12-10-2021

tueSday

DhAkA: October 12, 2021; Ashwin 27, 1428 BS; Rabi-ul-Awal 4,1443 hijri

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www.bangladeshtoday.net

Regd.No.DA~2065, Vol.19; N o. 164; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00

international

US says talks with Taliban

in Doha "candid and

professional"

>Page 7

SPortS

Messi's Argentina thrash

Uruguay, Brazil lose

100pc qualifying record

>Page 9

Building 2nd nuke plant

Hasina seeks Russia's

support

art & culture

Ratree debuts in

acting with short

film titled 'Nari'

>Page 10

Eminent thespian

Dr Enamul Haque

passes away

DHAKA : Ekushey Padak-winning legendary

actor and dramatist Dr Enamul

Haque passed away at his Bailey Road

residence in the capital on Monday.

He was 78, reports UNB.

General Secretary of Actors Equity

Bangladesh Ahsan Habib Nasim said

Dr Enamul Haque was taken to Islami

Bank Central Hospital at Kakrail in the

afternoon as his pulse was not found

and doctors at the hospital pronounced

him dead.

The sudden departure of Dr Enamul

Haque, also a teacher, has left a shadow

of grief on the country's cultural

arena.

Born on May 29, 1943 in an aristocratic

Muslim family in Feni, Dr

Enamul Haque earned his bachelor's

and master's degrees in chemistry

from the University of Dhaka in 1963

and 1964, respectively.

In 1965, he joined as a lecturer at

BUET's chemistry department and

became an Assistant Professor in

1970. For his research in the subject of

synthetic organic chemistry, he

received his PhD from the University

of Manchester, UK, in 1976 and also

worked as a post-doctoral research fellow

in medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacy

Department for the same university

till 1977.

After returning to Bangladesh, he

became BUET's Associate Professor

and Professor in 1979 and 1987

respectively. He served as the chairman

of the Department for 15 years

and also acted as the Dean of the faculty

of Engineering for two years.

A legendary thespian and dramatist

in Bangladesh, Enamul Haque started

his journey in the cultural sphere of

the country by acting on Mustafa

Monwar's tele-fiction "Mukhora

Romoni Boshikoron" in 1968.

In the same year, he began working

as a dramatist, and so far he has written

nearly 60 television dramas

including "Oneekdiner Ekdin,"

"Sheishob Dingulo," "Nirjon Shoikot,"

and "Ke Ba Apon Ke Ba Por".

He staged and participated in several

street dramas against the government

of Pakistan in different parts of

Dhaka city, during the mass uprising

in 1969 and the 1971 Liberation War.

Dr Enamul Haque left behind wife

Lucky Inam, a renowned thespian herself,

and two daughters, actor Hridi

Haque and Proitee Haque.

Zohr

04:41 AM

11:55 PM

04:00 PM

05:40 PM

06:55 PM

5:54 5:37

DHAKA : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

on Monday sought constant support from

Russia for building another nuclear power

plant in Bangladesh's southern region.

"Once the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant is

completed, we'll go for setting up another

in the southern region of the country. We

need constant Russian support in this

regard," she said.

The Prime Minister said this while

Director General of Rosatom State Atomic

Energy Corporation of Russia Alexey

Likhachev met her at her official residence

Ganobhaban.PM's press secretary Ihsanul

Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.

He said the Rosatom DG also expressed

their country's willingness to continue

support to Bangladesh's power sector.

Hasina said the Rooppur Power Plant is

the first nuclear power plant in

Bangladesh which is being built with the

help of Russia.

The Prime Minister emphasized the

importance of maintaining appropriate

security measures in the plant and asked

the Rosatom DG to train Bangladeshi people

in this regard. She appreciated Russia

for extending its help to construct the firstever

nuclear power plant in Bangladesh.

Talking about the Covid-19 pandemic,

the Prime Minister said the pandemic has

slightly slowed down the country's overall

development, and Bangladesh is now in

the process of recovery.

She recalled with gratitude the assistance

and cooperation of the then Russian

Development project work to

be completed on time: UGC

SHafiqUl iSlaM (SHafiq)

Due to untimely completion of development

projects in most of the public universities,

the time and cost of project implementation

is increasing. The audit is facing

objections due to the increase in expenditure

due to lack of proper financial discipline.

The Bangladesh University Grants

Commission (UGC) has suggested that

work on university development projects

be started and completed on time to get

out of the cycle of increasing time and cost.

The UGC also said that a comprehensive

financial policy, pre-audit and monitoring

cell would be set up to reduce the audit

objections in public universities to zero.

The suggestion was made at the inaugural

function of a day-long training on 'Audit

Planning and Implementation' of public

universities at UGC on Monday. UGC

Federation during Bangladesh's

Independence War and rebuilding the

war-ravaged country.

Alexey Likhachev highly appreciated

Sheikh Hasina's strong support and guidance

towards Rooppur Nuclear Power

Plant and said the cooperation between

the two countries has entered an atomic

sphere. "Bangladesh will become a nuclear

energy power by 2023," he said.

Describing the present status of the

project, Likhachev, "We've all the technical

aspects and the security measures into

account." About the completion of the

ongoing project, he said the timeline may

be adjusted. Regarding training, he said

they will train Bangladeshis to run the

plant and will also give attention to social

development in the project area.

He said more than 20,000 Bangladeshi

people are working in the project while

some local companies have been given various

jobs on sub-contracts. "They're remarkable,"

he said. The Rosatom DG also praised

and thanked the Science and Technology

Ministry and Atomic Energy Commission

for its all-out support and cooperation.

He thanked the Health Ministry for its

cooperation in vaccinating 90 percent of the

Russian people working in the project.

Science and Technology Minister Architect

Yeafesh Osman, Ambassador-at-Large

Mohammad Ziauddin, Principal Secretary

Dr Ahmad Kaikaus and Secretary of Science

and Technology Ministry Ziaul Hasan were

also present.

member Prof. Md. Abu Taher presided

over the program and UGC member

Professor Dil Afroza Begum spoke as the

chief guest. UGC member Professor Md.

Sajjad Hossain, Professor Muhammad

Alamgir, Professor Dr. Biswajit Chanda

and AHM Shamsur Rahman, Director

General of the Audit Department for

Education, Culture and Religion spoke as

special guests at the opening ceremony.

The inaugural function was conducted by

Md. Mostafizur Rahman, Deputy

Director, Finance and Accounts

Department, UGC. Dr. Ferdous Zaman

delivered the welcome address at the

opening ceremony. The head of UGC's

department and officials from the finance

and accounting department were present

at the time. The event was attended by the

head of the audit cell of the country's public

universities and concerned officials.

2,200 tons of waste is falling into Karnafuli river every day through 36 canals and drains of

Chattogram metropolis. The city has 52 canals and ditches towards the Karnafuli river. Many of

them are occupied and filled with pollution and only 36 of them exists now. The photo was taken

from the bank of Karnafuli river in Chattogram on Monday.

Photo: Star Mail

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina observed the presentation of the master plan on Dhaka

University at Ganobhaban on Monday.

Photo: Star Mail

BNP tarnishes image

of JPC : Hasan

DHAKA : Information and Broadcasting

Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud yesterday said

BNP has tarnished the sanctity and image of

Jatiya Press Club (JPC) by holding meeting

there like BNP's party office.

"Meetings could be held at the press club

against or in favour of the government or

civil society. But it is not appropriate to turn

the press club into a meeting place alike

BNP's Naya Paltan office which did BNP on

Sunday," he told newsmen at his ministry

office at Secretariat.

The minister said JPC is an institution of

journalists and it is a national institute. It is

not proper to hold meetings at the club alike

a political party office which did Mirza

Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and his party-BNP,

he added. "For this, I personally think that

sanctity and dignity of the JPC have been tarnished,"

said Hasan, also Awami League

joint general secretary.

Replying to a query over a call of movement

by BNP, the minister said they have

been giving such statements of mass uprising

since three months after taking office by

Awami League in 2009. The fate of every

person of the country has been changed due

to massive development under the dynamic

leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

in the last 12 and a half years, he added.

He said the countrymen would never support

BNP for their petrol bomb attacks, corruption

and for creating 'Bangla Bhai' and

'Shayokh Abdur Rahman'. In fact, BNP is

seeing a day dream, he added.

The minister said BNP often told that

national unity must be established. But, BNP

has no own unity, he added. He said, "I

would like to say Mirza Fakhrul to give attention

into his own house and take preparation

for the next polls." About the digitalization of

cabal networking system, Hasan said a decision

was taken in the last meeting on August

that clean feed would be implemented from

October 1.

"And they informed the meeting that most

of the works of digitalization at Dhaka and

Chattogram have been completed.

Rebuilding Bangladesh

A resolute plan for

resilient recovery

DHAKA : Building a resilient economic

recovery to emerge stronger from the

Covid pandemic would be Bangladesh's

growth mantra for the next three years,

reports UNB.

This inference can be drawn from a government

document that looks at how the

Covid second wave and the consequent economic

slowdown have affected the growth

momentum in Bangladesh and mulls measures

to overcome the crisis.

According to the Finance Ministry document,

economic recovery will be central to

Sheikh Hasina government's forwardlooking

agenda for the next three years,

which will focus on the effective implementation

of a slew of state policies through

aggressive spending.

"In the medium term, the government

will put emphasis on economic recovery

from the fallout of Covid-19 and on

implementing the Eighth Five-Year

Plan, SDGs (sustainable development

goals), Second Perspective Plan, Delta

Plan 2100, and Blue Economy strategies,"

it states.

Over the past decade, Bangladesh has

been achieving a steady and stable economic

growth along with maintaining

sound macroeconomic stability with stable

inflation, low public debt, and greater

resilience to external shocks.

In fact, in FY19, the growth rate reached

a record 8.15 percent but due to the Covid-

19 fallout, "the growth rate sharply declined

SC upholds order to investigate

Rajarbagh Pir's assets and

bank accounts

DHAKA : The Supreme Court on

Monday upheld an order to the Anti-

Corruption Commission (ACC) to investigate

the assets and bank accounts held

by Rajarbagh Darbar Sharif and its Pir

Dillur Rahman and submit a report

accordingly, reports UNB.

Chamber judge of the Appellate

Division Justice Obaidul Hasan passed

the order after rejecting Pir Dillur

Rahman's plea to an earlier High Court

order in this regard.

Advocate Zahirul Islam Mukul stood

for Rajarbagh Pir while Advocate

Mohammad Shishir Monir represented

the petitioner.

On August 19, the High Court ordered

the ACC to investigate the assets and

bank accounts held by Rajarbagh

Darbar Sharif and its Pir Dillur Rahman

and submit a report accordingly.

The court also directed Counter

Terrorism and Transnational Crime

Unit (CTTC) of police to investigate if the

Pir has any connection with any militant

group.

The bench of Justice M Enayetur

Rahim and Md Mostafizur Rahman

to 5.2 percent in FY20", the document says.

"In the last fiscal, the gross domestic

product (GDP) growth target was initially

set at 8.2 percent, but the second wave of

the pandemic in April 2021 forced a revision

of the target to 6.1 percent."

On the demand side, private consumption,

export-import and public investment

have largely been affected by the pandemic.

And on the supply side, farm output has

been satisfactory so far "but manufacturing,

construction and service sectors have

been significantly affected", the document

says.

GDP is the total monetary or market

value of all finished goods and services produced

in a country within a specific time.

Alongside, Bangladesh also achieved

praiseworthy improvement in social indicators,

such as reducing poverty rate and

infant mortality rate and increasing life

expectancy and literacy rate.

