06-08-2021

Friday

Dhaka: august 6, 2021; Srabon 22, 1428 BS; Zilhaj 26,1442 hijri

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www.bangladeshtoday.net

Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.19; N o. 105; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00

international

US plans to require

Covid-19 shots for

foreign travelers

>Page 7

SPortS

With painful foot, Rafael

Nadal tops Jack Sock at

Washington in return

>Page 9

art & culture

I’m in embarrassing

situation:

Mou

>Page 10

218 more

dengue patients

hospitalized in

24 hrs:DGHS

DHAKA : A total of 218 fresh dengue

cases were reported in Bangladesh in the

last 24 hours till Thursday morning,

reports UNB.

Since August 1, the country has been

seeing over 200 dengue cases daily

which are addingworries to the already

overburdened health sector with Covid-

19 patients.

Of the new dengue cases, 208 were

reported in Dhaka while the restfrom

outside the capital, said the Directorate

General of Health Services (DGHS).

According to the (DGHS), 1,055

patients are currently receiving treatment

at different hospitals across the

country. Of them 1,012 patients were

reported to be admitted in Dhaka

hospitals.

Some 3,901 patients have been admitted

to different hospitals with dengue

since January and 2,836 of them have

been released after they recovered.

So far, 10 suspected deaths by dengue

were reported to Institute of

Epidemiology Disease Control and

Research (IEDCR) but none of them has

been reviewed and confirmed yet, said

the DGHS.

Dengue fever was first reported in

Bangladesh in 2000, claiming 93 lives

that year. In the years that followed, the

country learned to deal with the disease

much better.

The fatalities had almost fallen to zero

at one stage, before surging again in

2018, leading to the severe outbreak the

following year.

Covid-19

Bangladesh

announces new

restriction rules

DHAKA : Faced with the mounting

Covid-19 cases and hospitalization, the

government has imposed restrictions

alongside the existing ones on the movement

of people and other activities for

five days more in an effort to slow the

virus transmission, reports UNB.

The Cabinet Division issued the notification

on Thursday which will remain in

force from 12 am on August 5 till 12 am

on August 10.

According to the notification, the

industries and factories will remain

out of the purview of the restriction

while the domestic flight will be

operated following health guidelines.

On July 22, the Bangladesh government

announced the resumption of

the countrywide strict lockdown from

July 23.

The nationwide lockdown, first

imposed for 14-days until August 5, has

now been extended for another five days

till August 10 amid a surge in the Delta

variant of Covid-19 infections across the

country.

The government also asked all concerned

to take measures in this regard.

Zohr

04:08 AM

12:10 PM

04:42 PM

06:45 PM

08:05 PM

5:28 6:41

Long queue witnessed at a hospital of Chattogram for taking corona vaccine.

Covid-19 in Bangladesh

Delta variant Covid patients

account for 98%

DHAKA : Ninety-eight percent of the

Covid patients recently detected in

Bangladesh are of the highly contagious

Delta variant while just one percent are of

South African Beta variant ones, says a

BSMMU survey.

Vice-Chancellor of the BSMMU

(Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical

University) Prof M Sharfuddin Ahmed,

also the supervisor of Genome sequencing

research project, revealed the survey

report on Thursday after scrutinizing 300

samples collected from June 29 to July 30.

The aim of the research is to unveil the

character of genome, type of mutation and

discover the inter-relations of with global

Covid-19 genome as well as preparing a

database of Bangladesh Covid-19 genome.

This is the result of the first month of the

BSMMU research and its updated result

will be revealed in the months to follow.

The genome sequencing was conducted

through next generation sequencing after

collecting the nasopharyngeal swab samples

of Covid-19 positive patients.

DHAKA : Information and Broadcasting

Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Thursday

said anyone cannot avoid the liability if

they do unethical and immoral works in

the guise of acting or modelling.

"Acting and modelling are the parts of

our art and culture. The pers ons who

practice the culture, they enrich the arena

and even many of them also living from

these. But, if anyone is involved with illegal

and immoral works in the guise of acting

or modelling, he or she could not avoid the

liability," he said.

The minister told the reporters at his

official residence on Mintu Road in the

capital.

Hasan said there will be no adverse

effect on the film industry over the arrests

on such charges. The law enforcers can

take actions against anyone involved in

immoral activities, he added.

"And, I think, there will be no adverse

effect on the industry over the arrests on

such charges," he said.

Earlier in the beginning, Hasan, also

Awami League joint general secretary,

Fifty-three percent of the patients

included in the research were male,

including people of the age between nine

months' old to 90 years old.

As no age group of people is immune to

coronavirus, it cannot be said that children

have no risk of Covid-19 infection, says the

research finding.

Besides, the people who have comorbidities

like cancer, respiratory problems

and diabetes have a high mortality risk.

And those above 60 are also at high mortality

risk if infected for the second time, it

says.

According to the research, UK variant

Alpha dominated the country in

December 2020, later South African Beta

variant dominated in March 2021 but now

most people are being infected with the

Delta variant.

The research team also found the existence

of a Mauritius variant or Nigerian

variant in one sample.

The Delta variant, identified first in

India, is now playing havoc in Bangladesh.

None can avoid liability

if they do immoral

works: Hasan

paid rich tribute to Sheikh Kamal, the eldest

son of Father of the Nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,

on the occasion of his (Kamal) 72nd birth

anniversary.

He said Shaheed Sheikh Kamal was the

great sports organizer in the country and

he is the pioneer of modern football who

had established the Abahani Club. "He

was also cultural-oriented and used to play

sitar, sung and play cricket. The country

has lost a sports organizer, athlete and cultural-minded

personality with huge

potentiality after his (Sheikh Kamal)

death", he added.

The minister said Sheikh Kamal will

remain in the hearts of people as an archetype

of youthful pride and a creative

unique talent. "I'm expressing my deep

condemnation to the killers who killed

such a man (Kamal)," said Hasan.

Sheikh Kamal was killed brutally

along with his father Bangabandhu,

mother Bangamata and most of his

family members on the fateful night

August 15 in 1975.

Photo : Star Mail

Pori Moni sued

under Narcotics

Control Act: Rab

DHAKA : A case was filed against

Dhallywood actress Pori Moni under the

Narcotics Control Act on Thursday following

her detention on Wednesday, reports

UNB.

Two more cases-one under the

Narcotics Control Act and another under

the Pornography Control Act-were filed

against her associate Nazrul Islam Raj,

owner of Raj Multimedia. The elite force

filed these cases with Banani Police

Station, said Rab sources.

Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director

of Legal and Media Wing of Rab,

briefed reporters about Pori Moni's detention

at its headquarters in the afternoon.

"The actress had a minibar at her residence

and regularly hosted DJ parties

there," he said. Moin, however, refused to

make any conclusion on these matters

before a full investigation.

Film actress Pori Moni, whose allegation

of rape attempt on her by businessman

Nasir U Mahmud and others

prompted firestorm in the social media

barely two months back, was detained

from her Banani residence on Wednesday

night. The intelligence unit of Rab, led by

Lt Col Khairul Islam, started a drive at her

residence around 4 pm on the day and

detained her after three hours of search.

A huge quantity of liquor was seized

from her house, Rab sources said. On the

same night, the elite force members conducted

another drive at the residence of

Nazrul Islam Raj and detained him.

Bangladesh shatters

its own records

Reports 264 single-day Covid deaths

DHAKA : Grappling with the worst coronavirus

wave spurred by the highly contagious

Delta variant, Bangladesh reported

264 more deaths in 24 hours till Thursday

morning, shattering all the previous

records, reports UNB.

The country saw the highest-ever 258

Covid deaths on July 27 before that.

Besides, 12,744 people came out positive

with the virus after the test of 46,995 samples

during the 24-hour period, according

to a handout issued by the Directorate

General of Health Services (DGHS).

The fresh numbers took the total fatality

to 21,905 while the caseload to 1,322,654.

The case positivity rate during the period

fell slightly to 27.12% from

Wednesday's 27.91%, while the World

Health Organization (WHO) recommends

a 5% or below rate.

The country has been seeing over

14,000 cases and 230 deaths every day on

average for the last seven days.

The recovery rate, however, rose to

87.47%, with the recovery of 15,786 people

during the period.

However, the case fatality rose to 1.66%

again from yesterday's 1.65% during the

same period, the DGHS added.

Dhaka division remained the worst hit

region, logging 87 deaths followed by 56 in

Chattogram, 35 in Khulna, 23 in Sylhet, 19

in Rajshahi, 18 in Rangpur, 12 in Rajshahi,

16 in Barishal and 10 in Mymensingh divisions.

Of them, 140 were men and 164

were women. Among them, one was within

0-10 years, one between 11-20, five

between 21-30, 25 between 31-40, 31

between 41-50, 59 between 51-60 and 142

were above 60 years old, the DGHS handout

added.

98% patients of Delta variant

Ninety-eight percent of the Covid

patients recently detected in Bangladesh

are of the highly contagious Delta variant

while just one percent are of South African

Beta variant ones, says a BSMMU survey.

Vice-Chancellor of the BSMMU

(Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical

University) Prof M Sharfuddin Ahmed,

also the supervisor of Genome sequencing

research project, revealed the survey

report on Thursday after scrutinizing 300

samples collected from June 29 to July 30.

According to the research, UK variant

Alpha dominated the country in

December 2020, later South African Beta

variant dominated in March 2021 but now

most people are being infected with the

Delta variant.

The people who have co-morbidities like

cancer, respiratory problems and diabetes

have a high mortality risk. And those

above 60 are also at high mortality risk if

infected for the second time, it says.

This is the result of the first month of the

BSMMU research and its updated result

will be revealed in the months to follow.

Domestic flights to resume from

Aug 6 amid relaxed lockdown

DHAKA : In gradual relaxation of the

extended Covid-19 lockdown the government

has decided to allow domestic

flights to operate in all routes from

Friday. The information was confirmed

in the notification of the cabinet division

regarding lockdown restrictions on

Thursday afternoon.

Right after the notification, US-Bangla

Airlines issued a press release on

resumption of flights on all domestic

routes in compliance with health regulations

from Aug. 6.

Among the routes operated from

Dhaka, US-Bangla Airlines has decided

to run flights to Chattogram, Cox's Bazar,

Syedpur, Jashore, Sylhet, Barisal and

Rajshahi, said the press release.

They requested their customers to call

01777777800-6 or 13605 for ticket reservations

. Faced with the mounting Covid-

19 cases and hospitalization, the government

on Thursday decided to extend the

ongoing lockdown for five more days

until Aug. 10 in an effort to slow down the

virus transmission.

The Cabinet Division issued the notification

on Thursday which will remain in

force from 12 am on Aug. 5 till 12 am on

Aug. 10. According to the notification,

the industries and factories will remain

out of the purview of the restriction while

the domestic flight will be operated following

health guidelines.

The nationwide lockdown, first

imposed on July 23 for 14 days until Aug.

5, has now been extended for another five

days till Aug. 10 amid a surge in the Delta

variant of Covid-19 infections across the

country.

The arrested actress Pori Moni was produced at a press conference at the RAB headquarters on

Thursday.

Photo : Star Mail

fRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 2021

2

Villagers thrash cops,

free wanted criminal

from custody

COX'S BAZAR : A group of

local residents allegedly

thrashed a posse of policemen

and forcibly freed a wanted

criminal from the latter's

custody in Habirpara village of

Teknaf upazila on Wednesday,

reports UNB.

Acting officer-in-charge of

Teknaf Model Police Station,

Mohammad Hafizur Rahman

said that the policemen had

managed to nab Habibur

Rahman Habib alias Magu,

wanted in six criminal cases, in

the village around 2 pm.

But as the police team was

about to leave the village with

the accused, his family

and a local UP member

Moulvi Syedul Islam

surrounded the vehicle of the

cops, attacked them with iron

rods and hurled brick chips,

and took Habib away.

Three policemen were

injured in the attack. On

information, another police

team rushed to the spot and

took the injured cops to Teknaf

Upazila Health Complex.

"We are trying to arrest

Habib. However, the UP

member has already been

arrested in this connection.

We are going to book him

under stringent sections," the

OC said.

Ex-BCL leader

killed in

Gaibandha

GAIBANDHA : A former

leader of Bangladesh Chhatra

League's (BCL) Gaibandha

Government College unit was

killed in an alleged attack by a

mango trader near Gaibandha

Hawkers Market on

Wednesday night, reports

UNB.

The deceased was identified

as Manjurul Hasan Likhon, 38,

son of Mahabubur Rahman of

the district town.

Abdur Rauf, officer-incharge

of Gaibandha Sadar

police station, said on

Thursday that Manjurul had

an altercation with Sharif Mia,

a mango trader, in front of the

district unit office of BNP on

Wednesday afternoon.

The altercation soon turned

violent, but eventually ended

with the intervention of local

people.

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Municipality Mayor Rezaul Karim Badsha and Bogura Rotary Club President Syed Ahammed Kiron

inaugurated the tree plantation program in Bogura district town yesterday. Photo : Azahar Ali.

UK becomes Dialogue

Partner of ASEAN

DHAKA : The UK has agreed a new partnership

with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(ASEAN), reports UNB.

The partnership, which is the first ASEAN has

agreed in 25 years, will lead to closer cooperation

between the UK and the region on a range of

issues such as trade, investment, climate change,

the environment, science and technology, and

education.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will join a

virtual ceremony with ASEAN Foreign Ministers

where they will welcome the UK as an ASEAN

'Dialogue Partner'.

Since the UK submitted its application to

become a Dialogue Partner in June 2020, the

Foreign Secretary has attended two UK-ASEAN

Ministerial Meetings and hosted the ASEAN

Chair at the G7 Foreign and Development

Ministers meeting in May.

ASEAN is an influential group of ten member

countries in the Indo-Pacific.

By becoming a Dialogue Partner the UK will

formalise its relations with the group - including

through attending annual Foreign and

Economic Ministers meetings along with other

Ministerial engagements.

Dialogue Partner status puts the UK at the

heart of the Indo-Pacific.

The UK will work with ASEAN and its

members on key shared challenges such as

maritime security and transnational crime, boost

our economies through trade, and strengthen

our cooperation on issues such COVID-19 and

climate change. Foreign Secretary, Dominic

Raab said: "I am delighted that the UK has,

today, formally become a Dialogue Partner of the

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(ASEAN) bloc - the first new country in 25 years."

"This is a landmark moment in the UK's tilt

towards the Indo Pacific. Our closer ties with

ASEAN will help create green jobs, reinforce our

security cooperation, promote tech and science

partnerships, and safeguard key pillars of

international law like the UN Convention on the

Law of the Sea."

The new agreement will also help the UK to

deepen economic links with ASEAN, which has a

combined GDP of $3.2 trillion.

Total trade between the UK and ASEAN was

£32.3 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q1

2021 with huge potential to boost this trade,

creating jobs at home. International Trade

Secretary, Liz Truss said this is great news and

shows Global Britain in action, forging stronger

relationships around the world as an

independent trading nation.

"Along with CPTPP accession and deals with

countries like Singapore and Vietnam, this will

help unlock opportunities for British businesses

in a high-growth region of more than 650 million

people, allowing them to expand and create jobs

across the UK.

Sheikh Kamal wanted to

build 'Sonar Bangla' of

Bangabandhu: Murad

JAMALPUR : State Minister for Information and

Broadcasting Dr Md Murad Hassan on Thursday said that

Sheikh Kamal, the eldest son of Father of the Nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was a pure patriot

as he was engaged in building the 'Sonar Bangla' of

Bangabandhu.

"If he (Sheikh Kamal) had survived, he could have given

a lot to the society and the country. But on the black night

of August 15, 1975, the ruthless bullet of the assassin

thwarted all his efforts," he said.

The state minister was speaking at a discussion as the

chief guest on the 72nd birth anniversary of Sheikh Kamal

organized by Sarishabari Upazila Administration and

Upazila Awami League at the Upazila Complex in the

district.

He said Sheikh Kamal had also introduced modernity in

the sports arena of this country, adding: "Sheikh Kamal will

live forever in the hearts of the people of the country."

On the occasion of Kamal's birthday, food items, tins and

cash were distributed to the poor and indigent people and

seeds were provided among the farmers.

Upazila Awami League President Chanowar Hossain

Badsha, General Secretary Harun Aur Rashid, Upazila

Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Shihab Uddin Ahmed and other

leaders and workers of the Upazila Awami League were

also present there.

'Rohingya robber' killed

in 'gunfight' with Rab in

Cox's Bazar

COX'S BAZAR : A

suspectedRohingya robber was

killed in a 'gunfight' with Rapid

Action Battalion members in

Damdamia area of Hnila

Union in Teknaf Upazila early

Thursday, reports UNB.

The deceased was identified

as Nuru, leader of a Rohingya

robber gang called 'Nuru

Bahini'. Cox's Bazar Rab-15

Teknaf CPC-1 camp in-charge

Lt. Commander Mahbub said

that tipped off, a team of the

elite force conducted a drive in

Damdamia area of Teknaf.

Bangladeshi

youth shot

dead in US

DHAKA : A 28-year-old

Bangladeshi youth was shot

dead allegedly by an

unidentified gunman at

South Philadelphia in

Pennsylvania of United

States on Tuesday night, his

friends and police said,

reports UNB.

The youth was identified

as Moazzem Hossain Saju,

son of Shams Uddin of

Baradesh village under

Muria union of Beanibazar

upazila of Sylhet. He lived

with his family in Northeast

Philadelphia

of

Pennsylvania.

Mashukul Islam Khan,

president of Beanibazar

Social and Cultural

Association Pennsylvania

Inc., said Saju was with

friends on the streets of

South Philadelphia on

Tuesday night when a

masked gunman tried to

rob them.

A scuffle took place

between the two sides

during which the gunman

shot Saju leaving him

seriously injured.

He was rushed to

Jefferson University

Hospital where doctors

pronounced him dead.

Philadelphia police have

not yet arrested anyone

involved in the killing of the

Bangladeshi youth.

However, police said the

gunman was wearing a

black dress and covered his

face with a mask.

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Sheikh Kamal is a blazing

flame of inspiration for

youths: Quader

DHAKA : Awami League General Secretary

Obaidul Quader on Thursday said Shaheed

Sheikh Kamal will live forever in the hearts of

the young people as a blazing flame of

inspiration.

He made the remark while talking to

reporters after paying homage to Sheikh

Kamal at Banani graveyard in the city on the

occasion of the 72nd birth anniversary of the

eldest son of the Father of the Nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Quader, also the road transport and bridges

minister, placed separate wreaths on the grave

of Sheikh Kamal on behalf of Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina and the ruling Awami League.

He said the most stigmatised chapter in the

history of bloody treachery in Bangladesh is

the August 15 of 1975. Sheikh Kamal will

remain in the hearts of people as an archetype

of youthful pride and a creative unique talent,

he added.

The AL general secretary said the Bangalee

nation got stigmatised due to the killing of

Bangabandhu but Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina removed this stigma by completing the

trial of the August 15 carnage.

"…we will build Bangabandhu's Sonar

Bangla, being an adventurer of the path of light

that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is

embarking on - and it should be our pledge on

this day," he said.

AL presidium members Dr Abdur Razzaque,

Advocate Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Abdur

Rahman, its joint general secretary and

Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr

Hasan Mahmud, joint general secretaries

Mahbubul Alam Hanif and AFM Bahauddin

Nasim, organising secretary Ahmed Hossain,

Mirza Azam and SM Kamal Hossain, science

and technology affairs secretary Abdus Sabur,

office secretary Barrister Biplob Baraua and

deputy office secretary Sayem Khan were,

among others, present on the occasion.

Later, the leaders and workers of the AL's

affiliated bodies and various social and cultural

organistions, including AL Dhaka city units,

Awami Jubo League, Bangladesh Krishka

League, Swechchhasebak League, Mahila

Awami League, Jubo Mahila League, Awami

Matsyajibi League, Chhatra League and

Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote, paid respect to

Sheikh Kamal at Banani graveyard.

Sheikh Kamal's behavior was

like a common man: Humayun

DHAKA : Industries Minister Nurul Majid

Mahmud Humayun yesterday said Sheikh

Kamal had a unique talent not as a child of the

Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh

Mujibur Rahman but as a common man and

student.

"Sheikh Kamal's behavior was like that of a

common man. He was the same as before,

even after Bangabandhu became the Prime

Minister. Sheikh Kamal worked with the

student community as a general worker of

Bangabandhu," he said.

The Industries Minister said this while

participating in a discussion on the occasion of

the 72nd birth anniversary of Captain Sheikh

Kamal,

the eldest son of Father of the Nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,

organized by Narsingdi District

Administration, said a press release.

Humayun said Sheikh Kamal also took part

in every movement of the country as a

common worker. "I was together as a friend

and classmate of Sheikh Kamal," he said.

