needed to ensure

the rule of law, justice and good

governance in order to continue the

progress of economic, social and

humanitarian indicators.

Anisul said that everyone and every

institute should work towards the

same goal - and that is the

development of the people of the

country.

Director General of Judicial

Administration Training Institute

Justice Khandaker Musa Khaled

presided over the ceremony while Law

and Justice Division Secretary Md

Golam Sarwar also spoke on the

occasion.

GD- 1578/20 (9 x 4)

GD- 1573/20 (20 x 4)

MonDay, noveMbeR 23, 2020

4

Saudi arabia has always delivered stability in turbulent times

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Monday, November 23, 2020

Make civil servants

truly accountable

Recently, from the highest level of the government

came the statement that civil servants of Bangladesh

are responsible in the main for money laundering

activities or sending their ill gotten monies abroad to buy real

estate and other properties. This puts into focus the hard fact

that members of the civil services in Bangladesh are among

the most corrupt. Otherwise, how could they lay their hands

on such huge amounts of monies for sending abroad ?

Not only the same give an idea as to their powers, influences,

capacities for wheeling-dealing,etc., the other notable

aspect from this is their relative sense of non accountability

that enable such corruptions at the expense of the State and

its people. But incredibly they remain the undeserved beneficiaries

of unceasing showering of monetary and material

gifts on them such as higher salaries and perks, cars, state

paid residences, loans on easiest terms to buy lands, telephones,

drivers, etc.

The question that cannot help but arise is : why these civil

servants who are but a tiny fraction of the entire work force

in the country, why they are being allowed to perpetuate in

their unearned gains or wallow in their unfairly attained

wealth and status whereas the rest of the working population

remain so unfairly deprived or squeezed. Indeed, this state of

affairs has been begging for an explanation for a very long

time.

As it is, civil servants in Bangladesh or the bureaucracy

form a too privileged group in the sense that they feel

accountable to none. Many of them look at their jobs as

'sinecures' really from where none can dislodge them. This

mentality breeds both arrogance and indifference.

The main cure for unsatisfactory governance in the

Bangladesh context can be no other than a system well laid

in place to put the civil servants of any rank under compulsion

to perform better. In other words, there must be instituted

an 'accountability structure' to make the civil servants

accountable for what they do or do badly and the penalties

to be paid thereof. Simultaneously, there should be also

devised a system to reward promptly and amply the civil servants

for their good and exceptional performance.

Such a framework of discipline and motivation respectively

can work better than any amount of suggestions thrown at

the civil servants to go for auto improvements of their performance.

Individuals in most cases do not or cannot take

the initiative to improve themselves. However, if an effective

system is in place to guard against their wrong doings and

slothful mentality, then the same undoubtedly delivers better

results in all situations.

Apart from systems to improve , the civil services are in

need of deep and driving reforms in every department. A

series of commissions and committees were set up by successive

government to study and recommend administrative

reforms. But the study reports have been gathering dust and

only a few out of the many hundreds of recommendations

for administrative reforms have been actually implemented

so far.

Vested interest groups in the civil services themselves continue

to be very alert to defeat any move for substantial

reforms of the government departments that they perceive

would undermine their prospects for bribery and privilege.

Therefore, the imperative is for the bosses of the civil servants,

the ruling political party and its leading lights, to

muster enough pluck and resolve to push through extensive

reforms throughout the length and breadth of the civil services.

If they really mean business, then they must attempt such

reforms at the fastest. There is no need for the present

administrative reforms commission to engage afresh in a

dilatory procedure to complete its tasks. It would be enough

to implement the main proposals of the previous administrative

reform commissions for they are essentially similar

and their implementation at an early date can achieve qualitative

improvements in the functioning of the civil services.

Good governance will not come about from wishing for it or

urging the civil servants to that end. It can be attained only

through purposeful actions to create a system and from

reform activities.

Couple of years ago people came to know about question

paper leaks in BCS examinations. Thus, some persons who

become civil servants after taking and passing such examinations

in some cases cannot be relied upon to have any integrity

to start with. Besides, it is no secret these days that many

civil servants look at their jobs rather as cash cows to squeeze

out as much as possible in the form of graft. Thus, customs

officials or policemen whose monthly salaries were not even

forty thousand taka were found building palatial houses and

sending their family members for treatment abroad to treat

sometimes minor health problems. From where they get the

money to sustain such a lifestyle ? An answer is not necessary

and should be obvious to the readers.

Thus, civil service reforms can no more pend because these

services are the sources of some of the greatest corruption in

Bangladesh today. The deep cleansing of the civil services is

absolutely necessary to clean them from corruption and to

this end sweeping reforms are indispensable.

The G20 is the world's largest

economic bloc, which not only

draws on the strategic features of

the global economy but also sets future

plans.

Saudi Arabia holds the presidency of

the organization this year. Though the

pandemic has forced its annual summit

to become a virtual event, this has not

stopped the Kingdom from leveraging its

potential as the most exceptional summit

in many years, despite circumstances

that are among the most dangerous in

history.

As a result, Saudi Arabia has ensured

the summit will be of great influence and

importance both for the Kingdom and

the world.

The Saudi leadership of the G20 this

year follows a long history of the nation

helping to deliver stability in turbulent

times, never more so than in recent years.

The Kingdom has helped to steer the

direction of OPEC+ oil producers, and is

about to enter the fifth year of a unique

pact among producers with a great

historical consensus and high

compliance rates.

When Saudi Arabia hosts the summit

of the 20 largest economies this

weekend, it will be presiding over the

most important gathering in the history

of the G20, an organization whose

members represent 66 percent of the

world's population, 85 percent of the

Some such adventure is unfolding in slow

motion right before our eyes as the flashand-bang

of politics swallows the

wholesome need for rational and timely

decision-making. The business of the state

waits for no one - not even the government.

Crucial and pressing issues of national

security are starved for political attention. On

the table they sit, piling high by the day, while

decision-makers, legislators and

implementers wrestle each other to the

ground. Thus is birthed the true legend of

political irrelevance.

The dossier tells its story even when it

narrates another one. Last week, Foreign

Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and DG

ISPR Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar addressed a

press conference in which they unveiled

substantive proofs of India's state-sponsored

terrorism in Pakistan. The dossier detailed

information whose exactitude surpasses

previous such official reports. This document

is a major step within a larger attempt by

Pakistan to reframe the narrative that India

has peddled at our expense.

This reframing is an evolving process that

requires a whole-of-the-nation approach. It

also requires a buy-in from key political

stakeholders. For such a buy-in to happen, all

have to be in the loop. The loop runs through

a common understanding that national

security matters should override partisan

politicking. In the absence of such an

understanding, there is no consensus, no

consultation, no process and no outcome.

Toxic politics, swirling around our

landscape like a ferocious dust storm, is taking

a heavy toll on the running of the state.

Yet there cannot not be an outcome because

the business of the state must go on. When it

does go on, it surpasses, or bypasses, all those

global economy, and 75 percent of world

trade.

During its presidency, Saudi Arabia has

insisted on translating commitments and

pledges by the leaders of member nations

into real-world actions. This has resulted

in decisive solutions and bold action

plans that will enhance the global

recovery from the pandemic.

Through its presidency of the G20, the

Kingdom has helped to overcome the

health and economic challenges the

world is facing. These cannot be

managed by countries working in

isolation - there is a need to work

together while respecting different points

of view, customs and traditions.

During the pandemic, Saudi Arabia has

provided its citizens and residents with

things that no other member of the G20

has provided. It has exemplified the

Silky cloak of irrelevance

who are too busy wrestling in the political ring.

The policy that emerges on the other side of

this bypass, and the outcome it generates as a

result of its implementation, can never have

the efficacy it could have had - should have had

- had it been enriched by bipartisan political

nourishment.

In the case of the dossier on Indian statesponsored

terrorism, political parties,

including the ruling one, have a key role to play

in terms of packaging it into a politically

digestible narrative for domestic and external

audiences. This narrative cannot be blanketed

across this vast audience; rather it has to be

injected into the veins of public opinion so that

it seeps deep into the global bloodstream. This

requires political finesse, and policy nuance,

and a level of strategic communication that

can command the kind of credibility that an

informed international audience requires in

this day and age.

Try crafting all this inside a wrestling ring.

Then there's the delicate issue of according

Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) a provisional provincial

status. The matter is as complicated as it is

critical within the existing national security

matrix. At least one meeting with all political

FaISal Faeq

FahD huSaIn

concept of humanity to the world and set

an example for others to follow, despite a

health crisis that has caused economic

shock waves affecting the whole world.

Riyadh's presidency of the G20 this

year was a recognition of its economic

and political strength at the global level.

Riyadh's presidency of the G20 this

year was a recognition of its economic

During the pandemic, Saudi arabia has provided

its citizens and residents with things that no

other member of the G20 has provided. It has

exemplified the concept of humanity to the world

and set an example for others to follow, despite a

health crisis that has caused economic shock

waves affecting the whole world.

Ruqayya alblooShI

and political strength at the global level.

The Kingdom has also proven its ability

to provide support and assistance to the

world in a number of situations related to

international peace and security.

Its presidency and participation in the

work of the G20 has not only been in

accordance with established protocols,

but Saudi Arabia has also left a lasting

impression of its leadership, especially

with how it reacted to the emergence of

the COVID-19 pandemic.

leaders present - except one - has been held to

discuss the issue and forge a consensus. The

absence of Prime Minister Imran Khan and

the presence of the army chief Gen Qamar

Javed Bajwa, who played host, paints the

predicament of this event for what it is.

A second attempt was made by the Speaker

of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser to get all

party leaders into the same room for a briefing

on ostensibly the same issue. It was an illconsidered

plan since the GB election

campaign was underway at that time. It was

also presented as a fait accompli to the

opposition instead of bringing them on board

earlier in terms of the agenda and expected

outcomes. Had the prime minister - in his

capacity as the leader of the house - agreed to

attend the meeting? No one knew. The

opposition rejected the invite. That was the

end of the matter.

Try crafting a consensus, with all its

constitutional complexities attached, on the

GB issue inside the wrestling ring. The list is

long. Issue after issue desperate for attention

and input; desperate for debate and decision;

and desperate for options and solutions. On

Covid-19 the role of political parties and

At home, the signs are positive that the

Kingdom's strategy of diversifying its

sources of income is proceeding

according to plan. Its ambitious vision for

the future has been able to create

diversity, and many targeted sectors -

including tourism, telecommunications,

retail, manufacturing and construction -

are experiencing growth and offering

other encouraging future indicators.

Meanwhile, the programs and

initiatives contained within Saudi Vision

2030 continue to make vital

contributions to strengthening

governance and transparency within the

country, while developing policies and

procedures. It has also filled some gaps,

as a result of which corruption can be

eliminated, performance can be

measured and government agencies can

be restructured. These are great

achievements for the ongoing economic

reforms.

The Kingdom has shown an ability to

implement its strategy, and if it were not

for the pandemic we would have seen

record numbers achieved in those sectors

well within the strategy's timeline.

This indicates that such positive

results, based on the reality of the

Kingdom's economy, are in line with the

findings of international research centers

and already exceed many expectations.

Source: arab news

parliament has been negligible. The National

Command and Operation Centre became the

nerve centre for the fightback against the virus

because the government and the civilian

apparatus appeared capacity-challenged in

the face of the initial threat. That was nearly

nine months ago.

Throughout this period, key institutions that

constitute our democratic governance

structure - cabinets, parliaments, political

parties - had no valuable input to give in the

struggle against the pandemic. With the

second wave rising ominously, all signs are

that these institutions will keep themselves

wrapped up in their silky cloak of irrelevance.

Make no mistake: the vicious, hate-filled,

and toxic politics, swirling around our

landscape like a ferocious dust storm, is taking

a heavy toll on the running of the state. This

degradation of governance - for what else can

one call this travesty - is pushing an already

unstable polity into quasi-chaos. Weighty

matters are being made light of; urgent issues

are being left on the back-burner; and crucial

decisions are being deferred for an indefinite

time, all this because - and this is where it

borders on criminal apathy - yes, all this

because the fight against the opponent takes

precedence over everything. Everything.

We as a republic might as well go into the

business of selling bananas. No nation-state

worth its name would ridicule the art of

statecraft as we are doing; and none would be

oblivious of it as we are. The sheer juvenility of

approach towards governance is distressing.

And yet here we are, a nuclear armed state of

220 million citizens, stuck in a political traffic

jam, honking away in fury. What do you do

when there's no cop in sight and no one wants

to reverse first?

Source: Dawn

Women are equal partners in peace and security

When we think about armed

conflicts, what comes to mind

are military men, defence

weapons, and destruction. Similarly,

when we think of conflict and

peacekeeping missions, we envision men

shaking hands and men in blue helmets,

ceasefire, and the protection of civilians.

Despite comprising half the world's

population, women, as well as their

contributions, have historically been left

out of the peace and security process.

Looking at the period between 1992-2011,

the World Economic Forum documents

that women represented only 4% of

signatories to peace agreements and only

9% of negotiators.

When peacekeeping missions take place

in post-conflict-torn countries, women

and girls suffer the most from

displacement, a lack of medicine and

food, and life-threatening situations.

Therefore, the inclusion of women in

peacekeeping missions is vital to establish

communication with the local community

of women and girls, especially in

environments where women cannot

speak to men due to conservatism or a

fear of foreign troops.

Therefore, women's roles are a crucial

part of trust-building and starting the

dialogues necessary to connect and assist

This reframing is an evolving process that requires a

whole-of-the-nation approach. It also requires a buy-in

from key political stakeholders. For such a buy-in to

happen, all have to be in the loop. The loop runs

through a common understanding that national security

matters should override partisan politicking. In the

absence of such an understanding, there is no consensus,

no consultation, no process and no outcome.

communities in need. One of the men in a

displaced area once said, "We speak to

women as we know that they are here to

make peace, not war."

Women are vital actors and

contributors in the decision-making

process across all levels of conflict

prevention, resolution, and

peacebuilding. Further, they are

instrumental to the completion of war and

the attainment of lasting peace and

security This year, the United Nations

Security Council celebrates 20 years since

the historic Resolution 1325 adaptation,

which advocated for a cohesive approach

toward the gender perspective in Peace

and Security. Resolution 1325 is

considered an "inspirational milestone"

for the Security Council and the

manifestation of the United Nations'

priorities.