As per the document, Bangladesh has

already qualified for the least developed

country (LDC) graduation. "It has met, for

the second time, all the three eligibility criteria

for LDC graduation involving income

per capita, human assets, and economic

and environmental vulnerability."

According to the United Nations Capital

Development Fund's (UNCDP) recommendation,

Bangladesh's transition will be

effective in 2026. It means until 2026,

Bangladesh will be able to enjoy all benefits

applicable to LDCs.

passed the order issuing a rule during a

hearing on the writ petition filed by eight

people harassed by false cases filed

across the country by the Pir and his followers.

The court also directed the Criminal

investigation Department (CID) to submit

an investigation report within 60

days on all the false cases filed by the Pir

and his followers.

In the rule, the court questioned why

legal actions will not be taken against the

accused for filing false, confusing and

harassing cases making 20 including the

senior secretary of the home ministry

and police chief respondents.

On September 16, the eight victims

filed the writ petition which said the syndicate

of Pir Dillur Rahman violated

their basic rights bestowed by articles 27,

31, 32 of the constitution in filing the

false criminal cases against them.

Earlier on June 7, Ekramul Ahsan

Kanchan, 55, resident of Shantibagh

area in Dhaka filed a writ petition before

the court to quash the 49 false cases filed

against him across the country by syndicate

of the Rajarbagh Pir.

tueSDAY, OCtObeR 12, 2021

2

The photo shows a Durga idol at a mandap in Barishal.

Photo: TBT

'Durgotshob' being celebrated in

various mandaps in Barishal

Zihad Rana, Barishal Correspondent

The five-day Durga Puja began in

Barishal on Monday with the Maha

Sasthi Puja. Although the

celebrations were reduced during

Covid-19 period, the organizing

committee did not reduce the

decoration of the puja mandaps like

the previous year.

This time 590 mandaps have been

staged in Barishal district. Of these,

Durga Puja is being performed in 45

mandaps in Barishal city. Grants

have already been given to the

temples by the government and the

city mayor. The organizers said that

they are trying their best to complete

the puja smoothly like every other

Low Covid-19

positivity rate

continue in Ctg

CHATTOGRAM: Low

Covid-19 positivity rate

continued in Chattogram

district, reports BSS.

The Covid-19 situation is

improving consistently

during the recent months

in the district, Civil Surgeon

Dr Ilias Hossain told BSS.

He said that Chattogram

district recorded ever

lowest Covid-19 positivity

rate of 0.69 percent while 11

fresh cases were reported

after testing 1,719 samples

during the last 24 hours till

Monday morning.

Earlier, the district also

recorded lowest 1.16

percent Covid-19 positivity

rate on Saturday.

With the newly infected

cases, the number of

coronavirus (COVID-19)

patients stands at 102,025

in the district.

Advocacy meeting marking

National Agriculture Week

held in Jhalokati

Manik Roy, Jhalokati

Correspondent

An advocacy meeting has

been held on the occasion of

health examination of

students by little doctors and

celebration of National

Agriculture Week in the

meeting room of Jhalokati

Civil Surgeon's Office on

Monday.

Deputy Commissioner Md

Johar Ali was the chief guest

at the advocacy meeting

chaired by Civil Surgeon Dr

Ratan Kumar Dhali. Among

others, District Education

Officer Md. Siddiqur

Rahman Khan and District

Primary Education Officer

Aminul Islam, Dr. Abul

Khair Mahmud and Senior

Self Education Officer

Gautam Kumar Das were

among others also present at

the occasion.

From October 30 to

November 5, 1 lakh 8

thousand children aged 5-16

years in the district will be

given deworming tablets in

schools. Prior to this,

students will be tested in

their own schools from

October 23 to 29. The advocacy

meeting has sought the

cooperation of all to celebrate

this Agriculture Week.

time. Some have brought lighting

and sound systems from the capital.

The five-day festival will end on

Friday through Dashami.

Durga Puja has been performed in

the 150-year-old Barisal metropolis

at the temple of Falpatti Kalimata

Thakurani for 26 years. Kalimata

Thakurani's temple has won the

award for the best Durga Puja

temple 24 times in Durgotshob for

exceptional idols and eye-catching

decorations. This year also

Durgotsab is being organized in their

temple.

Tamal Malakar, president of the

Barishal Metropolitan Puja

Udjyapan Parishad, said there would

be no competitions or fairs in the

city's puja mandaps because of the

corona. There will be no lighting on

the road. The 45 puja mandaps

committee of the city has been asked

to abide by the health rules properly.

Meanwhile, Barishal Metropolitan

Police Commissioner Md

Shahabuddin Khan held a meeting

with the leaders of the City Puja

Committee on Thursday and

directed to install closed circuit

cameras in all the mandaps.

On Saturday, Deputy Commissioner

Jasim Uddin distributed t-shirts to

volunteers at 590 temples in the

district and 45 temples in the

metropolis.

Developed nations must lead global

climate efforts: Shahab Uddin

DHAKA : Environment, Forests and Climate

Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin on

Monday said Bangladesh calls upon the

countries having greater responsibilities and

significant capabilities, particularly G20

nations, to lead the global efforts to achieve

climate goals.

"The world leaders should also put

emphasis on the progress of putting forward

long term low emission development

strategy," he told the LDC Ministerial Meeting

at Thimphu of Bhutan, joining virtually from

his official residence in Dhaka.

Ministers and delegates of different LDC

countries and representatives of international

organisations delivered speeches in the

occasion, a ministry press release said.

Shahab Uddin said the countries also must

keep enhancing their 2030 Nationally

Determined Contributions (NDCs) and put

them forward in line with progression and

raising ambition to put the world on track

towards achieving 1.5oC global goal through

attaining 45 percent global emission

reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050.

He said Bangladesh has enhanced both

unconditional and conditional contributions

amounting to 89.47 million tons CO2

equivalent, which is 21.85 percent emission

reductions from Business as Usual by 2030 in

its updated NDCs submitted in August 26th

this year.

The minister said Bangladesh is in the

process of finalising its NAPs, while it

supports to set up a formal process by COP26

in order to come up with concrete

recommendations on global adaptation goal

for consideration by COP27.

Under long-term finance, tracking the

progress on delivering US$100 billion from

2020 and providing clarity on how the

US$100 billion each year through to 2024 will

be delivered is an important agenda at

COP26, he said.

"Guidance needs to be given to the GCF and

GEF, resolving the critical challenges that

vulnerable countries particularly LDCs face

with regards to accessing the GCF and GEF

need to be duly reflected," he added.

Shahab Uddin said completing the

discussions under Article 6 and adopt

necessary rules are very critical for the

implementation of the Paris Agreement.

"We strongly feel that all provisions of

Article 6 must be realised in the context of

Article 6.1, which states that the purpose of

such mechanisms is to allow for higher

ambition and promote environmental

integrity," he said.

The minister said Bangladesh underscores

the need for enhancing the capacity of LDCs

for the effective participation of Article 6

mechanisms and it feels that the world leaders

must determine a common time frame for

NDCs, which is consistent and compatible to

five-year unique cycle of NDC communication

and global stocktake under the Paris

Agreement.

Princes Charles urges action, not

words at UN climate summit

LONDON : Prince Charles, a lifelong

environmentalist who has championed

organic gardening and runs one of his cars

on white wine and cheese, has urged world

leaders to turn talk into action at the

upcoming UN climate summit.

Queen Elizabeth II's eldest son and heir,

72, is due to attend events at the two-week

COP26 summit in Glasgow starting on

October 31, along with his 95-year-old

mother. But in an interview with the BBC

broadcast on Monday, he said he worried

that world leaders would "just talk", adding:

"The problem is to get action on the ground."

The UN summit will try to persuade major

developing economies to do more to cut

their carbon emissions, and get the rich

world to cough up billions more dollars to

help poorer countries adapt to climate

change.

An advocacy meeting marking the National Agriculture Week was held in

the Jhalokati on Monday.

Photo: Manik Roy

Obituary

Abu Taher Howladar, uncle

of Engineer Abu Noman

Howladar, Chairman, BBS

Group and Nahee Group,

passed away at his

residence at Lalmohan,

Bhola on Sunday, August

10, 2021 at 12:45 pm due to

old age complications. He

was 65 years old at the time

of his death.

Flood, river erosion

victims to get assistance

in Gaibandha

GAIBANDHA: A total of 450

families affected by recent flood

and river erosion are going to

get cash money and hygiene

materials in the district, reports

BSS.

SKS Foundation, a local

reputed non-government

organization, will distribute

cash TK 3000 and hygiene kits

among the each victim families

of the three Kamarjani,

Mollarchar and Gidari unions

in Sadar upazila. The health

protective equipment includes

soaps, face masks, plastic mug,

detergent powder, a plastic

bucket and water purification

tablets. The aid will be given

under BGD Emergency Flood

Response-2021 programme in

cooperation with Save the

Children.

On Sunday, the inaugural

function on hygiene kits

distribution was held on the

premises of Kamarjani Union

Parishad at the arrangement of

SKS Foundation. Sadar

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO)

Md. Rafiul Alam formally

opened the distribution as the

chief guest while Onno Van

Manen, country director of

Save the Children spoke at the

function as the special guest.

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Online review workshop on "Credit

Operations of Banks" held

DHAKA : A half day long online review

workshop was held yesterday at the

Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management

(BIBM) in the city.

Ahmed Jamal, Chairman of BIBM

Executive Committee and Deputy Governor

of Bangladesh Bank, was present in the

review workshop as the chief guest, said a

press release.

Mohammed Sohail Mustafa, Associate

Professor and Director (Training and

Certification Program) of BIBM delivered

welcome address while Dr Md

Akhtaruzzaman, Director General of BIBM

chaired the program.

A paper titled "Credit Operations of Banks"

was presented in the workshop by Dr

Prashanta Kumar Banerjee, Professor

(Selection Grade) of BIBM.

Other members of the research team are

Mohammed Sohail Mustafa, Associate

Professor and Director (Training and

Certification Program) of BIBM, Atul

Chandra Pandit, Associate Professor of

BIBM, Dr. Mosharref Hossain, Associate

Professor of BIBM, Tahmina Rahman,

Assistant Professor of BIBM and Md.

Murshedul Kabir, Deputy Managing

Director of Sonali Bank Limited.

Dr Barkat-e-Khuda, Dr Muzzafer Ahmed

Chair Professor of BIBM and Former

Professor of Dhaka University, Ali Hossain

Prodhania, Former Managing Director and

CEO of Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Obayed

Ullah Al Masud, Managing Director and

CEO of Rupali Bank Limited, Mosleh Uddin

Ahmed, Managing Director & CEO of SBAC

Bank Limited, Emranul Huq, Managing

Director & CEO of Dhaka Bank Limited

made comments as designated discussants.

The Deputy Governor said that overall

domestic credit consisting Government and

Private Sector credit increased steadily from

FY 10 to FY20. This growth is driven by

increasing growth of Government Sector

credit in FY20 and private sector credit

slowed down during 2020 reflecting impact

of COVID-19 pandemic on the banking

sector as a whole, he added.

Director General of BIBM said, findings of

the study along with opinions and

observations made today will help BB to take

future actions. A good number of

participants including senior bank

executives, academicians, media

representatives, faculty members of BIBM

took part in the online review workshop.

Lebanon firefighters

quell huge fuel tank fire

ZAHRANI : Firefighters in Lebanon put out

a huge blaze that raged at a key fuel storage

depot Monday to the relief of many in the

country gripped by desperate energy

shortages.

There was no immediate report of

casualties from the fire that sent large

plumes of dark smoke billow into the sky.

The fire broke out around 8:00am (0500

GMT) in a large petrol tank belonging to the

army at the Zahrani facilities some 50

kilometres (30 miles) south of Beirut, the

National News Agency and local media said.