Narsingdi Deputy Commissioner and

District Magistrate Abu Naim Mohammad

Maruf Khan presided over the discussion

while Narsingdi Superintendent of Police Kazi

Ashraful Azim, among others, was present on

the occasion.

The Coast Guard has arrested a pirate with weapons from Hatia in

Noakhali's Dwip Upazila. Hatia Coast Guard raided the house of Siraj in

Nijhum Island area of the upazila around 10am on Wednesday and arrested

the pirate.

Photo : Courtesy

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FriDAY, AuguSt 6, 2021

3

Dhaka Ahsania Mission Health Sector organized a program 'Corona Sanglap' on Wednesday.

Photo : Courtesy

Role of Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah

in the establishment of Dhaka

University is evident’- Speakers

Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, a prominent

twentieth-century academic, Sufi saint and

social reformer, obtained his MA in

Philosophy from Calcutta University in 1895.

Then for 34 long years, he kept himself

engaged in teaching and education service

and tried to make the backward people of

Bengal interested in education especially in

English education. Through his diligent

efforts, several educational institutions were

established in different parts of Chittagong,

Cumilla and Brahmanbaria.

From 1914 to 1928 he was a member of the

Senate, Syndicate, other important

committees and councils of Calcutta

University. He was nominated a member of

an important sub-committee of the Nathan

Committee formed in 1912 to formulate the

Dhaka University Scheme.

Later, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah was

nominated as the only Bengali Muslim

member in the 9-member committee to

consider the draft bill of Dhaka University

1919. He presented his strong argument for

increasing the effectiveness of the university.

These issues about Khan Bahadur

Ahsanullah (Rah.) came up in the live

broadcast program 'Corona Sanglap'

organized by Dhaka Ahsania Mission Health

Sector. The topic of the live program titled

'Corona Sanglap' (Episode-30) aired on

Facebook and YouTube on the evening of

August 4 was 'The Role of Khan Bahadur

Ahsanullah (Rah.) in spreading education to

the backward people of undivided Bengal and

establishing Dhaka University. The

prominent thinker and author Dr. Salimullah

Khan and Dr. Mohammad Abdul Majid,

former secretary, chairman and researcher of

the NBR was the negotiator. The program

was conducted by Iqbal Masud, Director,

Health and WASH Sector, Dhaka Ahsania

Mission, a press release said

Dr. Salimullah Khan said the role of Khan

Bahadur Ahsanullah in the spread of

education was undeniable. In particular,

Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah not only mastered

Bengali, the mother tongue of Bengalis but

also expressed it through his literary practice.

Many Muslim writers of the time of Khan

Bahadur Ahsanullah did not practice

literature in Bengal. Urdu was more prevalent

but Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah studied

literature in Pranjal Bengal. This is indicative

of his big mind.

Dr. Md. Abdul Majid said that the British

government in India took a historic step to

establish a university in Dhaka because of the

demands for the overall development of the

people of East Bengal in the context of the

repeal of the Partition of Bengal. However, in

the face of all sorts of conspiracies to prevent

its implementation at various stages and to

prevent the university from becoming a

hindrance to the backward community of

East Bengal, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah

played the role of the only East Bengal

Muslim member of the policy-making boards

of Calcutta University. In the future, the

people of East Bengal became aware of socioeconomic

and political rights centered on

Dhaka University.

MV Ikram to be converted

into Liberation War

museum: Minister

DHAKA : A testimony to the heroism of those

who fought in the naval theatre during the

Liberation War, the MV Ikram freedom

fighters, the MV Ikram ship will be

transformed into an international standard

liberation war museum, said Liberation War

Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque.

The minister said this while visiting the

possible site of MV Ikram ship preservation

and museum in Narayanganj Wednesday

afternoon, reports UNB.

He said that the government has taken

initiative to preserve every memorial of the

liberation war. MV Ikram bears the history of

the freedom fighters during the war of

liberation. "This ship of the Pakistani army

was destroyed by the naval-commando

freedom fighters. This ship has a lot of

historical significance."

He further said that a film will be made

about 'Operation Jackpot' which was carried

out by the naval-commando freedom fighters.

The film will memorialise the supreme

history of the Liberation War naval heroes

DHAKA : Bangamata Sheikh

Fazilatunnesa Mujib played an

unparallel role to shape the thoughts

of her husband Bangabandhu Sheikh

Mujibur Rahman and she contributed

extensively to Awami League and the

nation's long struggle for freedom,

said academics.

"Bangamata played a historic role in

the life of Bangabandhu. After

Bangabandhu, Bangamata had the

greatest contributions to Awami

League and Bangladesh's struggle for

independence," National Professor

Rafiqul Islam told BSS on Thursday

on the eve of the 91st birth anniversary

of Bangamata to be observed on

Sunday.

from generation to generation.

Shahjahan Khan, Chairman,

Parliamentary Standing Committee for the

Ministry of Liberation War Affairs; Khalid

Mahmud Chowdhury, State Minister for

Shipping; Khwaja Mia, Secretary, Ministry of

Liberation War Affairs; Commodore Golam

Sadek, Chairman, Bangladesh Inland Water

Transport Authority and other senior

officials of the Ministry of Liberation War

Affairs and Ministry of Shipping were

present during the visit.

Bangamata played huge

role in nation's freedom

struggle: Academics

He said Bangamata played the role

silently from behind the scene as she

didn't like any publicity.

Prof Rafiqul Islam, also president of

Bangla Academy, said Bangamata had

very strong contributions in every

democratic movements of the

country, including the 1966 six-point

movement, struggles against Agartala

Conspiracy case, mass-upsurge and

the great Liberation War as she always

2 held as organised

gang busted in

Bashundhara

DHAKA : The Rapid Action

Battalion arrested a ringleader

of an organised gang and one

of his accomplices with

firearms and huge stash of

contraband items from

Bashundhara Residential Area

on Tuesday night, reports

UNB.

The arrestees were identified

as Sharful Hasan alias Mishu

Hasan (31) and his accomplice

Md. Masudul Islam alias Jisan

(39).

The elite force confirmed the

information to UNB on

Wednesday evening.

A firearm, 6 rounds of

ammunition, 13,300 pieces of

yaba, an expensive Ferrari car,

2 laptops, several mobile

phones, chequebooks of

various banks and ATM cards,

passports of different countries

and Indian counterfeit

currency (Rs. 49,500) were

seized during the raid.

The arrestees are members

of an organized Dhaka gang.

There are about 10/12

members in their group.

They carry out their activities

in different aristocratic areas of

the capital, targeting youths

from affluent backgrounds,

especially in different areas

including Gulshan, Baridhara,

Banani, selling drugs in the

name of party or DJ party.

They even have 'branches' in

Dubai, Europe and America for

the upper-class expatriates.

The group often blackmailed

their clients by recording

pictures and videos of their

private moments without the

subjects' consent.

RAB sources told UNB that

the group has also invested in

several fake local businesses in

order to whitewash their

money.

Arrested Sharful Hasan alias

Mishu Hasan trades luxury

cars in Bangladesh. He said

during interrogation that he

used to resort to irregularities

and fraud while importing

luxury cars. He himself used

expensive cars.

Mishu owns five cars,

including two personalised

Range Rovers, an Aqua, a

Volkswagen and a Ferrari.

The RAB sources told UNB

that Mishu is a mastermind of

tax evasion.

Jisan, on the other hand,

owns a cattle farm where the

prohibited Brahma breed of

cows were being reared.

Mishu had been arrested

three times in different cases

earlier. There are several

ongoing cases in his name.

He reportedly keeps contact

with many notorious criminal

masterminds around the

world.

gave very significant suggestions to

Bangabandhu.

For example, before the historic

March 7 speech, there were lots of

discussions about what Bangabandhu

would say in his speech on March 7

and at that time Bangamata played

the biggest role, he said.

"Many Awami League leaders and

others had given different suggestions

and opinions to Bangabandhu. But

Bangamata told Bangabandhu, 'You

have fought for the people throughout

your life. You know best what to say.

Say what you have in your heart' and

Bangabandhu exactly did that and

now that is one of the greatest

speeches of the world," he said.

Facebook to launch mobile upskilling

prog for Bangladeshi journalists

DHAKA : Facebook Journalism Project

has partnered with the Center for

Investigative Reporting (CIR) and

Center for Communication Action

Bangladesh (C-CAB) to upskill over

1,000 journalists.

The programme, Facebook

Fundamentals for News, will be

delivered completely digitally via

BigSpring, mobile skilling platform

partner. The mobile curriculum,

available in both English and Bangla,

includes skills on online safety, best

practices on Facebook, and how to best

leverage video on the platform. The

programme can be accessed via mobile

and web. "We are committed to

supporting quality journalism and

providing tools and training to

journalists globally," said Anjali Kapoor,

Director of News Partnerships,

Facebook Asia Pacific.

"This partnership was developed after

speaking with the news community and

our partners in APAC who had identified

the need to support the region's

journalists with foundational skills so

they can use Facebook more effectively.

We hope that this program can help

journalists to adapt digitally, and create

more informed and engaged

communities across the news

ecosystem." Zain Mahmood, Executive

Director at Center for Communication

Action Bangladesh explained, "We

welcome the support of Facebook to

bring a curriculum that can help improve

the social media skills of our journalists

and strengthen the foundation of

reporting across the country. " "The fact

that we can make this available via a

mobile platform, through BigSpring's

technology, ensures that the program

can reach more journalists across the

country more rapidly. The impact of this

program starts today."

Dilrukshi Handunetti, Executive

Director of Center for Investigative

Reporting said this collaboration

provides the opportunity for them to

nurture the next generation of

journalists, and equip them with best

practices of working across platforms

and new ways of storytelling. "It will

Bangladesh Youth Leadership Centre (BYLC) Youth Leadership Summit 2021 began online

Wednesday.

Photo : Courtesy

BYLC Leadership Summit

2021 starts focusing on

inclusiveness, diversity

DHAKA : To harness inclusiveness in

society and diversity in youth leadership,

Bangladesh Youth Leadership Centre

(BYLC) Youth Leadership Summit 2021

began online Wednesday.

The four-day virtual summit is bringing

together 300 delegates from 149

educational institutions across 45 districts.

The ultimate goal of the summit is to

guide delegates to work together to craft

solutions that can help them achieve

inclusivity in terms of opportunities to

work, exercising equal rights, access to

better health, livelihood, education, and

skills development within the society.

The sessions will focus on listening to the

concerns of marginalised youths -

including young people with disabilities;

youths from Dalit, madrassa, and lowincome

backgrounds.

The theme of this year's summit is

"Journey towards an inclusive

Bangladesh" and United News of

Bangladesh is the official online news

partner of the event.

A virtual inauguration ceremony titled

"Why embracing diversity matters in

leadership" was arranged on Tuesday

afternoon.

"Throughout human history, it has been

seen that without cultivating the virtues of

diversity and inclusiveness sustainable

peace cannot be pursued by any country or

organisation," Dr AK Abdul Momen said

while addressing the youth delegates at the

programme.

"As the leaders of the future, you have to

face many challenges regarding

intolerance, climate change and more. It is

time to create a global campaign against all

existing challenges, and you have to take

the leadership role on behalf of

Bangladesh, for the sake of humanity," he

added.

Swedish Ambassador to Bangladesh

Alexandra Berg von Linde emphasised the

need for inclusive and sustainable

development by ensuring equal access to

opportunities and resources. "Youths have

a tremendous role to play in raising their

voices, being agents of change and

demanding accountability."

"Young people can capture the

imagination of the world. You are not

alone; you all are the strength of the world.

You have the power to inspire, to make

decision-makers around the world listen,

and the power to change outcomes,"

Alexandra added.

Dr Gowher Rizvi, International Affairs

advisor to the prime minister said, "The

very presence of diversity around a table

means that we will challenge each other's

assumptions, and by doing that, we will be

able to better understand each other."

BYLC President Ejaj Ahmad said, "Only

through embracing diversity and

inclusiveness, we can collectively solve our

challenges and problems."

After the inaugural ceremony, a plenary

session was held with industry experts

titled "Bangladesh at 50: achievements and

challenges for an inclusive society,"

followed by a team-building activity

session titled "What is your vision for

Bangladesh?" as part of the opening day of

this virtual summit.

Journo's son dies of

dengue in city

DHAKA : A 10-year-old boy Shabab Sarwar,

lone son of assignment editor of ATN News

Sarwar Hossain, died of dengue fever at a

hospital here in the early hours of Thursday,

reports BSS.

He was admitted to the hospital with

dengue fever on Monday, according to a

release issued by Dhaka Reporters Unity

(DRU).

Shabab, a class-three student and resident

of Dhaka's Banasree area, was put on life

support on Wednesday and breathed his last

at 2am, it said.

He was buried at Tarabo municipality

graveyard under Rupganj upazila after two

separate namaz-e-janazas yesterday.

In a condolence message, president and

general secretary of DRU Mursalin Nomani

and Mashiur Rahman Khan expressed deep

shock and sorrow at the death of Shabab.

The DRU leaders also prayed for eternal

peace of the departed soul and conveyed

sympathy to the bereaved family.

enable us to support the work of local

journalists and newsrooms as they tell

in-depth and ground-breaking stories

that engage and empower

communities."

Bhakti Vithalani, the Founder and

CEO of BigSpring said they are delighted

to provide the mobile platform that puts

digital skills into the hands of journalists

in Bangladesh. "BigSpring's platform

enables users to access bite-sized

content and engage in learning

communities to gain skills proficiency.

Our mobile-first, multilingual platform

provides easy access and ensures

journalists in Bangladesh can continue

their important work. We are proud to

be a partner in this endeavour."

Journalists can register for this

program using iOS and Android phones.

The curriculum follows Facebook

Journalism Project's commitment to

Bangladeshi journalists, which also

includes other training programs, such

as the recent launch of Reuters Digital

Journalism Course to enhance reporting

skills.

India for implementing

MoU with Bangladesh

in disaster management

DHAKA : India has laid

emphasis on implementation

of the recently concluded

memorandum

of

understanding (MoU) with

Bangladesh in the field of

disaster management,

resilience and mitigation on a

priority basis, reports UNB.

"We must implement the

recently-concluded MoU in

the field of disaster

management, resilience and

mitigation on a priority basis,"

said Indian External Affairs

Minister Dr S Jaishankar in a

letter sent to his Bangladesh

counterpart Dr AK Abdul

Momen.

Bangladesh and India

signed a number of MoUs to

enhance cooperation in

various sectors, including

disaster management,

resilience, and mitigation

during Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi's visit to

Bangladesh in March this

year.

In the letter, Dr Jaishankar

expressed confidence that

these mechanisms will help

the two countries remain

better prepared to face such

challenges in the future.

"We're glad that Bangladesh

has decided to accept our

invitation to join the Coalition

for Disaster Resilient

Infrastructure," said the

Indian External Affairs

Minister.

The Coalition for Disaster

Resilient Infrastructure

(CDRI) is a partnership of

national governments, UN

agencies and programmes,

multilateral development

banks and financing

mechanisms, the private

sector, and knowledge

institutions that aims to

promote the resilience of new

and existing infrastructure

systems to climate and

disaster risks in support of

sustainable development.

FridAy, AUgUsT 6, 2021

4

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Friday, August 6, 2021

Remembering Hiroshima

nuclear bombing

By July 1945, Germany had surrendered, and the

war in Europe was over. Japan, however, refused

to submit to the terms outlined in the Allies'

Potsdam Declaration. It appeared to American leaders

that the only way to compel Japan's unconditional

surrender was to invade and conquer the Japanese

home islands. Although an estimated 300,000

Japanese civilians had already died from starvation and

bombing raids, Japan's government showed no sign of

capitulation.

Previous American casualties on Okinawa weighed

heavily on the minds of American planners who looked

ahead to the invasion of Japan. Japan's leaders hoped

to prevail, not by defeating American forces, but by

inflicting massive casualties and thereby breaking the

resolve of the American public.

This was the situation that confronted American

President Harry S. Truman in the summer of 1945

when he authorized the use of the world's first atomic

bomb. In light of intelligence reports about Japan's

commitment to continue fighting, Truman and his

military advisors were determined to use every weapon

at their disposal in order to bring the war to an

immediate end. Consequently, neither Truman nor any

of his advisors ever debated if the atomic bombs should

be used, only how and where they should be used.

Consequently, Truman approved the long-standing

plans for the US Army Air Force to drop atomic bombs

on a list of preselected Japanese cities. The list of targets

excluded Tokyo and Kyoto because of their political and

historic importance.

Instead, the intended target of the first bomb was

Hiroshima, a fan-shaped city of approximately

550,000 people that occupied the estuary of the Ota

River. The city was also home to the headquarters of the

Japanese army that defended the island of Kyushu as

well as a number of war industries.

At 2:45 a.m. on Monday August 6, 1945, three

American B-29 bombers of the 509th Composite

Group took off from an airfield on the Pacific island of

Tinian, 1,500 miles south of Japan. Colonel Paul

Tibbets piloted the lead bomber, "Enola Gay," which

carried a nuclear bomb nicknamed "Little Boy.

" Despite the bomb's moniker, it weighed nearly

10,000 pounds. As a result, the overloaded Enola Gay

used more than two miles of runway to get aloft. At 7:15

a.m., the bomber crew armed the bomb, and the plane

began its ascent to the bombing altitude of 31,000 feet.

At 9:14 a.m. Hiroshima time, the Enola Gay arrived

over the city. The bomb, Little Boy, fell almost six miles

in 43 seconds before detonating at an altitude of 2,000

feet. The bomb exploded with the force of more than

15,000 tons of TNT.

directly over a surgical clinic, 500 feet from the Aioi

Bridge. Less than two percent of the bomb's uranium

achieved fission, but the resulting reaction engulfed the

city in a blinding flash of heat and light. The

temperature at ground level reached 7,000 degrees

Fahrenheit in less than a second.

The bomb vaporized people half a mile away from

ground zero. Bronze statues melted, roof tiles fused

together, and the exposed skin of people miles away

burned from the intense infrared energy unleashed. At

least 80,000 people died instantly.

Never before in human history a single weapon had

achieved so much destruction and loss of human life

within a twinkling of an eye. Therefore, without further

going into the military logic of the Hiroshima bombing,

it is universally felt today that another Hiroshima like

man-made death and devastation must never happen

again.

This universal abhorrence for nuclear weapon is also

the best assurance that Hiroshima indeed will never be

repeated. We, everywhere, have a duty to add to this

resolve wherever we may be at this moment as we

observe the epic tragedy of Hiroshima 76 years later.

The heartfelt appeals made by the Pontiffs in recent

decades - words and prayers that point to a single,

desired objective: nuclear disarmament. Pope Francis

has renewed this exhortation, adding his own voice to

that of his predecessors. After his apostolic trip to

Japan in November 2019, the Pope repeated that "the

use of nuclear weapons is immoral." For this reason, he

added, "this must also be included in the Catechism of

the Catholic Church." Not only the use, but the

possession of nuclear weapons is immoral, he said,

"because an accident [due to] possession [of nuclear

weapons], or the madness of some government leader,

the madness of an individual, could destroy humanity."

Pope Francis repeated his call for global

disarmament at his General Audience on 20 January

2021. Referring to the Treaty on the Prohibition of

Nuclear Weapons, he explained that it is the "first

legally binding international instrument explicitly

prohibiting these weapons" that must absolutely be

adhered to at all times, by all.

Management of public universities ought

to be changed with the time

In the book 'The Universities', author

V.H.H Green praised the universities as

one of the most significant creations of

medieval world that helped laying the

foundation for a scientific culture, to interpret

laws and customs and facilitate public

administration.

Many aims and objectives have been added

with medieval era to cope with the present era.

At present, universities are the changing

media of social, economical, and cultural

scenario. Main task of the 'Modern

Universities' is to cultivate and generate

knowledge with its dissemination aiming for

welfare and development of human beings

and the living creatures. A university is a place

pursuing academic excellence. It is a place that

is supposed to create new knowledge, store

that knowledge and disseminate it to the field

level. Among others, it ensures that it reflects

and responds to the people living around it.

Based on causal curiosity, a university rectifies

the society to which it belongs to and to what

direction it should move as it happens to be

the primary producer of innovative

knowledge. It is mainly through intellectual

and moral leadership of the institutions of

higher education that a tradition-bound and

stagnant society is transformed into a modern

and progressive community.

As we all know, the father of the nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

recognized the importance of quality higher

education towards building knowledge-based

economy. Accordingly, the University Grants

Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh, as an apex

and statutory body in the field of higher

education and research was established by the

President's Order (P.O.) No. 10 of 15 February

1973. With time the higher education sector in

Bangladesh has expanded significantly. The

multiplicative functions of UGC include but

not limited to allocation of funds to

universities, facilitate the development of

higher educational system with main purpose

of upgrading the qualities of teaching-learning

at the tertiary level, encourage cutting-edge

innovative research and development and

improve governance issues at the universities.

