26-07-2021

MoNDAY, JUlY 26, 2021
11
Without caring about the coronavirus situation, people have broken the hygiene and social distance
in different places of Tangail. Especially on the second day of Eid-ul-Azha, crowds of visitors were
seen in various parks, bridge areas and open water recreation centers. Photo : Nasir Uddin
Two Turkish
soldiers killed
in northern
Syria: ministry
ISTANBUL : Two Turkish
soldiers were killed and two
others wounded in areas of
northern Syria under
Ankara's control to keep out
jihadists and Kurdish rebels,
the defence ministry tweeted
Sunday.
The ministry said
"terrorists" targeted a
Turkish military vehicle on
Saturday in the Euphrates
Shield region south of the
border, but did not specify
which group they
represented.
Turkey launched
Operation Euphrates Shield
in 2016 in order to drive
away from its border region
Islamic State militants and
Syrian Kurdish militia forces
deemed "terrorists" by
Ankara.
The Euphrates Shield
region includes the towns of
Jarablus and al-Bab near the
Turkish border.
After the attack, "the terror
targets were hit" in
retaliation, the ministry said.
Ankara views Syrian
Kurdish People's Protection
Units (YPG) as an offshoot
of outlawed militants who
have been waging a deadly
insurgency against the
Turkish state.
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Europe's summer tourism
outlook dimmed by
variants, rules
LONDON : Chaos and
confusion over travel rules
and measures to contain
new virus outbreaks are
contributing to another
cruel summer for Europe's
battered tourism industry,
reports UNB.
Popular destination
countries are grappling with
surging COVID-19 variants,
but the patchwork and lastminute
nature of the efforts
as the peak season gets
underway threatens to derail
another summer.
In France, the world's
most visited country, visitors
to cultural and tourist sites
were confronted this week
with a new requirement for a
special COVID-19 pass.
To get the pass, which
comes in paper or digital
form, people must prove
they're either fully
vaccinated or recently
recovered from an infection,
or produce a negative virus
test. Use of the pass could
extend next month to
restaurants and cafes.
Italy said Thursday that
people will need a similar
pass to access museums and
movie theaters, dine inside
restaurants and cafes, and
get into pools, casinos and a
range of other venues.
At the Eiffel Tower,
unprepared tourists lined up
for quick virus tests so they
could get the pass to visit the
Paris landmark. Johnny
Nielsen, visiting from
Denmark with his wife and
two children, questioned the
usefulness of the French
rules.
"If I get tested now, I can
go but then I (could) get
corona in the queue right
here," Nielsen said, though
he added they wouldn't
change their plans because
of it.
Juan Truque, a tourist
from Miami, said he wasn't
vaccinated but took a test so
he could travel to France via
Spain with his mother.
"Now they are forcing you
to wear masks and to do
similar kind of things that
are impositions to you. To
me, they are violations to
your freedom." he said.
Europe's vital travel and
tourism industry is
desperate to make up after a
disastrous 2020.
International tourist arrivals
to Europe last year plunged
by nearly 70%, and for the
first five months of this year,
they're down 85%,
according to U.N. World
Tourism Organization
figures.
American, Japanese and
Chinese travelers aren't
confident it will be possible
to visit and move freely
within Europe, the
European Travel
Commission said.
International arrivals are
forecast to remain at nearly
half their 2019 level this
year, though domestic
demand will help make up
the shortfall. The U.K.'s
statistics office suspended its
monthly international
passenger data, because it
said there aren't enough
people arriving "to provide
robust estimates."
The United States this
week upgraded its travel
warning for Britain to the
highest level. The Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention advised
Americans to avoid traveling
to the country because of the
risk of contracting COVID-
19 variants, while the U.S.
State Department raised its
alert level to "do not travel"
from the previous less severe
"reconsider travel" advisory.
The recommendations are
constantly under review and
not binding, although they
may affect group tours and
insurance rates. Britain's
warning has fluctuated
several times this year
already.
Some countries are
showing signs of a rebound,
however.
Spain, the world's secondmost
visited country,
received 3.2 million tourists
from January to May - a
tenth of the amount in the
same period of 2019. But
visits surged in June with 2.3
million arrivals, the best
monthly figure since the
start of the pandemic,
although still only 75% of the
figure from two years ago.
Spain's secretary of state
for tourism, Fernando
Valdes, credited the
European Union's
deployment in June of its
digital COVID-19 vaccine
passport for having a "a
positive impact" on foreign
arrivals. That, and the U.K.
move to allow nonessential
travel, "allowed us to start
the 2021 summer season in
the best conditions," he
said.
Ten people
killed in Croatia
bus crash: police
ZAGREB : At least ten
people were killed and
dozens of others were
injured on Sunday when a
bus slipped off the highway
in eastern Croatia, police
said, reports BSS.
The passengers were
travelling on a regular bus
line between the German
city of Frankfurt and the
Kosovo capital Pristina, a
police official told reporters.
The injured were
hospitalised in the eastern
town of Slavonski Brod close
to where the crash occurred,
a police statement said.
A total of 45 people were
admitted to a Slavonski brod
hospital including eight who
sustained serious injuries,
its head Josip Samardzic
said.
There were no immediate
details on the ages or
nationalities of the
passengers or the possible
cause of the accident. The bus
had Kosovo license plates.
Boeing set to face investor scrutiny
as problems plague jets
NEW YORK : The aviation industry
appears to finally be past the worst of
the coronavirus downturn, but Boeing's
to-do list remains extensive following a
messy start to 2021.
The problems this year include
electrical issues with the 737 MAX jet,
fuselage troubles on the 787 and yet
another delay in the timeframe for the
777X.