An AFP photographer said firefighters put

out the flames at around noon (0900 GMT),

and civil defence chief Raymond Khattar told

the press the blaze was "under control".

Ziyad al-Zein, head of facilities at Zahrani,

said the fire broke out as the tank was being

emptied.

A daylong community dialogue on "Good Governance" was held in Sitakunda,

Chattogram.

Photo : Courtesy

TuESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021

3

On the occasion of the 19th founding anniversary of The Bangladesh Today, Barishal Bureau Chief

of the daily Engineer Md. Zihad Rana handed over a crest to Barishal Metropolitan Police

Commissioner Md. Shahabuddin Khan (BPM) BAR.

Photo : TBT

Judgement in

graft case against

Lutfozzaman

Babar today

DHAKA : A Dhaka court is

scheduled to pronounce

judgement in a graft case

against former state

minister for home affairs

Lutfozzaman Babar, today.

Judge Mohammad

Shahidul Islam of Dhaka

Special Judge Court-7 on

October 4 had set October 12

for pronouncing judgement

as both the prosecution and

defence concluded their

parts of closing arguments

on that day.

The court on September 21

read out the charges brought

against Babar and

testimonies of the

prosecution witnesses. The

court after that asked Babar

whether he wants to plead

guilty or not.

In reply, Babar had

pleaded not guilty and

demanded justice from the

court.

The Anti-Corruption

Commission (ACC) filed the

case against Babar with

Ramna Police Station on

January 13 in 2008, for

amassing illegal wealth of

around Taka 7.05 crore.

Deputy Assistant Director

of the ACC Rupok Kumar

Saha on July 16, 2008, filed

a charge sheet in the case.

The court on August 12,

2008, indicted Babar in the

graft case.

BUET team becomes

Asia West Champion in

Moscow programming

contest

DHAKA : 'BUET HellBent' a

team from the Bangladesh

University of Engineering

and Technology (BUET) has

been crowned 'The Asia

West Champion' in the ACM

ICPC Moscow World Final

2021, reports UNB.

The team 'BUET HellBent'

also ranked 28th globally in

this prestigious programming

competition .

'DU SwampFire'-a team

from Dhaka University,

ranked 33rd in the event.

On the other hand, Nizhny

Novgorod State University,

located in Russia, became

the champion in ICPC world

Finals in Moscow.

The ICPC is one of the most

prestigious programming

competitions in the world,

where the finest programmers

and coders around the world

compete to be crowned as the

champions.

Over 60,000 student

programmers from more

than 3,000 universities

across 115 countries

participate in qualifying

rounds of this event each

year. Earlier, it was

announced that ICPC World

Finals 2022 will be held in

Dhaka and the University of

Asia Pacific (UAP) will be

the host.

JU greets students with flowers and

masks on their return to campus

JAHANGIRNAGAR UNIVERSITY :

Jahangirnagar University on Monday

greeted its students with flowers, masks,

hand sanitizers, chocolates and cakes as they

started returning to their dormitories after 17

months of Covid-induced closure, reports

UNB.

Besides extending a warm welcome the

university authorities took steps to measure

students' body temperature and ensure

proper sanitization during their entry

through the gates.

The authorities also have set up a Covid-19

vaccine booth at Wazed Miah Science

Research Centre of the university for

State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr. Md. Enamur

Rahman addressing a roundtable meeting on the occasion of Disaster

Mitigation Day.

Photo : Courtesy

Teen takes over Swedish Embassy

in Bangladesh for a day

DHAKA : Runa, a youth activist and

community volunteer promoting girls'

rights, took over the Swedish Embassy in

Bangladesh for a day on Monday to advocate

for girls' rights, equal opportunities and

equal chances for girls, reports UNB.

The takeover is a part of the global

#GirlsTakeover, a signature activity of Plan

International.

Every year, the international development

organisation rolls on this activity all over the

world, including Bangladesh, marking the

International Day of Girls on 11 October

under its Girls Get Equal campaign calling

for increased investment in girls' power,

activism and leadership.

This year, Plan International Bangladesh is

going to mobilize about 70 takeovers leading

roles in politics, governance, diplomacy,

business etc all over the country throughout

the month of October to promote equality,

freedom, and representation for girls and

young women.

Runa, the Ambassador of the day, who is

also a sponsored child of Plan International

Bangladesh, expressed her excitement,

saying, "In my community, girls often don't

realize that they also have the potential to

take high positions, lead and make the

change."

As she takes over the position, Runa said,

"I feel the confidence in me that I can also

develop myself as a leader and with my

leadership I can influence girls like me for

improved opportunity for girls, especially

students.

Provost of Sheikh Hasina Hall Professor

Bashir Ahmed said, "We will welcome the

students with gifts whenever they come."

Isolation centres have been set up at halls

to keep the sick students away from others,

he said.

Those who didn't receive the vaccines yet

can register on spot and enter halls after

receiving shots from university's vaccine

centre, Prof Ahmed added.

Provost of Shahid Salam-Barkat Hall

Professor Dr Ali Azam Talukder said," We

have also managed oxygen for students for

use in emergency cases."

digital literacy."

Runa is also a member of a youth group

where she works with adolescents and youth

to promote education for children, and rights

of girls and advocates against child marriage.

Following its feminist foreign policy to

promote gender equality and all women's

and girls' full enjoyment of human rights, the

Swedish embassy took part in this Girls

Takeover series, showing its commitment to

promote gender equality and girls' rights

movement.

In accordance with Sweden's Feminist

Foreign Policy that aims to promote

gender equality and all women's and girls'

full enjoyment of human rights, the

Swedish Embassy took part in this Girls

Takeover, showing its commitment to

promote gender equality and girls'

empowerment.

Sweden Ambassador to Bangladesh Alex

Berg von Linde said on the International Day

of the Girl Child they celebrate the power and

potential of girls - in challenging stereotypes,

breaking gender barriers and demanding

change.

"But we also need to recognize the big

obstacles that remain. Girls are often the first

victims when human rights are violated - in

real life and online. They suffer double

discrimination, for their age and their

gender. To cede the Ambassador´s position

for a day to a girl is one way of manifesting

the need for girls' voices to be heard. Today -

and every day."

Navy seizes huge

current nets in

coastal area

DHAKA : Bangladesh Navy

in separate drives seized

huge illegal current nets

worth about Taka 8.11 crore

along with 300 kilogram of

hilsha fish from sea and

coastal areas.

The government has

imposed a 22-day ban

starting from October 4 on

catching, selling, storing and

transporting Hilsha, to

ensure safe spawning of the

Mother Hilsha, during its

peak breeding period.

Following

the

government's directives

against catching of mother

hilsha, Bangladesh Navy has

been conducting special

drives against catching of

mother hilsha under "In Aid

to Civil Power" through

seven ships, according to an

ISPR release issued.

It said soon after seizing

illegal nets and hilsha fish,

the Navy destroyed nets and

distributed hilsha fish

among local orphanages in

presence of law enforcement

agencies and fisheries

officials.

The release said that the

drive will continue till

October 25.

Bangladesh

reports 599

fresh cases, 11

deaths from

COVID-19

DHAKA : Bangladesh on

Monday reported 599

COVID-19 cases while the

coronavirus claimed

overnight 11 lives.

"The country reported

2.58 percent COVID-19

positive cases as 23,193

samples were tested in the

past 24 hours, " Directorate

General of Health Services

(DGHS) said in its routine

daily statement.

In the past 24 hours, the

combined figure of

coronavirus in Dhaka city

and upazilas of Dhaka

district is 407 while five

COVID-19 deaths were

reported during the same

period.

The official tally showed

the virus killed 27,699

people and infected

15,62,958 so far, it added.

The recovery count rose to

15,24,467 after another 634

patients were discharged

from the hospitals during

the past one day.

The DGHS statistics

showed of the people

infected from the beginning

97.53 percent recovered,

while 1.77 percent died.

The DGHS said among

the total 27,699 fatalities,

12,075 deaths occurred in

Dhaka division, 5,620 in

Chattogram, 2032 in

Rajshahi, 3,574 in Khulna,

941 in Barishal, 1,258 in

Sylhet, 1,360 in Rangpur

and 839 in Mymensingh

division.

JU halls reopen after 18 months

SAVAR : The authorities of Jahangirnagar

University (JU) yesterday reopened its

residential halls for the students after 18-

month of Covid-19 shutdown.

The students of both masters and honour's

programmes except the first-year students,

who received at least one dose of Covid-19

vaccine, have started moving into their

respective halls after the gates opened at

around 8.30 am.

The students were allowed inside the halls

after they showed their vaccine certificates

and hall ID cards.

They were welcomed with flowers, snacks,

sanitizer and masks as part of maintaining

the Covid-19 health safety guidelines.

Speaking to the occasion, Professor Dr

Sohel Ahmed, provost of Shaheed Rafiq-

Jabbar Hall, said, 'After a long closure of 18

months, the university has reopened today.

We are very happy to get our students. We

are welcoming them through various

arrangements. As per the decision of the

university, we are giving permission to the

students who have completed one dose of

Covid-19 vaccine. Hopefully the students

will follow the hygiene rules completely.

"The university administration has already

made arrangements to vaccinate the

students. I request the students who have

not yet been vaccinated to get vaccinated

immediately," he added.

Meanwhile, the university authorities have

installed a total of six vaccination booths at

the Wazed Miah Science Research Centre to

inoculate the students who did not receive

any dose of Covid vaccine.

Director of Institute of Epidemiology,

Disease Control and Research, Meerjady

Sabrina Flora inaugurated the 3 day-long

vaccination campaign at about 10:00am

while JU pro vice chancellor NurulAlam,

treasurer Rasheda Akhter, registrar

RahimaKaneez, proctor ASM Firoz-ul-

Hasan were present, among others.

Earlier on October 2, JU authorities

decided to reopen residential halls of the

university on October 11 at a syndicate

meeting. Academic activities of the

university will resume from October 21.

Bangladesh Navy members distributed the seized hilsa fish to an orphanage

and Madrassa in Barishal yesterday.

Photo : ISPR

Govt. do not monitor market

to control prices: Rizvi

TBT REPORT

The BNP has blamed that the governmentcontrolled

'market syndicate' for the rise in

prices of essential commodities. BNP senior

joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi

made the allegation at a press conference on

Monday afternoon. He said there is no

government surveillance in the market.

Their eyes are looted and thousands of lies

are being woven against the BNP and the Zia

family to cover up their misdeeds like

horrific corruption. Rizvi said the market

price of daily commodities has been rising as

people's incomes have been strained due to

the impact of the corona. Prices of everything

including rice, pulses, oil, sugar and onions

are skyrocketing. There is no cure. Who will

remedy? Seeing the dominance of the

market syndicate, it seems that the

government and the administration are the

patrons of this market syndicate.

Rizvi said middle and lower income people

are silently crying and dumb cries are going

on from house to house due to the unbridled

jump of commodity prices. The government

has no mercy on the people. The middlemen

who are benefiting from this price hike are all

associated with the Awami League or its

affiliates. He said the commerce minister,

the food minister are businessmen

themselves and are involved in this

syndicate. The minister himself said that

due to the greed of the traders, the price of

rice sometimes goes up. Although it is said to

feed 10 TK per kg of rice, at present the price

of rice in Bangladesh is the highest in Asia.

Being called Rice is being exported from

Bangladesh. But rice import is continuing.

He said that the syndicate was involved in

the increase in commodity prices. The

syndicate is cutting people's pockets. Earlier,

the buyers used to carry it in their wallets and

bring it to the market in sacks. Now the

condition of the market is that you have to

take money in a jute bag and bring home the

daily necessities including vegetables in your

wallet. This is the development of Sheikh

Hasina's time.