Also, UGC is responsible for formulating

higher education policy and quality assurance

to meet the international standards and advise

the government accordingly.

The major responsibilities entrusted with

the UGC are to receive funds from the

government and allocate and disburse out of

such funds and grants to the universities for

their maintenance and development and to

determine the financial needs of the

universities. The UGC of Bangladesh, in

principle, is modeled after the higher

education management authority in the

United Kingdom. The underlying fact of this

model dictates the government to deal with

the UGC for the management of the

universities.

The Bangladesh Gazette Extra (1998) made

FAkhrUl islAM And dr. Md. AbU TAher

the UGC accountable for the utilization of

funds by the government to the universities.

The same Gazette also empowered UGC to

oversee the recruitment of new faculty and

teaching positions in the universities.

As per the above Gazette, during the period

of budget allocation, UGC usually send a set of

guidelines to all public universities. On behalf

of the government, universities are also highly

requested to follow and maintain mandatory

obligations. But it is observed that a good

number of universities violate financial rules

and regulations. It is also a matter of great

regret that universities are reluctant not to

implement UGC's guidelines. In this

connection, few examples are mentioned

here:The Annual Report (2019) of the

University Grants Commission depicts that a

whopping 72% of the budget money spent for

salary and allowances. The rest 16% has been

expended in emergency and maintenance cost

and only 12% has been expended in education

related programs. For research work, in the

financial year (FY) 2020-21, as an individual

head only BDT 64.58 crore is allocated for 46

public universities. But in the financial year

2021-2022, BDT 118.50 lac has been allocated

for fundamental, applied and need based

research which will eventually accelerate to

materialize the vision of the Father of the

nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman. It is estimated that in the fiscal year

2020-2021, teachers' salary, allowance,

electricity, gas, water transport expenses may

increase. Although government has allocated

BDT 4290 crore, nevertheless this allocated

money is inadequate because higher

education is now more expensive. Over and

above that university authority is disinterested

in the state of economical expenses.

Universities have been transformed as an

"Exchange" agent. Terms and conditions of

appointment, promotion or upgradation as

per the guideline has not been followed by the

university authorities. Even the university

authorities are creating new posts violating the

guidelines of UGC. Consequently, huge budget

deficiency and disruption of finance is seen.

The liberal pension scheme has put

enormous stress on the allocated budget. A

significant portion of the budget is spent to

provide allowances, encashment of earned

leave and unforeseen expenditure.

Furthermore, the six oldest universities of the

country are making demands more budget

allocation to provide pension money among

the teachers, officers and staff.

The consumption of electricity is increasing

continuously in the universities. From BDT

58.82 crore in FY 2019-21 the cost jumped to

BDT 86.50 crore in FY 2020-21. Still this trend

is upward moving. The primary causes are

that per unit electricity cost rate is high, misuse

of electricity in the residential halls and due

outstanding payment of electric bills are still

rampant. Consequently, an abnormal

pressure is created on budget due to this

subsidy of electricity and other utilities in the

public universities. Water and gas expenditure

have been increased. Invaluable natural gas is

burning unnecessarily in the university

kitchens day and night long. University

authorities need to pay proper attention in

these things.

Every university has a transport facility to

carry teachers, officers and staff for

commuting to the university. Transport

expenditure is on the rise year on year basis. If

there is no equilibrium between income and

expenditure, then a huge deficiency that

requires filing of more budget in this sector.

Every year the expenditure of University

School and Colleges is increasing which are

situated within the university campus. Positive

initiatives should be taken up to find out

resources to generate their own income. With

this end in view, the UGC has prepared few

documents in the recent days, such as: the

uniform accounts manual and financial

guidelines, bringing uniformity in the

recruitment, and the launching of automated

software to ensure transparency and

accountability in financial management of the

public universities.

In Bangladesh, public universities are run by

the state. That is why these universities are

reluctant to generate revenue from own

resources. In Bangladesh only BDT 20 is

charged as monthly tuition fee from each

student. To collect this fee additional BDT 40

need to be invested to some extent. Nowhere

in the world education is so cheap than in

Bangladesh. In many countries of the world,

universities collect money from different

sources by their own endeavors. They are less

dependent on government allocation. For

example, University of Warwick, University of

Keel, England and Macquarie University,

Queensland University, Australia where

university authority earns 80% above revenue

from their own resources by adopting various

endeavors. Renowned universities of the

MUhAMMAd MUnirUl hAsAn

world generate revenue by establishing hotel,

hospital, restaurant, IT and Innovation hub,

auditorium, fishery project, agricultural

project in the campus area. Besides this, they

deposit a portion of earned money by doing

research and consultancy. Alumni association

plays a vital and progressive role in this regard.

In SAARC countries, even Pakistani

universities also earns about 50% their

revenue from own resources. There are many

glaring evidence in today's world.

In Bangladesh, internal resources should be

mobilized so that public universities can retain

autonomy in truest sense. Students' tuition fee

should be increased but it should be ensured

that poor and meritorious student can acquire

knowledge through poor fund. But

universities should be frugal on the point of

expenses. A culture of fairness and

accountability should be established in the

public universities. Simultaneously, there is a

need to create a congenial environment for

good governance, higher education and

research.

The University Ordinance of 1973 has given

enormous academic autonomy to the

universities. It does not allow financial

autonomy of the universities. On the whole,

universities are run by the 100% government

donation and grants. In the present era, the

autonomy of university is a great question

mark. The University Ordinance of 1973 was

promulgated to control financial

misappropriation, low standard of education,

political interference, lack of teachers'

accountability, terrorism, session jam, delay to

publish the result of examination etc. This was

manifested to attain academic freedom and

democratic management of the university

affairs. Enormous power is entrusted to the

university syndicate. The university authority

sometime misuses this power. As a result,

financial management and educational

activities are disrupted.In conclusion, it is

evident that the system, mission, and the goal

of higher education have changed all over the

world. In order to keep pace with the changing

world, the country also need to reshape and

reorganize its entire gamut of administration

and management system of higher education.

The need of hour is quantitative expansion

without undermining quality of higher

education, maximum utilization of existing

resources and directional change. Like other

institutions in a democratic society,

universities should take all necessary

measures for changing mobilization of their

own resources towards the achievement of the

goals for which universities are established.

Fakhrul Islam, PhD and Professor

Dr. Md. Abu Taher, PhD are the

contributing writer of this article.

The writers are researchers and now

work as Director and Member

respectively at the University Grants

Commission of Bangladesh.

The significance of the Hiroshima day

6th August, 1945, the world

witnessed the horror of first atomic

bomb attack to Japan by USA.

Decades after the incident, the world still

remembers the brutality and mourn for

the innocent people who lost their lives

due to the atomic bomb blast in

Hiroshima. Before discussing the

significance and learning of the

Hiroshima day, let us discuss briefly about

the history of Hiroshima.

This city founded in 1598 besides the

Ota river, in Hiroshima Prefecture. The

civilization and social system of the then

Hiroshima was very serene and modern

than that of other regions/prefectures of

Japan, only second to Tokyo.

Then, in 1868, through the impact of the

Meiji Restoration, Hiroshima gradually

turned into a vital urban and commercial

center. Japanese government officially

declared Hiroshima as a city in 1889.

From the imperial era, this city was well

known as a center of armed forces

activities. This city also played very

effective roles in the First Sino-Japan war,

the Russo-Japan war, and the subsequent

world wars.

The Hiroshima was the first victim of

the nuclear arsenal of the United States

Army Air Forces (USAAF). They dropped

and detonated the first atomic bomb in

the history named "Little Boy" at the early

hours on August 6, 1945, on Hiroshima.

Very instantaneously, maximum city

buildings and dwelling houses was

destroyed, and from 90,000 to almost

166,000 people died by the end of the year

as an impact of the blast and its

consequences.

And those, who survived fortunately

from atomic bombs blast instantly (they

are called "Hibakusha" in Japanese), they

experienced many physical and mental

difficulties for the rest of their life.

In1955,the Japanese government founded

"The Hiroshima Peace Memorial" as a

memorial of the victims of nuclear

The University Ordinance of 1973 was promulgated to control

financial misappropriation, low standard of education,

political interference, lack of teachers' accountability, terrorism,

session jam, delay to publish the result of examination

etc. This was manifested to attain academic freedom

and democratic management of the university affairs.

bombing. It is also known as Genbaku

Dome. The UNESCO declared this as a

World Heritage site in 1996.

This incident created a huge impact to

the mindset of the world leaders and

people. A very strong message clearly

transmitted to every corner of the world,

that is, not only the nuclear weapon but

also all sorts of war is destructive for the

peace and humanity. The nuclear attack

clearly demonstrated that, any war or

battle creates nothing but a destroyer of

the beautiful world. After observing the

consequences of the nuclear bombs, the

rest of the world gradually raised their

voices for banning all sorts of nuclear

weapons and its use.

As a result, the NPT, later on CTBT and

other consensus emerged against nuclear

weapons production and practice.

Nowadays, the world leaders and the

super power countries trying to reduce

nuclear weapons gradually. The nuclear

attack significantly proved the importance

of peace to sustain the world's future.

Even the USA also realized and

recognized the sacrifice of the Victims of

Hiroshima. As, the professor of Japanese

history and director of the Center for East

Asian Studies, Frederick Dickinson said

"Hats off to President Obama for not just

visiting but acknowledging the 'brutal end'

of the Pacific War and acting on a key

lesson of Hiroshima. The U.S., Obama

declared in 2016, 'must have the courage

to escape the logic of fear and pursue a

world without' nuclear weapons. He cut

American nuclear stockpiles by 553

warheads."

Though some US historian and analyst

claim that, this nuclear invasion was a

consequence of the Pearl Harbor attack by

the Imperial Japanese Navy and Air

Forces on the US naval base at Pearl

Harbor in Honolulu of Hawaii in

December 7, 1941. But later, most of the

historians, the political scientists and

combat analysts claimed that, USA could

avoid the nuclear attack by taking

alternative measures. So, what should we

do? Or what we have learnt from this

barbaric incident of the world history?

Isn't there any effective activity to

establish world peace for our future

generation?

As the associate professor of Japanese

After that, they reinstall power supply, electricity, communication

and transportation. And other means of destruction

restored gradually. The dwellers collected unburned

hard materials they could find and started rebuilding their

homes, lives and their hopes. There was rumor that, nothing

would grow in atomic bombing are for at least 75 years,

language and literature in the Department

of East Asian Languages and Civilizations-

Linda Chance said: "Is there hope? Weeds

once returned in no time, barely covering

the pain and peril of the city. Words

bloomed from eyewitnesses like Tamiki

Hara, Y?ko?ta, Sadako Kurihara, and

Ky?ko Hayashi. These voices speak the

unspeakable, yet 75 years after the United

States government dropped the only

atomic bomb on a civilian populationtwice-how

many Americans heed them?

Young readers may know the antiwar

manga series 'Barefoot Gen,' but have we

seen the Maruki murals, savored

Kenzabur??e's essays or watched the film

version of MasujiIbuse's 'Black Rain?'

Now is the time. Now, as we rewrite our

national story, the fables of the pastnuclear

deterrence, racism, inequality,

climate exploitation-must all be untold.

Seventy-five years from today people

must say, 'Once upon a time, nothing grew

but lies and misery;' children must shout

'No way!' when they hear that generations

had harbored these delusions. This is my

view from Japanese literature" .

After that, they reinstall power supply,

electricity, communication and

transportation. And other means of

destruction restored gradually. The

dwellers collected unburned hard

materials they could find and started

rebuilding their homes, lives and their

hopes. There was rumor that, nothing

would grow in atomic bombing are for at

least 75 years, but, when they saw that, red

canna flowers started blooming in the

burnet rubble, they felt exotic source of

hope and mental strength. Then

gradually, residents who left and

evacuated to the far away, other

prefecture or countryside and warriors

started to came back, then they started

their long journey to rebuild not only

Hiroshima but also to reestablish

Japanese position to the world once again.

I have got chance to visit the Hiroshima

Dome and Hiroshima peace memorial

site physically as a full bright fellow of

Japanese government, and I have talked

with Japanese students and citizens.

They told me that-"After the Hiroshima

attack and serious destruction, the

Japanese people were instantly

traumatized physically and mentally.

Then, after keeping aside the initial shock,

theyoath themselves not to be

psychologically destroyed. They started

again. Now the modern Japan building a

new hope for the people of the world. As

famous theologian, Desmond Tutu said-

"Hope is being able to see that there is

light despite all of the darkness".

The writer is a deputy director at

Bangladesh's government radio services

FRIDaY, auguST 6, 2021

5

LeLaND LazaRuS

On July 11, thousands of people across

Cuba took to the streets, fed up with the

lack of food, basic products, medicine,

and vaccines to combat COVID-19. They

were the first large-scale demonstrations

in Cuba since 1994, and the largest since

Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

Protesters used social media to broadcast

to the world what was happening, but the

communist regime shut off the internet

and telephone services, pulling the plug

on their connection outside the island.

The key to the regime's ability to do so

was China. Chinese companies have

played a key part in building Cuba's

telecommunications infrastructure, a

system the regime uses to control its

people, just as the Chinese Communist

Party (CCP) does within its own borders.

When the protests began, U.S. Senator

Marco Rubio tweeted: "Expect the regime

in #Cuba to block internet & cell phone

service soon to prevent videos about what

is happening to get out to the world… By

the way, they use a system made, sold &

installed by #China to control and block

access to the internet in #Cuba." An

article in Newsweek discussing Beijing's

possible links with the censoring of

Cuba's protests noted that the primary

technology providers for Etecsa, Cuba's

sole internet access company, are all

Chinese: Huawei, TP-Link, and ZTE. A

2017 report by the Open Observatory of

Network Interference found traces of

Chinese code in interfaces for Cuban Wi-

Fi portals. The Swedish organization

Qurium discovered that Cuba uses

Huawei network management software

eSight to help filter web searches. China's

role in helping the regime cut off

communications during the protests has

exposed one of the many ways Beijing

helps keep the Cuban communist regime

afloat.

Since the two countries established

diplomatic relations in September of

1960, Sino-Cuban relations have been

complicated. Cuba enjoys the sole

designation as a "good brother, good

comrade, good friend" of China,

reflecting their shared communist legacy.

Despite that common bond, however,

their relationship has been complex; the

two were on opposite sides of the Sino-

Soviet split during the Cold War, and, in

some cases, on opposite sides of national

liberation struggles in Africa. During that

period, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro

verbally sparred over ideological

supremacy. Mao accused Castro, a Soviet

ally, of "revisionism," a serious offense

within communist orthodoxy. When

China reduced rice shipments to Cuba,

Castro accused it of joining the U.S.

embargo. Following Mao's death, Castro

characterized the late leader by saying

that Mao "destroyed with his feet what he

did with his head."

China was also arguably deterred in its

dealings with Cuba by the United States'

strong reaction to the Soviet deployment

of missiles in Cuba in 1961. The incident,

well known in China, was a cautionary

tale that suggested that the U.S. would

not tolerate China getting too close to

Cuba. Doing so would have potentially

Chinese support for the Cuban regime

Thousands of people attend a cultural-political event on the seaside Malecon avenue. Photo: Ismael Francisco

risked China's broader goals of building a

strong and wealthy state through

commercial dealings with the U.S.,

including financial interdependence,

investment by Western companies, and

access to U.S. technology.

After the Soviet Union collapsed and

Soviet aid to Cuba abruptly ended, China

stepped up support. High-level

government officials from China have

visited Cuba 22 times since 1993; Cuban

high level government officials have

visited China 25 times since 1995. During

a visit to the island in 2014, President Xi

Jinping said, "The two countries advance

hand in hand on the road on the path of

the construction of socialism with its own

characteristics, offering reciprocal

support on issues related to our

respective vital interests."

China recognizes Cuba's geostrategic

importance. Due to its position in the

Caribbean, Cuba can exert influence over

the southeastern maritime approach to

the United States, which contains vital

sea lanes leading to ports in Miami, New

Orleans, and Houston. Author George

Friedman has argued that, with an

increased presence in Cuba, China could

potentially "block American ports

without actually blocking them," just like

U.S. naval bases and installations pose a

similar challenge to China around the

first island chain and Straits of Malacca.

Cuba's influence in the Caribbean also

makes it a useful proxy through which

Beijing can pressure the four countries in

the region (out of the 15 total globally)

that recognize Taiwan to switch

recognition.

China helps sustain the regime through

economic engagement. It is Cuba's

largest trading partner, according to

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is

Cuba's largest source of technical

assistance. China's imports from Cuba

initially concentrated on sugar and nickel,

including a proposed $500 million

Chinese investment in Cuba's nickel

industry that ultimately fell through. The

Chinese company Greatwall Drilling

(GWDC) has also partnered with Cuba's

national petroleum company, Cupet, in

extracting oil near Pinar del Rio, although

a larger $6 billion project to upgrade the

Cienfuegos oil refinery also never came to

fruition.

When the United States began opening

up to Cuba under the Obama

administration in 2014, China recognized

the potential for a more robust

relationship with Cuba, and raced to

catch up. Chinese firms secured a project

to expand Cuba's Santiago container

terminal, funded by a $120 million

Chinese bank loan. Chinese

biopharmaceutical firms have set up

operations in Cuba's Mariel Free Trade

Zone. China has even set up an artificial

intelligence center on the island.

In November of 2018, Cuba signed

on to China's Belt and Road Initiative.

In the agricultural sector, Chinese

companies are increasing sugar and

rice production, improving irrigation to

boost crop yields, and providing

tractors to plow Cuban fields. Beijing

Enterprises Holdings is building a

$460 million golf resort on the island.

Chinese influence on the island doesn't

end there. Cubans are now traveling with

cars from Geely, trucks from SinoTruck,

and buses from Yutong. The company

Haier now sells appliances and

electronics to Cuba, including the

establishment of a computer assembly

plant and renewable energy research

facility on the island. China's Jilin

province and the city of Changchun have

cooperative relations with Cuban

biopharmaceutical companies. Cuba was

one of the first official destinations for

Spanish-language training for Chinese

personnel in the hemisphere.

Reciprocally, the University of Havana

was one of the first Confucius Institutes

established by China in the region. And

the two maintain close defense relations,

including regular institutional and senior

leader visits, and a Chinese ship visit to

the Port of Havana in 2016. China has

not, however, sold Cuba any significant

weapons systems, as it has done with

other states in the region such as

Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia.

China's contributions to Cuba's

telecommunications development were

"firm as a rock in midstream," according

to a 2016 article by China Business

Network. Cuba's ALBA-1 undersea cable

linking the island's telecommunication

architecture to South America through

Venezuela was partially financed and

constructed by Chinese companies. In

2000, the Cuban government signed a

contract with Huawei to set up fiber optic

cables throughout the island. In recent

years, as noted previously, Chinese

companies like Huawei, ZTE, and TP-

Link have further solidified their crucial

role in providing Cuba's internet,

including hotspots, telephones, and other

infrastructure across the island - the

same infrastructure the regime blacked

out to squash protests last month.

This is just one example of China

exporting "digital authoritarianism" to

illiberal regimes across the region. In

Venezuela, Chinese telecommunication

firm ZTE helped the Maduro regime

establish the "fatherland ID card" system,

which it used to control not only voting,

but the distribution of scarce food

packages (the famous "CLAP" boxes),

and more recently, COVID-19 vaccines.

Similarly, in 2020, the U.S. Department

of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets

Control sanctioned China National

Electronics Import and Export

Corporation for supporting the Maduro

regime's efforts to conduct digital

surveillance and cyber operations against

political opponents.

The shift in the strategic environment

in the region, worsened by the health,

fiscal, economic, and political strains of

the COVID-19 pandemic, are increasingly

evident. Leftist authoritarian regimes are

consolidating control in Venezuela and

Nicaragua. The populist left has returned

to power in Bolivia in the form of the

MAS party, in Argentina with the

Peronists, and in Mexico with Andres

Manuel Lopez Obrador and the Morena

movement. In Peru, the recent election of

Pedro Castillo, a teacher from Cajamarca

with a radical left agenda, similarly raises

alarm bells. Upcoming elections in the

region raise the prospects for an even

broader spread of the populist left,

including the prospect of victory by

Xiomara Castro in November 2021

elections in Honduras, a President Petro

emerging from Colombia's 2022

elections, or the return of Lula da Silva

and his Workers' Party in Brazil's October

2022 elections.