The resolution is also considered one of

the most celebrated achievements

architectured by civil society,

policymakers, and diplomats. Former UN

Secretary General Kofi Annan was one of

the primary advocates for women's

inclusion in peace and security. He

famously noted, "Resolution 1325 holds

out a promise to women across the globe

that their rights will be protected and that

barriers to their equal participation and

full involvement in the maintenance and

promotion of sustainable peace will be

removed. We must uphold this promise."

Resolution 1325 urges the member

states to increase women's participation

across the Security Council, focusing on

three main pillars: prevention, protection,

and participation of conflicts. It also urged

parties in armed conflicts to protect

women and girls from violence during

war and also engage them in negotiations

to ensure a lasting peace.

As per the United Nations, it is 20%

more likely to achieve peace post-conflict

for over two years when women

participate in peace negotiations. Thus,

engaging women in the process is

strategic to the construction of longlasting

peace. This resolution resulted

from high-level advocacy, driven by

NGOs and civil society, and resulted in a

two-day debate at the security council

which was for the first time dedicated to

women.

Since October 2000, when the United

Nations Security Council adopted

Resolution 1325, countries have

increasingly incorporated Women, Peace,

and Security agendas. From 1998 to

2000, less than 5% of resolutions

mentioned women, girls, or gender.

However, from 2000 to 2010, over 45% of

monitored resolutions referenced women

and gender.

In light of Resolution 1325, in 2019, the

United Arab Emirates government took

the lead in supporting its progress by

launching a training program sponsored

by Khawla bint Al Azwar Military School

in Abu Dhabi to build women's capacity in

the military and peacekeeping sectors.

Starting with 134 Arab women in 2019,

the program expanded to include 223

women from Africa, Asia and Arab

countries in January 2020. The efforts

demonstrated strong commitment and

support by the UAE government, which

resulted in renaming the Women Peace

and Security Training Programme the

"Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Women

Peace and Security Initiative".

Countries and regional actors must

reduce the gap between the ambitions of

the resolution and on ground

implementation. Women are vital actors

and contributors in the decision-making

process across all levels of conflict

prevention, resolution, and

peacebuilding. Further, they are

instrumental to the completion of war and

the attainment of lasting peace and

security.

Source: Gulf news

MondAY, noveMber 9, 2020

5

The un-tech touch in the US election

SHIra oVIDe

It's November, and I'm going

to call it: 2020 was the year

when technology proved both

more essential in our lives

than ever and largely

irrelevant in the most

important parts of it. as the

United States is nearing the

conclusion to a tight

presidential election, the

nation's spotlight is on the

least technological scene

imaginable: bureaucrats

methodically checking and

double-checking pen-andpaper

ballots. Those ballots

were in some cases delivered

by the postal Service, whose

origins date back more than

200 years.

The american voting

system is fragmented, overly

complicated, underfunded

and prone to incompetence or

comical accidents. and in

spite of that, it worked pretty

well in an election that was

profoundly altered by the

pandemic. Sometimes boring

is better. But in america,

because boring is boring, we

tend to undervalue it.

But blockchain did not tally

the votes. artificial

intelligence didn't rejigger

polling places for coronavirus

safety measures. robots

didn't wait in long lines to vote

(I don't think). That time 40

years ago - it was February -

when the Iowa Democratic

party tried to improve the

complicated caucus tallying

system with an app … yeah, it

didn't go very well. our voting

system might be an

anachronism, but technology

is probably not the answer.

We know about the

technology that mattered in

2020, too, to keep us working,

schooling, communicating,

playing and understanding

the world at a time when none

of that was normal. even this

election season, candidates

campaigned through screens

and people organized,

donated and spread both

good and bad information

through screens.

But I also know that when

This year has shown that technology can be both

essential and irrelevant. Collected

we're facing a challenge it's

tempting to believe that

technology is the answer. That

driverless cars would

eliminate road accidents. That

facial recognition software

would protect children, and

body cameras would fight bias

in policing. That new forms of

technology would help us

achieve better health care,

better education and a

healthier planet. That social

media would give voice to the

voiceless. That tech would

solve the problems caused by

tech.

There is truth in all of this,

of course. Technology can be

an incredibly useful tool. But

technology is not magic.

Most of the important stuff

that happened this year

pointed to the essential nature

of boring stuff: Smart public

policy or the lack of it. Good

leadership making good

decisions, or the lack of it.

Medicine and science that

iterates and learns. Human

ingenuity and kindness to

feed hungry people and look

out for our family and

neighbors. people making do.

people planting their feet on

the streets in rage and sadness

at the mistreatment of their

fellow americans.

The things that mattered

were the roughly 160 million

americans who squeezed in

time after a late shift or

ignored the shrieking of their

kids at home to vote. and the

people and institutions that

delivered or tallied votes in

the most boring way possible.

people dressed as postal

Service mailboxes shimmied

at a protest in philadelphia on

Thursday. If you needed a

symbol of our utterly un-tech

mailbox election, there it was.

That is what I will remember

from this year in technology.

That technology didn't matter

so much for the most

important stuff. Technology is

not the answer. We are.

When upstarts that started

online buy stodgy but famous

old names, people like me get

to wax poetic about how the

upstarts are swallowing the

old-timers. amazon's

takeover of Whole Foods was

a moment for a new economy

king to assert its dominance.

an iconic department store

chain, lord & Taylor, sold

itself last year to a clothing

rental start-up called le Tote.

Gopuff, an app that drunk

college students use to order

Cheetos and other

convenience store items and

has expanded its reach, this

week agreed to acquire a

much-loved chain of liquor

stores. (oK, a liquor store is

not lord & Taylor. But people

do love BevMo.)

These milestones tend to

lead to reflections on how

time marches on. In with the

new, out with the old. How the

mighty have fallen. etc.

Sometimes yes. But

sometimes when David takes

over a Goliath, it also proves

the enduring value of the

stodgy old guard. or it's a sign

that the young upstart doesn't

know what it's doing.

When amazon bought

Whole Foods three years ago,

it showed amazon's

confidence and boundless

ambition. But it was also

amazon - a company that

defined store-less shopping

for a quarter-century - saying

that stores still matter, and

amazon didn't quite know

how to do them on its own.

Tesla Model 3s at a factory in Shanghai, China.

JaSper Jolly

one of the biggest investors in Tesla has

defended the explosive growth in the US

electric carmaker's share price, arguing

that it is "far from an aberration". Baillie

Gifford, the edinburgh-based

investment manager that runs the

Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust

(SMIT), has been the second-biggest

winner from Tesla's rocketing share

price, beaten only by Tesla's outspoken

chief executive, elon Musk.

Tesla has rapidly risen to become the

world's most valuable carmaker,

outstripping the likes of Volkswagen and

Toyota despite producing only a fraction

of the cars. Its shares have risen from the

equivalent of about $7 in 2013, when

Baillie Gifford first invested, to more

than $438 after trading closed on

Thursday. Its market value has

quintupled during 2020 to $415bn.

The rise has astonished many of

Tesla's army of admirers, as well as

critics who argue it is a massive

investment bubble. However, SMIT, an

investment fund listed on the FTSe 100,

argued that Tesla, which has been

profitable for five consecutive quarters,

could be one of the firms that most

benefits from the transition away from

fossil fuels.

In its half-year report, published on

Friday, its managers said: "Whilst the

company and its colourful founder

attract an unusually high degree of

attention, emotion and noise, the

underlying return picture is far from an

aberration. returns are concentrated in

a handful of big winners.

"Tesla has made significant

operational progress. It has successfully

added capacity and the production ramp

of its latest model has progressed far

more smoothly than for any of its

previous vehicles. Demand for its

products is strong and the response from

its traditional competitors remains

muted."

Tesla shares accounted for 12% of the

value of SMIT's investment portfolio.

Photo: Aly Song

Tesla investor backs soaring share price

The carmaker was responsible for a

quarter of SMIT's entire performance

during the six months to the end of

September.

Baillie Gifford manages assets worth

£296bn. all of the Tesla shares

controlled by Baillie Gifford, including in

SMIT, are worth about £16.7bn. The

fund has made repeated large bets on

fast-growing tech companies including

amazon and the Chinese tech duo

Tencent and alibaba.

SMIT was forced to sell some of its

shares in Tesla during the six months to

September because its size was pushing

against self-imposed limits on the

concentration of its portfolio.

However, the trust also has other big

bets on companies that hope to take a

central place in the electric car

revolution, including Nio, a Chinese

electric carmaker hoping to rival Tesla

despite struggling in the last year, and

Northvolt, a european battery

manufacturer that has received heavy

financial backing from the eU.

Facebook removes rapidly built conspiracy group

JUlIa CarrIe WoNG

Facebook removed a viral

group falsely claiming that

"Democrats are scheming to

disenfranchise and nullify

republican votes" after it

gained more than 350,000

members in a single day.

The hasty enforcement

action against a political

group was unusual for

Facebook and raised

questions about the

consistency

and

transparency of the

company's content

moderation.

The group, "Stop the

Steal", was established by a

rightwing not-for-profit

group, Women for america

First, and run by a team of

moderators

and

administrators that included

the longtime Tea party

activist amy Kremer.

Members were encouraged

to provide their email

addresses to a website

calling for "boots on the

ground to protect the

integrity of the vote", as well

as to donate money.

The group exploded in

popularity on Wednesday

and Thursday, racking up

more than 730,000

interactions, according to

data from CrowdTangle, a

Facebook-owned social

media analytics platform.

Many of the most popular

posts in the group were calls

for prayer for Donald

Trump, but the group was

also rife with

misinformation about the

election and processes for

counting ballots. Two of the

group's moderators,

Jennifer lawrence and

Dustin Stockton, are

connected to the "We Build

the Wall" campaign, for

which former Trump adviser

Steve Bannon was indicted

for fraud, the Daily Beast

reported.

"In line with the

exceptional measures that

we are taking during this

period of heightened

tension, we have removed

the Group 'Stop the Steal,'

which was creating realworld

events," a Facebook

spokesperson said in a

statement. "The group was

organized around the

delegitimization of the

election process, and we saw

worrying calls for violence

from some members of the

group." The group was

promoting about a dozen

"Stop the Steal" Facebook

events in cities around the

US; some but not all of those

event pages have been taken

down.

Sites where ballot

counting continues have

become targets for a handful

of protests as the process

drags on - and the president

encourages conspiracy

theories about the normal

process of counting votes.

Trump supporters chanting

"stop the count" converged

at an election center in

Detroit on Wednesday

afternoon, while Trump

backers in phoenix, some

reportedly armed, gathered

at an election site to urge

more counting.

one protester in Detroit

told the Guardian he was

responding to a call to action

posted by a Facebook page

"Stand Up Michigan" that

formed to protest against

Covid lockdowns. Facebook

subsequently removed the

page, and a related group,

"based on the potential risk

for offline harm", a

spokesperson said.

Soon after the Stop the

Steal group was removed by

Facebook, new groups with

similar names began rapidly

attracting members. Many

stated their intention to go

"private" to evade

Facebook's censors or urged

followers to migrate to other

Hasty ban of political group raised questions about consistency and transparency of Facebook's content

moderation.

Photo: Collected

social media platforms,

including the rightwing

parler or MeWe.

Facebook's hasty action on

the Stop the Steal group

stands in marked contrast to

its handling of other

domestic groups that have

organized on its platform.

The company dragged its

heels for months before

taking action against the

anti-government "boogaloo"

movement, which has been

linked to multiple murders,

and against the antisemitic

conspiracy theory Qanon,

which has also been linked

to violence and identified as

a potential domestic

terrorism threat.

The inconsistency and lack

of transparency around

Facebook's approach to

content moderation drew

quick criticism from experts

in the field and digital rights

advocates. "It really matters

that platforms should be as

clear in advance about their

policies and consistent in

their application," said

evelyn Douek, a lecturer at

Harvard law school who

studies online speech

regulation. "That helps fend

off charges that any

decisions are politically

motivated or biased, and

gives us a lever to pull for

accountability that isn't

purely about who can get the

most public attention or

generate public outrage."

evan Green, the deputy

director of Fight for the

Future, raised concerns

about Facebook setting "an

extremely dangerous

precedent". "are people not

allowed to form a group on

Facebook to discuss if they

truly believe their

government is engaged in

electoral misconduct?" she

tweeted. "How does this play

out globally?"

Facebook did not

immediately respond to

queries from the Guardian,

including whether the group

would have met the

threshold for a takedown

under

normal

circumstances, apart from

"this period of heightened

tension", and the nature or

volume of calls for violence.

The company also declined

to provide data or statistics

about the scale of content

takedowns since Tuesday.

"We don't know what

accounts have been deleted;

we don't know what

hashtags or videos have

been taken down," said Joan

Donovan, the research

director at Harvard's

Shorenstein Center on

Media, politics and public

policy. "all we know

collectively as researchers,

journalists and civil society

is what we've caught

ourselves. labeling the

president's tweets - that's

something everyone can see.

But if we're talking about

paramilitary organizing

around claims of election

fraud, we need to know if

Facebook is seeing that."

She added: "There should

be an hour-by-hour update

from every one of these

platforms about every action

taken related to election

misinformation."

Whatsapp's new feature lets users

send disappearing messages

alex HerN

Whatsapp will soon have a disappearing

message feature, designed to enable users of

the chat app to cut down on their digital

footprint. once the update, which is rolling

out from Thursday, hits phones, users will be

able to set an option for each individual chat

they are in - whether one-on-one or a group

- to delete messages automatically seven

days after they have been sent.

Unlike some competitors, such as the

secure messaging app Signal, Whatsapp,

which is owned by Facebook, decided

against offering flexibility to users. There is

no option to change the length of time

messages are stored, for instance; and the

service also removes images and videos sent.

"We're starting with seven days because we

think it offers peace of mind that

conversations aren't permanent, while

remaining practical so you don't forget what

you were chatting about," the company says

in a blogpost. "The shopping list or store

address you received a few days ago will be

there while you need it, and then disappear

after you don't.

"While it's great to hold on to memories

from friends and family, most of what we

send doesn't need to be everlasting. our goal

is to make conversations on Whatsapp feel

as close to in-person as possible, which

means they shouldn't have to stick around

forever."

Disappearing messages can be enabled by

tapping the chat name at the top of the

screen and scrolling down to a new option

for "disappearing messages" to turn it on.

Doing so does not delete older messages, and

either member of a chat can turn the setting

on or off, though in a group chat only

administrators have control.

as with other disappearing message

options, users need to trust their friends.