Rizvi said that the price of hilsa is

'skyrocketing'. Hilsa prices have not come

down this year either. Because the people of

the country have been deprived and sent to

the neighboring countries. Prices are lower

there (in neighboring countries), but in our

country it is skyrocketing. In addition to

commodity prices, gas, electricity and water

bills have also been increased. So there was

no way out of this situation in the country

without the fall of the government. Our

movement is 'Take Back Bangladesh' to save

the country and save the people.

Dr. Mahamudul Hasan, principal of Daffodil International School along with Wahida Islam Jhumur

and Mohsina Sharmin Nishat, Vice Principal of Daffodil International School English Version and

English Medium are inaugurating the 'Admission Week-2022'.

Photo : Courtesy

TUESDAy, ocToBER 12, 2021

4

Japan aims to toughen up its cybersecurity

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Madrasas in Pakistan:

Bangladesh to beware

The Persian word 'Madrasa' literally stands for a

school where education is imparted.

Conventionally, the religious education related to

the Islam has been provided in madrasas.

But in Pakistan, which was carved out of India in 1947

in the name of Islam, the condition of madrasas is

deteriorating day by day. Most of them are said to be

imparting training and education based on the Taliban

ideology. Apart from instilling extremism, students are

indoctrinated against other religions and brainwashed

to declare a war on the people of other communities.

In these madrasas, children are taught the wrong

definition of 'Jihad', and encouraged to become suicide

bombers. They are told that dying while pursuing 'Jihad'

will secure them a place in 'heaven.' This spreading of

venom has lead to the massacre of thousands of

innocents in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and

around the world. Their major targets have been

crowded places like markets, mausoleums, army

establishments, police training centresetc in Pakistan

and Afghanistan. Those calling themselves Muslims

have ended up killing the maximum number of innocent

Muslims.

It is not India or any other 'enemy' which levels such

charges at Pakistan. News reports arising out of Pakistan

are themselves a proof of how these unholy madrasas

are expanding their reach among the common

Pakistanis. Sometime ago, Pakistani security forces

liberated 55 students in a raid at a madrasa in Karachi.

The chief priest of madrasa escaped. These students

between 8 to 25 years of age were kept as hostages in a

basement by the madrasa management in connivance

with the Taliban terrorists. Many of them were tied with

chains. The released boys have told that they were being

trained for carrying out suicide attacks. They were told

to be ready for "war." Whoever would refuse to follow

their instructions, he was not given food, beaten up and

hanged with ropes in his feet. Most of these students in

this "Jail madrasa" belong to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

province.

The biggest evidence of Pakistani madrasas being used

as terrorists' nurseries came into light in 2007 when

Pakistani Army, on the orders of the then President

General Parvez Musharraf, carried out a big operation at

Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad. A huge cache of

arms and explosives was recovered in this commando

operation. Inside, the troops had to face heavy

resistance; retaliation to which left 100 dead including

so-called students (terrorists), passersby, and 11 security

men. Instead of laying his life for "heaven", the chief

priest of the mosque preferred trying to escape along

with the women by hiding himself under Burqa (veil).

But the commandoes caught this opportunist 'Jihadi.'

It is very unfortunate that while the madrasas in

Pakistan are used as centres to spread hatred, terror,

extremism and animosity; at the same time, the

products of this unholy nexus are targeting the modern

education and institutions imparting modern and

scientific education. The same mindset is responsible for

the demolition of over 500 schools in Pakistan. The

Taliban blew up a boys' school near Islamabad. Such

actions show that these fanatics have nothing to do with

things like development, modernity, peace, prosperity

and harmony.

The restive city of Parachinar is situated 290-kms

West of Islamabad. Bordering Tora Bora cave complex,

it is the capital of Kurram agency in Federally

Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. In order

to get modern education, a large number of students

from this region come to study in the schools of the

Capital Islamabad and stay in hostels there. The

guardians of many of them have been killed by the

Taliban. Due to conflict between Pakistan Army and the

Taliban, the route to Parachinar had been closed.

Therefore, these children were not able to go back

homes during vacations.

Dozens of such students protested before the office of

National press club, Islamabad. These innocent victims

of Taliban's oppression were trying to tell their

miserable stories by holding banners and placards.

Irshad Ahmed, a fifth class student, said, "I don't know

why they (terrorists) killed my parents." Now, he's

finding it difficult to even manage his school fees.

Similarly, according to seventh grader Muzammil

Hussein, "Talibans are so bad. They kill the children.

Don't they have their own kids?" These children, in their

appeal to the President , Prime Minister, Army Chief

and Chief Justice have pleaded for help. This situation is

suffice to understand that while the madrasas are

getting murky; on the other hand, an attempt is being

made to kill the most essential modern education.

Hence, Pakistan's future can be easily foreboded.

Though in a lesser scale, madrashas are also

proliferating in Bangladesh. We have to beware from

now on keeping the Pakistani example in view.

Cybersecurity has been a matter of

much concern to Japan's nationalsecurity

establishment. And the

government has vowed to do something

about it.

In May it was reported in the Japanese

press that between 2017 and 2019 the

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

(JAXA) was a target of a major

cyberattack that also affected other

Japanese entities.

The attack was allegedly coordinated by

the Chinese military's Strategic Support

Force (SSF) and involved an informationtechnology

professional from China and

the notorious hacker group called "Tick,"

which is believed to have ties with the

Chinese state.

Another major operational and

information-security concern came to

light in June when Japanese national

Kazuo Miyasaka was arrested for passing

high-tech military secrets, including

documents related to the United States' X-

37B spaceplane, to alleged Russian

intelligence agents. Miyasaka is believed

to have accessed this information via

(presumably digital) research databases.

On September 27, the government of

Japan adopted a revision to its draft

cybersecurity strategy, which will remain

a guiding document for cyber

policymaking and administration across

sectors in Japanese society for the next

three years. The text makes familiar

"whole of government" and "whole

ecosystem" arguments for achieving

cybersecurity goals.

The most notable feature of the strategy

appears to be its un-hesitant designation

of China, Russia and North Korea as cyber

threats. The strategy document says

China's cyberattacks are motivated by its

desire to "steal information from

companies related to the military and

possessing advanced technology," which

is a clear recognition of intellectualproperty

(IP) theft perpetrated by the

Chinese state worldwide.

For Russia, the given reason is that the

country tries "to exert influence to achieve

military or political aims" via

cyberattacks, perhaps alluding to the

alleged "gray zone" activities of the

Russian state inside and beyond Japan's

borders. Although not a direct adversary

to Japan, Russia dislikes Japan's close ties

to the US and would find jeopardizing

their mutual trust and sharing of hightech

military secrets an amenable

development.

Consistent with Pyongyang's modi

operandi elsewhere, the reason for the

Democratic People's Republic of Korea's

ADITyA PAREEK

cyberattacks is highlighted as "to exert

influence to achieve military or political

aims or obtain foreign currency."

Examples are the cyberattacks and

resultant theft of almost US$81 billion

from Bangladesh's central bank as well as

the cyberattacks on Sony "in retaliation

for the movie The Interview, a farcical

comedy that depicted the assassination of

the DPRK's leader."

Notably, the document also focuses on

an often overlooked aspect of

cybersecurity, the supply-chain risks that

can severely limit the potential of a nation

to access the benefits of modern digital

communication technologies. Some

scholars argue that the dimension of a

"cyber blockade" could also be partly

physical, affecting digital communications

infrastructure.

In the post-pandemic world with an

ongoing semiconductor shortage affecting

all industries and walks of life, the concern

is timely, and will likely pop up in similar

strategic publications elsewhere in the

world too.

The Indo-Pacific strategic grouping

known as the Quadrilateral Security

Dialogue, of which Japan is a member,

has held significant deliberations on the

topic of high-tech collaboration.

Semiconductor supply chains and

cybersecurity cooperation find prominent

place in the latest fact sheet released after

the first ever physical meeting of Quad

leaders too.

It is also worth noting Japan's bilateral

engagement with its Quad partner India,

which may result in a separate

cybersecurity agreement.

These consolidated moves on

cybersecurity and high-tech cooperation

by Japan, unilaterally, bilaterally and in

multilateral fora like the Quad are nothing

short of impressive.

In recent years Japan has also been

more open to involving its Self-Defense

Forces (SDF) in domains like

cybersecurity that represent a gray area

between civilian and military space. The

text asserts that the "SDF will strive to

fundamentally strengthen cyber defense

capabilities, for example, by enhancing

the posture of cyber-related units."

In conclusion, the document also

alluded to Japan's desire to develop and

field "capabilities to detect, investigate,

and analyze cyberattacks so that Japan

can identify the attackers and hold them

accountable," thus elevating the posture

from a merely defensive level to one of

active enforcement.

Source: Asia times

Hezbollah's role in the global drugs trade - the West Africa connection

When Saudi Arabia banned the

import of Lebanese produce in

April because these shipments

were being abused to smuggle narcotics

into the Kingdom, Hezbollah found itself

with a problem.

Following the collapse of the Lebanese

and Syrian economies, Assad family

mafiosi and Hezbollah set about

remodeling their nations as narco states -

world production centers for the

amphetamine-based drug Captagon, a

favorite among partygoers and terrorist

groups. Syria's Captagon trade is

estimated to be worth over a billion

dollars a year.

Captagon production had become

established in areas such as Homs and

Aleppo, but given Syria's extreme

dysfunction, many major factories have

been reconsolidating themselves along

the Lebanon-Syria border, particularly in

Hezbollah strongholds such as Qusair and

the Bekaa Valley. Lebanon's former

Justice Minister and security chief, Ashraf

Rifi, describes a "partnership between

Hezbollah and the Syrian side in terms of

manufacturing and smuggling" Captagon.

This is in addition to Syria and Lebanon

becoming favored routes for heroin,

crystal meth and hashish.

Since the GCC shipping ban, Hezbollah

has resorted to diverting these illegal

shipments via transit states to obscure the

country of origin, once again exploiting its

connections with the worldwide Lebanese

diaspora. West Africa has become a

preferred option, with 450,000 Captagon

pills turning up at a port in Lagos,

discovered as a result of Saudi-Nigerian

cooperation. GCC authorities have also

discovered millions of Captagon pills in

West African shipments of cocoa, with

Syria almost certainly the original point of

production.

This isn't the first time Hezbollah has

embroiled West Africa's Lebanese

communities in the narcotics trade.

During the 2000s, Hezbollah and Iran

found themselves with a different

Facebook and the future we don't want to live in

It has been a difficult week for

Facebook. On Monday, its family of

companies - including Facebook,

WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and

Oculus - suffered their largest service

interruption to date. For six hours all of

the platforms were offline because a

routine maintenance process went awry.

Billions of users were unable to access

their services while company staffers

were virtually and physically locked out

of the systems they needed to fix the

issue.

Then on Tuesday, former Facebook

employee and whistle-blower Frances

Haugen testified before the United

States Congress that the company

deliberately puts profit over protecting

people by allowing harm to children

particularly, and democracy more

broadly. Despite efforts from Facebook

to counter Haugen's testimony on

The Indo-Pacific strategic grouping known as the Quadrilateral

Security Dialogue, of which Japan is a member, has held significant

deliberations on the topic of high-tech collaboration.