China's continued efforts to prop up the

Cuban regime matters to U.S. national

security. For both good and bad, Cuba is

connected to the United States through

geographic proximity, historical

connections, and family ties. The U.S.

government has long focused on

violations of the freedoms and human

rights of the Cuban people, and continues

to work to improve their situation. By

sustaining Cuba, China indirectly serves

as an incubator of authoritarianism in the

region, providing resources to such

regimes as they consolidate power,

change constitutions, move against

private property and democratic

institutions, and silence internal dissent.

Cuba could also be an area from which

China could gather intelligence and

conduct cyberattacks against the United

States. Currently, the U.S. Justice

Department is investigating members of

China's Ministry of State Security for

sponsoring cybercrime and other cyber

activities including the recent hack of

Microsoft, laying bare China's malign

intent against the U.S. in cyberspace.

In the face of the challenges posed by

China's support to Cuba and other

authoritarian regimes in the region, U.S.

policymakers should consider the

following:

First, the United States should give

more attention to the strategic

competition with China unfolding in

Cuba and the region in general. As

Gordon Chang recently wrote in

Newsweek, we must realize that

"America… is involved in a ferocious

struggle everywhere. After all, the battle

between dictatorship and democracy,

which is not going well at the moment, is

global."

Second, the U.S. should not try to

"block" Latin American partners from

conducting business with China.

Attempting to do so is not possible in a

region of sovereign states with evergrowing

commercial ties with China.

Indeed, the region has been hit especially

hard by COVID-19 and will need more

commercial engagement from large

countries like China to recuperate.

Instead, the U.S. should concentrate on

helping partners in the region to engage

with China in the most healthy,

productive ways. For example, an

emphasis on transparency inhibits the

ability to engage in corrupt backroom

deals with the Chinese that benefit the

elites signing the deals rather than the

country as a whole.

The United States should involve

greater support for "good governance"

initiatives, including helping partners to

more effectively plan and screen

investments in critical infrastructure,

conduct technically sound evaluations of

public auctions, and strengthen legal

systems and enforcement to ensure that

Chinese and other firms follow nations'

laws and their contractual commitments.

This will partly insulate partners from

more predatory activities. Such support

will also help to convince local citizens,

many pessimistic about their

governments, that democratic

governance, based on market principles,

can indeed deliver benefits, address

inequalities, and improve living

conditions.

As illustrated by the Cuban case, the

telecommunication industry is a

particularly sensitive area where China

could challenge the ability of partner

nations to make sovereign decisions and

resist the pressures of authoritarianism.

However, the U.S. and its partners must

provide viable alternatives to the Chinese

systems Washington is asking its

partners to turn away from. To that end,

the United States should look to likeminded

democratic nations and their

leading companies in the space, such as

Nokia (based in Finland) and Ericsson (in

Sweden). Institutions like the U.S.

Development Finance Corporation and

the Inter-American Development Bank

can help partner nations finance such

alternatives.

With respect to cybersecurity, the

United States should similarly look to

increase support to partners in protecting

their citizens' privacy and security from

malign actors like China. The

cybersecurity training provided U.S.

Southern Command to its partner

nations could be one part of the solution

in this regard.While recent events in

Cuba show China's growing influence in

the region, the CCP's emphatic support of

the Cuban regime's repressive acts also

highlights that it is on the wrong side of

history. The U.S. must deepen

partnerships with Latin American and

Caribbean friends, based on shared

values, in order to ensure that the region

remains secure, prosperous, and free.

Russian military exercises in Central Asia

National flags for the Pacific Islands Forum are on display on the tiny

Pacific nation of Nauru.

Photo: Jason Oxenham

Pacific regionalism now a distant dream

STeveN RaTuva

As if by some conspiratorial design to cover up

the diplomatic rifts, COVID-19 and the unfolding

climate crisis have overshadowed the

shimmering tectonic fractures caused earlier this

year by disputes over the selection of a new

secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum

(PIF). The forum consists of 18 countries:

Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of

Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati,

Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue,

Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall

Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu,

and Vanuatu. The five northern Pacific island

states of Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati,

Nauru, Palau and Republic of Marshall Islands

(commonly referred to as "Micronesia") were not

happy with the chosen candidate and decided to

exit the PIF in protest against what they thought

was an unfair selection. This threw Pacific

regionalism into political disarray.

More poignantly, it has thrown into serious

question the values of Pacific consensus and

collective trust, which have framed the normative

basis of Pacific regionalism since the organization

was set up in 1971.

The breakup of the PIF sits on top of other

significant issues such as big power geopolitics,

the climate emergency, the ongoing COVID-19

crisis, as well as turmoil in another major regional

organization, the University of the South Pacific.

Pacific regionalism as a post-colonial

construction evolved in different ways since the

1970s. The euphoria of independence of the

Pacific island states between 1960 and 1980

naturally created the need for a unifying ideology

to provide a platform on which they could

articulate a common voice and deal with the

rigors of global politics, trade, and manage a

collective regional agenda. A number of regional

organizations were set up. Today there are nine

such organizations which make up the Council of

Regional Organizations of the Pacific (CROP);

along with the PIF, these include the Forum

Fisheries Agency, Pacific Aviation Safety Office,

Pacific Power Association, Pacific Islands

Development Program, Pacific Community,

Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment

Program, South Pacific Tourism Organization,

and the University of the South Pacific (USP).

CaTheRINe PuTz

Russian and Uzbek troops

began joint military exercises

close to the Afghan border.

Later this week, forces from

both countries will

participate in trilateral

military exercises in

neighboring Tajikistan. Both

exercises were prompted by

the Taliban's advances in

northern Afghanistan in

recent weeks, which triggered

the flight of Afghan forces

and civilians across the

border into Tajikistan. At the

same time, Russian

diplomatic rhetoric balances

between chiding the United

States for its failure in

Afghanistan and espousing

support for a negotiated

settlement.

First, the exercises: On

August 2, around 1,500

troops from the Russian and

Uzbek militaries began joint

exercises in Termez which

are anticipated to run for five

days.

In preparation for the

trilateral exercises, which are

planned to begin at the Harb-

Maidon training ground in

Tajikistan on August 5,

Russia transferred Mi-8 and

Mi-24 helicopters from

Novosibirsk to the Gissar Air

Base (also known as the Ayni

Air Base) near Dushanbe.

The Harb-Maidon training

ground is located around 20

kilometers from the Afghan-

Tajik border. The press

service for the Russian

Central Military District said

in a statement that the four

helicopters were partially

disassembled, transported

via an An-124 Ruslan

transport aircraft, and

reassembled in Tajikistan.

During the exercises, the

statement said, the

helicopters will be used to

land tactical assault forces

and provide air support.

In late July, Russia moved

tanks to the training ground

in preparation for the

exercise, which is anticipated

to run through August 10 and

include more than 2,500

troops from the three

countries.

Though not linked to the

exercises, it's worth

mentioning that Russian

forces stationed in Tajikistan

brought into service 17 new

BMP-2M infantry fighting

vehicles. The vehicles are

reportedly intended to

replace obsolete equipment.

Russia's 201st Military Base

in Tajikistan is one of its most

significant foreign bases, with

an estimated 7,000 troops at

three installations.

On the diplomatic

developments: While

Russian forces and their

Central Asian counterparts

practice repelling attacking

forces, Russian diplomats

continue to promote a

negotiated settlement to the

Afghan conflict. While the

major external players in

Afghanistan all continue to

center a negotiated

settlement, Russia does so

with a side of shade thrown at

the United States' 20-year

military engagement in the

country.

As an illustration: In an

online forum put on last week

by the Alexander Gorchakov

Public Diplomacy Fund, a

Russian think tank founded

by Dmitry Medvedev in 2010,

the Russian presidential

envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir

Kabulov, said that al-Qaida

does not engage in hostilities

in Afghanistan. He said that

reports of the group's

cooperation with the Taliban

are mere speculation mainly

discussed by Kabul and the

Americans, "in order to

justify their own failures and

inability to manage."

According to a TASS report,

Kabulov said, "[They] really

want to find an explanation

why the 300,000 Afghan

army is surrendering its

positions to 75,000 Taliban."

Russia designates both al-

Qaida and the Taliban as

terrorist groups, though it has

hosted several Taliban

delegations in recent years.

At the same event,

according to an RT report,

Kabulov suggested that twothirds

of the Taliban,

"including its top leadership,

are committed to the idea of a

political solution to the

Afghan crisis." The context

for his comment appears to

have been concerns about

spillover into Central Asia,

given he added that Taliban

fighters are tired and unlikely

to try and cross into Central

Asia. The Taliban has

pledged that its ambitions do

not extend beyond

Afghanistan's borders.

Kabulov's comments come

as the Taliban pressures

Afghan government forces

across the country. In the

southern province of

Helmand, nine of 10 districts

in the provincial capital have

reportedly fallen to the

Taliban.

Speaking online at the

Aspen Security Forum this

week, U.S. Afghanistan envoy

Zalmay Khalilzad said he

planned to meet with the

expanded "troika" - Russia,

China, and Pakistan- in the

coming days to discuss

Afghanistan. Kabulov

meanwhile lamented that

Iran has not yet been

included in the expanded

"troika." Kabulov pointed to

the state of American-Iranian

relations as the reason for

Iran's continued exclusion

from the discussions.

Russian diplomats continue to press support for a negotiated settlement

between Kabul and the Taliban.

Photo: Depositphotos

FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 2021

6

Food aid, mask distributed at

RIC’s initiative in Joypurhat

MASRAKUL ALOM, JOYPURHAT CORReSPONDeNT

On the occasion of the 46th martyrdom

anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh

Mujibur Rahman, food aid and masks

were distributed among the

unemployed and needy people at

Khanjanpur Road area of the city on

Thursday at the intiative of Resource

Integration centre (RIC).

In addition to food aid and

distribution of masks, tree planting

program was carried out earlier.

Ashok Kumar Tagore, Vice Chairman

of Joypurhat Sadar Upazila was the

chief guest on the occasion while

Masrakul Alam, Treasurer of

Joypurhat Press Club was the special

guest.

Among others, RIC's Dinajpur Zone

Zonal Manager Md. Nadir Hossain,

Joypurhat Area Manager-Md. Abul

Kalam Azad, Joypurhat Sadar Branch

Manager-Md. Kamal Uddin,

Dhamuirhat Branch Manager Shah

Mashiur Rahman were also present at

the occassion.

Boalkhali police has curbed crimes in the upazila in the recent times and are following zero tolerance policy

against drugs.

Photo: TBT

Police following zero tolerance policy

against drugs in Boalkhali

AYeSHA FARZANA, BOALKHALI CORReSPONDeNT

In Boalkhali upazila of Chattogram,

drug seizures have increased more

than in the past and many drug

dealers have been arrested. Boalkhali

police have taken various initiatives

to make the local people aware about

the prevention of drugs. Community

policing with the banner of Bit

Policing in the Union and Ward is

trying to make the people aware

through open house day. And

Boalkhali police are holding a

meeting including miking, leaflet

distribution to stop the spread of

drugs.

If anyone wants to leave crime or

drug business and return to normal

life, the police administration will

take all possible measures for their

rehabilitation. The people have

welcomed this mass-oriented

initiative of the police to eradicate

crime and drugs.

According to Boalkhali police

sources, the police have conducted

raids in different areas of Boalkhali in

the last few months and arrested 203

people and handed them over to the

court. 112 cases have been filed

against them under the Narcotics

Control Act. Of these, 13,200 pieces

of yaba tablets, 10,000 liters of local

liquor and 6 kg of cannabis were

recovered. Six CNG auto rickshaws

were seized in the incident.

Boalkhali police officer in charge

(OC) said. Abdul Karim told The

Bangladesh Today that he has

announced a zero tolerance policy

under the direction of the Chittagong

Superintendent of Police to curb the

spread of drugs in Boalkhali. So

wherever I get news of drugs, the

campaign is being conducted. The

eradication of drugs will be much

easier if the civil society of the area

including the local people's

representatives move forward.

Chattogram

Additional

Superintendent of Police (Patia

Circle) Md. Tariq Rahman told The

Bangladesh Today that if anyone

wants to leave crime or drug business

and return to normal life, the

administration will take all possible

measures to rehabilitate them. In the

last few months, drug eradication in

Boalkhali has been in a satisfactory

position. With the help of the people,

the drug trade can be brought to zero,

said the vigilant police officer.

Teacher Mollika Saha elected online performers

MD SALIM MIA, NARSINGDI CORReSPONDeNT

Mollika Saha, headmistress of Chatab

Government Primary School in

Narsingdi Sadar Upazila, has been

selected as the best in the category of

fortnightly online performer in the portal

run by Access to Information (A2I).

Among 5 lakh 84 thousand 93 teachers,

Mollika Saha has been elected as the best

online performer. Besides, in 2020, she

was elected as ICT for e-District

Ambassador.From March 16, 2020, due

to covid pandemic educational

institutions are being closed. The

lockdown started on March 26. Students

of primary school stay at home and study

is practically separated. Their mental

health also deteriorated. In this situation

Mollika Saha keeps the students involved

In observance of the 72nd birth anniversary of Sheikh Kamal, Gopalganj Deputy Commissioner

Shahida Sultana paid respect with flowers at the portrait of Sheikh Kamal built at Sheikh Russel

High School in the district on Thursday.

Photo: S M Nazrul Islam

S M NAZRUL ISLAM, GOPAL-

GANJ CORReSPONDeNT

The 72nd birth anniversary of

Sheikh Kamal, the eldest son

of Father of the Nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman, was observed

through various activities in

Gopalganj on Thursday.

Deputy Commissioner

Shahida Sultana paid respect

with flowers at the portrait of

Sheikh Kamal built at Sheikh

Russel High School in the

Sheikh Kamal`s 72nd

birth anniversary

observed in Gopalganj

district.

Later, the officials of Youth

Development Department and

the teachers of Shakh Russell

High School paid their

respects with flowers. Later,

in their studies and keep their mentality

good. So far she has taken more than two

hundred classes and her teaching is still

going on.

According to the Narsingdi District

Primary education Officer, Mollika Saha

has been taking live classes for the entire

duration of the epidemic. Students from

all over have been benefited. We thank

Mollika Sahak for her contribution to

primary education and wish her

continued success.

In this regard, Mollika Saha said that I

started a new class thinking that I would

do something for my dear students. My

students are the main reason for my

move. So this achievement I am

dedicating for the whole primary school

children.

the DC distributed saplings of

more than two hundred

species of trees among the

common people on behalf of

youth development

department.

During the time, district

Awami League General

Secretary Mahbub Ali Khan,

Deputy Director of Youth

Development Department

Mizanur Rahman and

Assistant Director Sayed

Uddin Ahmed were also

present at the occassion.

In observation of the 46th martyrdom anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Resource

Integration centre (RIC) distributed food aid and masks in Joypurhat on Thursday.

Photo: TBT

Patuakhali District Awami League's Relief and Social Welfare Affairs Secretary, Mirzaganj Upazila

Parishad Chairman Khan Mohammad Abu Bakkar Siddiqui and UNO Mst Tania Ferdous cut a cake

marking the 72nd birth anniversary of Sheikh Kamal at the newly constructed Upazila Parishad

auditorium in Mirzaganj upazila on Thursday.

Photo: Uttam Golder

Groundnut farmers

happy over bumper

yield, fair prize in

Panchagarh

PANCHAGARH: Farmers of the

district are happy over bumper

groundnut yield and fair price of

their production this year, reports

BSS.

Department of Agriculture

extension (DAe) office sources said

about 11,795 hectares of land have

been brought under groundnut

cultivation in all five upazilas in the

district with the production target of

24,000 tonnes of groundnut.

Deputy Director of DAe Md

Mizanur Rahman said farmers of

the district have cultivated

groundnut on more land as they get

a lucrative price of their harvested

crop.

Farmers have started harvesting

groundnuts from their respective

land with much enthusiasm.

About 8 to 10 mounds groundnut

can be produced from one bigha (33

decimal) of land and per mound of

groundnut is being sold Taka 3000

to 3200 in the local markets.

Sunil Kumar of Sabuspara village

in Debiganj upazila said that he had

cultivated groundnut on four bighas

of land and he got 30 mounds of

groundnut. He got a profit of Taka

40,000 after meeting all

expenditure.

DD Mizanur Rahman said DAe

has given quality seeds and

fertilizers among the farmers at free

of cost. The farmers of the district

are showing great interest in

cultivating groundnut because the

high land is good for groundnut

cultivation and land of the district is

comparatively higher than other

districts

The DAe has also provided

training to the farmers for boosting

the production. Besides, the

commercial banks including

Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank have

given short term easy loans among

the farmers for cultivating

groundnut on their land.

RMCH counts 17 more

fatalities at Covid-19 unit

RAJSHAHI: Some 17 more people died at

Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital

(RMCH)'s Covid-19 unit during the last 24-

hour till 6am yesterday, taking the death

toll to 83 so far this month, adding to 566

in July and 405 in June, reports BSS.

RMCH Director Brig Gen Dr Shamim

Yazdani told newsmen that eight were

female among the deaths.

Five of the deceased were the residents in

Rajshahi, four from Natore, three each

from Chapainawabganj and Pabna and

one each from Naogaon and Kushtia

districts, he said.

Among the deaths, six tested positive for

Covid-19, eight had its symptoms and

three with post-Covid complexities, he

said, adding that yesterday's fatality figure

was 14. They were aged between 31 and 65.

Yazdani said the hospital also had counted

ever-highest 25 fatalities caused by Covid-

19 on July 14 and June 29 last since the

pandemic began.

Some 39 more patients were admitted to

the designated Covid wards of the hospital

afresh during the time, taking its number

to 391, including 188 tested positive for

Covid-19, against 513 beds.

Another 20 patients are undergoing

treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

of the hospital. Thirty-six other patients

returned home after being cured during

the time.

Meanwhile, 46 people were found

positive for Covid-19 after testing 193

samples in Rajshahi's two laboratories on

Wednesday, showing 23.89 percent

positivity rate.

The positivity rate was 24.93 percent on

Tuesday, 27.74 percent on Monday, 27.17

percent on Sunday, 32.71 percent on

Saturday, 24.32 percent on Friday and

22.88 percent on Thursday last.

Yazdani opined that demand for oxygen

has been rising continuously for the last

couple of months in the wake of a surge of

patients in the hospital.

Over 8,000 liters of oxygen are being

supplied to the Covid-19 patients every day

on an average in the hospital at present but

the daily oxygen demand was only 2,500

liters in around two months back.

The oxygen demand has gone up by

around 3,000 liters, particularly during the

last couple of weeks, on an average.

He said over 60 percent of the new

Covid-19 patients admitted to the corona

unit of RMCH are from villages, reiterating

that awareness among the villagers is less

compared to the urban people.

Despite symptoms they hesitate to go for

tests. Only they are coming to the hospital

when they feel worse. Then we have

nothing to do for them, they are dying, he

continued.

Yazdani said utmost attention should be

given to the villages along with urban areas

as the fatality rate among the villagers is

more and the grave situation is aggravating

day-by-day there.

34 more die of Covid-19

in Khulna division

KHULNA: A number of 34 persons died

of Covid-19 and 817 more people have

tested positive for the deadly virus in the

last 24-hour till last morning in the

division, reports BSS.

The death toll from the virus reached

2,554 after 34 fatalities were reported in

nine districts of the division during the

time, said Dr Jashim Uddin Howlader,

divisional director of health.

The total fatalities include the highest

657 in Khulna, 598 in Kushtia, 374 in

Jashore, 217 in Jhenaidah, 172 in

Chuadanga, 150 in Meherpur, 129 in

Bagerhat, 96 in Narail, 85 in Satkhira

and 76 in Magura district, he said.

Among the new 34 deaths, nine are in

Kushtia, six in Jashore, four each in

Khulna and Magura, three each in

Jhenaidah and Meherpur, two each in

Bagerhat and Narail and one in

Chuadanga district in the division.

A total of 817 more people have tested

positive for Covid-19 in all 10 districts of

the division, climbing the number of

infected patients to 97,693.

The Biden administration is taking the first steps toward requiring nearly all foreign visitors to the

U.S. to be vaccinated for the coronavirus, a White House official said Wednesday. Photo : AP

At least 10 dead in

road Texas crash

near Mexico border

WASHINGTON : At least 10

people were killed in a Texas

road accident involving a

truck that authorities suspect

was transporting some 30

undocumented migrants, US

media said Wednesday.

"Troopers are investigating

a major crash" near

Falfurrias, a few miles from

the Mexican border, the

Texas Department of Public

Security said in a statement.

The local news channel

Valley Central reported that

the white truck crashed into a

pole around 4:00 pm (2100

GMT), killing 10 people.

Smugglers often use

overcrowded vehicles to ship

migrants from the border.