There is nothing to prevent the other party in

a chat taking screenshots, or forwarding,

messages they want to save for later.

The new feature comes a month after

Whatsapp launched a shopping service,

integrating itself with Facebook more tightly

than ever before. Users will now be able to

message a company on the app, browse a

catalogue of items for sale, and complete a

purchase, all without needing to leave

Whatsapp. The feature will also bring muchneeded

revenue to the company, since

Whatsapp will, finally, start to charge

companies for using its business tools.

Shops that already have a Facebook

presence will be able to operate directly on

Whatsapp too, without needing to set up a

second storefront. But that means that, for

the first time, Whatsapp users could find

that their activities on the chat app feed their

advertising profile on Facebook itself. "When

a person is interacting with a Facebook shop,

those interactions, and the data about them

will be used by Facebook," Matt Idema,

Whatsapp's chief operating officer, told the

Guardian. "So that includes things like what

products you're browsing, and items you

may select or add for purchase."

Whatsapp users will be able to set an option for each chat they are

in.

Photo: Collected

MoNDAY, NoVEMBER 23, 2020 6

BCG recovers huge quantity

of yaba tablets in Teknaf

A two-day training of local government representatives in community clinic management was inaugurated

at Mirzaganj on Sunday

Photo: Uttam Golder

Training of local representatives in community

clinics inaugurated in mirzaganj

uTTam GolDer, mirzaGaNJ CorreSPoNDeNT:

a two-day training of local

government representatives in

community clinic management has

been inaugurated at mirzaganj in

Patuakhali under the initiative of

upazila health and family Planning

Department. The training was

organized by the Community Based

health Care (CBhC) of the

Department of health and in

collaboration with the Japan

international Co-operation agency

(JiCa) at the mirzaganj upazila

health Complex on Sunday morning.

upazila health and family Planning

officer Dr. Dilruba Yasmin lizar

presided over the function while

among others, majidbaria union

Parishad Chairman md Golam Sarwar

Kichlu, health-inspector md asadul

haque, journalist md. farooq Khan,

uttam Golder, chairman, secretary

and uP members of Kakrabunia and

majidbaria unions of the upazila took

part in the training.

a special operation was

conducted by Bangladesh

Coast Guard Station Teknaf

and outpost Shahpuri at on

Saturday midnight and

72,000 pieces yaba tablets

and a wooden boat were

seized during the

smuggling. The operation

was carried out on the basis

of secret information on the

Naf river near Jalliapara

area of Shahpuri island

under Teknaf Police

Station, a press release said.

During the operation, the

Coast Guard members took

position and suddenly a

wooden boat coming

towards Bangladesh from

the myanmar border

seemed suspicious and after

coming to the Bangladesh

border, the Coast Guard

members signaled to stop

their boat. The smugglers

were chased after they tried

to flee. at one point, the

smugglers dropped a sack

into the water, jumped out

of the boat, swam ashore

and entered the jungle on

Members of Bangladesh Coast Guard in a drive seized 72,000 pieces yaba

tablets in Teknaf on Saturday midnight.

the myanmar border.

The floating sack was later

searched and 72,000 pieces

seized. The recovered yaba

tablets was handed over to

Teknaf model Police Station

of yaba tablets were for further legal action.

recovered and the used regular operations are

wooden boat was also being carried out in the

Photo: Courtesy

areas covered by the

Bangladesh Coast Guard to

maintain law and order,

public safety as well as

prevention of kidnapping,

robbery and drug control.

Tourists fined for not wearing

masks in Cox's Bazar

Safiul alam, Cox'S Bazar:

a mobile court in Cox's

Bazar has fined 42 tourists and

tourism-related businessmen

for not using masks to prevent

the spread of coronavirus. a

fine of Tk 6,020 has been

collected during the drive.

Cox's Bazar additional

Deputy Commissioner

(revenue) al-amin Parvez

said the district administration

raided various points of Cox's

Bazar beach at 11:30 am on

Sunday.

additional Deputy

Commissioner Parvez said the

administration has ordered

the use of masks by the general

public as well as tourists

visiting Cox's Bazar to prevent

the spread of the second wave

of corona. But many are not

following the rule. Therefore,

the district administration has

launched a mobile campaign

to make the use of masks

compulsory and create

awareness.

"on Sunday morning, under

the leadership of the executive

magistrate of the district

administration, Cox's Bazar

conducted operations at

various points including

laboni, Sugandha and Kolatali

beachs. The operation was also

carried out on the beach,

Burmese market, dunes and

on the sea shore.

"a mobile court has imposed

a fine of Tk 6,020 on 42 people

for not wearing masks among

tourists and tourism-related

businessmen at that time," the

additional

deputy

commissioner said.

Parvez said, "the mask is a

big protection before any

corona vaccine is discovered.

So the administration is

conducting a mobile court

campaign to ensure that the

general public as well as the

tourists coming to Cox's Bazar

always wear masks".

The additional deputy

commissioner said that the

main objective of running the

mobile court was not only to

punish the violators by

imposing fines but also to

create awareness on

prevention of corona infection.

meanwhile, during the

mobile court raids at various

points on the beach, tourists

and local businessmen who

did not wear face masks were

immediately seen rushing to

buy their masks.

Engineer Jyotirmoy Dhar has been relentlessly providing significant amount of food stuffs to people

who are in miserable situation due to this ongoing lockdown in Chattogram.

Photo: TBT

CoViD-19: Young engineer stands

by middle-class families in Ctg

ChaTToGram Bureau:

The CoViD-19 pandemic has

brought calamity to our lives and the

situation is sliding from bad to worse.

With the prolonged lockdown, the

suffering of the poverty-stricken

people grows acute. This calamity has

posed a two-pronged crisis before us.

and it is not possible for the

government to tackle this alone.

There is the example of engineer

Jyotirmoy Dhar, who personally takes

food to families who are locked down

and have no food. he just appeared as

a real superman to the inhabitants of

Chattogram and the way he extended

his helping hand made him a true

icon of humanity at the present

situation.

The corona virus pandemic, like the

whole world, has brought Bangladesh

to a standstill. as the whole country

was effectively going through a

lockdown phase, lower class and

lower middle-class sections of people

were finding it difficult to arrange a

minimal meal even once a day. These

poor sections across Chattogram have

recently found some hope in

someone-someone who goes by the

name 'Jyotirmoy Dada' responding to

their desperate call for aid.

engineer Jyotirmoy Dhar, who has

recently gone viral for his

humanitarian work, is one of the

many people's champions that this

epidemic crisis has produced. he has

been relentlessly providing significant

amount of food stuffs to people who

are in miserable situation due to this

ongoing lockdown. The generous

gesture he made on march 27, 2020

by distributing small packages of food

in Chattogram has now become a

regular endeavor for aiding distressed

humanity. Since the beginning of this

benevolent effort, Jyotirmoy has

helped more than 5000 families in

Chattogram city. on march 27, 2020,

Jyotirmoy first started his

humanitarian activities for the Youth

red Crescent Chittagong. Jyotirmoy

distributed iftar and Sehri among

20,000 people during the month of

ramadan. Jyotirmoy has recently

made the gift of nutritious fruits for

30 media workers in Chattogram who

have been affected by Corona.

Corona-affected journalists are

regularly visited by him.

earlier, through the Chattogram

Newspaper Computer operators

association, he provided 10 days of

dry food and humanitarian aid to the

families of 50 newspaper computer

operators who lost their jobs in the

coronavirus situation. he provided

food, humanitarian aid and gifts to

the families of 50 journalists who lost

their jobs in the coronavirus situation.

he has stood by all the 4th class

employees, peons and night

watchmen working in Chattogram

Press Club with eid gifts.

Besides, Jyotirmoy is in the field as

a relief worker in Chattogram, a

voluntary organization run by

prominent journalist Tushar

abdullah. he has extended a helping

hand not only to Chattogram but also

to many families in Dhaka city

through Nafisa anjum Khan, a noble

volunteer from Dhaka. he also

extended a helping hand to the

volunteers engaged in burying and

burying the bodies of the victims of

Corona.

he has also extended a helping

hand to some orphanages and

orphanages which are in dire financial

straits in the coronavirus situation.

he is regularly providing nutritious

fruits, drinking water and medicines

to the Corona affected patients free of

cost. few days back, engineer

Jyotirmoy and Nafisa anjum Khan, a

noble volunteer from Dhaka,

distributed exceptional eid gifts to

300 unemployed people in

Chattogram. last week from

engineer Jyotirmoy and Nafisa

anjum khan both sent unique gifts, 10

days food support for 500 flood

affected people in Kurigram.

at present, Jotirmoy is working as a

member of the oxygen Cylinder

Support Team of Youth red Crescent

Chattogram. he is playing important

role to implement various projects in

CoViD 19 operations of Youth red

Crescent, Chattogram. During the

period of Durga Puja mr. Jyotirmoy

distributed gifts to more than 300

poor families in Chattogram city. like

the scent of perfume spreads quickly

through air, smile on a human face is

pervasive similarly. after delivering

each package of food stuff, wide smile

on receiver's face instantly infuse

happiness in Jyotirmoy. "i wish i

could help the whole 170 million

people of the country," thinks

Jyotirmoy after seeing the grateful

smiles on their faces. finding joy in

aiding fellow humans is an intrinsic

quality of him. he likes to help with

whatever he can afford and he has

been doing this for quite some time

now.

engineer Jyotirmoy Dhar is a

research fellow of German institute of

renewable energy and now official

representative and team leader of that

organization in Bangladesh.

A mobile court led by Cox's Bazar Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Al-Amin Parvez

fined 42 tourists and tourism-related businessmen for not using masks to prevent the spread of

coronavirus in the district on Sunday.

Photo: Shafiul Islam

World Children's Day has been celebrated in Bochaganj, by Good Neighbors Bangladesh

Bochaganj CDP. This day was celebrated on Sunday at the office of Good Neighbors Bangladesh

Bochaganj CDP with 100 sponsored children. Bochaganj CDP Project Manager Ratan Bala

presided over the while Upazila Mohila Vice Chairman Putul Rani Roy was the chief guest at the

occasion.

Photo: Suman Chandra

MONdAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2020

7

The Group of 20 summit opened on Saturday with appeals by the world's most powerful

leaders to collectively chart a way forward as the coronavirus pandemic overshadows this

year's gathering, transforming it from in-person meetings to a virtual gathering of

speeches and declarations.

Photo : AP

G-20 summit opens as leaders

urge united response to virus

DUBAI : The Group of 20 summit

opened on Saturday with appeals by

the world's most powerful leaders to

collectively chart a way forward as the

coronavirus pandemic overshadows

this year's gathering, transforming it

from in-person meetings to a virtual

gathering of speeches and declarations.

In a sign of the times, the traditional

"family photo" of leaders in the summit

was digitally designed and

superimposed on a historical site just

outside the Saudi capital, Riyadh,

which would have hosted the gathering.

The kingdom has presided over the G-

20 this year, reports UNB.

The pandemic, which has claimed

more than 1.37 million lives worldwide,

has offered the G-20 an opportunity to

prove how such bodies can facilitate

international cooperation in crises - but

has also underscored their

shortcomings.

"We have a duty to rise to the

challenge together during this summit

and give a strong message of hope and

reassurance," Saudi Arabia's King

Trump's election

challenges falling

flat in court

WASHINGTON : While

President Donald Trump

vows to press ahead with

efforts to overturn the

election, judges across the

country have consistently

swatted down his legal

challenges.

Trump's campaign has

failed to make any real

headway in court without

proof of widespread fraud,

which experts widely agree

doesn't exist. Over the

course of a single day this

week, Trump and his

Republican allies dropped or

lost cases seeking to block

the certification of election

results in four different

states, reports UNB.

Global coronavirus

caseload exceeds

58 mln

DHAKA : The globally

confirmed coronavirus cases

reached 58,095,887 on

Sunday with 1,379,83

deaths, according to data

compiled by Johns Hopkins

University (JHU), reports

UNB.

The US remains the worsthit

country with 12,088,409

cases, including 255,833

fatalities as of Sunday.

Brazil registered 376 new

deaths from Covid-19,

bringing the national death

toll to 168,989, the

government said Saturday.

The number of infections

went up by 32,622, pushing

the nationwide tally to

6,052,786.

Neighbouring India's

coronavirus tally reached

9,095,806 on Sunday as

45,209 new cases were

registered in the past 24

hours, the health ministry

said. The country's death toll

mounted to 133,227 as 501

more patients died since

Saturday morning.

Salman said in the summit's opening

remarks.

While G-20 countries have

contributed billions of dollars toward

developing a vaccine for the virus, they

have also mostly focused on securing

their own vaccine supplies. Countries

such as Britain, the U.S., France and

Germany - all G-20 member states -

have directly negotiated deals with

pharmaceutical companies to receive

billions of doses, meaning that the vast

majority of the world's vaccine supply

next year is already reserved.

A day before the summit, U.N.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

said that while $10 billion has been

invested in efforts to develop vaccines,

diagnostics and therapeutics, another

$28 billion is needed for mass

manufacturing, procurement and

delivery of new COVID-19 vaccines

around the world.

Guterres called on more G-20

nations to join COVAX, an

international initiative to distribute

COVID-19 vaccines to countries

worldwide. The United States has

declined to join under Trump.

The pandemic has had a far-reaching

economic impact on developing

countries and pushed millions into

extreme poverty. It has also plagued the

world's wealthiest nations, with nine G-

20 countries ranking highest globally

for the most cases of COVID-19

recorded. The United States tops the

list, followed by India, Brazil, France,

Russia, Spain, the U.K., Argentina and

Italy, according to a count kept by

Johns Hopkins University.

Three G-20 leaders participating in

the summit have been infected by the

coronavirus this year: British Prime

Minister Boris Johnson, Brazilian

President Jair Bolsonaro and U.S.

President Donald Trump.

The virus shows no signs of abating

as major cities in the U.S. and Europe

bring back lockdowns and curfews. The

World Health Organization says more

cases of COVID-19 have been reported

in the past four weeks than in the first

six months of the pandemic.

IS attack hits Afghan capital;

Pompeo joins peace talks

KABUL : Mortars slammed into a residential

area of the Afghan capital, killing eight

people Saturday, hours before outgoing U.S.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held what

are likely his last meetings with the Taliban

and Afghan government negotiators trying

to hammer out a peace deal.

The attack in Kabul, which was blamed on

Islamic State militants, also injured 31

people.