Semiconductor supply chains and cybersecurity cooperation find

prominent place in the latest fact sheet released after the first ever

physical meeting of Quad leaders too.

problem: Thanks to President Mahmoud

Ahmedinejad's outreach to Latin

American states, Hezbollah began reaping

billions of dollars from cocaine, but it had

no means of repatriating these funds to

Beirut and Tehran. It hit on an ingenious

idea: Investing the money in tens of

thousands of second-hand American cars

that were then shipped to Benin, where

hundreds of Lebanese expats set

themselves up in the West African car

market. The proceeds from these sales

were then repatriated to Lebanon.

In a dying nation where so many have

lost the will to live, "Hizb Al-Shaitan" has

made deadly narcotics more affordable

than baby milk.

Cote d'Ivoire has an 80,000-strong

Lebanese diaspora who dominate about

50 percent of the economy, while

Hezbollah-affiliated mafia elements play

major roles in the narcotics trade. Cote

d'Ivoire is a major transit point for money

laundering, with numerous instances of

youths beig stopped trying to carry

suitcases containing millions of dollars

back to Lebanon. Other West African

states such as Guinea, Togo, the Congo,

Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone, have

played pivotal roles in Hezbollah

operations, involving money laundering,

weapons proliferation, drugs and

organized crime.

One 2021 calculation suggests that this

activity nets the group about $1 billion a

year, probably in the same ballpark as the

various outlets, her account was

devastating for the company and came

as Congress is deliberating the chance of

some kind of legal or political action

against the company.

On the same day that Haugen was

testifying, the world received an

inadvertent reminder of why this was an

urgent issue.

If these two things seem disconnected,

it is because you have not been paying

attention to Facebook's growing market

dominance as a social networking

platform and as a communications

provider. Today, an estimated two billion

people in more than 180 countries use

the WhatsApp messaging platform while

there are at least 3.5 billion people who

use Facebook. Instagram, while not as

popular as these two sites, is increasingly

important for small businesses in several

countries, that use it to build and

BARIA ALAMUDDIN

NANJALA NyABoLA

stipends Hezbollah receives from Iran.

With the annual worldwide narcotics

trade worth about $500 billion, this could

be a gross underestimate. As Lebanon's

economy continues its remorseless slide,

the day may come soon when this

Hezbollah black economy comes to

dominate Lebanon's markets, with the

risk that country permanently descends

into being a narco state.

Iran and Hezbollah are meanwhile

involved in millions of dollars' worth of

weapons shipments, to Yemen, Africa,

Iraq, and a host of other war-wracked

In a dying nation where so many have lost the will to live, "Hizb

Al-Shaitan" has made deadly narcotics more affordable than baby

milk. Lebanon's Mediterranean location makes this historical

trading nation the perfect outlet for deluging European markets

with narcotics, while Hezbollah's continued involvement in the

Latin American cocaine trade is perhaps the closest Tehran will

get to achieving its slogan of "Death to America."

states. Thus we have a perfect storm, with

the narcotics trade being used to fund

terrorism and paramilitarism. Yet still I

encounter a remarkable lack of curiosity

about these issues among diplomats and

journalists.

This comes at a time when Tehran is

saber rattling on its northern frontiers in

the Caucasus region. Following a

succession of assassinations of nuclear

scientists and "mysterious" explosions at

sensitive Iranian sites, today Tehran sees

Mossad agents under every rock. The

ayatollahs have become intensely

paranoid about Azerbaijan and Israel's

close defense relationship, and have

recently begun engaging in provocative

military exercises on their shared border.

They have long feared that Baku could

arouse separatist sentiments among the

vast Azeri population in northern Iran.

The consequences of Hezbollah

manage their client bases in lieu of

building their own websites.

These platforms are unambiguously

important to the global digital society

because of their sheer size, and that

means that small internal decisions to

look the other way when people misuse

them are significantly intensified, as well

as easily transmitted across international

borders. Positive nudges on Facebook

drive people to the polls, but

misinformation on the same platform

drives people to drink horse medicine.

Devastating revelations about how the

company thinks about its responsibility

towards users coming on the heels of a

service failure of this scale raise a simple

yet fundamental question: Is Facebook

ready for the future it is building and are

we prepared to live in it?

From the way Facebook has handled

Haugen's testimony, as well as the

provoking a ban on exports of Lebanese

agricultural produce to major regional

markets are massive, and will ruin the

lives of farmers who, like most citizens,

have been devastated by economic

disintegration and the collapse in the

currency's value. Just as in Afghanistan,

impoverished farmers turned to growing

heroin, which bankrolled the Taliban's

return to power; it is as if Hezbollah is

doing everything in its power to transform

Lebanon into an economy based on the

wares of death. The high-profile visit to

Beirut by Iranian Foreign Minister

Hossein Amirabdollahian is a reminder of

how Lebanon's embroilment in Tehran's

economic orbit means embracing pariah

statehood.

In a dying nation where so many have

lost the will to live, "Hizb Al-Shaitan" has

made deadly narcotics more affordable

than baby milk. Lebanon's Mediterranean

location makes this historical trading

nation the perfect outlet for deluging

European markets with narcotics, while

Hezbollah's continued involvement in the

Latin American cocaine trade is perhaps

the closest Tehran will get to achieving its

slogan of "Death to America."

The world shouldn't wait for Lebanon's

compromised and dysfunctional justice

system to solve this problem. Legal cases

against a smattering of Lebanese drugdealers

are risible - people jailed for

laundering a few hundred capsules! It

would seem that the major players are

trying to eliminate the small-scale

competition.

By tackling this threat head on, the

world not only prevents millions of lives

being irreversibly ruined, but it can also

prevent the funneling of billions of dollars

of drug revenues into terrorism and

paramilitarism. So why this

international failure to address the fact

that the Hezbollah-Tehran nexus has

become by far the world's most globalized

network for criminality and terrorism?

Source: Arab news

service interruption, it is evident that it

does not fully understand the behemoth

that it has constructed. A simple layman

account of the service interruption is that

because of a software update Facebook

essentially locked itself out of the

backend of the system that not only

governs how each of the various

platforms function, but also the systems

that run the company itself.

If between Facebook and WhatsApp

alone there are about at least five billion

individual accounts, you have to wonder

why anyone thought it was a good idea to

centralise all of the information in such

an elementary way? It is the kind of overcentralisation

that gives competition

lawyers heartburn and that compels

governments to intervene and stop

companies from getting too big.

Source: Al jazeera

TUesDAy, oCToBer 12, 2021

5

A lion and a lioness in Nairobi national park, kenya. The current draft of the UN agreement for

nature does not go far enough to stop loss of nature, say big businesses. Photo: Baz ratner

The risk of turning the earth to a dead planet

PATriCk greeNfieLD

World leaders must do more to prevent

the destruction of nature, business

leaders have warned before a summit in

China that aims to draw up a draft UN

agreement for biodiversity. In an open

letter, the chief executives of Unilever,

H&M and nine other companies have

called on governments to take

meaningful action on mass extinctions

of wildlife and the collapse of

ecosystems or risk "a dead planet".

The warning comes as China prepares

to assume the presidency of a major UN

environment meeting for the first time

by hosting the opening phase of the

convention on biological diversity

(CBD) Cop15 meeting in Kunming this

week, with most delegates attending

virtually.

In the second phase of talks next year,

which have been delayed repeatedly

because of the pandemic, governments

will thrash out this decade's targets for

preventing biodiversity loss in person.

In the letter, the Business for Nature

coalition said the current draft of a

Paris-style UN agreement for nature,

which includes targets to eliminate

plastic pollution, reduce pesticide use by

two-thirds and halve the rate of invasive

species introduction by 2030, did not go

far enough to halt the destruction of the

natural world. Separately, more than

1,000 companies with $4.7tn (£3.5tn)

in revenue have signed a call by the

group for governments to adopt policies

to reverse nature loss by 2030.

The Paris climate agreement, adopted

in 2015, is a legally binding international

treaty to tackle the climate crisis by

pledging to hold global heating to below

2C, the scientifically advised limit of

safety, with an aspiration not to breach

1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

"Nature is at a tipping point and time

is against us. We must recognise nature

loss for the crisis that it is," said the letter

to world leaders, shared exclusively with

the Guardian. "We must understand

that while it is critical for tackling

climate change, nature represents more

than simply a climate solution.

"The Cop15 biodiversity conference is

our last and best chance of turning the

tide of biodiversity loss. The draft Post-

2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

lacks the ambition and specificity

required to drive the urgent action

needed," it said.

The executives urged world leaders to

commit to an equivalent of the 1.5C

climate target for nature around which

businesses and civil society can unify,

writing that current proposals were

unclear. They also urged governments

to eliminate and redirect all

environmentally harmful subsidies and

embed the economic value of nature in

decision-making.

More than half of the world's annual

GDP - $42tn (£32tn) - depends on highfunctioning

biodiversity, according to a

Swiss Re report last year, which also

found a fifth of the world's countries risk

having their ecosystems collapse.

"We need to track our impact on the

climate and nature with the same

discipline we track our profit and loss,"

said Roberto Marques, chief executive of

Natura & Co, which owns the Body Shop

and Aesop, who signed the letter. "We

are calling on governments to eliminate

and redirect all harmful subsidies.

Governments still provide a lot of

subsidies for industries and initiatives

that are very harmful for nature."

Marques said China's presidency was

an important moment as decisions

made by the world's largest greenhouse

gas emitter would decide whether or not

the world met environmental targets

this century.

Eva Zabey, director of Business for

Nature, said: "There's a double

drumbeat with Cop15 followed straight

away by Cop26. We know that nature

will be a key feature of Glasgow so this is

our opportunity to really raise that

policy ambition.

"What happened with the Paris

agreement is that once you have political

ambition, it gives companies that

certainty to invest, innovate, shift their

business models. By using the Earth's

limits as a framework, companies can

make sure they are doing their fair

share."

China's president, Xi Jinping, is

expected to speak this week at the

largely ceremonial first phase of Cop15.

The Guardian understands that the

second meeting, scheduled to be held

in-person in Kunming from 25 April to

8 May 2022, may be moved from China

due to pandemic border restrictions.

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the UN's

biodiversity chief, has had to spend

three weeks in quarantine to attend the

event in China, along with other CBD

staff.

David Cooper, deputy executive

secretary of the CBD, said that

discussions were advancing well,

despite the pandemic. "We look to

political leaders to now mandate their

negotiators to find consensus while

ensuring the necessary ambition on

biodiversity goals and the means to

achieve them," he said.

How nature is helping mental health

DAMiAN CArriNgToN

"It sounds dramatic, but this

place saved my life," says

Wendy Turner, looking out

over the Steart salt marshes

in Somerset. "I am really

loving the colours of all the

marsh grasses at the

moment, and the flocks of

dunlin and plover. The light

is just so beautiful."

Turner was once a highflying

international project

manager. "But the Covid

pandemic resulted in me

losing everything - my

business and my home - and

I had years of abuse in a

marriage." In July 2020, she

attempted suicide and woke

up in A&E. But then she

discovered the Steart nature

reserve: "If you can just be

quiet, you can find your

balance again. I feel like

everything is possible here."

Turner is one of the fastgrowing

number of people

using nature to improve

their health and wellbeing

and she is now helping to

boost the rise of "green

social prescribing," where

health and community

services refer people to

nature projects. She has

helped co-create a mental

health and nature course

with the Wildfowl &

Wetlands Trust (WWT),

A lapwing spotted at steart working wetlands.

Photo: Jim Wileman

which manages the Steart

reserve, and The Mental

Health Foundation.

There is already good

evidence of nature's efficacy,

such as a 2019 study

showing that a two-hour

"dose" of nature a week

significantly improved

health and wellbeing. The

missing link has been

connecting health services

and nature activities.