In March, an alleged

smuggler was charged after 13

people died in a collision

between a heavy truck and a

crowded vehicle in southern

California.

Migrant arrivals to the

United States had declined

markedly during the Covid-19

pandemic and began to pick

up slightly in 2020.

US plans to require

COVID-19 shots for

foreign travelers

WASHINGTON : The Biden

administration is taking the first steps

toward requiring nearly all foreign visitors

to the U.S. to be vaccinated for the

coronavirus, a White House official said

Wednesday.

The requirement would come as part of

the administration's phased approach to

easing travel restrictions for foreign

citizens to the country. No timeline has yet

been determined, as interagency working

groups study how and when to safely move

toward resuming normal travel. Eventually

all foreign citizens entering the country,

with some limited exceptions, are expected

to need to be vaccinated against COVID-19

to enter the U.S. The official spoke on the

condition of anonymity to preview the

policy under development.

The Biden administration has kept in

place travel restrictions that have severely

curtailed international trips to the U.S.,

citing the spread of the delta variant of the

virus. Under the rules, non-U.S. residents

who have been to China, the European

Schengen area, the United Kingdom,

Ireland, Brazil, South Africa and India in

the prior 14 days are prohibited from

entering the U.S.

All travelers to the U.S., regardless of

vaccination status, are required to show

proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken

within three days of air travel to the

country.

The Biden administration has faced

pressure to lift some restrictions from

affected allies, the air travel industry and

families who have been kept separated

from loved ones by the rules. Many have

complained that the travel restrictions

don't reflect the current virus situation -

particularly as caseloads in the U.S. are

worse than in many of the prohibited

nations.

Airlines for America, a trade group for

major U.S. airlines, said it was pleased by

reports that the administration plans to

make it easier for more foreign travelers to

enter the country if they have been

vaccinated.

Sputnik V: From vaccine hope

to frustration for Latin merica

BUENOS AIRES : Russia's Sputnik V

coronavirus vaccine was the first to

arrive in Argentina in December

2020 with the promise of relief for

Latin American countries low on the

waiting list for shots developed, and

approved, in the West.

Yet to receive UN approval, the

vaccine has since been taken up by

about a dozen countries in the

region-but, eight months in, a

critical shortage of the second dose is

weighing heavily on governments

with limited alternatives.

Inoculation with Sputnik V,

produced by Russian institute

Gamaleya, requires two doses that

differ from one another and were not

designed to be swapped or mixed

with other vaccines.

"I feel betrayed, that it is a hoax,"

Noreyda Hernandez, a 66-year-old

teacher, told AFP after

disappointment at a vaccination

center in the Venezuelan city of

Maracaibo, which has no doses for

those who need it.

There are similar scenes in Bolivia,

where older adults arrive at clinics

only to find notices informing them

that the second dose has been

"postponed until further notice."

"We are tired, we keep coming

back and every time it is the same

answer: '

The government must say.' But

what can the government say if it

doesn't know anything?" German

Alarcon, 70, told AFP in La Paz.

Russia registered Sputnik V last

August ahead of large-scale clinical

trials, prompting concern among

experts over the fast-tracked

process.'Still waiting' -

The vaccine has since been

declared safe and over 90 percent

effective in a report published by

leading medical journal The Lancet,

restoring confidence in Russia's jab.

The problem now, is production.

Latin American countries that

opted for Sputnik-many of which

started by inoculating the elderly,

health workers and other at-risk

groups-have decided to prolong the

waiting period between the first and

second dose from a minimum of 21

days to a maximum of 90.

Still, there are not enough.

"I received the Sputnik vaccine on

April 21 and I'm still waiting for the

second dose," Josefina Bermudez,

72, said in Buenos Aires.

Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was the first to arrive in Argentina in December 2020 with

the promise of relief for Latin American countries low on the waiting list for shots developed, and

approved, in the West.

Photo : AP

US COVID-19 cases

could double to 200,000

cases a day in fall: Fauci

WASHINGTON : U.S.

COVID-19 cases driven by the

Delta variant may double to

200,000 a day in the fall, said

Anthony Fauci, head of the

National Institute of Allergy

and Infectious Diseases, on

Wednesday."Remember, just

a couple of months ago, we

were having about 10,000

cases a day," Fauci told

McClatchy in an interview. "I

think you're likely going to

wind up somewhere between

100,000 and 200,000 cases."

The COVID-19 cases driven

by the Delta variant are rising

in a "very steep fashion"

across the United States and

the country could be "in

trouble" entering the fall

unless a large portion of

unvaccinated Americans

decide to get the shots, said

Fauci.

"What we're seeing,

because of this increase in

transmissibility, and because

we have about 93 million

people in this country who are

eligible to get vaccinated who

don't get vaccinated - that you

have a significant pool of

vulnerable people," said

Fauci.The infectious disease

expert said he is concerned

the high number of

unvaccinated people could

lead to a stronger variant

emerging that could combat

the vaccines that have been

given out.

"If we don't crush the

outbreak to the point of

getting the overwhelming

proportion of the population

vaccinated, then what will

happen is the virus will

continue to smolder through

the fall into the winter, giving

it ample chance to get a

variant," Fauci said.

Trump moves to

block Congress from

getting his taxes

WASHINGTON : Former US

president Donald Trump

moved Wednesday to block

the Treasury from handing

over years of his tax records to

a congressional committee,

which some believe could

expose abuse of tax laws,

reports BSS.

In a Washington court filing

Trump's lawyers objected to a

Justice Department order last

week that the Treasury, after

stalling for years, needed to

provide the House Ways and

Means Committee with six

years of records that Trump

has long refused to make

public.

The lawyers argue that

while the committee claims to

be investigating how the

Internal Revenue Service

handles cases like Trump'sthe

former president said for

years that his taxes were

under audit-in fact the

request is driven by politics.

The aim of the Democraticcontrolled

panel, the filing

says, "is to expose the private

tax information of one

individual-President Trumpfor

political gain."

California urges

people to flee

communities in

Dixie fire path

SAN FRANCISCO : Officials

in northern California on

Wednesday warned residents

of two communities in the

path of the raging Dixie fire to

evacuate immediately as high

winds whipped the flames

onwards.

Authorities issued the alerts

to residents still in the

communities of Greenville

and Chester, as winds of up to

35 mph fanned the flames of

the Dixie fire, the largest blaze

in the state, which has grown

so big that it generates its own

weather system.

The Plumas Country Sheriff's

Department issued an

evacuation order late Tuesday

for the 2,000 or so residents of

Chester to flee the area."If you

remained you should evacuate

to the EAST, IMMEDIATLEY!"

the sheriff's department

announced Wednesday on

Twitter.

fRIDAY, AUgUST 6, 2021

7

New Iranian president to take

oath before parliament

TEHRAN : New President Ebrahim Raisi

takes the oath before parliament Thursday,

with Iran facing an economy battered by US

sanctions, a grinding health crisis and

thorny negotiations on the 2015 nuclear

deal.

The ultraconservative former judiciary

chief officially began his four-year mandate

on Tuesday after he was inaugurated by

supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Raisi takes over from moderate Hassan

Rouhani, whose landmark achievement

during his two-term presidency was the

2015 agreement between the Islamic

republic and six world powers.

The country has been grappling with a

deep economic and social crisis following

former president Donald Trump's decision

to unilaterally withdraw the United States

from the deal in 2018 and reimpose

crushing sanctions.

"We believe the people's economic

position is unfavourable, both because of the

hostility of our enemies and because of the

shortcomings and problems inside the

country," Raisi said on Tuesday.

His new government would seek to lift

"oppressive" sanctions, but would "not tie

the nation's standard of living to the will of

foreigners", he added.

The 60-year-old faces warnings to Iran

from the United States, Britain and Israel

over a deadly tanker attack last week, for

which Tehran denies responsibility.

Iran is also battling the Middle East's

deadliest outbreak of the Covid-19

pandemic, with more than four million cases

and upwards of 92,000 deaths.

New President Ebrahim Raisi takes the oath before parliament Thursday,

with Iran facing an economy battered by US sanctions, a grinding health

crisis and thorny negotiations on the 2015 nuclear deal. Photo : AP

Huawei exec back in Canada court

over US extradition request

MONTREAL : New extradition hearings of

the chief financial officer of Chinese tech

giant Huawei kicked off Wednesday in

Vancouver, after nearly three years of court

battles and diplomatic sparring.

Meng Wanzhou, 49, the daughter of

company founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, is

fighting extradition to the United States.

She is accused of defrauding HSBC Bank

by falsely misrepresenting links between

Huawei and Skycom, a subsidiary that sold

telecoms equipment to Iran, putting the

bank at risk of violating US sanctions against

Tehran as it continued to clear US dollar

transactions for Huawei.

Meng appeared smiling Wednesday

morning as she left her mansion in the

western Canadian coastal city, where she has

to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet at all

times.

The hearings are being held in the British

Columbia Supreme Court over the coming

weeks. During the first day, Meng's defense

team again argued that the United States has

filed a lawsuit that abused their client's

rights.

"This case is built on misinformation and

selectively omitted facts. The arrest of Ms

Meng was a master class on how to violate

someone's rights", Alykhan Velshi, Huawei

Canada's vice president of corporate affairs,

told AFP before the proceedings, calling the

case a "political prosecution."

Meng is "our CFO, first and foremost. She's

busy with that. But at the same time she

focuses extensively on this case. She has read

all the court documents. She shows up in

court every day. She's a very strong person,"

he said. "Counsel for Ms. Meng will argue

that the United States has failed to establish

a plausible case for prosecution," Huawei

Canada said in a statement Wednesday.

"It follows that committal must be denied

and Ms Meng be allowed to return home," it

said.

Canada meanwhile says Meng's evidence

and allegations "can really only be properly

litigated before a US trial judge" and do not

belong in a routine extradition procedure.

The hearings are due to end on August 20

but no decision is expected for a few months.

And in the event of an appeal, the procedure

could take several more years.

Just days after Meng's arrest, the Chinese

government imprisoned two Canadians on

espionage charges-former diplomat Michael

Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor.

The arrests were seen by Ottawa as

retaliation for Meng's detention, which

Beijing denies.

Both Canadians have been tried, but the

verdicts are still unknown.

Head of UN health agency seeks

vaccine booster moratorium

GENEVA : The head of the World Health

Organization called Wednesday for a

moratorium on administering booster shots

of COVID-19 vaccines as a way to help

ensure that doses are available in countries

where few people have received their first

shots.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom

Ghebreyesus made the appeal mostly to

wealthier countries that have far outpaced

the developing world in numbers of

vaccinations. He said richer countries have

administered about 100 doses of coronavirus

vaccines for every 100 people on average,

while low-income countries - hampered by

short supplies - have provided only about 1.5

doses per 100 people.

WHO officials say the science is unproven

about whether giving booster shots to people

who have already received two vaccine doses

is effective in preventing the spread of the

coronavirus.

The U.N. health agency has repeatedly

called for rich countries to do more to help

improve access to vaccines in the developing

world. It has argued that no one is safe until

everyone is safe because the longer and more

widely the coronavirus circulates, the greater

the chance that new variants could emerge -

and prolong a global crisis in fighting the

pandemic.

The agency has no power to require

countries to act, and many in the past have

ignored its appeals on issues like donating

vaccines, limiting cross-border travel and

taking steps to boost production of vaccines

in developing countries.

Tedros pointed to a WHO target he had

announced in May seeking to ensure that

10% of the populations in all countries

receive vaccines against the coronavirus.

"Accordingly, WHO is calling for a

moratorium on boosters until at least the

end of September to enable at least 10% of

the population of every country to be

vaccinated," he told a news conference.

To help take the heat out of the pandemic,

WHO has been focusing on getting vaccines

to older adults, health care workers and

other target populations in many countries

before booster shot campaigns are carried

out.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, a special adviser to

Tedros, said the moratorium was about an

appeal to countries considering booster

doses to "put a hold" on such policies "until

and unless we get the rest of the world caught

up" in the fight against the pandemic.

"As we've seen from the emergence of

variant after variant, we cannot get out of it

unless the whole world gets out of it together.

And with the huge disparity in vaccination

coverage, we're simply not going to be able to

achieve that," Aylward said.

FriDAY, August 6, 2021

8

Corona Virus (Covid-19) has spread in the form of a global pandemic, creating the biggest global crisis of all time.

the number of victims and deaths in Bangladesh is constantly increasing. At this crisis moment, First security

islami Bank Ltd. has provided financial assistance to the Pothikrit samajkalyan sangstha's 'Oxygen to save Lives'

program for the treatment of people infected with the corona virus.Mr. Md. Mustafa Khair, Additional Managing

Director of the Bank handed over the check to Mr. Abdullah Al Kafi, representative of the Pothikrit samajkalyan

sangstha. in his brief speech, the Additional Managing Director of the bank expressed his hope to continue the

cooperation of First security islami Bank Ltd. against the corona virus.

Photo : Courtesy

Adidas lifts outlook on

Olympics, football seasons

FRANKFURT : German

sportswear brand Adidas on

Thursday bumped up its

earnings outlook for the year,

as it expects the Olympics and

the upcoming European and

American football seasons to

boost its sales.

The Bavaria-based group

recorded a net profit of 397

million euros ($470 million)

between April and June, as

pandemic restrictions eased

and the football European

Championships got going.

Its bottom-line was

decisively up on the same

period last year, when

temporary shop closures in

much of the world because of

the Covid-19 pandemic left

the group with a 295 million

euro loss.

Adidas now expects sales

for the year to increase by 20

percent across the board and

for net profit to touch between

1.4 and 1.5 billion euros.

The optimistic prediction

was made despite "Covid-19-

related lockdowns, industrywide

supply chain challenges

and the geo-political

situation", Adidas said in a

statement. "Driven by the

strength of our brand and

better-than-expected demand

for our products, we saw an

acceleration in our top- and

bottom-line," Adidas CEO

Kasper Rorsted said in a press

release.

"This momentum gives us

all the confidence to increase

our full-year outlook despite

the external challenges that

our industry continues to

face."

The group saw improved

sales in all regions except

China, which dipped by 16

percent compared with the

same three-month period,

although the company said

the drop reflected a strong

recovery in the second quarter

last year.

By contrast, in Europe and

North America, sales were up

year on year by 99 percent

and 87 percent, respectively.

Adidas said it expected an

acceleration in sales in the

second half of the year

"fuelled by an array of

innovative product releases"

and major sports events like

the current Olympic games in

Tokyo and the start of the

American football and

European club football

seasons.

Huawei to invest US$100 million in Asia

Pacific startup ecosystem over 3 years

Huawei announced its plan

to invest US$100 million in

startup support recently at

its inaugural Spark

Founders Summit, which

took place simultaneously in

Singapore and Hong Kong.

Huawei said the investment

would go towards its Spark

program, which aims to

build a sustainable startup

ecosystem in the Asia Pacific

region over the next three

years, a press release said

Huawei has been helping

Singapore build the first

startup hub in APAC since

2020 and has expanded the

program to many countries

in APAC in the past year. At

the summit, Huawei also

announced that this

program would focus its

efforts on developing four

additional startup hubs - in

Indonesia, the Philippines,

Sri Lanka, and Vietnam -

with the overarching aim of

recruiting a total of 1,000

startups, out of which 100

are scaleups, into the Spark

accelerator program.

Three additional startuprelated

initiatives were

launched by Huawei at the

event: The Spark Developer

Program, which aims to

nurture a developer

ecosystem powered by

HUAWEI CLOUD in the

Asia Pacific region; the

Spark Pitstop Program,

designed to onboard and

support startups on

HUAWEI CLOUD to

accelerate product

development; and the Spark

Innovation Program (SIP),

focused on facilitating

enterprise innovation

through the Spark startup

ecosystem.

The Spark Founders

Summit was attended by

representatives from many

prominent Asian startups,

academia, various industries

and governments, and the

media, as well as more than

50 regional top venture

capitalists and over 300

startup founders. Speeches

and panels at the event

focused on the social value of

this startup ecosystem and

how startups can promote

technological and ecosystem

innovation to contribute to

local communities and drive

socioeconomic

development.

Huawei Senior Vice

President and Board

Member Catherine Chen

opened the summit by

emphasizing how important

startups are to social

advancement and what

Huawei is doing to support

startups: "We all know how

brilliant startups and SMEs

are. They are the innovators,

disruptors, and pioneers of

our times. These companies

account for two-thirds of

jobs worldwide, create twothirds

of new jobs, and

generate almost 50% of

global GDP. 34 years ago,

Huawei was a startup with

just 5,000 dollars of

registered capital. Recently,

we have been thinking: How

can we leverage our

experience and resources to

help more startups address

their challenges? Doing so

would allow them to seize

the opportunities posed by

digital transformation,

achieve business success,

and develop more

innovative products and

solutions for the world."

Huawei recognizes

startups as key partners in

creating social value and

contributing

to

communities around the

world. At the Spark

Founders Summit, Huawei

unveiled the latest data on

its innovation research

programs with startups. The

data shows solid

relationships between

Huawei and more than

2,000 partners from across

the Asia Pacific region, with

ongoing initiatives to build

support platforms in close

partnerships with

governments, top VCs, and

leading universities in Hong

Kong and Singapore.

Mahtab steps down

as Robi's Managing

Director and CEO

DHAKA : After a successful

stint as Robi's Managing

Director and CEO for five

years, Mahtab Uddin Ahmed

has decided to step down.

Though his five-year term

with Robi will officially come

to an end on October 31, 2021,

he has decided to go on leave

with immediate effect,

according to a company

release issued on Thursday.

Robi's Chief Financial

Officer (CFO) M Riyaaz

Rasheed, in addition to his

current role, will serve as the

acting CEO with immediate

effect.

Chairman of Robi Board of

Directors, Thayaparan

Sangarapillai said: "On behalf

of the Robi Board of Directors,

I would like to thank Mahtab

for establishing Robi firmly as

the leading digital service

provider of the country."

Mahtab thanked

Bangladesh

Telecommunication

Regulatory Commission,

Posts

and

Telecommunications

Division, ICT Division,

Bangladesh Security

Exchange Commission,

Dhaka Stock Exchange,

Chittagong Stock Exchange,

and Robi's employees,

business partners and

customers for their

cooperation.

As Robi's first home-grown

CEO, Mahtab took the

company to the dizzying

height of success that includes

achieving leadership position

in 4G, a number of pathbreaking

innovative digital

initiatives and the biggestever

IPO.

He leaves behind Robi on a

strong foundation to

transform itself into the

digital champion of the

industry through leadership

in digital innovation.

Engine-maker

Rolls-Royce flies

back into profit

LONDON : British aircraft

engine maker Rolls-Royce

on Thursday announced a

return to half-year profits on

slashed costs after crashing

into a huge loss one year

earlier as the pandemic

hammered aviation.

Rolls posted a net profit of

£393 million ($546 million,

461 million euros) compared

with a loss after tax totalling

£5.38 billion in the first half

of last year.

Rolls, which operates in

the air, defence and energy

sectors, has slashed

thousands of jobs as it seeks

to navigate damaging fallout

from the coronavirus

outbreak.

Uber posts profit on

one-time gains

SAN FRANCISCO : Uber on Wednesday reported a profit in

second quarter on one-time gains and said its pandemic-stalled

ride-hailing business was showing signs of recovering.

The San Francisco-based company reported a profit of $1.1

billion. Revenue rose to $3.9 billion in the recently ended quarter,

more than double what it took in during the same period last year.

The net income for the quarter included gains of $1.4 billion from

the revaluation of its investment in Chinese ride-share firm Didi

and another $272 million from its stake in the autonomous

technology firm Aurora, according to Uber.

Uber made strong progress in luring drivers and couriers back to

its smartphone-summoned ride and delivery businesses, chief

executive Dara Khosrowshahi said during an earnings call.

"The majority of drivers who are coming back to the platform are

what we call resurrected drivers; they've driven with us in the past,"

Khosrowshahi said.

"As vaccination rates go up, we are seeing the resurrected drivers

come back."

But its delivery operations including Uber Eats generated the

largest amount of revenue, with the unit continuing to benefit from

trends that began during pandemic lockdowns last year.

"Our platform is getting stronger each quarter, with consumers

who engage with both Mobility and Delivery now generating nearly

half of our total company gross bookings," Khosrowshahi said.

He saw the Eats restaurant delivery service as a hedge of sorts,

likely seeing increased demand in the event of new Covid-19 lockdowns

that crimp Uber's ride-share business.

Revenue from Uber's rides and delivery units essentially

doubled, while money taken in by a freight division that connects

truckers with shippers jumped 65 percent, according to Uber.

"Uber's ride sharing business is on the clear path to recovery from

the pandemic's impact," said eMarketer analyst Eric Haggstrom.