The assault came as peace talks were

underway in Qatar, where Pompeo told

Afghan government negotiators that the U.S.

will "sit on the side and help where we can"

in the negotiations with Taliban militants,

reports UNB.

Two Taliban officials told The Associated

Press that the two warring sides have found

common ground on which to move forward

the stalled talks. The officials, who spoke on

condition of anonymity because they are not

authorized to speak to the media, did not

elaborate.

In Kabul, at least one of the 23 mortar

shells fired from two cars hit inside the

Iranian Embassy compound. No one was

injured, but it damaged the main building,

the Iranian Embassy said in a tweet. At least

31 people were hurt elsewhere in the city,

according to the Afghan Interior Ministry.

The local Islamic State affiliate issued a

statement claiming the attack that targeted

the so-called Green Zone in Kabul which

houses foreign embassies, the presidential

palace and Afghan military compounds,

according to SITE Intelligence Group.

In Doha, Pompeo also met with the cofounder

of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani

Baradar, who signed the peace agreement

with Washington in February ahead of the

so-called intra-Afghan talks. The insurgent

group's spokesman, Mohammad Naeem,

tweeted that further prisoner releases were

discussed in the meeting, in addition to those

that the two warring sides committed to

ahead of peace talks under the U.S. deal.

Naeem said the Taliban also repeated their

demand that Taliban leaders be removed

from the United Nations sanctions list.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed

earlier Saturday issued a statement assailing

the Afghan government for requesting the

U.N. maintain sanctions on Taliban leaders.

For most Afghans, the overriding concern

has been a sharp rise in violence this year

and a surge of attacks by the Taliban against

Afghanistan's beleaguered security forces,

since the start of peace talks in September.

Mortars slammed into a residential area of the Afghan capital, killing eight

people Saturday, hours before outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Mike

Pompeo held what are likely his last meetings with the Taliban and Afghan

government negotiators trying to hammer out a peace deal. Photo : AP

South Korea

mulls steps

as new virus

cases rise

SEOUL : South Korea has

reported 386 new cases of

the coronavirus in a

resurgence that could force

authorities to reimpose

stronger social distancing

restrictions after easing

them in October to spur a

faltering economy, reports

UNB

The figures released by the

Korea Disease Control and

Prevention Agency on

Saturday raised the

country's total number of

confirmed cases to 30,403,

including 503 deaths.

More than 270 of the new

cases have come from the

Seoul metropolitan area,

where health workers have

struggled to track

transmissions in schools,

private tutoring academies

and religious facilities.

Infections were also

reported in other major

cities, including Busan,

Daejeon, Gwangju and

Asan.

South Korea has so far

managed to weather the

pandemic without major

lockdowns, relying instead

on an aggressive test-andquarantine

campaign and

mask-wearing.

Officials eased distancing

measures to the lowest level

in October, which allowed

high-risk venues such as

nightclubs and karaoke bars

to reopen and fans to return

to professional sports.

Saudi confident of

‘friendly’ ties with

Biden: official

RIYADH : Saudi Arabia expects no major

change in its relationship with the US under

Joe Biden, a senior official told CNN, despite

the president-elect pledging to turn the

kingdom into a "pariah".

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, a close ally of

President Donald Trump, has appeared wary

of Biden after he promised a stern stance

against the kingdom for its human rights

failings.

But Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi minister of

state for foreign affairs, dismissed the notion.

"We deal with the

president of the

United States as a

friend, whether he's

Republican or

Democrat," Jubeir

told CNN, in an

interview released

over the weekend.

"President-elect

Biden has been in

the (US) Senate for

35 years, he has

tremendous

experience… I don't

expect that there's

going to be major

change in terms of

Saudi Arabia expects no major change in

its relationship with the US under Joe

Biden, a senior official told CNN, despite

America's foreign

policy."

The comment

comes as Saudi

Arabia hosts the

G20 leaders'

summit this weekend, a first for an Arab

nation, while global campaigners seek to

draw attention to the kingdom's human

rights record.

Saudi Arabia has largely escaped US

the president-elect pledging to turn the

kingdom into a "pariah". Photo : AP

censure under Trump, who along with his

son-in-law Jared Kushner, has enjoyed a

personal rapport with Crown Prince

Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de

facto ruler.

Trump's defeat leaves Prince Mohammed

vulnerable to renewed scrutiny from the

kingdom's closest Western ally.

That could leave the crown prince isolated

amid economic challenges that imperil his

reform agenda, a grinding war in

neighbouring Yemen and pockets of

domestic opposition

to his rule.

During his election

campaign, Biden

threatened to make

Saudi Arabia "the

pariah that they are".

Saudi observers

dismiss the Democrat

leader's campaign

speeches about the

kingdom as bluster,

pointing out that

Trump also struck a

hostile note in his

2016 campaign before

quickly warming up to

its rulers.

"We deal with the

presidents once

they're in office, and

we have huge

interests with the

United States," Jubeir

said. "We are working together on global

economic security, on energy security, on

financial issues, and we are key in terms of

the Muslim world. These interests are huge

for us and for the United States."

Rape, abuse in Palm oil fields

linked to top beauty brands

SUMATRA : With his hand clamped

tightly over her mouth, she could not

scream, the 16-year-old girl recalls -

and no one was around to hear her

anyway. She describes how her boss

raped her amid the tall trees on an

Indonesian palm oil plantation that

feeds into some of the world's bestknown

cosmetic brands. He then put

an ax to her throat and warned her: Do

not tell.

At another plantation, a woman

named Ola complains of fevers,

coughing and nose bleeds after years of

spraying dangerous pesticides with no

protective gear. Making just $2 a day,

with no health benefits, she can't afford

to see a doctor, reports UNB.

Hundreds of miles away, Ita, a young

wife, mourns the two babies she lost in

the third trimester. She regularly

lugged loads several times her weight

throughout both pregnancies, fearing

she would be fired if she did not.

These are the invisible women of the

palm oil industry, among the millions

of daughters, mothers and

grandmothers who toil on vast

plantations across Indonesia and

neighboring Malaysia, which together

produce 85 percent of the world's most

versatile vegetable oil.

Palm oil is found in everything from

potato chips and pills to pet food, and

also ends up in the supply chains of

some of the biggest names in the $530

billion beauty business, including

L'Oreal, Unilever, Procter and

Gamble, Avon and Johnson and

Johnson, helping women around the

world feel pampered and beautiful.

The Associated Press conducted the

first comprehensive investigation

focusing on the brutal treatment of

women in the production of palm oil,

including the hidden scourge of sexual

abuse, ranging from verbal harassment

and threats to rape. It's part of a larger

in-depth look at the industry that

exposed widespread abuses in the two

countries, including human trafficking,

child labor and outright slavery.

Women are burdened with some of

the industry's most difficult and

dangerous jobs, spending hours waistdeep

in water tainted by chemical

Spike in cases delays Singapore-Hong

Kong travel bubble

HONG KONG : Singapore and Hong

Kong on Saturday postponed the start of

an air travel bubble meant to boost

tourism for both cities, citing a spike in

infections in the Chinese territory as a

"sober reminder" of risks to public health,

reports UNB.

The travel bubble, originally slated

to begin Sunday, will be delayed by at

least two weeks, Hong Kong's

minister of commerce and economic

development, Edward Yau, said at a

news conference.

The arrangement is meant to allow

travelers between the two cities to enter

without quarantine as long as they

complete coronavirus tests before and

after arriving at their destinations, and fly

on designated flights.

Hong Kong reported 43 new

coronavirus cases on Saturday, including

13 untraceable local infections.

"For any scheme to be successful, they

must fulfill the condition of securing

public health, and also make sure that

both sides would be comfortable and feel

safe about the scheme," Yau said. "In light

of the situation in Hong Kong, I think it's

the responsible way to put this back for a

while, and then sort of relaunch it at a

suitable juncture."

Under the initial agreement, the travel

bubble was to be suspended if the number

of untraceable local infections in either

Singapore or Hong Kong exceeded five on

a seven-day moving average. The current

average in Hong Kong is nearly four,

prompting Yau and Singapore's transport

minister, Ong Ye Kung, to postpone the

inaugural flight.

On Friday, Hong Kong's top health

official said that the city had "probably

entered" a new wave of cases. Recent

clusters have spanned taxi drivers, a

dance studio and hotels.

Hong Kong has confirmed a total of

5,561 cases, including 108 deaths.

Singapore has reported 58,148 cases, but

only 28 fatalities.

Prior to the postponement, Singapore

said Saturday morning that travelers

arriving from Hong Kong via the bubble

would be required to take a coronavirus

test on arrival. Originally, only people

landing in Hong Kong were to be required

to be tested.

Ong said in a Facebook post that the

postponement is a "sober reminder that

the COVID-19 virus is still with us."

"I can fully understand the

disappointment and frustration of

travellers who have planned their trips.

But we think it is better to defer from a

public health standpoint," he wrote.

runoff and carrying loads so heavy that,

over time, their wombs can collapse

and protrude. Many are hired by

subcontractors on a day-to-day basis

without benefits, performing the same

jobs for the same companies for years -

even decades. They often work without

pay to help their husbands meet

otherwise impossible daily quotas.

"Almost every plantation has

problems related to labor," said Hotler

Parsaoran of the Indonesian nonprofit

group Sawit Watch, which has

conducted extensive investigations into

abuses in the palm oil sector. "But the

conditions of female workers are far

worse than men."

Parsaoran said it's the responsibility

of governments, growers, big

multinational buyers and banks that

help finance plantation expansion to

tackle issues related to palm oil, which

is listed under more than 200

ingredient names and contained in

nearly three out of four personal-care

products - everything from mascara

and bubble bath to anti-wrinkle

creams.

Judge throws out

Trump bid to stop

PA vote certification

PENNSYLVANIA :

Pennsylvania officials can

certify election results that

currently show Democrat

Joe Biden winning the state

by more than 80,000 votes,

a federal judge ruled

Saturday, dealing President

Donald Trump's campaign

another blow in its effort to

invalidate the election.

U.S. District Judge

Matthew Brann in

Williamsport, Pennsylvania,

turned down the request for

an injunction by Trump's

campaign. In his ruling,

Brann said the Trump

campaign presented

"strained legal arguments

without merit and

speculative accusations ...

unsupported by evidence."

"In the United States of

America, this cannot justify

the disenfranchisement of a

single voter, let alone all the

voters of its sixth most

populated state," the

opinion said. "Our people,

laws, and institutions

demand more."

MoNDAY, NoVEMBER 23, 2020

8

Prisoners to perform in Bangabandhu’s

‘Unfinished Memories’ in jail

TBT REPoRT

Jail based drama is going to

start for the first time in the

country with the aim of positive

development in the mentality of

the prisoners. Through which a

drama based on Bangabandhu's

'unfinished Memories' will be

staged in jail. And the prisoners

will also act in it.

It will be conducted under the

Bangladesh. Similarly, inmates

in different jails of the country

will stage special dramas based

on Bangabandhu's 'Unfinished

Autobiography' and 'Karagarer

Rojnamcha'. In addition, an

initiative has been taken to serve

the brutal murder of four

national leaders on the day of

Jail Murder with the inmates

inside the jail. Dr. Israfil

Shaheen along with the

I think the human qualities

of a criminal will be developed

through group drama and

cultural activities in the closed

environment of the prison.

This will allow the detainee to

realize through the process of

self-reflection what he has

done wrong and how to correct

himself. ' In the first week of

December, the inaugural

function of this research

TBT REPoRT

Renowned TV personality and Ekushey Padakwinner

Aly Zaker, who has been suffering from

cancer and various old age complications for

several years, was hospitalized at Bangladesh

Specialized Hospital in the capital on 15

November due to sudden deterioration of the

physical condition. He was undergoing

treatment at the CCU of the hospital. Now, his

physical condition has improved.

Aly Zaker's son Iresh Zaker confirmed it to

media. Iresh Zaker further t said 'My father was

admitted to a hospital in the capital after he

became unwell on Monday. The doctors admitted

him to the Central Coronary Unit on that day. His

health condition has improved. He has been

suffering from cancer, diabetes and other

complications. Doctors have told us to take extra

care of him. He will be released from the hospital

on Sunday,'.

Aly Zaker was born on November 6, 1944 in

Chattogram. He had to attend schools at

different districts such as Feni, Khulna and

Kushtia until his family settled in Gendaria,

Dhaka in 1954. He then got admitted to St

Gregory's High School at class four.

Between 1972 and 2019, Aly Zaker directed

15 dramas and acted in 31 theatre productions,

including several productions that were boxoffice

hits. They include Sath Manusher

Khonje, Kopenik-er Captain, Galileo, Nurul

Diner Sarajiban, Macbeth, Achalayatan and

Dewan Gazir Kissa. His performances in the

role of Nurul Din, Dewan Gazi and Galileo

earned huge acclaim. He also adapted many

dramas of the popular western dramatists

named Moliere, Anton Chekov, William

Aly Zaker's physical condition

improves

Renowned TV personality and Ekushey Padak-winner Aly Zaker

Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Edward Albee

and Carl Zuckmayer. He won several

prestigious awards such as National Academy

of Performing Arts award in 1977, Sequence

Award of Merit in the category of outstanding

theatre personality in 1984 and Ekushey Padak

in 1999 for his contribution to the country's

Photo: Internet

theatre scene. He also won Critics' Circle of

India Award for outstanding direction and

acting in 1984 for his seminal contribution to

the theatre in Bangladesh. Aly Jaker is also

the head of Asiatic 360, an advertising

agency in Bangladesh. His wife Sara Jaker is

also an actress.

Bangabandhu's 'Unfinished Memories'

supervision of Israfil Shaheen,

Dhaka University Professor of

Theater and Performance

Studies. The Ministry of Home

Affairs and the Department of

Prisons have given permission

for this research work for three

years. Work on the project will

begin in the last week of this

month (November) at the

Bangladesh Central Jail

(Keraniganj). Then on February

21 next year, Munir

Chowdhury's play 'Kabar' will be

staged with the participation of

inmates inside 68 prisons in

H o RoSCoPE

ARIES

(March 21 - April 20) : You're

going to be a valuable asset to

others today because of your

rational mind and ability to think things through

clearly. The stubborn forces around you aren't

going to bend, but you have the unique ability to

do so. Do your best to avoid fights, even though

it will be tempting for you and others to want to

let off some steam.

TAURUS

(April 21 - May 21) : In your

attempts to always be the nice, helpful

one, Taurus, you might find that you're

compromising some of your values.