"These activities have

being going for years, it's just

that they often have not had

that connection into the

health systems to enable

them to receive the people

who need the benefits the

most, and to deliver

precisely what they need,"

says Dave Solly, at the

National Academy for Social

Prescribing (NASP), which

was launched in 2019 with

funding from the

Department of Health.

But things are changing.

Seven NHS care groups

from the Humber to Surrey

received a combined £5m in

government funding in

December for projects

harnessing nature to

improve mental health,

including tree planting and

growing food. There are also

now more than 1,000 social

prescribing link workers

working in GP surgeries and

health clinics, helping

doctors link patients to

nature activities, as well as

arts, heritage and exercise

groups. A million people

could be referred to social

prescribing in the next few

years.

Among the projects

championed by NASP are

Wild Being in Reading, an

open-water swimming

group in Portsmouth, Dorset

Nature Buddies, the Green

Happy cafe in Northampton,

and a Moving in Nature

project in Chingford, Essex.

Back in Steart marshes,

NHS rehabilitation

physiotherapist Ralph

Hammond is setting off on

the weekly 30-minute health

walk he leads. He started the

walk as a volunteer in 2017,

having found there was no

suitable walking group for

recovering patients.

The flat landscape and

good paths on the reserve,

which hosts otters and

samphire beds, are

important, he says: "We are

trying to break down

barriers - the people I am

after are not walking at all."

The group have been

following the fortunes of a

pair of white swans and their

cygnets. They find the

swans, nestled in the tall

grass at the water's edge

with seven large cygnets,

which are starting to lose

their juvenile brown

plumage and stretch their

wings.

Suzanne Duffus tackles

the walk enthusiastically

with a sturdy wheeled

walking frame. She started

coming to Steart after her

husband died and is now a

volunteer, giving support

and encouragement to

newcomers. Asked how it

was going 10 minutes into

her first walk, one woman

told Duffus: "I hate this." But

gentle support and

reassurance from Duffus led

to the woman becoming a

regular.

Hammond said: "The

challenge for the NHS is that

it is full of patients who need

to move beyond NHS care.

The potential is massive, but

it is early days."

Increasing access to such

activities requires staff

dedicated to connecting

nature groups to the health

service. The WWT's Will

Freeman is doing this at

Steart and says: "For a lot of

people, it is very exciting, but

it can also be difficult as the

cultures of organisations

may not match."

LiBBy Brooks

Loss of biodiversity loss will jeopardize

the future drugs

kATheriNe LAThAM

Ancient histories hidden

under Antarctic ice

An ampoule of Antarctic air

from the year 1765 forms the

centrepiece of a new

exhibition that reveals the

hidden histories contained in

polar ice to visitors attending

the Cop26 climate conference

in Glasgow.

The artist Wayne Binitie

has spent the past five years

undertaking an extraordinary

collaboration with scientists

of the British Antarctic

Survey (BAS), who drill,

analyse and preserve

cylinders of ice from deep in

the ice sheet that record past

climate change.

These ice cores have

allowed Binitie to display in

Glasgow, at what is widely

acknowledged to be a pivotal

moment for the planet, the

purest possible air trapped in

ice from another such

moment, just before modern

humanity began its unwitting

destruction of the

atmosphere, the stark

consequences of which are

now being faced.

The Polar Zero exhibition

at the Glasgow Science

Centre features a cylindrical

glass sculpture encasing the

air, extracted precisely from

Traditionally used as a painkiller for

headaches, snowdrops are now known to

slow the onset of dementia. In the 1950s,

a natural alkaloid called galantamine was

extracted from the bulbs. Today, a

synthesised version of this is used to treat

Alzheimer's disease and scientists are

investigating further to see if snowdrops

might also be effective in the treatment of

HIV.

However, over-harvesting has resulted

in many snowdrop species becoming

threatened. The snowdrop isn't alone -

plants are an abundant source of

potential new medicines, often providing

us with chemical templates for the design

of novel drugs. Yet scientists across the

globe say unsustainable use of wild

medicinal plants is contributing to

biodiversity loss and could limit

opportunities to source medicines from

nature in the future.

Dr Cassandra Quave, medical

ethnobotanist and associate professor at

Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, says:

"Just at the time we need them most, we

are at risk of losing many important

species."

Humans have been using nature to

heal since before written language. The

first documented evidence was found on

a 5,000-year-old slab of clay from

Nagpur in India, which refers to more

than 250 plants. Traditional Chinese

medicine dates back thousands of years,

the earliest found writings on pieces of

tortoiseshell and bone from the 15th

century BC. The Ebers papyrus, a 3,500-

year-old Egyptian scroll, mentions

willow bark from which aspirin was later

developed.

Dr Melanie-Jayne Howes, lead

researcher in biological chemistry at Kew

Gardens, explains how they take

traditional remedies and investigate to

see if there is a real scientific basis for

their use.

1765 - the date that many

historians pinpoint as the

beginning of the Industrial

Revolution. A second

cylinder presents an ice core

containing tiny bubbles of air

that were trapped as snow fell

and compacted, and which

now reveal the horrifying rate

of increase in atmospheric

carbon dioxide since that

date.

"The scale of the topic is so

overwhelming and so

complex that it can feel

distant, even apocalyptic,"

says Binitie, an Arts and

Humanities Research

Council-funded PhD student

at the Royal College of Art.

"People need something

tangible to get hold of, that

collapses that distance."

The glaciologist Dr Robert

Mulvaney, who was

responsible for mining the ice

for the BAS, says it is indeed

possible to drill out ice from a

particular era. "Snow falls in

Antarctica year by year - but

there's no melting going on.

Artist Wayne Binitie with his glass sculpture containing

air from the year 1765. Photo: Jane Barlow

So the snow builds up and

compresses all the years of

snow beneath. As we drill

down we're driving further

and further into the past - a

bit like counting the rings of a

big tree.

"The antimalarial drug artemisinin,

found in sweet wormwood, was

developed in this way. Sweet wormwood

had been used in traditional Chinese

medicine for thousands of years to treat

fevers, which can be a symptom of

malaria. Artemisinin and its derivatives

now play a key role in our fight against

malaria."

Penicillin, morphine and some of the

most effective cancer chemotherapeutics

we have today all derive from natural

sources and many of humanity's biggest

killers, including cancer and heart

disease, are treated with medicines that

originate from plants and fungi.

According to the World Health

Organization, 11% of the world's essential

medicines derive from flowering plants.

Recent discoveries include farnesol,

found in fruits and herbs, used to treat

Parkinson's disease. Water hyssop, used

for centuries across Asia to improve

brain function, has recently been shown

to reduce inflammation in the brain. And

a protein isolated from beetroot is being

explored as a target for

neurodegenerative and inflammatory

diseases, such as Alzheimer's and

multiple sclerosis.

In June this year, scientists isolated a

molecule, extracted from the leaves of

the European chestnut tree, with the

power to neutralise dangerous, drugresistant

staph bacteria. They hope to

synthesise a drug that will treat

methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus

aureus (MRSA) despite its resistance to

antibiotics.

Quave says: "In the pre-antibiotic era,

it was not unusual to die from childbirth

and surgery due to infection. Even a

simple scratch in the garden could lead to

a fatal infection. The threat of

antimicrobial resistance is effectively a

return to similar conditions: the postantibiotic

era. Today, we lose an

estimated 700,000 people across the

"What helps is that every so

often we know that a certain

volcano blew up in a

particular year and we may

find evidence of that. So using

our drills to find a specific

year isn't quite as hard as you

would imagine."

Putting together an exhibit

based around an ampoule of

air and a melting ice core

proved a fascinating technical

challenge, says Graham Dodd

of the global engineering

specialists Arup. "Exhibiting

an ice core without it melting

completely is a technical feat

that requires precise

calculations and creative

thinking to construct the

right level of insulation while

still allowing the visitors to

get up close to the ice."

Visitors to Polar Zero will

hear the ancient air bubbles

popping as the ice core

emerges from its insulated

tube, blending with Binitie's

immersive soundtrack of

music and natural sounds,

and can touch and even taste

the iced water. It's a

multisensory experience at a

time when it "seems more

urgent than ever before to ask

what it means to touch and be

in touch with the Earth", he

says.

globe each year due to antimicrobialresistant

(AMR) infections. By 2050, it is

estimated that 10 million a year will die

due to AMR infections. I believe nature

holds the key to battle these and other

emerging health threats."

Medicines are found in every corner of

the Earth. Fungi growing on the hairs of

sloths could be used to fight off parasites,

bacteria and cancer. Snake venomderived

drugs treat heart conditions.

Scientists have even discovered a marine

bacterium living at depths of up to

6,500ft that they hope could provide a

cure for aggressive brain cancer.

Nature's resources can be used in other

ways too, to facilitate research or medical

procedures. The bright-blue blood of the

horseshoe crab has long been used to

detect impurities in medicines and

vaccines and was used in the

development of Covid vaccines.Microalgae,

known as diatoms, have porous

cell-wall structures so can be used as

vehicles for drug delivery into the body.

They are also being investigated for use

in immunotherapy and combination

therapy to treat cancer.

Other applications take inspiration

from nature. A glue that mimics the

natural adhesive made by barnacles

helps wounds heal more quickly. A

sharkskin-inspired, bacteria-proof

material is used in urinary catheters and

deep-wound dressings. A hypodermic

needle that mimics a mosquito's

proboscis promises to give almost

painless injections.

However, we are losing species before

we are even aware of them. Pollution,

over-exploitation of natural resources,

introduction of invasive species, change

of land use and degradation through

urbanisation and agriculture - human

activity is the primary cause of

biodiversity loss. Now, experts are

asking, could biodiversity loss be as great

a threat to humans as climate change?

The Madagascar periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus, a natural source of vincristine, used in treating

childhood leukemia.

Photo: Narayan Maharjan

TUESDAY, OCTOBEr 12, 2021 6

Clothes were distributed among 200 poor families on the occasion of Durga Puja in Joypurhat on

Monday.

Photo: Masrakul Alom

6th anniversary of

'Bangladesher

Khobor' celebrated

in Taraganj

BIPLOB HOSSAIN OPU, TARAGANJ

CORRESPONDENT

The 6th anniversary of

'Bangladesher Khabar' has been

celebrated in Taraganj Upazila on

Sunday. An event was organized by

Taraganj Upazila Press Club. On

the initiative of the Taraganj

representative of the newspaper, a

cake was cut on the occasion of the

6th anniversary of the newspaper

after a discussion meeting at the

premises of Upazila Press Club.

During the time, Vice Chairman

of Upazila Parishad Bayezid

Bostami, Chairman of Ikarchali

Union Rafiqul Islam, Convener of

Upazila Awami Jubo League

Majeedul Islam Bakul, General

Secretary of Saar Union Jubo

League Moshfekur Rahman Rony,

Prominent Social Worker Rushod

Al Ferdous Mishu. Rahman,

Badsha Mia, UP member of

Alampur Union were among others

also present at the occasion.

Rafiqul Islam, chairman of

Ikarchali Union, said the media

protects people's freedom of

speech. Nowadays a news post

changes a country through social

media. Journalists have to be

brave.

Ensuring equal rights

of boys, girls stressed

RAJSHAHI: Speakers at a discussion here underlined

ensuring equal rights of boys and girls to take the

country forward, reports BSS.

They also put importance on holistic approach of all

government, non- government organizations and

individuals to protect children rights.

The children must be freed from all sorts of cruelties

and inhuman behaviours, violation, repression and

deprivation for building them as worthy citizens, they

opined.

The discussion was held at Shaheed AHM

Kamaruzzaman Degree College in Rajshahi city on

Sunday afternoon.

Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association

(BNWLA) organized the function marking the Child

Rights Week-2021.