"We anticipate that Uber will experience hiccups before

returning to their pre-pandemic ridesharing levels; the Delta

variant is deterring many drivers from the ridesharing business."

Tech analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group expected Uber's

earnings income to remain on a bumpy road due to the pandemic.

"With the variants cutting through the population, Uber's income

is going to be pretty uneven at least for the near future," Enderle

told AFP.

Meanwhile, the Eats delivery side of Uber's business is showing

"incredible" traction, according to Haggstrom.

Uber shares were down more than 3 percent in after-market

trades that followed release of the earnings figures.

Uber in July announced a $2.25 billion deal to beef up its freight

unit with the acquisition of Transplace, a firm specializing in

logistics management software.

Brazil central bank

hikes interest rate,

fearing inflation

BRASÍLIA : Brazil's central bank raised its benchmark interest

rate by 100 basis points Wednesday, to 5.25 percent, its fourth

straight hike as soaring inflation forces policymakers to unwind

their pandemic stimulus stance.

The increase, which was in line with analysts' expectations,

was the biggest in 18 years for Latin America's largest economy.

The central bank said another increase "of the same

magnitude" to the Selic rate was likely at its next meeting, set for

September 22.

Its previous three increases had been by 75 basis points each.

The accelerating rate hikes have rapidly brought the Selic up

from its all-time low of two percent a year ago, when the first

wave of Covid-19 was ravaging the country.

Brazil's inflation rate has surged from 2.13 percent in June

2020 to 8.35 percent a year later, crashing through the central

bank's target range of 2.25 to 5.25 percent.

That has left the bank's monetary policy committee

scrambling to contain rising prices-even though raising interest

rates puts a brake on economic growth at a time when pandemic

uncertainty still looms large.

Brazil has recorded nearly 560,000 Covid-19 deaths, second

only to the United States, and has struggled to get vaccines to its

212 million people as far-right President Jair Bolsonaro

continues to defy expert advice on fighting the pandemic.

Bolsonaro, who is trailing leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula

da Silva in the polls for Brazil's October 2022 elections, currently

faces a Senate inquiry into allegations of mismanagement and

corruption in his government's response to Covid-19.

Analysts polled by the central bank forecast Brazil's economy

will grow by 5.3 percent this year, after contracting by a record

4.1 percent in 2020. Economic growth hit a stronger-thanexpected

1.2 percent in the first quarter of 2021, returning the

economy to its pre-pandemic level.

That has policy makers looking more nervous over inflation

than growth as they navigate the traditional trade-off between

the two. The Selic rate stood at 4.5 percent in January 2020,

before the pandemic hit Brazil.

IEB donates 20 oxygen cylinders in Rangpur

RANGPUR : Rangpur centre

of the Institution of

Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB)

jointly with the MAX Group

donated 20 oxygen cylinders

to Rangpur district

administration for treatments

of Covid-19 patients of the

district, reports BSS.

General Secretary of IEB,

Rangpur centre Engineer Md

Rezaul Haque handed over

the oxygen cylinders and

other medical supplies to

Deputy Commissioner (DC)

Md Asib Ahsan at a function

held at the DC's conference

room here on Wednesday.

Rangpur centre of the IEB

jointly with the MAX Group

organised the function with

assistance of the district

administration abiding by the

health directives in the wake

of the Covid-19 pandemic.

President of Rangpur

Banks to remain

closed on

Sunday

DHAKA : Banks will remain closed

on Sunday, said the Bangladesh

Bank in a circular issued on

Thursday.

However, banks' transaction time

on Monday and Tuesday has been

extended by half an hour from 10

am to 3 pm instead of existing time

from 10 am to 2:30 pm.

They can remain open up to 4:30

pm to conduct their official

activities, said the BB circular,

issued against the backdrop of the

government's extension of current

lockdown until August 10

considering the Covid-19 situation.

The other instructions including

maintenance of all Covid-safety

protocols and operation with

limited staff will remain

unchanged.

As per that circular, during this

period, the head offices and other

necessary branches of banks can

remain open with limited staff.

The banks have to conduct its

regular activities like deposits and

withdrawal of money by customers,

demand note/pay order issue,

foreign remittance handover,

payment under the government's

safety-net social programmes and

pension payments.

However, internet banking

services will continue for 24 hours.

All banks will have to ensure the

operations of ATM kiosks to

facilitate transactions through

cards and by supplying adequate

cash in the machines, said the BB

circular.

district unit of Awami League

Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed, Civil

Surgeon Dr Herambo Kumar

Roy, Deputy Director (Local

Government) Farhad

Hossain, Additional Deputy

Commissioner (General) Md

Golam Rabbani, Vicechairman

of the IEB, Rangpur

centre Engineer Rezaul Karim

along with other members of

the organization attended the

Siemens shrugs off supply

chain woes to triple profits

FRANKFURT : German industrial

giant Siemens on Thursday raised its

earnings forecast for the year as profits

almost tripled in the third quarter,

having successfully navigated a global

shortage in raw materials.

Siemens, which makes products

ranging from trains to factory

equipment, said in a statement that it

booked a bottom-line profit of 1.5

billion euros ($1.8 billion) between

April and June, up from 535 million

euros in the same period last year.

Increasing prices for raw materials

and the shortage of key components,

such as semiconductors, which are

widely used in new technologies, have

disrupted the operations of major

companies globally.

Siemens was, however, "mastering a

difficult environment" in relation to

supply-chain issues, chief executive

Roland Busch said in a press release.

On the back of this stong

performance, the company raised its

projection for net profit for the fiscal

year to between 6.1-6.4 billion euros,

above the previous estimate of between

5.7-6.2 billion euros announced in the

last quarter.

"We are continuing the very positive

business development of the first half of

the year and are once again delivering

strong results despite the continuing

challenging environment," Busch said.

"Consequently, we are again raising

our outlook for fiscal 2021."

Busch, who took the reins of the

company from his predecessor Joe

Kaeser at the beginning of the year,

oversaw the second consecutive quarter

in which net profits tripled year on year.

Siemens said that after a difficult

pandemic-blighted year, the company

had found new growth opportunities in

a number of its key markets.

Revenues for the group increased to

16.1 billion euros in the third quarter,

compared with 13 billion euros the

previous years.

The increase in revenue was seen

across all of Siemens' industrial

businesses including double-digit

growth in health, digital industries and

infrastructure divisions.

Sony upgrades

annual profit

outlook on strong

Q1 performance

TOKYO : Sony upgraded its full-year

profit forecast Wednesday on the back of

a strong quarterly performance, although

the pandemic boom enjoyed by the

gaming sector is slowing.

The Japanese entertainment and

consumer electronics giant now predicts

a net profit of 700 billion yen ($6.4

billion) for the fiscal year to March 2022,

up from its earlier estimate of 660 billion

yen.

fRIDAY, AuGuST 6, 2021

9

Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after winning a Citi Open match.

Photo: AP

With painful foot, Rafael Nadal tops

Jack Sock at Washington in return

SPORTS DESK

There were moments, to be sure, when

Rafael Nadal played quite like someone

competing for the first time in nearly

two months and dealing with a left foot

injury he acknowledged afterward was

painful, reports UNB.

The shaky serving.The consecutive

netted forehands that handed over a

key break.The inability to take control

against an opponent ranked 192nd.

And then, on the way to a 6-2, 4-6, 7-

6 (1) victory over Jack Sock at the Citi

Open over more than three hours

Wednesday night, there were moments

when Nadal seemed every bit the 20-

time Grand Slam champion who drew

a full house announced at 7,500 merely

by making his debut at the hard-court

tournament.

"The match wasn't easy," Nadal said.

"I started to suffer a little bit too much."

The highlight was a back-to-the-net,

between-the-legs bit of magic in the

first set that prompted Nadal to punch

the air and prompted his fans to stand

and roar. The court coverage on that

effort, and when he smacked an on-therun

winner off a drop shot by Sock in

the tiebreaker, at least, hid any

apparent issues stemming from the

foot injury Nadal recently revealed was

part of why he sat out Wimbledon and

the Tokyo Olympics and went three

weeks without lifting a racket.

The pair of lefty forehand winners he

snapped off to earn a set point that he

then converted with a return winner to

take the opener was among the good.

So was his impeccable form in the

tiebreaker. The first-serve percentage

of 47 in the opening set and an inability

to collect so much as a single break

chance in the second were among the

bad.Those sorts of miscues "open the

door to a player like him," Nadal said

about Sock, against whom he's now 6-

0."I just need to have a little bit less

pain in the foot, honestly," Nadal said.

"That's the truth."

There was a lot of up-and-down play

by the 35-year-old Spaniard, which

Nadal himself suggested could happen.

That makes sense, given that he last

played a point that mattered in June,

during a loss to Novak Djokovic in the

semifinals of the French Open, an event

Nadal has won 13 times.

After that, Nadal said his body

needed to rest and recover from the

grueling clay-court circuit. In the

meantime, Djokovic pulled even with

Nadal and Roger Federer at 20 major

championships apiece, so the Big Three

share the men's record heading into the

U.S. Open, where play begins Aug. 30.

If getting match-ready ahead of the

trip to Flushing Meadows is of primary

importance, Nadal did get an

opportunity to try to shake off some

rust against Sock, an American who is a

former member of the top 10 in singles

and owner of three Grand Slam titles in

men's doubles.

After getting broken to trail 4-3 in the

second set, then again to go down 1-0 in

the third, a deficit that would reach 3-1,

Nadal reverted to his best self.

He held without trouble, then broke

to 3-all by whipping a forehand to close

a 16-stroke exchange before sprinting

to reach a drop shot and extend a point

he would win - and mark with a yell of

"Vamos!" and fist pumps - when Sock

netted his response.

Suddenly, with the help of an overthe-shoulder

flicked volley, Nadal held

again and now led 4-3. He was simply

far better at the very end.

"You need matches like this to be

fitter after months without

competing," Nadal said.

On Thursday, he will meet 14thseeded

Lloyd Harris, a South African

who advanced when his opponent,

TennysSandgren of the U.S., stopped

playing because of rib pain.

Earlier, No. 6 seed Dan Evans lost his

first match since testing positive for

COVID-19 last month and missing the

Olympics. Evans was beaten 7-6 (1), 6-

0 by Brandon Nakashima of the U.S.

Other seeds exiting Wednesday: No.

3 Alex de Minaur, No. 4

GrigorDimitrov, No. 9 Alexander

Bublik, No. 10 Taylor Fritz and No. 13

Benoit Paire.

Nadal nearly joined them on the way

out. Pushed to the brink, he pulled

through.

Ligue 1 preview: PSG to bounce back

and what about champions Lille?

Neymar and Pochettino will be hoping to lead PSG to another

league title.

Photo: AP

SPORTS DESK

Lille stunned European football in May

when they ended Paris St-

Germain'sLigue 1 dominance by lifting

their first title since 2011, reports UNB.

A summer of managerial speculation,

big arrivals and potentially costly

departures has followed in France,

setting up an intriguing battle over the

next few months.

As the season gets underway this

weekend, BBC Sport looks at some of

the major issues and whether Paris St-

Germain can recover from a

disappointing previous campaign.

Lille saw off PSG in the season's

curtain-raiser - the Trophee des

Champions - on Sunday, but is this a

sign of what is to follow?

Second chance for Pochettino

Having enjoyed a successful spell as a

player with PSG, Mauricio Pochettino

always felt like a sensible option as

manager. Since replacing Thomas

Tuchel in January, however, it hasn't

been plain sailing for him.

Just 11 days into his reign, he won his

first managerial trophy, overseeing a 2-

1 victory over Marseille in a delayed

Trophee des Champions.

But Lille's fairy tale success has piled

the pressure on the former Tottenham

Hotspur boss, who had even been

touted for a return to North London.

An impressive dismantling of

Barcelona in the Champions League

last 16 showed glimpses of what his

team are capable of - and he'll have a

chance to get his feet under the table

properly following some big-name

signings and a new contract to 2023,

which he signed in June. It could be

win or bust, though.

Big arrivals at PSG

Looking at PSG's early transfer

business, it is clear chairman Nasser Al-

Khelaifi has set bigger targets than just

regaining domestic dominance.

Les Parisiens have recruited three

superb additions on free transfers -

long-serving Real Madrid captain

Sergio Ramos, former Liverpool

midfielder GeorginioWijnaldum and

Euro 2020 Player of the Tournament

Gianluigi Donnarumma - as well as the

smart acquisition of full-back

AchrafHakimi from Inter Milan.

With striker KylianMbappe looking

likely to stay despite his contract

running out next summer and Neymar

motivated to succeed in France, PSG

are looking stronger than ever in their

quest for Champions League glory.

They lost the 2020 final to Bayern

Munich before being outclassed by

Manchester City in last season's semifinals.

Their squad looks stronger,

deeper and more efficient already.

European football expert James

Horncastle told BBC Radio 5 Live:

"This is a big year for Paris. We have

seen all the moves they have made.

They really want to make a push for the

Champions League." Lille losing

momentum ahead of title defence?

When a team punches above its

weight, it is often difficult to match the

same heights. Not long after a major

triumph, their squad is dismantled as

leading clubs lure their best players.

With Ligue 1 sides still facing financial

hardship after a broadcasting rights

crisis, it is even more difficult to resist a

sale.

Leicester City have already signed

Lille midfielder BoubakarySoumare,

but defender Sven Botman and Renato

Sanches, who shone for Portugal at the

Euros this summer, have a long list of

admirers. Keeping hold of Canada

striker Jonathan David and France

international Jonathan Ikone would

also represent good business.

Germany's Wellbrock

doubles up to win

Olympic marathon swim

SPORTS DESK

German world champion

Florian Wellbrock added

Olympic marathon

swimming gold to his

1500m bronze with a

dominant performance in

hot conditions in Tokyo Bay

on Thursday, reports BSS.

Wellbrock swam the 10

kilometres (six miles) in 1hr

48min 33.7sec, more than

25 seconds clear of

Hungary's Kristof Rasovszky

(1:48:59.0). Italy's Gregorio

Paltrinieri took the bronze in

1:49:01.1.

Wellbrock and Paltrinieri

became just the second and

third athletes to win pool

and open-water medals at

the same Olympics, after

Tunisia's OussamaMellouli

grabbed marathon gold and

1500m bronze at London

2012.

"The first seven kilometres

was really easy," said

Wellbrock. "The water

wasn't really warm, so then I

keep up the pace and the last

leg was horrible.

"The temperature today

was the biggest competitor. I

beat it and I beat everything

in this race."

The double by Italy's

Paltrinieri, who took silver in

the 800m freestyle, is all the

more remarkable after his

build-up to the Games was

hampered by a bout of

glandular fever.

10 sports personalities,

2 organizations receive

Sheikh Kamal Sports

Award 2021

SPORTS DESK

Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina on Thursday

distributed Sheikh Kamal

National Sports Council

(NSC) Award-2021 to 10

sports personalities and two

organizations through a

virtual function, reports

UNB.

On behalf of the premier,

Senior Secretary of Youth

and Sports Ministry Akhter

Hossain handed over the

awards to them under seven

categories at the Shaheed

Sheikh Kamal Auditorium of

the National Sports Council.

The prime minister joined

the award ceremony

virtually from her official

Ganabhaban residence.

MahfuzaKhatunShila

(swimming), Ruman Sana

(archery),

and

MabiaAkterSimanto

(weightlifting) received the

award in the athlete

category.

Akbar Ali (captain of the

U-19 Cricket World Cup

winning team), Fahad

Rahman (chess), and

UnnatiKhatun (football) got

the award in the emerging

athlete category.

Barca ready for new

Messi contract after La

Liga receives €2.7bn

SPORTS DESK

Barcelona will receive

approximately €280m, of

which about €42m will be

used to increase the salary

limit, reports UNB.

After battling economic

problems due to the

coronavirus, La Liga has

secured an incredible €2.7

billion (£2.3bn/$3.2bn)

loan that should pave the

way for Barcelona to

finalise Lionel Messi's new

contract.

CVC Capital Partners has

provided the massive

injection of funds and will

have a 10 per cent stake in a

newly-created company

that La Liga will lead which

will focus on growing

revenue.

Of the funds invested, a

majority percentage will be

distributed to clubs, with

Barcelona and Real Madrid

receiving €280m each.

Goal understands, 90% of

the €2.7 billion will fall to

the clubs in the form of a

40-year soft loan.

New Zealand to tour Pakistan

for 1st time since 2003

SPORTS DESK

New Zealand will tour Pakistan for the first

time in 18 years when it plays three one-day

internationals and five Twenty20 matches

beginning in September, reports UNB.

New Zealand last toured Pakistan in 2003

for a five-match ODI series while the tourists

last played a test match in Pakistan in 2002.

International tours to Pakistan have been

affected by concerns over player safety. In

May 2002, New Zealand abandoned its test

series in Pakistan after a suicide bomb attack

outside their Karachi hotel. In 2009, the Sri

Lanka national team's bus was attacked near

Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

"With leading cricket playing countries

resuming their tours to Pakistan in 2019 . . .

the series against New Zealand will prove to

be a catalyst in rejuvenating our talented

youngsters while attracting new fans to the

game that has the most passionate following

in the country," Pakistan Cricket Board chief

executive Wasim Khan said in a statement

on Thursday.

With the T20 World Cup scheduled for the

United Arab Emirates in October, Khan said

New Zealand Cricket had accepted PCB's

request to play five T20s.

"These (matches) will not only provide

extra games to both the countries as part of

their T20 World Cup preparations, but will

also allow New Zealand players to spend

extra days in Pakistan, familiarize with our

culture and enjoy our hospitality," Khan

said.

Rawalpindi will host the three ODIs on

Sept. 17, 19 and 21 while Lahore will host all

the five Twenty20s in between Sept. 25 and

Oct. 3.

New Zealand will arrive on Sept. 11 and

after remaining in room isolation until Sept.

14 it will have two days of practice and an

intra-squad match.

"We're very much looking forward to

returning to Pakistan for the start of their

home international season," NZC Chief

Executive David White said in the statement.

"It's great that, after such a difficult time for

Pakistan, international cricket is again being

played in the country."

The PCB has termed 2021-22 cricketing

season as a "bumper" year with New Zealand

tour followed by England's two Twenty20s in

Pakistan before the T20 World Cup. West

Indies is expected to tour Pakistan in

December while Australia will undertake a

full tour to Pakistan in next February and

March.

The ODI series is part of ICC's Super

League with Pakistan having 40 points from

nine games and New Zealand won all its

three ODIs. The seven top-ranked teams

from the Super League and the World Cup

host India will progress directly for the

World Cup in 2023.

Pakistan will host New Zealand for 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is in September-

October.

Photo AP

Australia's ballet-loving Olympic

boxer 'breaking stereotypes'

SPORTS DESK

Australia's first Olympic boxing medallist in

33 years is also a certified plumber, says he

"fell in love" with ballet and sported painted

fingernails this week in Tokyo, reports BSS.

Harry Garside has never been your

average fighter and he proved it again this

week after winning his quarter-final.

"I just want to break stereotypes, to be

honest," the 24-year-old said following his

lightweight victory on split points over

Kazakhstan's ZakirSafiullin, ensuring that

he will take home at least bronze.

After the bout he removed his gloves to

reveal painted white fingernails, each with a

sliver of colour that appeared to represent a

rainbow.

"There's a lot of people out there who feel

like they have to be something because

they're a male or a female," Garside said.

"I'm all about just being different."

Garside, the only Australian boxer left in

the Japanese capital, said: "I was going to

wear a dress to the opening ceremony, but I

didn't want to offend anyone".

Garside, who won gold at the 2018

Commonwealth Games in his home

country, has always done things a bit

differently.

That is also the case when it comes to

training. He says that he always wanted to

try ballet anyway, but he also thinks it makes

him a better boxer.

On his leg he has a tattoo of

VasiliyLomachenko, the Ukrainian

considered one of the world's best poundfor-pound

boxers.

"He's my favourite fighter and he actually

did a lot of traditional dancing, and a few

other athletes do it (ballet) too," Garside told

AFP.

"So I tried it out and fell in love with it

almost instantly. It's really hard, it's really,

really difficult.

"It's definitely helped me throughout my

boxing with my footwork and technique.

Coordination is obviously a big thing. I'm

very stiff in the ring and I feel like it's

loosened me up a little bit.

"I'll continue doing it even after boxing."

Sound of silence -

Garside, who lists volunteering among his

hobbies, says reaching the last four at the

Olympics has been "the highlight of my life

so far".

But the self-confessed "mummy's boy"

who followed his brothers into boxing does

not want the showreel to end in Tokyo,

where he faces the daunting prospect of

Cuba's two-time world champion Andy Cruz

in the semi-finals.