Know that balance and harmony are wonderful things,

but they aren't always worth the price of self-sacrifice.

Don't be someone you aren't just to maintain the

peace. Your tolerance is apt to be tested today. Don't

feel bad if you suddenly feel like fighting.

GEMINI

(May 22 - June 21) : Actions could

be quick and intense today, Gemini.

Things may hit you like lightning, so

be prepared for just about anything.

Mentally stabilize yourself before interacting with

others. Dress to demonstrate your power. You're a

force to be reckoned with, not one to be stepped on.

Violent emotions are apt to emerge. Don't fight the

urge to release any anger you feel.

CANCER

(June 22 - July 23) : Your playful

attitude is apt to be opposed by

someone who refuses to see things

your way, Cancer. Walk away from

those who aren't committed to helping the situation. It

could be that there are people who purposefully try to

sabotage your plans. You're too smart to fall into this

trap. Prove to others that even though you may be

happy, it doesn't mean you're gullible.

LEo

(July 24 - Aug. 23): Today may

be one of those days in which you're

trying to paint a large area, but you

only have a small brush. Your

strokes are careful and calculated. You're doing a

neat and precise job, but you're also doing things

the hard way. Go easy on yourself and get a large

brush. Make your strokes gigantic so you can cover

more area with less effort.

VIRGo

(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23): You may be

barking up the wrong tree today, Virgo.

Before you waste all your energy on your

podium proclaiming your thoughts to

the world, it would behoove you to stop, look around,

and notice your audience. How are they reacting to

your tirade? Are people walking away or are they

cheering? Perhaps you need to let someone else have a

turn at the microphone.

country's eminent drama

teachers, instructors, M.Phil-

Ph.D researchers in various

fields including drama, art,

literature and selected cultural

activists from the region will

participate in this activity.

In this context Dr. Israfil

Shaheen said, "Drama staging,

music performance, recitation

of poems, dance, storytelling,

sports, etc. will have a positive

effect on the minds of the

prisoners and will help them to

return to normal life after their

release."

Photo: Internet

project and cultural activities

will be held at the Nabab

Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate

Bhaban of Dhaka University or

Bangladesh Shilpakala

Academy.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman,

Agriculture Minister Abdur

Razzak will be present on the

occasion along with State

Minister for Culture KM

Khalid, Secretary of the

Department of Security Services

Shahiduzzaman and Dhaka

University Vice Chancellor. Md.

Akhtaruzzaman.

LIBRA

(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): In an attempt

to merge with infinity, you might

overlook some basic life principles,

Libra. Be careful about being seduced by those who

want you to be involved in their drama. You might

willingly acquiesce at first. You may not even

realize how deep a hole you've dug until it's too late.

Make sure you haven't alienated everyone so that

there's still someone left to dig you out.

SCoRPIo

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22): Feel free to

stand up for yourself, a cause, or

another person today, even if you

know it will cause tension among the others

around you. A heated argument is likely to ensue,

and it wouldn't be surprising if you were the

catalyst. Passionate debates are right up your alley,

so use this as an opportunity to demonstrate your

courage and strength in what you believe.

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): Your mind is

apt to be fixed on one thing today,

Sagittarius, and you won't rest

until you've obtained it. Perhaps

it's a physical place you're trying to get to, a new

gadget that you want to own, or a person you'd

like to get to know better. Don't be surprised if

you have to put up a bit of a fight in order to

accomplish this goal, whatever it may be.

CAPRICoRN

(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20): Things may

happen right under your nose

today, Capricorn, and you may not

even be aware of it. The thing that

will be obvious is your reaction to the situation

when this hidden event suddenly comes to light. A

passionate explosion is likely, due to people's

heightened emotional state. Try to work with this

energy instead of against it.

AQUARIUS

(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) : It could be that

close friends or family members

are in sharp disagreement

regarding a certain issue,

Aquarius. Try not to be too distressed by

divisions among the people you love. Some may

want you to take sides and express yourself fully

on the situation. You may feel as if you're

damned if you do and damned if you don't.

PISCES

(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20) : There is a great

deal of emotion and drive to the

day, just the way you like it,

Pisces. Make sure you don't get

stuck with the short end of the stick as the day

comes to a close. An honest fight or debate is

one thing, but a harsh manipulation of people

is another. Make sure you're involved in the

former and not the latter.

National film award to

nominate 33 artists

National Film Award, the highest state award for film

has nominated 33 artists.

Photo: collected

Mandana Karimi alleges

'mental harassment' by

Mahendra Dhariwal

Actor-model and former Bigg

Boss contestant Mandana

Karimi has alleged that she was

mentally harassed by film

producer Mahendra Dhariwal on

the sets of their film Koka Kola in

Mumbai. The incident is said to

have happened on November 13,

reported Times of India.

In an interview with Bombay

Times, the actor said that she

had issues with the crew from

the very beginning.

Mandana said, "I am still in

shock about what happened and

how it happened. Koka Kola is a

film that we have been working

on for over a year now, and it's

been one of those jobs that you

do despite knowing that the

team is not being very

The sequel was sidelined after the sudden

and unexpected death of star Chadwick

Boseman and a planned March 2021

production start was waylaid as filmmaker

Ryan Coogler and Marvel tried to navigate

professional. We all end up

doing a few such jobs to just

keep ourselves afloat. From the

beginning, I had problems with

this crew. The producer

(Mahendra Dhariwal) is an oldschool

man who turns the set

into a man-dominated, egoistic

place."

The actor stated that she has

been 'shaken' by the incident

that happened on the sets of

Koka Kola. She added, "What

happened on November 13 has

shaken me up. It was the last

day of my shoot and I wanted

to wrap up and get going. I had

another meeting lined up. On

the last two days of the shoot, I

had come in early and clocked

in the hours, though the shoot

TBT REPoRT

National Film Award, the highest state award for film to nominate

33 artists this time. Although there are 28 sections, some of them

have joint names. However, several officials have commented that

the list is not final yet but at the end the number of awardees may

increase or decrease.

The Ministry of Information has already issued a tender for the

award. It mentions to create 33 jute bags, check folders and

certificate folders with monograms for the 33 awardees. The

information was also found in a letter signed by Deputy Secretary

Shahanara Begum published on November 17.

Nizamul Kabir, one of the members of the jury board of the

National Film Awards and director general of the film archive, said,

"The list prepared by the jury board a month ago went to the

ministry." After that, the names of the winners will be finalized after

completing a few processes. These include cabinet discussions and

send it to the Prime Minister's Office. The list will be finalized only if

the Prime Minister approves it.'

wasn't all about me. A little

before wrap-up, the producer

asked me for an hour more on

the set, which I told him I can't

do as I have a meeting lined up.

He said okay, and I went back

on set to finish my last few

takes. We were shooting for a

song. But the moment I left the

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Photofest; Victor Chavez/Getty

Images

grief and the need to move forward. It was

the nadir of a year that saw no Marvel

movies released for the first time since

2009.

According to THR, Black Panther 2's

Mandana Karimi said she faced mental harassment

by Koka Kola film producer on November 13 in

Mumbai. Photo: Instagram/Mandana Karimi

set and went to my vanity van

to change, he forcefully came

inside and started shouting,

'You can't leave. I asked you to

do an extra hour and you have

to listen because I am the

producer and I have paid you.'"

Source :

indianexpress.com

Marvel Studio's plans

for the sequel to Black

Panther are starting to

come into focus

filming will commence in Atlanta, Georgia

in July 2021. Letitia Wright, Lupita

Nyong'o, Winston Duke and Angela Bassett

will mostly reprise their characters for Black

Panther sequel as Wright's Shuri may take

on a more prominent role, which will

delight MCU fans.

Marvel, which had no comment on this

story, has not revealed its plans on how it

plans to proceed without Boseman,

although it has indicated that it will not use

CGI to include the late star in the film.

Source: reuters.com

MonDAY, noveMbeR 23, 2020

9

Hamstring is fine but still some

work needs to be done: rohit

Sergio Aguero will be 33 shortly after the 2020-21 season comes to a close and is approaching

the final stages of a distinguished career.

Photo: AP

‘Aguero will follow Guardiola in signing

Man City contract’: richards

SportS DeSk:

Sergio Aguero will follow the lead

of pep Guardiola by committing to a

new contract with Manchester City,

says Micah richards, reports Ap.

the Blues have tied their highlyrated

coach to fresh terms through

to the summer of 2023.

His previous deal had been due to

expire next summer, with Aguero

another of those to have entered the

final 12 months of his current

agreement.

It has been suggested that the

prolific Argentine could walk away

as a free agent and take on a new

challenge - possibly one back in his

homeland.

He will be 33 shortly after the

2020-21 season comes to a close

and is approaching the final stages

of a distinguished career.

richards, though, believes City's

all-time leading scorer can still offer

plenty to the cause at the etihad

Stadium, and in the premier League

as a whole, and that may see him

agree to extend a productive spell in

england.

"His intention has always been to

finish his career back in Argentina

but I expect now pep Guardiola has

signed a contract extension that

Sergio will do the same," richards,

a former City team-mate of the

South American, told the Daily

Mail.

"Whether it is for 12 months or

two years, it is a piece of business I

hope City conclude.

"City will sign another striker in

the future, and hopes are high for

Gabriel Jesus and Ferran torres,

but there is nobody like Sergio.

"there will never be another one

like him at Manchester City and

there haven't been many better in

the premier League."

Aguero is into his 10th season as a

City player, having been snapped

up from Atletico Madrid in 2011,

and richards believes he will go

down as an all-time great - even if

the predatory finisher does not

always get the credit he deserves.

richards added: "If Aguero had

been the face of an advertising

campaign, would people be more

respectful and appreciative of his

talents?

"I often wonder whether we

realise what a player we have

watched for the last 10 seasons.

Aguero has had as big an impact on

english football as thierry Henry.

"He might not be as easy on the

eye as Henry in terms of style but he

is a better finisher than the Arsenal

legend.

"Henry, though, will always

command affection. He was the

man with 'Va va voom!' - he is

charismatic and played football

with a swagger.

"He gave revealing interviews and

had a spell as a pundit before he

turned to management. If you

didn't support Arsenal, I bet you

still liked Henry.

"Most people, on the other hand,

wouldn't know a great deal about

Sergio. It makes me think the fact

he is a quiet man has stopped him

being recognised as one of the

greats of the modern era, a striker

who Manchester City will never be

able to truly replace."

SportS DeSk:

rohit Sharma cleared the air over the

controversy that erupted over his noninclusion

in all the three Indian teams

for the upcoming tour of Australia and

said that he was in constant

communication with the BCCI, reports

Ap.

"Hamstring is feeling absolutely fine.

Just started the process of getting it

nice and strong. Before I play the longer

format, I absolutely needed to be clear

in mind that there is no stone that is left

unturned, that's probably the reason,

I'm at the NCA," rohit told ptI. "So for

me, it was not a concern what x, y or z

was talking about like whether he

would make it to Australia."

the Mumbai Indians captain was laid

low with an hamstring injury and had

missed a few games for his franchise in

the recently concluded Indian premier

League (IpL) in the United Arab

emirates (UAe). the new selection

panel, headed by Sunil Joshi,

announced the squads for the Australia

series on october 26 and one of the

names missing from all the three

squads was that of rohit Sharma. the

Board of Control for Cricket in India

(BCCI) didn't specify the exact reason

for rohit's omission, only mentioning

that the Mumbai batsman would be

constantly monitored by the BCCI

medical panel.

Surprisingly, the Mumbai Indians

released a social media video where

rohit was seen practicing, hours after

being left out of the Australia bound

team, leading to experts like Sunil

Gavaskar asking the board to be

transparent regarding player injuries.

rohit was later included in the test

squad once news emerged that India

captain, Virat kohli, would be leaving

Australia after the first test in Adelaide

on paternity leave.

rohit, however, cleared the

misconceptions about the injury and

the subsequent confusion over the

Australia series. "I don't know what was

going on, to be honest, and what all

were people talking about. But let me

put this on record, I was constantly

communicating with BCCI and

Mumbai Indians," rohit said.

the 33-year old returned towards the

last phase of Mumbai Indians' league

campaign and then hit a 50-ball 68 in

the final against Delhi Capitals, thereby

helping his franchise lift the coveted

trophy for the record fifth time.

Neither the franchise nor the Indian

board specified the extent of his injury,

but rohit said he wasn't perturbed with

all the talks, concentrating only on

getting his 'hamstring injury' healed.

the star batsman is currently

recuperating at the National Cricket

Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and is

expected to join his teammates in

Australia ahead of the first test in

Adelaide on December 17.

"once the injury happened, the next

two days all I did was to figure out what

I can do in the next 10 days? Whether I

will be able to play or not? Unless one

goes to the ground, one won't know

how the body is shaping up," he added.

While rohit did manage his injury, it

came as a surprise to many when he

actually did make a comeback, just

ahead of the IpL playoffs - a move that

resulted in adding more fuel to the fire.

the batsman though remained

unfussed saying that he was working on

a plan all along. "I told them (Mumbai

Indians) that I can take the field since it

is the shortest format and I will be able

to manage the situation quite nicely.

once I made my mind clear, it was all

about focussing on what I needed to

do," he said.

rohit though confirmed that while he

was feeling a lot better, he was still not

a 100% fit - which meant that he

couldn't risk being part of the whiteball

series down under. "of course,

there is still some work that needs to be

done on my hamstring. that's why I

didn't go to Australia for the white-ball

leg as there are back-to-back games.

Around 6 games in 11 days," he said, on

the upcoming oDI and twenty20

series.

"So I thought if I get to work on my

body for 25 days, I can probably go and

play the test matches. So it was an easy

decision for me and I don't know why it

became so complicated for others," he

said.

Zidane warns Man Utd: Varane's

not for sale at any price

SportS DeSk:

real Madrid head coach Zinedine

Zidane insists that star defender

raphael Varane is non-transferable

amid links with Manchester United,

reports Ap.

United have been long-term

admirers of Varane and the premier

League giants are reportedly preparing

an offer for the 27-year-old France

international.

But Zidane dismissed speculation

over Varane's future at the Santiago

Bernabeu, where the Frenchman has

won three La Liga titles and four

Champions League trophies among

other honours since arriving in 2011.

"It's not just me [who wants to keep

him]," Zidane told reporters ahead of

Saturday's clash against Villarreal. "He

is part of this club, we were very lucky

to be able to bring him to Madrid.