The myriad challenges reflect the
changed regulatory climate facing
Boeing in the wake of a pair of 737 MAX
crashes in 2018 and 2019 that claimed
346 lives and led to a 20-month
grounding of the aircraft.
"Unfortunately for Boeing right now,
the added scrutiny is justified," said
Ken Herbert, an aviation analyst at
Canaccord Genuity.
Chief Executive Dave Calhoun on
Wednesday will update investors on its
latest set of challenges when the
company reports second-quarter
Shibbir Mahmud
elected Vice
Chairman of IFIL
Shibbir Mahmud has been
elected Vice Chairman of
Islamic Finance and
Investment Limited (IFIL).
The decision came at the
285th meeting of the Board
of Directors held at IFIL
Head Office at Tejgaon
recently. He is a Sponsor
Director of IFIL.
He started 100% Export
Oriented Garments business
and subsequently started
Garments Accessories in
Bangladesh. Within a short
span of time he has become
a very prominent figure in
Garment Accessories subsector.
He is the Chairman
of Swiss Tex Group. He is
associated with Swis Tex
Ltd., Euro Label Ltd., Swis
Tex Packaging & Accessories
Ltd. and Swis Tex Printers
Ltd. Janab Shibbir Mahmud
is also involved in various
social activities. He is a
member of Syndicate and
Board of Trustee of
Ahsanaullah University of
Science & Technology. He is
a founder of Janata Degree
College, Laxmipur and
President of the Governing
Body of the college in the
session 2020-2021 and
2021-2022.
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results. He will likely discuss the
prospects for the 787 Dreamliner
following Boeing's move earlier this
month to cut production after
identifying another issue with the
aircraft.
In May, the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) formally notified
Boeing that the 777X would need more
than two years of additional testing and
analysis before it could be certified,
saying the jet was "not yet ready" to
advance to the next stage of evaluation.
In April, Boeing notified 16 airlines
flying its 737 MAX planes of an
electrical issue, leading to the
immediate grounding of more than 100
jets. Carriers resumed service on the
jets in May after regulators approved
Boeing's proposed fix.
Boeing has also pushed back the
timeframe for new deliveries of
presidential plane Air Force Once and
experienced numerous setbacks on
the KC46 Air Force tanker. "
More scrutiny - Boeing's efforts to get
back on track have been complicated
by disruptions to supply chains and
personnel during the pandemic that
have weighed on the broader
economy.
The company's decision to
consolidate 787 production to South
Carolina and shift operations from
Washington state has also led to
disruption.
But experts say a good portion of the
problems stem from the aftermath of
the MAX crashes, including a
withering September 2020
congressional report that blasted
Boeing as overly focused on profit to
the detriment of engineering.
The report said Boeing suffered
from a "culture of concealment" from
regulators at the FAA, who themselves
practiced "grossly insufficient
oversight" of the company.
Another presidential
hopeful arrested in
Nicaragua
MANAGUA : Another presidential
candidate was arrested in Nicaragua on
Saturday, police said-the seventh
detained by Daniel Ortega's government
in the lead-up to elections on November
7.
Noel Vidaurre was put under house
arrest, accused of "undermining the
sovereignty" of the country, in the latest
of a series of arrests condemned by the
United States and European Union.
Long-term Nicaraguan leader Ortega is
expected to seek a fourth consecutive
presidential term in the elections.
Ortega, 75, will be the ruling
Sandinista National Liberation Front's
candidate for the presidential vote,
Gustavo Porras, the speaker of
Nicaragua's assembly, confirmed last
week.
Seven opposition presidential hopefuls
have been among 28 people detained by
Ortega's government.
In a clampdown that began on June 2,
Ortega's government has rounded up
political rivals in a series of house raids
and night-time arrests on charges of
threatening Nicaragua's "sovereignty."
On Saturday, political commentator
Jaime Arellano was also put under
custody at his home.
Julie Chung, the top US diplomat for
Latin America, said on Twitter the two
were "just the latest victims of a
despicable campaign to criminalize
peaceful opposition."
The charges are rooted in a law
initiated by Ortega and approved by
lawmakers in December that has been
widely criticized as a means of freezing
out challengers and silencing opponents
ahead of the election.
The law bars "those who ask for,
celebrate and applaud the imposition of
sanctions against the Nicaraguan state"
from seeking public office.
Vidaurre, 66, was one potential
candidate for the Alianza Ciudadanos
por la Libertad group standing against
Ortega.
Presidential candidates will be able to
register from July 28 to August 2.
Ortega says the people rounded up by
his forces are "criminals" seeking to
overthrow him with US backing.
But the clampdown has drawn
international condemnation and fresh
sanctions, with the United States
branding the long-term leader a
"dictator."
The European Union has said it was
"inconceivable" the November elections
"will be anything remotely approaching
a democratic competition."A firebrand
Marxist in his younger days, Ortega and
his Sandinistas toppled a corrupt
autocratic regime to popular applause
and seized control of the country in
1979.
He was elected president in 1984 and
ruled until 1990 when he was beaten by
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, then
returned to power in 2007. He has won
two successive re-elections.
Cristiana Chamorro, ex-president
Chamorro's daughter and widely seen as
the favorite to beat Ortega this year, was
the first to be targeted and is now under
house arrest on government claims of
money laundering.
Ortega has been accused of increasing
authoritarianism, especially following
the brutal repression of anti-government
demonstrations in 2018, which left more
than 300 dead and thousands in exile,
according to rights bodies.
His vice president since 2017 is his
wife, Rosario Murillo.