He is determined to keep improving, no

matter what happens on Friday, and says

that thinking outside the box helps him do

that.

"I do something once a month that makes

me feel uncomfortable," said Garside, whose

sentences tumble out of his mouth at the

same pace as his fast fists.

"I've done things like karaoke, public

reading was really tough, 48 hours without

talking, numerous other things.

"I'll continue doing that because I feel that

growth as a human and that carries on into

my boxing."

So what did Garside, a self-confessed

"massive chatterbox", discover about

himself from keeping quiet for two days?

"I learn something new from each

challenge and one thing I learnt was that

sometimes I'm a bit over-talkative," he said.

"That doesn't give other people much

opportunity to talk so it made me realise that

sometimes I need to pull myself back and

allow other people to come into the circle."

Parchment outguns Holloway

to win men's Olympic 110m

hurdles gold

SPORTS DESK

Jamaican Hansle Parchment trumped

fading world champion Grant Holloway to

win the men's Olympic 110m hurdles gold on

Thursday, reports BSS.

Parchment, a bronze medallist at the 2012

London Games, clocked 13.04 seconds, with

Holloway taking silver in 13.09sec. Another

Jamaican, Ronald Levy, claimed bronze

(13.10).

Holloway burst out of his blocks in blazing

sunshine at Tokyo's Olympic Stadium and

quickly built up a lead directly from the first

hurdle.

The American looked completely in

control through 60 metres, but then tied up,

allowing a fast-charging Parchment a way

back into the race.

The 31-year-old Jamaican made no

mistake from lane seven, producing a classy

final three hurdles and push for the line for

the first global medal of his career.

FrIDAY, AUGUsT 6, 2021

10

Hansal Mehta's 'Faraaz' to depict

Holey Artisan cafe attack

TBT reporT

Bollywood filmmaker Hansal Mehta on

Wednesday announced his next directorial feature

titled 'Faraaz', a taut action-thriller depicting the

Holey Artisan cafe attack that shook Bangladesh in

July 2016.

Bollywood filmmaker Hansal Mehta on

Wednesday announced his next directorial feature

titled 'Faraaz', a taut action-thriller depicting the

Holey Artisan cafe attack that shook Bangladesh in

July 2016. The Hansal Mehta directorial is

produced by Bhushan Kumar's T-Series, Anubhav

Sinha's BenarasMediaworks along Mahana Films -

Sahil Saigal Sakshi Bhatt and Mazahir

Mandasaurwala.

This ambitious collaboration between Mehta,

Sinha and Bhushan Kumar chronicles the events

that took place on the night of July 1, 2016, in

Dhaka where five young militants ravaged the

upscale cafe and held over 50 people as hostages for

nearly 12 dreadful hours.

Speaking about the movie, Hansal said, "Faraaz is

a story of deep humanity and its ultimate triumph

in the face of violent adversity. While it is based on

true events, it is also a deeply personal story that

I've held close to my heart for nearly three years."

Other than featuring an ensemble of fresh talent,

'Faraaz' marks the debut of Zahan Kapoor along

with the one-film old Aditya Rawal.

Excited about the collaboration, Anubhav said, "It

is a film that is close to our hearts. From launching

new actors to getting the gaze of the film right, we

have done our best to imbue this story with

ingenuity while keeping it suspenseful and thrilling.

It's a film that will give the audience a deeply

intimate look into what happened that night. It is as

much a story of terror and loss as it is of hope and

faith."

Also read: Sara Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor to star in

new shows on Discovery Plus as streamer

announces content line-up

Bhushan Kumar also shared his experience on

filming 'Faraaz' and explained, "When one is

making a film like Faraaz, the first mainstream film

made on this horrific attack, from ensuring that we

are authentic to the event to getting the right mix of

talent, our endeavour is to truly do justice to the

subject and elevate the material to a satiating and

thrilling cinematic experience."

I'm in embarrassing situation: Mou

TBT reporT

Alleged model Maryam Akhter Mou has

been arrested on several charges.DB

officials seized foreign liquor, yaba and

Shisha from her house in Mohammadpur.

The activities of this model, which have been

discussed for the last two days, are being

reported in the media.

Popular dancer, model and actress Sadia

Islam Mou is in a very embarrassing

situation after seeing this news. The modelactress

said that she is a victim of such a

situation because of the similarity of names.

"I have been embarrassed since the night

of the incident," Sadia Islam Mou told the

media on Tuesday evening. The police have

arrested a person who matched my name

and this is why many are sending news links

to my family, relatives, friends but they saw

Tara Sutaria is one of the most

popular gen-Z actresses and is

known for her extraordinary

fashion affair. From her city

that was not me.Not only my family but my

acquaintances are getting annoyed and

embarrassed.

Sadia Islam Mou has asked to check

whether the woman named Mou is really a

model or an actress said, "Models are the

ones who do regular stage shows, fashion

shows". Regularly taking honors from these

- they can be said as models.

When looking for models we first look at

the portfolio. We calls those whose names

are found there as models.But she hasn't

been in modeling for a long time or she

hasn't done much. If such a person likes to

call herself a model, then no one else has to

do anything.

"Of course, there are some responsibilities

for regular model-actresses like us," Mou

said. For example, if I hadn't struggled to get

back to this era, today's kids wouldn't know

When Tara alleged dating rumours

with Ishaan surfaced online

spottings to red carpet looks - the

diva manages to turn heads every

time she makes a public

appearance. Today, we bring you a

throwback when her alleged

linkup rumours with Ishaan

Khatter was doing the rounds on

social media. Tara made her debut

with 'Student Of The Year 2'

whereas Ishaan made his debut

with 'Dhadak' opposite Janhvi

Kapoor.

According to a report by TOI,

Karan Johar was so impressed

with Ishaan Khatter's performance

in 'Dhadak' that he offered him

'SOTY 2'. If the reports are to be

believed, he even shot a few action

scenes for the film but this all came

to an end when Karan got to know

about Tara Sutaria's breakup with

Ishaan. Yes, that's correct. Tara

Sutaria and Ishaan Khatter broke

up after things didn't work out

between them. And well, that led to

me as a model.No matter how much I

introduce myself to them, I am a model

Mou, but the children now will not recognize

me.Some of the boys and girls now know me

because I still do modeling. '

the exit of Ishaan from 'Student Of

The Year 2'.

Karan Johar didn't drop Tara as

she was his leading lady in the film

which for obvious reasons led to

Ishaan's exit from 'SOTY2'.

Meanwhile, Tara Sutaria is

currently dating Aadar Jain who

happens to be Kareena Kapoor

Khan and Ranbir Kapoor's cousin.

The 'Tadap' actress is often spotted

in family pictures of 'Kapoor

Khandaan' along with Alia Bhatt

who is dating Ranbir. And Ishaan

Khatter on the other hand is

rumoured to be dating

AnanyaPanday. Although none of

them has confirmed their

relationship but are often spotted

hanging out together.

Source: Times Of India

'Black Widow' shocked

by Disney's 'attack on

her character'

While many parts of the world

witnessed the rage 'Black Widow'

is, Scarlett Johansson doesn't

seem to be happy how the gates

for her standalone flick were

opened for the world. The actor

in a shocking turn of events last

week sued Disney for breaching

her contract that promised an

exclusive theatrical release, by

releasing the movie on Disney

Plus simultaneously on the same

day. The actor even claimed a

loss of over $300 million, and

that made headlines.

Not long after the news of the

lawsuit broke, Disney was quick

to reply and gave out a pretty

blunt statement. The studio went

on to call Scarlett Johansson's

lawsuit baseless and even had

many digs to take on the Natasha

Romanoff fame. They said that

the new releases format has

given her an additional $20M.

Turns out Johansson is now

shocked by the tone of this

statement and is upset with the

studio giving out numbers.

An excerpt from the statement

by Disney last week read, "the

release of Black Widow on

Disney+ with Premier Access has

significantly enhanced her ability

to earn additional compensation

on top of the $20M she has

received to date." Now as per

reports, Scarlett Johansson is

shocked by the tone and how the

studio has attacked her

character. Last week, Scarlett

Johansson's agent and CAA cochairman

Bryan Lourd hit back

at Disney in his own statement.

He called out Disney for falsely

accusing the star and making her

appear bad in the eyes of the

world. Bryan Lourd wrote,

Shahnoor in two govtfunded

films 'Kaktarua'

and 'Ashirbad'

TBT reporT

Syeda Kamrun Naher Shahnoor is a

Bangladeshi actress and model who

acted in films and television dramas

and became model in TVCs.

This actress Shahnoor -acted two

government-funded films are waiting

for its release date. The films are

'Kaktarua' directed by Faruk Hossain

and 'Ashirbad' by Mostafizur

Rahman Manik.

About the films, Shahnoor said,

"The story of the two films are based

on our Liberation War and I have

played two different roles in two

movies. My character in Kaktarua is

very challenging. In the movie

Ashirbad, I've played the role of a

doctor who treats disabled children.

Actors Mahiya Mahi and Roshan are

"shamelessly and falsely

accus[ing] Ms Johansson of

being insensitive to the global

Covid pandemic, in an attempt to

make her appear to be someone

they and I know she isn't."

"The company included her

salary in their press statement in

an attempt to weaponize her

success as an artist and

businesswoman, as if that were

something she should be

ashamed of," reads the

statement from Lourd, who said

the lawsuit was filed "as a result

of Disney's decision to knowingly

the lead cast of the movie."

"The shooting of the movies has

already been completed. I've tried my

level best to portray myself according

to the characters. I hope the audience

will like my works", she added.

Shahnoor began her journey in

Dhallywood with 'Fasir Adesh'. This

film was an unreleased film. Her first

released film was 'Jiddi Sontan'

which was released in 2000. Rubel

was her co-star in that film.

Shahnoor - acted films 'Sahoshi

Manush Chai' won National Film

Award in two categories and

'Karagar' won National Film Award

in one category.

She also acted in 'Hajar Bachhor

Dhore' in 2005. This film won

National Film Award in five categories

including Best Film.

violate Scarlett's contract."

Lourd statement giving out

Scarlett Johansson's reaction

added, "They have very

deliberately moved the revenue

stream and profits to the

Disney+ side of the company

leaving artistic and financial

partners out of their new

equation… Disney's direct attack

on her character and all else they

implied is beneath the company

that many of us in the creative

community have worked with

successfully for decades."

Source: Indian Express

H o roscope

ArIes

(March 21 - April 21) : You may

feel a bit short on inspiration

today, Aries. Don't be

discouraged! Start whatever project is in

question, even if your thoughts are elsewhere.

During the course of the "bad" work you may

churn out at first, your muse gently alights on

your shoulder. It sometimes takes a little

discipline to lead to delicious rewards!

TAUrUs

(April 21 - May 21) : Taurus, you

may feel like you're running in

several directions at once. You're so

scattered that you don't feel like you're

accomplishing anything important. That's just the

nature of the day. You have many loose ends to tie

up. It's hard to concentrate on the big picture when

you're out of groceries. Do whatever maintenance

needs doing so you can move on to bigger things.

GeMINI

(May 22 - June 21) : Today you

may be inspired to have a little

fun with your looks, Gemini. You

may wish to change your haircut or

experiment with different colors or styles of

clothing. It would be fun to get out of your

routine, even if it just means donning funky

sunglasses or bright Hawaiian patterns. You

will feel lighter and more flirtatious.

cANcer

(June 22 - July 23) : Today's

energy has you rethinking all

areas of your life, Cancer. If you

aren't as challenged by your job as you think

you should be, perhaps it's time for a change.

The trick for you will be figuring out what it is

that you want to do. You have a tremendous

amount of creative ability. If you aren't using

these talents, why not explore a career that

would let you develop them further?

Leo

(July 24 - Aug. 23): You're

ready for dramatic change in your life,

Leo. It isn't that you're dissatisfied

with your career or personal life. Rather, you feel like

you're missing out on something great, if you only

knew what. Be receptive to whatever opportunities

arise and explore them all. You may find the answers

you seek through travel or more education. Bring a

friend if you're afraid to explore on your own.

VIrGo

(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23): Virgo, expect to

meet someone new who will be a

tremendous influence in your life -

probably in your career. If you've been frustrated by your

lack of progress up the corporate ladder, take heart. This

new person may be able to show you another way up. In

spite of your frustration, you should continue to work in

your usual manner. You're on the right path, even though

you may doubt it now.

LIBrA

(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): You've been

on a wild ride for several months,

Libra - all that excitement in your

personal life and career! If major changes for the

better haven't yet occurred, know that they will. A

promotion is in order, most likely accompanied by

a raise. Don't act so surprised - you've had this

coming for a long time. Celebrate tonight with

someone dear to your heart.

scorpIo

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22): Foreign lands

and new opportunities beckon

today, Scorpio! Keep your eyes and

ears open as these opportunities may come to you

from an unusual or unexpected source. You're

ready for a change of some kind in your personal or

professional life. It's up to you to take steps in

whatever new direction you decide to go. Don't rule

out a few classes as a way to further your career.

sAGITTArIUs

(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): The astral

energy indicates that you may have

extra money in your pocket,

Sagittarius. Take care to invest this money wisely

rather than spend it all. You will be happier sacrificing

short-term gratification for future financial gain.

Positive relationships and socializing are indicated this

evening. Make a point to get together with close

friends and loved ones.

cAprIcorN

(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20): This will be an

interesting day provided you

keep your eyes and ears open to

the opportunities that arise. Don't be afraid to

take on new challenges. Even if you feel

unsure about your abilities, embrace the

chance to test them. If others think you're up

to the challenge, you should give yourself the

same benefit of the doubt! New friends are

indicated - make a point to smile.

AQUArIUs

(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) : Aquarius, you

finally begin to feel like you're making

progress. You're intent on

completing some projects that have long been in the

works. After many hours of concentration and focus,

you make the last adjustments and proclaim it

finished. You can expect to be rewarded for your

efforts. Your skills are extraordinary. You can enjoy a

real sense of satisfaction. Celebrate a little!

pIsces

(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20) : This is a

passionate, creative day, Pisces.

Your blood is hot and passion is on

your mind. With luck, you have a significant other

who can benefit! If not, you will have to find

another way to burn off that energy. Invite a close

friend for a jog. You're in the mood to socialize. If

you can't have physical intimacy, be satisfied with

emotional closeness.

fRiDAY, AuguST 6, 2021

11

Greece battles to

control fire close to

ancient Olympic site

ATHENS : Greek

firefighters battled

Thursday to bring under

control two major fires

raging near Olympia and on

the island of Evia as the

country swelters in a recordbreaking

heatwave.

More than 170

firefighters, around 50

trucks, six helicopters and

water-bombing aircraft

were deployed near the

ancient archeological site,

the birthplace of the

Olympic games, on the

Peloponnese peninsula.

After destroying around

20 houses, "the fire's front is

now heading towards

Lalas," a wooded

mountainous area to the

north west of Olympia, local

official Nektarios Farmakis

told the ANA news agency.

Olympia, usually

thronging with tourists at

this time of year, as well as

six nearby villages, were

evacuated the day before.

A similar number of

firefighters were also

battling to contain a blaze

on Evia, some 200

kilometres (120 miles) east

of Athens.

At least 150 houses were

destroyed on the island as

the fire surrounded a

monastery and a dozen

villages.

Two more villages were

evacuated early on

Thursday, ANA reported.

The mayor of the town of

Mantoudi, Giannis

Tsapourniotis, said the fire

was moving on four fronts,

with one particularly

difficult to control near the

Saint David Monastery,

which was evacuated on

Wednesday.

On Thursday, strong

winds made it difficult for

firefighting aircraft to reach

the blazes, with poor

visibility due to the thick

smoke, ANA said.

The fire brigade said

Thursday that it had had to

deal with 92 forest fires over

the past 24 hours, on top of

the 118 from the previous

day.

"We're waging a battle of

the titans," deputy minister

for civil protection Nikos

Hardalias told journalists.

"The hardest is still to

come."

Neighbouring Turkey is

also suffering its worst fires

in at least a decade, claiming

the lives of eight people and

forcing hundreds to

evacuate in southern areas

popular with tourists.

IDB, Bloomberg launch

financial education

programme in 9 countries

including Bangladesh

DHAKA : The Islamic

Development Bank (IDB)

and Bloomberg LP will work

together to deliver a

financial education

programme for university

students in nine countries in

Asia and Africa, reports

UNB

The nine IDB member

countries involved in the

programme are Bangladesh,

Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kuwait,

Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman,

Saudi Arabia and

Uzbekistan.

The IDB and Bloomberg

will announce participating

universities over the coming

months.

The programme will

leverage the Bloomberg

Terminal to support the

growth of the Islamic

finance sector and empower

students in leading

universities with the

financial skills needed to

excel in the professional

world.

The programme will equip

the next generation of

leaders in sectors with the

foundational principles of

financial markets. By

delivering practical realworld

experiences, training

will enable students to build

competencies and

transferable skills that are

highly sought after by

employers.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dr. Viswesvaran Balasubramanian

The Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)

presents numerous

challenges for the

research community

and healthcare system

worldwide. Around 10

to 20 percent of

hospitalized patients

with infected COVID-

19 may suffer from severe pneumonia and

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

(ARDS), requiring support with mechanical

ventilation. Though ARDS can be caused by

various direct or indirect pulmonary insults

such as other respiratory infections,

trauma, aspiration or inhalation injuries to

lung, the severe hypoxemic respiratory

failure secondary to COVID-19 infection

has resulted in an unprecedented number

of patients admitted to intensive care units

(ICUs) worldwide. With ongoing pandemic,

medical researchers and clinicians

worldwide are striving to understand the

potential unique features of disease.

Evolving scientific facts suggest that

ARDS related to severe COVID-19 also

called CARDS may differ from typical

ARDS. Studies have observed that CARDS

may present as the classical ARDS pattern

where those with the lowest oxygenation

level also have the worst lung mechanics

and the smaller aerated lung. However,

unique to CARDS is that few patients may

present with poor oxygenation status

despite having good lung mechanics

suggesting different disease processes.

Many patients with CARDS have a

Kitchen robot in Riga cooks

up new future for fast food

RIGA : A pasta order comes in and the robotic

arm springs into action at the Roboeatz

eatery in Riga. After five minutes of gyrations,

a piping hot plate is ready.

The Riga cafe, located under a crumbling

concrete bridge, is designed in such a way

that customers can observe the robotic arm at

work.

It also has a seating area, although most

customers prefer take away since vaccination

certificates are required to be able to eat

indoors in Latvia.

A Roboeatz app allows customers to order

and pay for their dish before picking it up at

the cafe.

"The food tasted better than I expected!"

said customer Iveta Ratinika, a teacher and a

member of the Latvian capital's education

board.

Ratinika said she would encourage

schoolchildren to come and observe the

robotic arm in action and mused that there

could be robots working at the school

cafeteria within "a few years".

Roboeatz was set up in January 2018 by

Konstantins Korcjomkins and Janis Poruks,

relatively good tolerance of low blood

oxygen called silent hypoxaemia which is

also referred to as "happy hypoxaemia".

This dissociation between oxygenation and

work of breathing in some of these patients

has an impact on decision making of

supporting a patient with mechanical

ventilation and has prompted some

clinicians to avoid mechanical ventilators

until clinical signs of clinical deterioration

occur. In addition to this, other modalities

of improving oxygenation such as awake

self-proning and use of high-flow nasal

cannula and ECMO has gained significance

during the current pandemic. In addition to

this few studies have observed that less use

of invasive ventilation was associated with

a lower mortality in clinical trials. With

respect to medications, the use of

corticosteroids in COVID-19 patients

requiring supplemental oxygen or

ventilatory support has resulted in

improved outcomes. Similarly, in select

patients the use of IL-6 receptor antagonist

monoclonal antibody therapy to

hospitalised patients with COVID-19

requiring oxygen or ventilatory support is

suggested. Most treatment guidelines also

recommend the use of anticoagulation for

all hospitalised patients with COVID-19.

With evolving data and research, we may

see newer modality emerging which may

have an impact on the clinical outcomes of

patients suffering with CARDS.

The Writer is Consultant Interventional

Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine,

Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad

who have been running the Woki Toki fast

food chain in Latvia since 2009.

Their aim? To revolutionise the fast food

industry. "This robot replaces four to six

human employees, reducing labour costs

significantly," said Poruks, who has a

background in engineering.

But he stressed that the introduction of

such robots would not push up

unemployment rates since "people are not

lining up to flip burgers".

"The robot will not replace people who are

willing to have a career in restaurants and

catering, becoming chefs or other food

celebrities. The robot will take those lowpaid

jobs which most people already do not

want," he said. Automated kitchen

technology has been gaining interest in

recent years, and that has been accelerated

by the pandemic.At a newly opened eatery in

Paris, customers can watch robots build,

bake and box up pizzas at a rate of up to 80

an hour.