The theme of the day this year is "Invest for Children,

Build Prosperous World (Shishur Jonno Biniyog Kori,

Somriddho Bishwo Gori)".

Rajshahi mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton addressed

the meeting as the chief guest, while Rajshahi divisional

unit president of BNWLA Advocate Deel Sitara Chuni

was in the chair.

Deputy commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan

Police Sazid Hossain and principal of the college Prof

Abdul Khaleque also spoke.

Liton said children should be taught positive social

values and encouraged to learn good manners at an

early age.

He emphasized the need for ensuring children's safety

and security and stopping child marriage for the greater

national interest.

He added responsive and sensible social and political

initiatives are crucial for protecting rights of children

particularly those in the slums and underprivileged

ones for transforming them into worthy citizens.

Clothes distributed

marking Durga

Puja in Joypurhat

MASRAKUL ALOM, JOyPURHAT

CORRESPONDENT

Clothes have been

distributed on the occasion

of Durga Puja in Joypurhat

on Monday. Arifur Rahman

Rocket, president of district

Awami League and

chairman of Zila Parishad,

inaugurated the distribution

of clothes at a program

organized by Joypurhat

Sonatan Paribar at

Purbabazar central Barayari

temple.

During the time,

Presidium member of the

Central Committee of Hindu

Buddhist Christian Unity

Council Adv.Nipendranath

Mondol PP, President of

district Puja Puja Udjapan

Parishad Adv. Hrishikash

Sarkar, General Secretary

Lecturer Sumon Kumar

Saha, Sonatan Poribar

Member Secretary Prasad

Kumar Barman, Joint

Convener Chatanya

Karmakar and Biplob

Chadra were among others

also present at the occasion.

At the ceremony, more

than 200 poor families were

given clothes.

In observance of the 6th anniversary of 'Bangladesher Khabar', a cake cutting ceremony was held in

Taraganj Upazila on Sunday.

Photo: Biplob Hossain Opu

RAJSHAHI: Celebration of the five-day

Durga Puja, largest religious festival for

the Hindu community, began with

Goddess Bodhan here like other parts

of the country today amid great

enthusiasm and festive mood, reports

BSS.

The Durgotsob is being celebrated in

3,432 puja mandaps in all eight

districts under the Rajshahi division in

addition to 93 in Rajshahi city with

special arrangements amid the novel

coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic

situation.

The festival features puja, arti,

recitation from scriptures, distribution

of prashad, offering of devotional songs

and bhajans.

A large number of devotees have

started visiting different puja mandaps

to have a look at goddess Durga.

On the occasion of Durga Puja, new clothes have been distributed among 200 disadvantaged families

in Sreemangal on Sunday.

Photo: TBT

200 disadvantaged

families get new

clothes in

Sreemangal

SREEMANGAL CORRESPONDENT

On the occasion of Durga

Puja, new clothes have been

distributed among 200

disadvantaged families

under the auspices of

Sreemangal Association of

Voluntary Efforts (SAVE) on

Sunday.

The programme was held

at Sreemangal Udayan Girls

High School and was

chaired by former principal

of Sreemangal Government

College Professor Syed

Muizur Rahman and senior

joint general secretary of

Bangladesh Teachers

Association Central

Committee Md. Mansur

Iqbal moderated the

occasion.

Newly elected chairman of

Sreemangal Upazila

Parishad Bhanulal Roy was

present as the chief guest at

the function. Among others,

Acting Chairman Mitali

Dutta, Rajghat UP

Chairman Bijoy Bunerji,

Advocate Pankaj Sarkar,

Teacher Jahan E Noor

Sultana, Canadian

Expatriate Rajat Pal, Khoka

Pal were also present at the

occasion.

The guests handed over

sari, three pieces, dhoti,

Punjabi, shirt and children's

clothes to 200

disadvantaged families on

the occasion of Durga Puja.

Durga puja

celebration

begins in

Rajshahi

Each of the puja mandaps was given

500 kilograms of rice on behalf of the

respective district administrations.

Rajshahi City Corporation donated

Taka 10,000 to each of the city's 93

puja mandaps recently for the

successful celebration of the festival.

Shyamal Kumar Ghosh, Rajshahi city

unit general secretary of Hindu

Rangpur records no

Covid fatality for 2nd

consecutive day

RANGPUR: No Covid-19 related

fatality was recorded for the second

consecutive day on Sunday in Rangpur

division where the pandemic situation

continues improving consistently during

the last two months, reports BSS.

"Earlier, no Covid-19 related fatalities

were recorded on May 16 last and again

no deaths on September 12, 13, 14, 20,

22, 26, 29 and 30 and October 2, 3, 6, 7

and 9 last in the division," said Rangpur

Divisional Deputy Director (Health) Dr

Abu Md Zakirul Islam.

The number of Covid-19 fatalities

remained steady at 1,237 in the division

where the overall Covid-19 satiation

continues improving consistently.

The district-wise break up of the 1,234

fatalities stands at 293 in Rangpur, 80 in

Panchagarh, 88 in Nilphamari, 68 each

in Lalmonirhat and Kurigram, 251 in

Thakurgaon, 326 in Dinajpur and 63 in

Gaibandha of the division. The average

fatality rate currently stands at 2.24

percent in the division.

Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19

cases reached 55,141 as 17 new patients

were diagnosed after testing 592 samples

of Rangpur division at the daily positivity

rate of 2.87 percent on Sunday.

The district-wise break up of total

55,141 patients include 12,425 of

Rangpur, 3,788 Panchagarh, 4,430 of

Nilphamari, 2,736 of Lalmonirhat, 4,633

of Kurigram, 7,575 of Thakurgaon,

14,701 of Dinajpur and 4,853 of

Gaibandha in the division," he added.

Divisional Director (Health) Dr Md

Motaharul Islam said a total of 2,86,903

Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad,

told BSS that the Durga Puja will be

celebrated in a festive mood here.

Decorations of temples, lighting, and

setting up of mandaps have already

turned the city into a festive look, he

added.

The celebration will end through the

immersion of idols of goddess Durga on

Bijoya Dashami Friday.

Meanwhile, foolproof security

measures were taken in the city and its

adjacent areas to avert any untoward

incident during the biggest religious

festival of the Hindu community.

"We have adopted tight security

measures to make the Rajshahi city's

Durga puja celebration festive and

successful," said Abu Kalam Siddique,

commissioner of Rajshahi

Metropolitan Police.

collected samples were tested till Sunday,

and of them, 55,141 were found Covid-19

positive with an average positivity rate of

19.22 percent in the division.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the

number of healed Covid-19 patients

reached 52,529 with recovery of 41 more

infected patients on Sunday in the

division where the average recovery rate

currently stands at 95.26 percent.

The 52,529 recovered patients include

11,111 of Rangpur, 3,622 Panchagarh,

4,334 Nilphamari, 2,625 Lalmonirhat,

4,527 Kurigram, 7,190 Thakurgaon,

14,334 in Dinajpur and 4,786 Gaibandha

districts in the division.

Among the 55,141 patients, 44 are

undergoing treatments at isolation units,

including eight critical patients at ICU

beds and four at High Dependency Unit

beds, after recovery of 52,529 patients

and 1,237 deaths while 1,331 are

remaining in home isolation.

"Meanwhile, the number of citizens

who got the first dose of the Covid-19

vaccine rose to 41,90,715, and among

them, 18,18,060 got the second dose of

the jab till Sunday in the division," Dr

Islam said.

Chief of Divisional Coronavirus Service

and Prevention Task Force and Principal

of Rangpur Medical College Professor Dr

AKM Nurunnobi Lyzu said the Covid-19

situation continues improving pleasingly

in Rangpur division.

"However, common people should

properly abide by the health directives to

prevent further spread of the deadly

virus," he said.

Short duration Aman rice harvest

begins in Rangpur region

RANGPUR: Short duration Aman rice harvest

has begun helping farmers and farm-labourers

in tackling the seasonal lean period of 'Aswin'

and 'Kartik' months braving the Covid-19

pandemic in Rangpur agriculture region,

reports BSS.

Officials of the Department of Agricultural

Extension (DAE) said expanded cultivation of

short duration Aman rice was launched since

2009 aiming at creating jobs for farmlabourers

through early harvest of the crop

during the seasonal lean period.

"Early harvest of short duration Aman rice

creates huge jobs for the farm-labourers during

the seasonal lean periods since 2010 relieving

them from extreme poverty," said Agriculturist

Bidhu Bhusan Ray, Additional Director of the

DAE, Rangpur region.

Earlier, an extreme poverty-like situation

was being created for lack of agricultural

activities during the months of 'Aswin' and

'Kartik', locally called 'monga', causing untold

miseries to the poor and farm-labourers even a

decade ago.

The DAE has fixed a target of producing 17.19

lakh tonnes of clean Aman rice (25.79 lakh

tonnes of paddy) from 6,12,451 hectares of land

for the region this season.

"Before the recent flood, farmers

transplanted Aman rice seedlings on 6,14,295

hectares of land exceeding the fixed farming

target by 1,844 hectares," Ray said.

However, the recent deluge damaged Aman

rice on 1,965 hectares of land in the region.

After damage caused by the recent flood,

Aman rice plants are growing superbly on the

rest of 6,12,330 hectares of land amid excellent

climatic conditions.

"Of them, farmers have cultivated short

duration varieties of Aman rice on 63,197

hectares of land which is 10.32 percent against

the total cultivated land area of 6,12,330

hectares in the region," he said.

Meanwhile, farmers have already harvested

short duration Aman rice on 3,089 hectares of

land producing 9,194 tonnes of clean Aman

rice (13,791 tonnes of paddy) in all five districts

of Rangpur agriculture region till Sunday.

Black gram seeds,

fertilizers distributed

among 110 farmers

in Tungipara

MEHADI HASAN, TUNGIPARA

CORRESPONDENT

Tungipara Upazila

Agriculture Extension

Department has distributed

free black gram seeds and

fertilizers among 110

farmers in Tungipara.

The black gram seeds and

fertilizers were distributed

among the local farmers in

front of the Upazila Parishad

on Monday morning.

During the time,

Tungipara Upazila Vice

Chairman Asim Kumar

Biswas, Assistant

Commissioner (Land) Md.

Dedarul Islam, Upazila

Agriculture Officer Md.

Jamal Uddin and others

were present on the

occasion.

Tungipara Upazila Agriculture Extension Department has distributed free black gram seeds and fertilizers

among 110 farmers in Tungipara on Monday.

Photo: Mehadi Hasan

Three men arrested in

connection with mass

shooting in U.S. Minnesota

WASHINGTON : Three

men have been arrested in

connection with an early

Sunday morning shootout at

a bar in St. Paul, Minnesota,

that left one woman dead

and 14 people injured.

"Three men have been

arrested in connection to

this morning's shootings

and the tragic death of a

woman in her 20s. The

suspects are currently in the

hospital being treated for

injuries," tweeted St. Paul

Police Chief Todd Axtell,

updating the homicide

investigation, reports UNB.

This is the 32nd homicide

of the year in the

midwestern state capital.

Officers responded to a

busy bar on the 200 block of

West Seventh Street at about

12:15 a.m. Sunday, and

found a chaotic scene with

15 people suffering from

gunshot wounds - one of

whom was pronounced dead

without being transported to

the hospital, said the city on

its website earlier in the day.

Suspected militants

kill five soldiers in

Indian Kashmir: police

SRINAGAR : Suspected

militants shot dead five

soldiers in Indianadministered

Kashmir on

Monday in the deadliest

incident since February, an

army spokesman said,

stoking tensions following

a string of civilian murders.

The shootings occurred

in a mountain pass near the

Line of Control (Loc)

dividing the area from

Pakistan-administered

Kashmir.