"He has a great career, he's achieved

a lot since he's been here. of course, he

is untransferable for the club, for the

coach that I am, for people in general.

"that's clear and unambiguous. Now

we can't stop people from talking.

they're not just talking about Varane,

but about all the players, real Madrid

ones and others.

"But for Varane, my position is clear,

and it's the same as the club's

position."

Varane has made seven La Liga

appearances this term and 10 across

all competitions for Spanish

champions Madrid.

He has more clearances (27), headed

clearances (13) and blocks (four) than

superstar captain and team-mate

Sergio ramos in Spain's top flight this

season, while Varane has an 80 per

cent tackle success rate and 30 duels

won.

ramos is, however, unavailable to

face Villarreal having picked up an

injury while on international duty with

Spain. there were fears that Varane

would also be missing, although he

was included in Zidane's squad for

Saturday's match.

eden Hazard is also back in the

squad after missing the 4-1 defeat to

Valencia due to coronavirus, although

eder Militao, karim Benzema and

Casemiro are absent.

Madrid are fourth in the standings,

four points adrift of leaders real

Sociedad with a game in hand

following the international break.

After beating Villarreal at Alfredo Di

Stefano in July, Madrid could win two

consecutive Liga games against

Villarreal for the first time since

September 2014.

The Real Madrid head coach is adamant that the France international is "untransferable" after

speculation had linked the Red Devils with a move.

Photo: AP

The Mumbai Indians captain was laid low with an hamstring injury and had missed a few games for

his franchise in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL).

Photo: AP

Cricket Australia

to investigate

Sydney Sixers'

'admin error'

SportS DeSk:

Cricket Australia will

investigate Sydney Sixers for

an administration error that

saw teenage fast bowler

Hayley Silver-Holmes listed

on the team sheet to play

Melbourne renegades despite

not being available in the

primary squad of 15, reports

BSS.

Silver-Holmes had been

sidelined with a foot injury

over the last two weeks with

replacement player Alisha

Bates taking her spot in the

15-member primary squad.

the 17-year-old recovered

ahead of Saturday's fixture

but her return to the squad

was still pending approval

from WBBL's technical

committee. She was named in

the XI but didn't get to bat as

the Sixers put up 166/4 in

their 20 overs.

Sixers got to know of the

apparent infringement of

rules only after the game had

commenced and therefore

Silver-Holmes didn't step on

to the field in the game's

second innings. this left the

Sixers a main bowler short as

the renegades led by Lizelle

Lee's 79 chased down the

target with five balls to spare.

"the WBBL is aware of an

administrative error

pertaining to player selection

in the Sydney Sixers-

Melbourne renegades match

on Saturday. the Sixers selfreported

an issue relating to

Hayley Silver-Holmes'

paperwork shortly after the

Sixers-renegades game had

commenced.

Diverse in skillset, united

in goal: Shami on pace

pack's success

SportS DeSk:

Mohammed Shami believes that he and his

fellow pacers have the unity in goal and

diversity in the skill to challenge a significantly

stronger Australian side two years from their

historic series victory Down Under, reports

BSS.

the Virat kohli-led Indian squad arrived in

Australia immediately after the conclusion of

the Indian premier League on November 10th

and have been allowed to practice in a biosecure

bubble during quarantine in the city.

once renowned for their spinners, India have

turned a new leaf with their pace department

and the emergence of a quality pace bowling

group, under the guidance of head coach ravi

Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and the

support of their captain has meant that they

have played a vital role in India's recent

dominance in the red-ball format of the game.

Shami himself has been a much improved

bowler and since 2018, only teammate, Jasprit

Bumrah (68), has taken more overseas test

wickets than his 61. Crediting the development

to the bonhomie among the quicks, Shami said

that the rising stock of pacers in the country

will hold the team in good shape. "the success

of this group is largely because of the

camaraderie we share among ourselves. there

is no real secret as such but it lies in each other's

strengths. We have a common goal and all of us

look to collectively achieve that," Shami told

bcci.tv.

"there is a healthy competition but there is

no rivalry within the group. If you look at the

numbers, we have managed to pick 20 wickets

almost on all our away tours. even at home in

the Freedom trophy (against South Africa) or

the pink-ball test (against Bangladesh), the

fast bowling group was very effective. We have

a lot of discussion among ourselves. We hunt in

pairs," he added.

While the tour starts with white-ball cricket,

Shami and the team's focus is already on the

four tests (starting on December 17th) and it

came as no real surprise that the team opted for

open nets during their practice sessions.

"My focus area has been the red ball and I am

working on my lengths and seam movement. I

have always felt that once you start pitching the

ball at the lengths you desire, you can succeed

in different formats. What you need is control.

I have done well with the white-ball and now

spending time in the nets bowling with the red

ball. You don't bowl in the same area since both

formats are different, but your basics don't

change much," the 30-year old said.

the Coronavirus pandemic has ensured very

little match practice for the team in general, but

Shami was grateful for the Indian premier

League (IpL) -- where he excelled for the kings

XI punjab-for the chance to get into the active

cricket mould. "My performances for kXIp in

IpL has given me a lot of confidence and put

me in the right zone.

"the biggest advantage is that I can now

prepare for the upcoming series without any

pressure. there is no burden on me. I am very

comfortable at the moment. I had worked hard

on my bowling and my fitness in the

lockdown," the Bengal pacer said.

India enter the test series with positive vibes,

having beaten Australia last time around in

2018-19, but the presence of David Warner,

Steven Smith and the emergence of Marnus

Labuschagne makes it a compelling contest.

Shami though isn't too worried about the big

names in the host camp and emphasised on the

quality of the Indian attack to face the

challenge. "our fast bowling group can bowl at

140 kph plus and you need that kind of pace in

Australia. even our reserves are quick, you

don't get to see that kind of an attack," he said.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23 2020 10

Khulna Zone of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd organized a webinar titled 'Compliance of Shari`ah in

Banking Sector' recently. Major General (Rtd.) Engr. Abdul Matin, Chairman, Risk Management

Committee of the bank addressed the program as chief guest. Md. Mahbub ul Alam, Managing

Director & CEO of the bank addressed the program as special guest. Professor Dr. Mohammad Gias

Uddin Talukder, Chairman of IBBL Shari`ah Supervisory Committee addressed the webinar as chief

discussant. Presided over by Md. Abdus Salam, Head of Khulna Zone, Md. Shamsul Huda, Executive

Vice President of the bank addressed the program. Head of branches, executives and officials under

Khulna Zone attended the webinar.

Photo: Courtesy

BB gets two

new deputy

governors

The government has

appointed two new deputy

governors to Bangladesh

Bank (BB), filling the

positions that remained

vacant since 2016, reports

BSS.

BB Executive Director

Kazi Sayedur Rahman and

Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan

Bank's Managing Director

AKM Sajedur Rahman Khan

will take up the posts, as per

a Finance Ministry gazette

notification issued today.

The appointments will

remain valid until they reach

the age of 62.

Prior to the new

appointments, the central

bank had two deputy

governors:

SM

Moniruzzaman and Ahmed

Jamal. Moniruzzaman's

contract will end in

December. The latest

appointments bring the

number of deputy governors

to four.

Britain, Canada rollover

EU trade terms for

Brexit deal

LONDON : Britain and Canada agreed

Saturday to continue trading together under

existing EU terms when the current Brexit

transition period ends shortly, the UK

government said, reports BSS.

The Department of International Trade said

the deal "locked in" the two countries' existing

o20 billion ($26 billion, EUR22 billion) trading

relationship and set the stage for further

negotiations.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his

Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau agreed in

the Saturday video call to rollover current EU-

Canada trading arrangements and begin

negotiations on a new, UK-Canada trade deal in

2021. Johnson said in a statement the "fantastic

agreement" ensured trade with one of Britain's

closest allies would go "from strength to

strength".

"Our negotiators have been working flat out to

secure trade deals for the UK, and from as early

next year we have agreed to start work on a new,

bespoke trade deal with Canada that will go even

further in meeting the needs of our economy," he

added.

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said

the agreement created "certainty for thousands

of jobs".

"The UK is bonded by history, culture and

transatlantic trade with our friends and allies in

Canada," she said.

The UK has said the agreement with Canada

will avoid o42 million in tariffs on British

exports.

Last week, Trudeau said Ottawa and London

should be able to agree an "easy" trade deal by

the end of the year but added that Britain's

"bandwidth" for negotiations was a challenge as

it holds talks with several major trade partners at

the same time.

Britain is currently locked in fraught talks with

the European Union to set the terms of their

future trading relationship for when the post-

Brexit transition period ends on December 31.

Following its referendum vote in 2016 to leave

the EU, Britain can now strike trade deals of its

own. London is in a rush to secure as many as

possible to mitigate any economic hit caused by

more restrictive economic relations with the

European bloc, which is by far its biggest market.

Spanish banks seek

mergers as outlook

darkens

BARCELONA: A wave of

mergers is sweeping across the

Spanish banking sector as

lenders face up to a pandemicinduced

recession, ultralow

interest rates and growing

competition from financial

technology startups, reports

BSS.

CaixaBank, Spain's thirdlargest

bank, and Bankia, its

fourth-largest, approved a

merger in September which

will create the nation's biggest

domestic lender with around

664 billion euros ($788

billion) in assets in the country.

And BBVA, the country's

second-largest bank,

announced Monday it was in

talks with Banco Sabadell,

Spain's fifth-largest bank, over

a possible tie-up.

If successful, it would create

Spain's second-largest

domestic bank, far ahead of

Santander, which would still

remain the country's biggest

bank by total assets due to its

huge international presence.

Mid-sized lenders Liberbank

and Unicaja, meanwhile,

confirmed renewed merger

talks in October.

The trend is not new in

Spain, which saw dozens of

lenders disappear in a wave of

tie-ups that followed the 2008

financial crisis, when Madrid

received a European Union

bailout of 41.3 billion euros for

its ailing banking sector.

These new operations are

"defensive to avoid problems

in the future," Xavier Vives, of

the IESE Business School in

Barcelona, told AFP.

But unlike during the

previous crisis, when lenders

faced a solvency problem, this

time around the issue is a lack

of profitability, he added.

"Interest rates are low, the

yield curve is very flat, and with

the Covid pandemic, revisions

of interest rates have been

postponed. Under these

circumstances, the banking

business is not very profitable,"

said Vives.

At the same time, banks are

facing fierce competition from

financial technology startups,

or the so-called "fintech"

sector, which operate online

and have much lower

operating costs than

traditional banks.

"Certainly, with negative

interest rates it is very difficult

to earn money," said Ricardo

Zion, a bank expert with the

EAE Business School.

"But the big problem for

banks is that it is impossible to

be profitable with a model

based on having branches,

especially to compete with the

'fintech' and new operators."

"It's like the airlines. A

traditional airline has its own

fleet and pilots who earn

400,000 euros a year, and it

must compete with a low-cost

airline that uses rented planes

and pilots who earn 60,000

euros."

At a time when banks are

boosting their provisions to

face an expected rise on bad

loans due to the economic

fallout of the pandemic, these

merger operations "strengthen

their solvency," Zion said.

"Unlike during the last crisis,

when banks were a problem,

now they must be part of the

solution," he added.

This banking consolidation,

which will lead to the closure of

branches and job cuts, has

raised alarm bells at unions.

"I am worried about the

magnitude of job losses which

can occur," Pepe Alvarez,

leader of the UGT union,

Spain's second-largest, said

during an interview with

Spanish public radio.

"Financial institutions must

be aware of the effort made by

this country to keep them

afloat during the last crisis and

they can't return the favour

with more dismissals," he

added.

Between 2008 and the end

of 2019, Spanish banks

slashed nearly 100,000 jobs,

or around 37 percent of their

workforce in 2008, according

to the CCOO, Spain's largest

union.

Nigeria's economy

slips into recession:

statistics office

ABUJA : Oil-rich Nigeria,

Africa's biggest economy,

slipped into recession for the

second time in four years, hit

by both the coronavirus

pandemic and falling oil

prices, official figures revealed

Saturday, reports BSS.

The third-quarter 2020 real

GDP shrank for a second

consecutive quarter by 3.62

percent, said the National

Bureau of Statistics (NBS)

said Saturday.

"Cumulative GDP for the

first 9 months of 2020

therefore stood at -2.48

percent," it added.

The agency blamed falling

oil prices and the effects of the

coronavirus epidemic.

GDP related to oil shrank by

13.89 percent, compared to

6.63 in the second quarter,

said the third-quarter report.

Non-oil GDP shrank 2.51

percent over the same period,

compared to 6.05 percent in

the second quarter.

Already in the second

quarter, Nigeria's economy

contracted by six percent.

Nigeria's economy was last

in recession in 2016, its first in

more than two decades. While

it emerged in 2017, growth

since then has been sluggish.

The International Monetary

Fund has forecast a 5.4-

percent drop in Nigeria's GDP

this year. The government has

said the economy may shrink

by as much as 8.9 percent.

Nigeria is Africa's top oil

producer, normally

accounting for an average

output of two million barrels

per day. But the effects of the

Covid-19 pandemic and low

oil prices have cut production

to around 1.4 million barrels.

Social Islami Bank Ltd celebrates its 25th Anniversary at the Head Office of the Bank by cutting a

cake recently. Professor Md. Anwarul Azim Arif, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank and

former Vice Chancellor of University of Chittagong, was present in the program as the chief guest.

Managing Director and CEO Quazi Osman Ali presided over the program. Abu Naser Chowdhury,

Md. Sirajul Hoque and Md. Shamsul Hoque, Deputy Managing Directors, Abdul Hannan Khan,

Company Secretary and other senior executives were present in the program. All the divisional

Heads and Branch Managers attended the program through virtual platform. Photo: Courtesy

Mercantile Bank Ltd organized a virtual workshop on Compliance of Internal Audit recently. A total

number of sixty officials from various branches attended the online program. Md. Quamrul Islam

Chowdhury, Managing Director & CEO of the bank inaugurated the virtual workshop. In his address

Md. Quamrul Islam Chowdhury advised the participants to strictly adhere with the audit guidelines

and safe guard bank's interest. Md. Zakir Hossain, DMD and COO of the bank was panel speaker at

the virtual workshop. Javed Tariq, Principal of MBTI moderated the the program. Photo: Courtesy

Rupee slips 13 paise

to 74.32 against US

dollar in early trade

MUMBAI : The rupee

depreciated 13 paise to 74.32

against the US dollar in

opening trade on Thursday

tracking muted domestic

equities and strong

American currency, reports

BSS.