In the US, a robot named "Sally" belonging

to the startup Chowbotics can whip up salads

sold through a vending machine.

Grim toil for morgue workers

as Thai virus cases rise

BANGKOK, Aug 5, 2021 (BSS/AFP) -

Thailand's morgue workers are battling

exhaustion as the kingdom's latest Covid-19

wave hits new highs and the death toll

mounts.

The daily total of new cases broke the

20,000 threshold for the first time on

Wednesday, a feat repeated on Thursday.

Authorities announced 160 more deaths

on Thursday, taking the total to 5,663 since

the pandemic began.

At Thammasat University Hospital, north

of Bangkok, staff have had to rent a special

container to store bodies after the morgue

filled up. "It's very exhausting. We may not

be the exact frontline workers who have to

deal with newly infected patients every

day, but we're the final stage, and we have to

help them however we can," forensic

scientist Thanitchet Khetkham told AFP.

"I've seen our personnel faint quite a few

times lately so fatigue is definitely starting to

set in and we're almost at our limits."

Every body that arrives for handling has to

be swabbed for Covid-19 by morgue staff

swathed in head-to-toe protective suits and

face masks and shields. "We have the same

number of personnel as before the pandemic

but the work we do has tripled so we sure feel

under pressure and stressed out," forensic

physician Thippailin Phinjirapong told AFP.

"If one of our personnel happens to get sick

then we'd be in big trouble." The government

has imposed severe curbs on daily life in

dozens of provinces, including Bangkok, as it

battles to contain the outbreak, fuelled by the

highly contagious Delta variant of the virus.

Bars, swimming pools, museums and

other public venues have been closed, strict

limits placed on shopping malls and

restaurants and a seven-hour nighttime

curfew imposed.

But so far the measures have not slowed

the spread, with 20,920 new cases

announced on Thursday, taking the total

since the start of the pandemic to almost

700,000.

After a sluggish start beset by procurement

problems, authorities are trying to speed up

the vaccination programme, and more than

14 million people have now had at least one

shot. Government spokesman Anucha

Burapachaisri told AFP the government

aimed to administer at least 10 million doses

a month by the end of the year.

Mahbub Ali Khan's 37th

death anniversary Friday

DHAKA : The 37th death anniversary of Rear

Admiral (retd) Mahbub Ali Khan, also a

former minister for communications and

agriculture, will be observed on Friday, reports

UNB.

Elaborate programmes have been chalked

out to observe the day, both at home and

abroad, with due respect.

Special prayers will be offered and Quran

khwani will be held at different mosques in

Dhaka, Sylhet, Bogura, Jamalpur, and Saudi

Arabia, Malaysia, the USA and the UK to mark

the day, said a press release on Thursday.

Besides, wreaths will be placed at his Banani

grave in Dhaka on Friday morning on the

occasion.

Surovi, a voluntary organisation founded by

MA Khan's wife, will arrange special prayers

for the salvation of the departed soul.

Special prayers and Quran Khawani will also

be held in different orphanages in Dhaka

throughout the week. Coronavirus awareness

programmes will be carried out in these

orphanages.

Salman Omar Rubel gifted oxygen cylinders and safety equipment to helpless patients at Dhobaura

Health Complex.

Photo : TBT

Sydney posts record

Covid cases as

lockdown is widened

SYDNEY : Sydney reported

a record number of new

Covid-19 cases and five virus

deaths Thursday, as

authorities expanded the

lockdown in Australia's

largest city to neighbouring

regions, reports BSS.

Six weeks after Sydney's

five million residents were

told to stay home, the

number of new infections in

New South Wales state grew

to 262, the largest daily tally

since the pandemic began.

Health officials said

almost all the new cases

were in Sydney, but a

handful of infections in

other districts prompted

state premier Gladys

Berejiklian to widen stay-athome

restrictions.

Five positive tests in

Newcastle-a coastal city of

320,000 people north of

S y d n e y - p r o m p t e d

authorities to shutter

schools and tell residents to

stay home for at least a week.

Five people aged in their

60s-80s have died in Sydney

in the past 24 hours, none of

whom were fully vaccinated.

"I cannot stress enough

how it's so important for

everybody of all ages to

come forward and get the

vaccine," Berejiklian said.

Barely 20 percent of

Australians have been fully

vaccinated, thanks to acute

supply problems and

pockets of vaccine hesitancy.

Until now, Australia has

dodged the worst ravages of

the pandemic.

Sheikh Kamal's 72nd

birth anniversary

observed in Gopalganj

GOPALGANJ : The 72nd

birth anniversary of Sheikh

Kamal, the eldest son of

Father of the Nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh

Mujibur Rahman, was

observed in the district in a

befitting manner on

Thursday.

Awami League, its

associate bodies and

different political, sociocultural

and sports

organisations drew up

elaborate programmes

marking the day, reports

BSS.

Deputy Commissioner

(DC) Shahida Sultana paid

homage to Sheikh Kamal by

placing floral wreaths at his

portrait at Sheikh Russell

High School premises at 10

am, maintaining the health

rules strictly.

District Awami League

general secretary Mahbub Ali

Khan, additional deputy

commissioner (general)

Iliashur Rahman, deputy

director of youth

development department

Mizanur Rahman, assistant

director of youth

development department

Sayad Uddin Ahmed and

district administration

officials and teachers of

Sheikh Russell High School

were present on the occasion.

Turkey and Greece reel from raging

wildfires during heatwave

OREN, Turkey : Turkish coastguards

evacuated hundreds of villagers from a

burning power plant on Thursday and

Greek firefighters battled a major blaze near

the ancient Olympic site as a record

heatwave wreaked havoc across Europe's

southeast.

The two regional rivals have been united

this week in their fight against disasters that

officials and experts link to increasingly

frequent and intense weather events caused

by climate change.

Eight people have died and dozens have

been hospitalised across the southern coasts

of Turkey since the wildfires erupted last

week.

The blazes in Greece this week briefly cut

off the main road leading to Athens and saw

worrying fires break out in Olympia-the

birthplace of the Olympic Games that is

usually crowded with tourists-and on the

island of Evia.

Greece deployed large forces near

Olympia to protect archeological sites where

the first Olympic Games were held in

antiquity.

"We're waging a battle of the titans!"

Greek deputy minister for civil protection

Nikos Hardalias said.

But perhaps the biggest shock came when

winds whipped up a flash fire that

subsumed the grounds of an Aegean coast

power plant in Turkey storing thousands of

weAvBWweøDwUwm/Rm/77/2020-21

GD-1174/21 (5x3)

tonnes of coal. An AFP team saw

firefighters and police fleeing the 35-yearold

Kemerkoy plant in the Aegean

province of Mugla as bright balls of

orange flames tore through the

surrounding hills.

Hundreds of villagers-many clutching

small bags of belongings grabbed from

their abandoned houses as the evacuation

call sounded-piled onto coastguard

speedboats at the nearby port of Oren.

The regional authority said "all

explosive chemicals" and other hazardous

material had been removed from the

strategic site.

"But there's a risk that the fire could

spread to the thousands of tonnes of coal

inside," regional mayor Osman Gurun

told reporters.

A few older villagers in Oren refused to

leave the disaster-hit region even while

thousands of others were shuttled out by

car or boats racing along the Aegean Sea.

"Where do you want us to go at our age?"

asked 79-year-old Hulusi Kinic.

"We live here. This is our home. Our last

solution was to throw ourselves in the sea

(if there was an explosion), but thank God

that did not happen."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip

Erdogan's office said an initial inspection

showed the overnight blazes left "no serious

damage to the main units in the plant".

India records 42,982

new cases

NEWDELHI : India saw a single day rise

of 42,982 new coronavirus infections

taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to

3,18,12,114, while the active cases

increased to 4,11,076, according to the

Union Health Ministry data updated on

Thursday, reports BSS.

The death toll climbed to 4,26,290 with

533 fresh fatalities.

The active cases comprise 1.29 per cent

of the total infections, while the national

COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at

97.37 per cent, the data updated at 8 am

showed.

An increase of 723 cases has been

recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload

in a span of 24 hours.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the

20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on

August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and

50 lakh on September 16.It went past 60

lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on

October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October

29, 90 lakh on November 20 and

surpassed the one-crore mark on

December 19.India crossed the grim

milestone of two crore on May 4 and three

crore on June 23.

Friday, dhaka : August 6 , 2021; Srabon 22, 1428 BS; Zilhaj 26, 1442 hijri

A function was arranged to confer Sheikh kamal national Sports Council (nSC) Award-2021 marking the 72nd birth anniversary of

Shaheed Sheikh kamal. prime Minister Sheikh hasina joined the function virtually.

photo : Star Mail

Piasa, Mou's coordinator

Mishu,

Jisan remanded in

different cases

DHAKA : A Dhaka court on Thursday

placed Shariful Hasan alias Mishu Hasan

and Masududl Islam alias Jisan, said to be

chief coordinator and associate respectively

of the detained models Faria Mahbub

Piasa and Mariyam Akter Mou, on

remand for different terms in four separate

cases.

Of the two, Mishu was placed on a total

of nine-day remand in three separate

cases and Jisan was remanded for four

days in two separate cases.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate

Mamunur Rashid passed the order as

police produced Mishu before the court

and pleaded to place him on a total of 30-

day remand in pornography, arms and

narcotics cases.

After hearing the police pleas, the court

placed Mishu on one-day remand in

pornography case, five-day in arms case

and three-day remand in narcotics case

respectively .

The court placed Jisan on one-day

remand in pornography case and threeday

remand in special powers act case. All

the cases were lodged with Bhatara Police

Station.

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested

the duo on Wednesday night and filed

four cases with Bhatara Police Station.

Another case of extortion was filed

against them by a victim with capital's

Khilgaon Police Station.

Sheikh Kamal led a

simple life: Hasina

DHAKA : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

on Thursday said Sheikh Kamal used to

lead a very simple life but faced a malicious

campaign after surviving a futile assassination

attempt in 1974.

"Kamal was shot on December 16, 1974

following a conspiracy. An ill-attempt was

made to kill him. When he survived it, various

negative campaigns were carried out

against him," she said.

The prime minister said this while

addressing a function arranged to confer

Sheikh Kamal National Sports Council

(NSC) Award-2021 on its recipients marking

the 72nd birth anniversary of Shaheed

Sheikh Kamal.

Hasina joined the function, held at

Shaheed Sheikh Kamal Auditorium of the

National Sports Council, through a virtual

platform from her official residence

Ganobhaban. The prime minister said

Sheikh Kamal had led a very simple life

despite being a son of the President, Prime

Minister or Father of the Nation. "Though

his father was the Prime Minister or the

President, he never had any intention to

make money and wealth or build a business,"

she said. His biggest passion was to

develop the country's educational institutions

and improve cultural and sports arenas,

said Hasina recollecting the contributions

of her younger brother to different

sectors, particularly sports. Kamal had

played a sincere role in modernizing football,

cricket and the sports sector. "He had

made tangible contributions to the field of

music, too. As a Dhaka University student,

he had a lot of contributions to our society,"

she said.

His biggest goal was to reorganise the

young generation, motivate them to love

the country and work in the interest of the

country. "Had he been alive (for a long) he

could have done a lot of work for the country's

young generation," she said.

Describing Kamal as a versatile man,

Hasina said he had a good sense of

responsibility and dutifulness, and he

played various games like football, cricket

and hockey in addition to founding

Abahani Krira Chakra.

Alongside sports, he was very good in

drama, song and extempore activity, and

established Spondon Shilpi Gosthi.

About his organisational competence,

the prime minister said Kamal played a

very active role in different movements

and struggles after the Six-Point Demand

was placed in 1966, conducted a campaign

competently before the 1970 election.

Earlier, the Prime Minister distributed

Sheikh Kamal NSC Award-2021

among 10 sports personalities and two

organisations. On behalf of the Prime

Minister, Senior Secretary of Youth and

Sports Ministry Akhter Hossain handed

over the awards to them under seven

categories.

A medical team of Parkview Hospital

succeeds in a critical surgery

S M AkASh, ChAttogrAM CorreSpondent

Parkview Hospital Limited, a reputed and

top healthcare provider in Chittagong, has

set an exemplary precedent by allowing a

risky surgery for a patientwho was at the

crossroads of life and death. A team of specialist

doctors at Parkview Hospital succeeded

in a risky operation to stabilize the

life of a critical patient.

A resident of North Laxmipur area of

Feni district was admitted to

the cabin of Parkview on

August 1 with symptoms of

Covid-19.The patient,

Mohammad Akramul Haque

(55) who was operated by Dr.

Alamgir Bhuiyaa, happened to

be the sister-in-law of the doctor.

He had severe abdominal

pain that was more than shortness

of breath, the cause of

which was not understood. On

August 2, the Covid test came

positive, all possible tests, even

CT scans of the abdomen.The

endoscopy was not done due to

Covid. There was no improvement in

abdominal pain. The patient was transferred

to the ICU on the evening of August

2 due to a gradual decrease in oxygen levels,

and no severe diagnosis of acute

abdominal pain was possible as no satisfactory

diagnosis was reached.

Meanwhile, the patient's blood pressure

was severely low, saturation was 74-78%,

and 100 liters/minute of oxygen was being

given to the SIPAP support. On August 3,

a few more reports came in that the kidneys

were not functioning properly, creatinine

was high, procalcitonin reached to

21.4, which means the patient had severe

sepsis, pro BNP five and a half thousand,

which means the patient had heart failure.

The team understood the pathology in the

abdomen, but there was no concrete evidence.

At 10 pm, Alamgir's mind pondered

on the impossible task which is to

conduct a surgery on the patient. This was

because the patient was somehow maintaining

80-90 systolic pressure at the

highest dose of noradrenaline, on top of

which the saturation was 84 in 100 liters of

oxygen. Either way the death seemed certain.But

surgery would increase the

chances of saving the patient.

2 hours of fighting had just started. As

soon as the abdomen was cut, it was seen

that half of the intestine had rotted. The

team's found the diagnosis. With great

skill, Dr. Alamgir separated the damaged

parts. The surgery went successful. The

operation that many would not dare to

perform or undergo without an operation

theater, was actually performed in the ICU

bed, even without a ventilator or intubation.

Although the doctors were skeptic

about the survival of the but thanks to the

successful procedure. Saturation shot up

to 99% after only 1 hour in 100 liters of

oxygen. Dr. Jitu Das Gupta, a prominent

doctor in the Department of

Surgery, shared such a thrilling

experience of his medical life with

The Bangladesh Today.

The hospital authorities

applauded the efforts put by the

team of doctors. A rare example is

the successful operation in the

ICU bed of Parkview Hospital

without an operating theater and

ventilator, which is a milestone for

the Bangladeshi medical community.

Dr. Alamgir Bhuiyan said, "I

have performed a successful

operation in a difficult moment

with risk. Basically, I dare to take

the risk as the patient is my own sister's

husband. At present, the patient's condition

is improving and the rest depends on

the will of the God almighty. However, I

would like to express my sincere gratitude

and appreciation to the authorities of

Parkview Hospital, a well-known and

dedicated organization in Chittagong and

the country for providing me and my

team without any hesitation in conducting

the operation.

Fire breaks out at

Savar warehouse,

20 injured

SAVAR : As many as 20 people were

injured as a fire broke out at a warehouse

off theDhaka-Aricha highwayin

theRajphulbariabus stand area of Savar

early on Thursday, reports UNB.

Sources at the fire services department

said theblaze started in the morning and

soon engulfed the warehouse belonging to

Singer Refrigerators.On information, 11

fire tenders rushed to spot and it took

them some time to douse the flames.

Sources claimed the fire spread rapidly

because of the presence of chemicals,

colours and other flammable materials

inside the warehouse on the outskirts of

the capital.However, the origin of the fire

is yet to be ascertained.

"As many as 20 people, including firemen,

sustained injuries in the blaze. The

firemen suffered injuries while dousing

the flames," the sources said.

"Traffic on the Dhaka-Aricha highway

remained suspended till 11.25 am due to

the fire," said Mazharul Islam, officer-incharge

of Savar Model police station.

Power supply in the area has also been

disconnected, causing inconvenience to

hundreds of local residents.

Cumilla woman

gives birth to

quadruplets

CUMILLA : A woman has given birth to

quadruplets (four babies) at Cumilla

Modern Hospital, reports UNB.

Sadia Akter, the proud mother, is the

wife of Zillur Rahman of Suagazi Lalbagh

in Sadar Dakkhin upazila of the district.

She gave birth to two boys and two girls

on Wednesday, according to doctors.

Zillur, the father, said the babies are now

in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)

of the hospital. Dr Shhida Akter, who

helped the woman deliver the babies, said,

"We are happy that the four babies and

their mother are all doing fine." The first

child weighs 1,100 gm, the second one

1,000 gm, the third one 900 gm and the

fourth one 800 gm, she said.

Flood-prone populations

up nearly 25% since

2000: study

PARIS : The number of people exposed to

floods worldwide has surged almost a

quarter over the last two decades, according

to satellite-based data that shows an

additional 86 million now live within

flood-prone regions.

Flooding is by far the most common of

extreme weather events made more frequent

and potent by rainfall patterns

supercharged by climate change.

Deadly inundations, such as recently in

India, China, Germany and Belgium,

inflict billions worth of damage, often disproportionally

affecting poorer sectors of

society.

Most flood maps rely on modelling

based on ground-level observations such

as rainfall and elevation, but they can often

entirely miss regions that are historically

not flood-prone.

To fill in those gaps, a team of US-based

researchers examined satellite data from

twice-daily imaging of more than 900

individual flood events in 169 countries

since 2000.

They used the data to create the Global

Flood Database, which provides open

source information on the death toll, displacement

and rainfall levels linked to

each of the 913 floods.

Writing in the journal Nature, the

researchers found that up to 86 million

people, driven by economic necessity,

river erosion takes serious turn at some points of Jamuna river in Sirajganj.

moved into known flood regions between

2000-2015 -- a 24-percent increase.

A total of 2.23 million square kilometres

(860,000 square miles) -- more than the

entire area of Greenland-were flooded

between 2000 and 2018, affecting up to

290 million people.

And it's only going to get worse.

Computer modelling produced estimates

that climate change and shifting

demographics would mean an additional

25 countries facing a high risk of flooding

by 2030.

Lead study author Beth Tellman, a

researcher at Columbia University's Earth

Institute and co-founder of the flood analytics

firm Cloud to Street, told AFP the

number of additional people now at risk of

flooding was 10 times higher than previous

estimates.

"We are able to map floods that are often

unmapped or not typically represented in

flood models, such as ice melt floods or

dam breaks," said Tellman.

"Dam breaks are especially impactful. In

these dam overflow or dam break events,

up to 13 million people were impacted,

across just these 13 events."

The majority of flood-prone countries

were in South and Southeast Asia, but the

satellite data showed previously unidentified

increases in exposure across Latin

America and the Middle East.

HC presses on training for

mobile court magistrates

DHAKA : The High Court (HC) on

Thursday emphasized on providing training

executive magistrates conducting

mobile courts as recently some inconsistency

were seen in their operations.

The High Court division virtual bench of

Justice M Enayetur Rahim came up with

the observations while holding further

hearing on a plea for Suo moto order

regarding sentencing two minors to onemonth

jail by a mobile court in Netrokona

under the Child Marriage Restraint Act,

2017, reports BSS.

The High Court on Thursday also

sought written explanation by August 26

from the executive magistrate concerned.

Earlier on August 4, the High Court had

ordered authorities concerned to release

the two minors.

Netrokona Atpara upazila assistant

commissioner (land) Sultana Razia

recently sentenced the two minors to onemonth

jail through a mobile court for getting

married.

Sultana Razia, who is also the executive

magistrate of the upazila, had ordered

police to send the two minors to the Child

Development Centre in Gazipur.

Tazul for conducting mosquito

eradication drives at all govt buildings

DHAKA : Local Government, Rural

Development (LGRD) and Cooperatives

Minister Md Tazul Islam yesterday

directed all government offices and

agencies including RAJUK to conduct

mosquito eradication drives at their

respective offices, residential buildings

and under construction establishments,

reports BSS.

He simultaneously urged the two Dhaka

city corporations to conduct their ongoing

mosquito eradication programmes coordinating

with and helping all the government

offices and agencies, including

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha

(RAJUK) in this regard.

Tazul came up with the directives while

addressing a virtual meeting on regular

monitoring of the buildings constructed

and being constructed by RAJUK, developers

and individual level aiming at preventing

the breeding of Aedes mosquito

and control dengue outbreak, said a press

release.

photo : Star Mail

06-08-2021

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