At the interbank forex

market, the domestic unit

opened at 74.28 against the

US dollar, then gained

ground and touched 74.23

against the American

currency. In volatile trade,

the local unit also touched

74.32 against the greenback,

down 13 paise over its

previous close.

On Wednesday, rupee had

settled at 74.19 against the

US dollar.

American pharmaceutical

giant Pfizer and its German

partner BioNTech said they

have concluded phase 3

study of their mRNA-based

COVID-19 vaccine candidate

BNT162b2, meeting all

primary efficacy end points.

Notwithstanding the

positive news, the rupee was

trading in a narrow range

"as rise in COVID-19 cases in

Europe and the US offset

positive sentiments

surrounding the potential

vaccine," Reliance Securities

said in a research note.

Further, the US dollar

rebounded this morning in

Asian trade and could cap

gains, the note added.

Meanwhile, the dollar

index, which gauges the

greenback's strength against

a basket of six currencies,

rose 0.16 per cent to 92.46.

On the domestic equity

market front, the 30-share

BSE benchmark Sensex was

trading 11.80 points lower at

44,168.25, while the broader

NSE Nifty rose 4.30 points

to 12,942.55.

Foreign

institutional

investors were net buyers in

the capital market as they

purchased shares worth Rs

3,071.93 crore on a net basis

on Wednesday, according to

provisional exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the

global oil benchmark, fell

0.52 per cent to USD 44.11

per barrel.

Xi touts China's

'openness' on trade

in APEC address

KUALA LUMPUR: President Xi Jinping pegged China as

the pivot point for global free trade on Thursday, vowing to

keep his huge economy open and warning against

protectionism, reports BSS.

Buoyed by the signing of the world's largest trade pact over

the weekend, Xi said the Asia-Pacific is the "forerunner

driving global growth" in a world hit by "multiple challenges"

including the pandemic.

He vowed "openness" to trade and refuted any possibility

of the "decoupling" of the world's second largest economy -

in his only comments nodding to the hostile trade policy of

Donald Trump's US administration, which has battered

China with tariffs and tech restrictions.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum,

held online this year because of the coronavirus pandemic,

brings together 21 Pacific Rim countries including the

world's two biggest economies, accounting for about 60

percent of global GDP.

Trump, wounded by his election loss to Joe Biden, did not

take part in the summit or send a high level delegate in his

place.

In a speech that veered into triumphalism over China's

economic "resilience and vitality" in coming back from the

virus, which started in the central city of Wuhan, Xi warned

countries who insist on trade barriers that "seclusion" will

hold growth back.

Indonesia cuts

rates to bolster

recession-hit

economy

JAKARTA : Indonesia's

central bank slashed interest

rates again Thursday after the

Covid-19 pandemic pushed

Southeast Asia's biggest

economy into its first

recession in more than 20

years, reports BSS.

Bank Indonesia cut the key

lending rate by 25 basis points

to 3.75 percent, its fifth rate

reduction this year, as the

global health crisis slams the

brakes on growth.

The move comes two weeks

after Indonesia posted its

second consecutive quarter of

negative growth - the

country's first recession since

the 1998-99 Asian financial

crisis.

"This is a follow-up step to

accelerate the national

economy's recovery," central

bank governor Perry Warjiyo

said.

The government has

unveiled more than $48

billion in stimulus to help

offset the impact of the virus,

which forced large-scale

restrictions that hammered

growth.

Several million Indonesians

have been laid off or

furloughed as the vast

country, home to nearly 270

million people, has battled to

contain the crisis.

Covid-19 infections have

topped 480,000 with more

than 15,000 deaths, putting

Indonesia among the worsthit

Asian countries.

However, the true scale of

the crisis is widely believed to

be much bigger in Indonesia,

which has one of the world's

lowest testing rates.

MoNDAY, NovEMBER 23, 2020

11

Dhaka South City Corporation SramikKormochari League greeted Dhaka South city mayor Sheikh

Fazle Noor Taposh with flowers marking his birthday on recently.

Photo: Courtesy

Retailers brace as virus bears down

on consumers and economy

WASHINGTON : LaTonya Story is

every retailer's worst fear. With the

viral pandemic re-surging through the

country and the economy under threat,

Story has decided to slash her holiday

shopping budget. She'll spend less than

$2,000 this season, down from several

thousand dollars in 2019. Worried

about entering stores, she's buying gifts

online and going out only for groceries.

"I want to be conservative," said

Story, a 47-year-old Atlanta resident.

"I'm not a scientist, but the best

precaution is to stay in place."

The acceleration of coronavirus cases

is causing an existential crisis for

America's retailers and spooking their

customers just as the critically

important holiday shopping season

nears. It's also raising the risk that the

economy could slide into a "doubledip"

recession this winter as states and

cities re-impose restrictions on

businesses and consumers stay at

home to avoid contracting the disease.

An anxious consumer is a frightening

prospect for retailers as well as for the

overall economy. Any sustained

Saudi private, public

sectors want to invest

in Bangladesh: Envoy

DHAKA : Saudi Ambassador

to Bangladesh Essa Yussef

Essa Al Dulaihan on Sunday

said Saudi public and private

investors are interested to

invest in different sectors in

Bangladesh.

He particularly mentioned

the interests of ARAMCO,

Acwa Power, Alfanar Group,

Engineering Dimension

(ED), Red Sea Gateway

Terminal (RSGT), Daelim

KSA, Aljumairah Group etc.

Saudi Ambassador Al

Dulaihan met Foreign

Minister Dr AK Abdul

Momen at State Guest House

Padma and conveyed it.

He sought cooperation of

the Foreign Ministry to help

implement

the

agreements/MOUs signed in

the recent past between

Bangladesh and Saud

Arabia.

DSCC/PRD/43/20-21

GD- 1580/20 (4 x 4)

recovery from the pandemic recession

hinges on consumers, whose spending

fuels about 70% of economic growth.

So as the virus rampages across the

nation and with holiday sales expected

to be weak and heavily dependent on

online shopping, retailers are

considering extraordinary steps to

draw customers. Some, like Giftery, a

small shop in Nashville, Tennessee, are

adopting their own safety restrictions.

To reduce respiratory particles that

could spread the virus, Giftery is asking

shoppers to refrain from talking on

cellphones, reports UNB.

"It is vital for us to stay open," said

William Smithson, the owner of

Giftery, which generates about 35% of

its annual sales from the holiday

season.

At the same time, some high-end

retailers are giving customers extra

coddling. Neiman Marcus is letting

shoppers book appointments to take

virtual tours of its holiday trees and

other decorations if they're too fearful

to enter a store. In doing so, the retailer

hopes its customers will also get into

the spirit of buying gifts.

"Business restrictions are increasing,

and there will be some economic fallout

from that," said Jim O'Sullivan, an

economist at TD Securities. But "even

without authorities announcing new

restrictions, individuals are likely to

pull back from activity on their own."

O'Sullivan predicts that the economy

won't grow at all in the final three

months of the year - down from his

earlier forecast of a 3% annual growth

rate in that quarter - and will shrink 2%

in the first three months of 2021. He,

like most economists, expects a

rebound starting in the second quarter

once a vaccine is widely distributed.

O'Sullivan's forecasts assume that

Congress will agree on roughly $1

trillion in new stimulus for the

economy by early 2021. Yet so far,

there's no sign of progress toward an

agreement. More than 9 million people

will lose their unemployment aid at

year's end, when two jobless aid

programs are set to expire, unless

Congress extends them. Consumer

spending will likely fall further.

Nobody would remain homeless:

Commerce Minister

RANGPUR : Commerce Minister Tipu

Munshi yesterday said no one in the country

will remain homeless as pledged by Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina, reports BSS.

"The government is building houses for

landless and homeless people in

implementation of the promise of the Prime

Minister in celebrations of the birth centenary

of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh

Mujibur Rahman in the Mujib Year," he said.

The minister said this after laying the

foundation stone to launch construction of a

three-storey flood shelter being built,

spending Taka 3.09 crore, at Shibdev Char

Bilateral High School in Pirgachha upazila of

Rangpur as the chief guest.

The Ministry of Disaster Management and

Relief is extending financial assistance under

the 'Construction of Flood Shelters in the

Flood-Prone and River Erosion Areas (Phase-

3)' project for construction of the flood

shelter.

Tipu Munshi said the houses being built

under the project would be handed over to

homeless people who would get the

opportunity to live in those houses

permanently.

"Besides, disaster resilient flood shelters are

being constructed in flood prone and river

erosion areas to provide shelters to flood and

erosion affected people during floods and

natural disasters," he said.

Deputy Commissioner Md. Asib Ahsan,

Pirgachha upazila chairman Shah Md.

Mahbubar Rahman, Executive Engineer of

LGED Rezaul Haque, Upazila Nirbahi Officer

Jasmine Prodhan, Upazila Engineer Monirul

Islam, among others, were present.

Earlier, the minister inaugurated

construction work of a 54-meter bridge

spending Taka 3.34 crore at Kalidas Ghat on

the Pirgachha-Paotana road in Pirgachha

upazila and laid a foundation stone there for

construction of another flood shelter costing

Taka 3.09 crore.

He also visited the site of construction of

Rahamat Char Guchchhogram (Cluster

Village) in Tambulpur union of the upazila

and laid the foundation stone there to launch

its construction.

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Man held with 1.48

lakh Yaba pills in

Chattogram

CHATTOGRAM : Police in a

drive arrested a man and

recovered 148,000pieces of

Yaba pills from a fishing

trawler at Old Kalurghat

area in Chandgaon of

Chattogram city on Sunday.

The arrestee was identified

as Sohel Uddin of Satkania

upazila, reports UNB.

Ateam of police conducted

a drive at Kalurghat area in

Karnaphuli River and

arrested Sohel along with

the Yaba pills in the morning

after being tipped-off, said

Officer-in-Charge of

Chandgaon Police Station

Ataur Rahman Khandaker.

Police are currently

interrogating Sohel, he said.

Dutch cull 190,000

chickens after bird

flu outbreaks

THE HAGUE : Dutch

authorities have culled some

190,000 chickens after a

highly-contagious strain of

bird flu broke out at at least

two poultry farms, the

agriculture ministry said

Sunday.

Health workers slaughtered

around 100,000 hens at a

poultry farm at Hekendorp

outside Gouda while 90,000

chicks were culled at

Witmarsum, in northern

Friesland, reports UNB.

In both cases "a highlycontagious

strain of the H5

variant" was suspected, the

ministry said in a statement.

There were no other poultry

farms within a one kilometre

radius of the outbreaks, it

added. "Both farms were

cleared to prevent further

spread of the disease," the

ministry said. Seasonal bird flu

has been detected at various

farms around the Netherlands

since October, blamed mainly

on migratory birds.

Legendary

footballer Badal

Roy passes

away

TBT Desk: Legendary

footballer Badal

Roybreathed his last at a

hospital in Dhaka on

Sunday. He was 60.

Roy was suffering

from liver cancer as well

as a few other ailments.

He breathed his last

while undergoing

treatment at the

Bangladesh Medical

College Hospital in the

afternoon yesterday.

Roy left behind his

wife, a son, a daughter

and a host of wellwishers

to mourn his

death.

A footballer of the

highest calibre in

Bangladesh, Roy wore

the black and white

jersey of Mohammedan

Sporting Club for close

to two decades after

making his debut for the

Motijheel-based outfit in

1977. Following his

retirement, Roy got

involved in football

organisation, becoming

vice-president of the

Bangladesh Football

Federation. He also

acted

as

M o h a m m e d a n ' s

manager in various

terms.

Despite his ill health,

Roy ran for the

president's post in BFF's

recent election, losing

eventually to incumbent

Kazi Salahuddin.

Protesters burn part of

Guatemala's Congress

building

GUATEMALA CITY : Hundreds of

protesters broke into Guatemala's

Congress and burned part of the

building Saturday amid growing

demonstrations against President

Alejandro Giammattei and the

legislature for approving a controversial

budget that cut educational and health

spending.

The incident came as about 7,000

people were protesting in front of the

National Palace in Guatemala City

against corruption and the budget,

which protesters say was negotiated and

passed by legislators in secret while the

Central American country was distracted

by the fallout of back-to-back hurricanes

and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Video on social media showed flames

shooting out a window in the legislative

building. Police fired tear gas at

protestors.

"I feel like the future is being stolen

from us. We don't see any changes, this

cannot continue like this," said Mauricio

Ramirez, a 20-year-old university

student.

The amount of damage to the building

was unclear, but the flames initially

appear to have affected legislative

offices, rather than the main hall of

congress. Protesters also set some bus

stations on fire.

Giammattei condemned the fires in his

Twitter account Saturday.

"Anyone who is proven to have

participated in the criminal acts will be

punished with the full force of the law."

He wrote that he defended people's right

to protest, "but neither can we allow

people to vandalize public or private

property."

The president said he had been

meeting with various groups to present

changes to the controversial budget.

Discontent had been building over the

2021 budget on social media and clashes

erupted during demonstrations on

Friday. Guatemalans were angered

because lawmakers approved $65,000

to pay for meals for themselves, but cut

funding for coronavirus patients and

human rights agencies, among other

things.

Protesters were also upset by recent

moves by the Supreme Court and

Attorney General they saw as attempts to

undermine the fight against corruption.

Vice President Guillermo Castillo has

offered to resign, telling Giammattei that

both men should resign their positions

"for the good of the country." He also

suggested vetoing the approved budget,

firing government officials and

attempting more outreach to various

sectors around the country.

Giammattei had not responded

publicly to that proposal and Castillo did

not share the president's reaction to his

proposal. Castillo said he would not

resign alone.

The spending plan was negotiated in

secret and approved by the congress

before dawn Wednesday. It also passed

while the country was distracted by the

fallout of hurricanes Eta and Iota, which

brought torrential rains to much of

Central America.

The Roman Catholic Church

leadership in Guatemala also called on

Giammattei to veto the budget Friday.

"It was a devious blow to the people

because Guatemala was between natural

disasters, there are signs of government

corruption, clientelism in the

humanitarian aid," said Jordan Rodas,

the country's human rights prosecutor.

He said the budget appeared to favor

ministries that have historically been

hotspots of corruption.

In 2015, mass streets protests against

corruption led to the resignation of

President Otto Perez Molina, his vice

president Roxana Baldetti, and

members of his Cabinet. Both the former

president and Baldetti are in jail

awaiting trials in various corruption

cases.

BFUJ, DUJ condemn

demand of Bangabandhu's

sculpture removal

DHAKA : Leaders of Bangladesh Federal

Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka

Union of Journalists (DUJ) yesterday

strongly condemned the illogical demand of

removal of the sculptures of Father of the

Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman, reports BSS.

In a joint statement, BFUJ president

Mollah Jalal and its secretary general

Shaban Mahmud, and DUJ president

Quddus Afrad and general secretary Sajjad

Alam Khan said a quarter of anti-liberation

and fundamental forces continues ill-effort

demanding the removal of Bangabandhu's

sculptures.

They said the demand of removal of the

Bangabandhu's sculptures is undoubtedly a

deep conspiracy and a contempt of the

country's constitution.

Recently, the journalist leaders said, a

vested quarter is trying to instigate religious

GD- 1579/20 (5 x 3)

divide in the country centering the

constructions of a sculpture of Father of the

Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman.

The group of conspirators is trying to

spread one kind of confusion among people

by mixing the issue of the sculpture with

religious sentiments, the statement read.

"Our statement is very clear to this end.

Sculpture and statue are not the same. As per

the existing laws of Bangladesh, every citizen

is obliged to show respect to Father of the

Nation and its exception is a crime. No

debate about Bangabandhu is desirable to

any citizen of the country," it said.

Asking the quarter not to fish in troubled

water by instigating religious sentiments, the

journalist leaders said if this conspiracy is

not stopped, the journalist community will

announce harsher programmes across

country to this end.

Monday, Dhaka, November 23, 2020, Agrayan 8, 1427 BS, Rabi-us Sani 7, 1442 hijri

'Golden Monir' put on 18-day remand

DHAKA : Separate Courts in Dhaka

on Sunday placed 'Golden Monir' on

total 18-day remand in three cases

filed over recovery of foreign currencies,

firearms and liquor from his

Badda residence.

Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan

Magistrate Court Judge Abu Bakar

put him on a 7-day remand in each

two cases filed under the Arms Act

and the Special Powers Act, reports

UNB.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate

Court Judge Masudur Rahman

placed Monir on a 4-day remand in

another case filed under the

Narcotics Control Act.

Earlier, the Investigation Officers

sought a total of 21 days of remand in

the three cases for interrogation.

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) filed

the cases against Monir after foreign

currencies, firearms and liquor were

Golden Monir

recovered from his Badda residence

on Saturday .He was arrested on the

same day.

Rab handed over Monir known as

'Golden Monir' to Badda police.

Foreign currencies of 10 countries

worth Tk 9 lakh, around 8kg gold,

and cash Tk 1.9 crore were recovered

from his possession during the

overnight raid.

Monir, who was a salesman of a

cloth shop in Gausia Market, has 200

plots in his name in Badda, Nikunja,

Uttara and Keraniganj, and used a

luxurious car worth Tk 3 crore, Rab

said.

He was also a vicious hundi trader

and land broker. Rab said they found

his involvement in gold smuggling.

Monir's amassed wealth has a value

of approximately Tk 1,050 crore.

Court sets Dec 29 for Sagar-Runi murder

investigation report submission

DHAKA : A Dhaka court yesterday

fixed December 29 for the submission

of investigation report in the

Sagar-Runi murder case.

Sunday was the day set for the

submission of the investigation

report of the case. But the investigation

agency of the case, RAB,

could not submit the report.

General Registration Officer of

Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police

Station Mohammad Asad confirmed

the matter.

On February 11, 2012, Sagar

Sarwar, news editor of Maasranga

Television and MeherunRuni, senior

reporter of ATN Bangla were

Unplanned dumping of

wastepolluting Bhairab River

ShAhID JOy, JAShORe CORReSPONDeNT

After several decades of excavation

work to restore the freshness of the

Bhairab River, which flows through the

heart of Jashore, the river has now

become polluted due to unplanned

dumping of waste and human excrementfrom

various clinics and hundreds

of homes on both sides of the

river. Not only water but also the environment

is being polluted by this

crime. As a result, many places of the

river are being filled before the excavation

is completed.

After visiting KhayertalaPalbari,

Bablatala Bridge, Daratana,

Katherpool Bridge, Dhaka Road

Bridge, Barandi Para, Mollapara,

Nilganj Bridge and Rajarhat it was seen

that residents on both banks are dumping

their excrement directly into the

river through pipes. Pipes connected

directly from the toilet are easily visible

in many places.

Not just residential buildings on the

banks of the Bhairab River, excrement

is being removed directly into the river

from the toilets of commercial buildings

and various hospital clinics.

Especially from Katherpool Bridge to

DaratanaBakultala. Numerous clinics

killed.

After the incident, NowsherAlam

Roman, brother of Runi, filed a murder

case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar

Police Station.

At first, the investigating officer of

the case was a Sub-Inspector (SI) of

the police station.

Four days later, the investigation

into the sensational murder case

was handed over to the Dhaka

Metropolitan Detective Police (DB).

After more than two months of

investigation, DB failed to unravel

the mystery. Later, on April 17 of the

same year, the High Court directed

RAB to investigate the murder case.

Residents on banks of Bhairab River connected pipes directly to the river

to dispose excrement.The picture was taken from Nilganj Bridge area of

the city recently.

Photo: Shahid Joy

and commercial establishments have

been established there. In this part,

besides excrement, medical waste is

being dumped in the river. Remains of

animal blood are being dumped in

river.

Regarding the removal of human

excrement in the water, RMO of

Jashore 250-beded hospital Arif

Ahmed said, "This water is very harmful

for our body. Use of this water can

lead to typhoid, diarrhea, jaundice and

cancer. Severe damage to the liver can

occur. Waterborne skin diseases can

occur.

Jshore Municipality Secretary Ajmal

Hossain said that dumpingwaste and

excrementin the river is a criminal

offense under the Environment Act.

Houses have been built in municipal

areas long ago. There was no plan. Now

the issue of toilet safety tank has been

made mandatory in the plan for construction

of new houses. We will take

swift action against those who are

dumping dirt directly into the river.

In this regard, Tauhidul Islam, executive

engineer of Jashore Water

Development Board, said that dumping

such dirt in river water is a serious

crime. Measures will be taken in case of

sight during excavation

Govt won't allow evil

efforts to destroy

peace : Quader

DHAKA : Awami League General

Secretary and Road Transport and

Bridges Minister ObaidulQuader yesterday

said the government would not

allow any evil efforts to destroy the people's

peace and comfort in the name of

any programme.

"BNP again returned to their politics of

carrying out arson attacks by setting fire

to buses recently. People do not respond

to their movements because of their evil

politics," he said while inaugurating a connecting

road construction project at BNS

Sheikh Hasina in Cox's Bazar.

He joined the function through videoconferencing

from his official residence

on parliament premises in Dhaka.

Quader said BNP resorted to arson terrorism

to avenge their defeat in polls and

movement. Distorting the history of independence

is BNP's democracy, he added.

He said every party has the right to

observe peaceful political programmes,

but if BNP wants to destroy the peace and

comfort of the people in the name of political

programme, Awami League along

with the people will give a befitting reply.

Tajul stresses

special strategy for

modern Dhaka

DHAKA : Minister for Local

Government, Rural Development and

Cooperatives M Tajul Islam yesterday

stressed on special strategy for transforming

the city into a modern one.

"A special plan and a national data

bank will be set up to transform Dhaka

into a modern and livable city," he said.

Tajul, also the convener of Detailed

Area Plan (DAP), said this while

addressing a discussion on DAP with

the leaders of Bangladesh Architects'

Institute at the conference room of the

local government department of the

ministry here, said a press release.

"The special plan and national data

bank with the views of urban architects

and urban planners, will serve as a

guideline for DAP," he said.

"Implementation of DAP requires the

opinions of public representatives, government

officials, architects and urban

planners and it is very difficult to do it

without concerted efforts," said Tajul.

4 more detained

over crude bombs

recovery in City

DHAKA : Detectives in a drive detainedfour

people in connection with the

recovery of 31 unexploded crude bombs

from city's Uttara Paschim and Tugar

area, reports UNB.

The DB police of Dhaka Metropolitan

Police conducted the drive on Saturday

and arrested Sohrab Hossain, 21,

Touhidul Islam, 22, Selim Mia, 32 and

Ujjal Mia, 24.

All of them were accused in a case filed

atUttara West Police Station under the

Eexplosive Act, said Deputy

Commissioner (Media) of the DMP

Walid Hossain.

DB police recovered 31 unexploded

crude bombs from an under-construction

building of Uttara sector 10 in the

city on Friday.

The hundred-year-old Laldighi ground is being redecorated. The picture was taken on Sunday.

Govt paid special attention to keep

people safe from coronavirus:PM

DHAKA : The whole world is now in

deep crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Different development programmes

are now at stake. Like other countries,

this fatal infectious disease has largely

affected country's economy.

The child labour issue of the country,

which is one of the incumbent government's

priority basis works, now

appeared as the matter of concern due

to the outbreak of Coronavirus.

Experts and people, working on the

child rights here, believe that the economic

catastrophe caused by the

COVID-19 could lead to a new spread

of child labor in Bangladesh.

"The COCVID-19 crisis could hamper

Bangladesh's plan to eliminate various

forms of child labor, especially

risky child labor, by 2025, undermining

one of the promises to achieve the

Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs)," said the Education and

Development Foundation (Educo), a

child education development agency.

The country director of Educo

Bangladesh, Abdul Hamid said, "Many

family members have lost their jobs

due to COVID-19 outbreak."

He said many families, who were

become destitute before the recent

Corona lockdown, are now passing a

dehumanized life as they have become

completely jobless or unearned.

"There are a lot of kids who have

never worked before . . . but they are

now forced to go for the work only to

give support to their respective families,"

he feared.

According to a new report of the

International Labor Organization

(ILO) and the United Nations

International Children's Emergency

Fund (UNICEF) said the number of

child laborers has dropped by about 94

million since 2000, but that the

progress is now at risk.

DHAKA : Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina on Sunday assured the people

that the government has paid special

attention to keeping them safe from

coronavirus amid apprehensions of

worsening virus situation in winter

months, reports UNB.

She said the government will procure

a vaccine as soon as it is available and

has already given advance money for

booking a vaccine which is about to be

invented.

"We've given special attention to how

to secure people (from coronavirus) putting

aside other issues ... So, the people

of the country don't need to be anxious,"

she said while opening various development

projects, including three bridges,

in Magura, Narayanganj, Jashore and

Pabna through a video conference from

her official residence Ganobhaban.

Sheikh Hasina said that another wave

of coronavirus is coming worldwide and

the government is taking its preparations

from now to face that. She again

urged everyone to follow health instructions.

"Keep yourself protected and keep

others protected," she said, adding that

it is a shared responsibility.

The Prime Minister said the government

and the people now have the experience

of facing COVID-19.

"We firmly believe that we'll be able to

do that (successfully tackling a second

Child labour issue appears as

concern due to COVID-19

Like any other disaster, children are

the most affected by the crisis caused

by the COVID-19, the Educo observed,

saying that all children employed in the

child labor and their families must

bring under the official coverage of the

social protection program.

The government needs to take steps

to revise and implement the National

Action Plan on Child Labor, it said,

suggesting that the government and

civil society and child development

agencies or organizations must work

together to prevent and eliminate existing

child labor.

Educo mentioned that to protect

child laborers from the outbreak of

COVID-19, the government should

take pragmatic steps to provide them

with financial incentives from the

Workers' Welfare Fund under the

Ministry of Labor and Employment.

"We need to be more proactive in fulfilling

our humanitarian responsibilities

towards disadvantaged children,"

it added.

As part of the programmes undertaken

to overcome the existing Corona

crisis in different sectors, the incumbent

government has given special

emphasis on preventing child labor by

promoting the child education

throughout the country.

The present government is implementing

a special program at a cost of

Taka 284.49 crore to get rid of risky

child labor by 2021 and make

Bangladesh free from the curse of child

labour by 2025, according to the ministry

concerned.

"Work on this project has already

started. In the meantime about one

lakh children have been brought back

from risky child labor through this program,"

it said, adding that readymade

garment (RMG) factories have now

been freed from child labor.

Photo : Star Mail

wave)," she said.

Bangladesh's coronavirus caseload

stands at 445,281 with 6,350 fatalities, a

death rate of 1.43 percent.

So far, 360,352 patients - 80.93 percent

- have recovered, including 1,921 in

the last 24 hours.

Bangladesh reported its first cases on

March 8 and the first death on March

18. Although the Prime Minister has

been warning of a second wave, the people

still appear reluctant to follow health

guidelines.

The government has recently adopted

a 'no mask, no service' policy and recently,

launched a drive to ensure the use of

masks by people.

All to have access

to power within

Dec: Nasrul

DHAKA : State Minister for Power,

Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul

Hamid has said that the country will

achieve the target of access to electricity

for all by December this year.

He made the disclosure at a meeting

with executive committee of the Forum

for Energy Reporters Bangladesh

(FERB), a journalist body of the working

reporters in energy and power sector, on

Sunday at the Power Division.

Nasrul Hamid said the government

will celebrate the achievement of cent

percent electricity accessibility during

this year's National Victory Day on

December 16.

All the areas of the country will come

under electricity grid network by the

time while the off-grid areas will get

electricity through solar home system,

he added.

He mentioned that Bangladesh Rural

Electrification Board (BREB) and other

distribution companies have been

working relentlessly to achieve the goal

of making electricity accessible for all.

According to the available statistics at

the Power Division, more than 98 percent

areas of the country have already

been under grid system.

The country's present installed power

generation capacity has 23,548 MW

through 139 power plants while highest

available generation is 12,893 MW.

The Power Division data shows the

transmission line capacity has increased

to 12,379 circuit line kilometer while the

distribution line has enhanced to

588,000 kilometers.

The number of total electricity consumers

has reached 27.9 million while

per capita electricity consumption is 512

kilowatt hours.

FERB executive committee chairman

Arun Karmaker, executive director

Shamim Jahangir and other directors

and members of the executive body

were present at the meeting at the

Power Division.

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam, Executive Editor : Sheikh Efaz Ahmed, Managing, Editor: Tapash Ray Sarker, News Editor : Saiful Islam, printed at Sonali Printing Press, 2/1/A, Arambagh 167, Inner Circular Road, Eden Complex, Motijheel, Dhaka.

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

23-11-2020

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