Colonel Devendar Anand

told AFP that one officer

and four soldiers "were

killed during a search

operation probably by

infiltrators".

"The operation is

ongoing," he added. The

shootings were the

deadliest attack on military

forces in the area since a

ceasefire between India

and Pakistan along the

effective border was

announced in February.

Kashmir has been divided

between the two South

Asian countries since their

independence in 1947, with

both claiming the

Himalayan region in full.

For over three decades,

rebel groups have been

fighting Indian soldiers and

demanding independence

for Kashmir or its merger

with Pakistan.

Tens of thousands of

civilians, soldiers and

rebels have died in the

fighting. India accuses

Pakistan of supporting the

militants.

The region has been

subjected to a legislative

blitz since August 2019,

when tensions soared after

New Delhi scrapped

Kashmir's semi-autonomy.

Discussions between the U.S. and Afghan Taliban officials in Doha, Qatar were "candid and professional,"

the U.S. State Department said on Sunday.

Photo : Internet

U.S. says talks with Taliban in

Doha "candid and professional"

WASHINGTON : Discussions between the

U.S. and Afghan Taliban officials in Doha,

Qatar were "candid and professional," the

U.S. State Department said on Sunday,

reports UNB.

A U.S. interagency delegation met with

senior Taliban representatives in Doha over

the weekend, U.S. State Department

spokesperson Ned Price said in a readout.

The U.S. delegation in the talks focused on

security and terrorism concerns, safe

passage for U.S. citizens, other foreign

nationals, and Afghan partners, as well as

human rights and humanitarian assistance

issues, according to the readout.

Price noted that "the U.S. delegation

reiterating that the Taliban will be judged on

its actions, not only its words."

Amir Khan Muttaqi, Afghanistan's acting

foreign minister, said on Saturday that the

two sides discussed opening a new chapter

of bilateral relations, and the Taliban

officials called on the U.S. side to lift the ban

on the frozen assets in the Afghan Central

Bank.

The Taliban delegation also urged the U.S.

side to respect the sovereignty of

Afghanistan's airspace and not to interfere in

its affairs, he said, stressing the focus was on

humanitarian aid and the implementation of

all provisions of the Doha Agreement

concluded between the two sides in February

2020.

The State Department said on Friday that

the meeting in Doha "is a continuation of the

pragmatic engagements" between two sides

but not "granting recognition or conferring

legitimacy" to the Taliban, which took over

Afghanistan in mid-August and announced

an interim government in early September.

The meeting marked the first in-person

gathering between the United States and the

Taliban since the U.S. withdrawal from

Afghanistan at the end of August and the first

foreign visit by the Taliban government

officials.

Japan's industry minister pledges

to promote scrapping of

Fukushima nuclear plant

TOKYO : Japan's industry minister Koichi

Hagiuda vowed to promote the

decommissioning of the crippled Fukushima

nuclear plant and recovery of the area as a

top priority during his first visit Sunday to

the northeastern Japan prefecture since

assuming office, local media reported

Monday.

Meanwhile, Hagiuda told Fukushima

Governor Masao Uchibori and the mayors of

municipalities hosting the Fukushima

Daiichi nuclear power plant that his ministry

would put full efforts to deal with the release

of treated radioactive water from the facility

damaged by a massive earthquake and

tsunami in March 2011, reports UNB.

In the meeting, Uchibori requested the

central government to handle issues such as

the lifting of an evacuation order for

residents near the damaged power plant.

Futaba Mayor Shiro Izawa and Okuma

Mayor Jun Yoshida together asked the state

to take effective measures against the

reputational damage associated with the

controversial plan of discharging treated

water.

In addition, the mayors also warned Tokyo

Electric Power Co., Ltd. (TEPCO), the

operator of the plant, not to sloppily manage

radioactive waste from power facilities.

"The state, instead of TEPCO, will lead the

decommissioning of (Fukushima Daiichi)

reactors," Hagiuda told reporters after the

meetings.

Japan is planning to begin discharging the

water into the sea from around the spring of

2023, stating that water pumped into the

ruined reactors at the Fukushima plant to

cool the melted fuel is treated using an

advanced liquid processing system, which

could limit tritium to a low level in the water.

However, the decision has received strong

criticism from neighboring countries.

China has expressed serious concerns

about Japan's decision to discharge

contaminated water from the Fukushima

nuclear station, with Foreign Ministry

spokesperson Zhao Lijian saying that China

urged the Japanese side to take a responsible

attitude and treat the issue of nuclear waste

disposal with caution.

Meanwhile, South Korea has also voiced its

"grave concerns," with Foreign Ministry

spokesman Choi Young-sam saying "it will

be difficult to accept if the Japanese side

decides to release the contaminated water

from the Fukushima nuclear power plant

without sufficient consultations."

Firefighters extinguished a huge blaze that broke out in a storage tank at one of Lebanon's main oil

facilities in the country's south Monday after it sent orange flames and a thick black column of

smoke into the sky.

Photo : Internet

La Palma's volcanic

eruption is going

strong 3 weeks later

LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE :

Three weeks since its eruption

upended the lives of

thousands, the volcano on

Spain's La Palma island is still

spewing out endless streams of

lava with no signs of ceasing.

Authorities on Sunday

monitored a new stream of

molten rock that has added to

the destruction of over 1,100

buildings. Anything in the path

of the lava - homes, farms,

swimming pools and

industrial buildings in the

largely agricultural area - has

been consumed.

The collapse Saturday of

part of the volcanic cone sent a

flood of bright red lava pouring

down from the Cumbre Vieja

ridge that initially cracked

open on Sept. 19. The fastflowing

stream carried away

huge chunks of lava that had

already hardened. An

industrial park was soon

engulfed.

"We cannot say that we

expect the eruption that began

21 days ago to end anytime

soon," said Julio Perez, the

regional minister for security

on the Canary Islands.

La Palma is part of Spain's

Canary Islands, an Atlantic

Ocean archipelago off

northwest Africa whose

economy depends on the

cultivation of the Canary

plantain and tourism.

Huge fire extinguished

at oil facility in

southern Lebanon

ZAHRANI : Firefighters

extinguished a huge blaze

that broke out in a storage

tank at one of Lebanon's

main oil facilities in the

country's south Monday

after it sent orange flames

and a thick black column of

smoke into the sky, reports

UNB.

Energy Minister Walid

Fayad said the fire broke out

when workers were

transferring gasoline from

one storage tank to another

in the coastal town of

Zahrani. He said nearly

250,000 liters of gasoline

were burnt during the blaze,

which lasted more than

three hours. No one was

reported hurt.

The fire came as Lebanon

struggles through a serious

power crisis that has

resulted in electricity cuts

lasting up to 22 hours a day.

"The situation now is

almost under full control,"

Fayad told reporters at the

facility. He said earlier that

the gasoline was for the

Lebanese army.

State-run National News

Agency said it was not

immediately clear what

caused the fire.

Lebanese troops had

closed the highway linking

Beirut with southern

Lebanon that passes

through Zahrani. The road

was reopened after the fire

was extinguished.

The Zahrani Oil

Installation is about 50

kilometers (30 miles) south

of Beirut. It is close to one of

Lebanon's main power

stations, which stopped

functioning two days ago

due to a fuel shortage.

TUeSDAY, OcTOber 12, 2021

7

Iraq's parliamentary vote marred

by boycott, voter apathy

BAGHDAD : Iraqis voted Sunday in

parliamentary elections held months ahead

of schedule as a concession to a youth-led

popular uprising against corruption and

mismanagement.

But the voting was marked by widespread

apathy and a boycott by many of the young

activists who thronged the streets of

Baghdad and Iraq's southern provinces in

late 2019. Tens of thousands of people took

part in the mass protests and were met by

security forces firing live ammunition and

tear gas. More than 600 people were killed

and thousands injured within just a few

months.

Although authorities gave in and called the

early elections, the death toll and the heavyhanded

crackdown - as well as a string of

targeted assassinations - prompted many

who took part in the protests to later call for

a boycott of the vote.

Polls closed at 1500 GMT (1800 local time)

following 11 hours of voting. Results are

expected within the next 24 hours, according

to the independent body that oversees Iraq's

election. But negotiations to choose a prime

minister tasked with forming a government

are expected to drag on for weeks or even

months.

The election was the sixth held since the

fall of Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led

invasion of Iraq in 2003. Many were

skeptical that independent candidates from

the protest movement stood a chance against

well-entrenched parties and politicians,

many of them backed by powerful armed

militias.

Minutes after polls closed, fireworks

organized by Baghdad's municipality went

off in the city's landmark Tahrir Square,

where demonstrators had set up tents for

several months starting in October 2019. The

protests fizzled out by February of the

following year, due to the security crackdown

and later, the coronavirus pandemic.

Today, the square stands largely empty.

The country faces huge economic and

security challenges, and although most

Iraqis long for change, few expect it to

happen as a result of the elections.

Muna Hussein, a 22-year-old cinematic

makeup artist, said she boycotted the

election because she did not feel there was a

safe environment "with uncontrolled

weapons everywhere," a reference to the

mainly Shiite militias backed by neighboring

Iran.

"In my opinion, it isn't easy to hold free

and fair elections under the current

circumstances," she said.

Amir Fadel, a 22-year-old car dealer,

disagreed. "I don't want these same faces and

same parties to return," he said after casting

his ballot in Baghdad's Karradah district.

Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi,

whose chances for a second term will be

determined by the results of the election,

urged Iraqis to vote in large numbers.

"Get out and vote, and change your

future,," said al-Kadhimi, repeating the

phrase, "get out" three times after casting his

ballot at a school in Baghdad's heavily

fortified Green Zone, home to foreign

embassies and government offices.

Under Iraq's laws, the winner of Sunday's

vote gets to choose the country's next prime

minister, but it's unlikely any of the

competing coalitions can secure a clear

majority. That will require a lengthy process

involving backroom negotiations to select a

consensus prime minister and agree on a

new coalition government. It took eight

months of political wrangling to form a

government after the 2018 elections.

Groups drawn from Iraq's majority Shiite

Muslims dominate the electoral landscape,

with a tight race expected between Iraq's

influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and

the Fatah Alliance, led by paramilitary leader

Hadi al-Ameri, which came in second in the

previous election.

The Fatah Alliance is comprised of parties

and affiliated with the Popular Mobilization

Forces, an umbrella group of mostly pro-

Iran Shiite militias that rose to prominence

during the war against the Sunni extremist

Islamic State group. It includes some of the

most hard-line Iran-backed factions, such as

the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia. Al-Sadr, a

black-turbaned nationalist leader, is also

close to Iran, but publicly rejects its political

influence.

Iraqis voted Sunday in parliamentary elections held months ahead of

schedule as a concession to a youth-led popular uprising against corruption

and mismanagement.

Photo : Internet

Taliban says US will provide

humanitarian aid to Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD : The U.S. has agreed to provide

humanitarian aid to a desperately poor

Afghanistan on the brink of an economic

disaster, while refusing to give political

recognition to the country's new Taliban rulers,

the Taliban said Sunday, reports UNB.

The statement came at the end of the first

direct talks between the former foes since the

chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of

August.

The U.S. statement was less definitive, saying

only that the two sides "discussed the United

States' provision of robust humanitarian

assistance, directly to the Afghan people."

The Taliban said the talks held in Doha,

Qatar, "went well," with Washington freeing up

humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after agreeing

not to link such assistance to formal recognition

of the Taliban.

The United States made it clear that the talks

were in no way a preamble to recognition of the

Taliban, who swept into power Aug. 15 after the

U.S.-allied government collapsed.

State Department spokesman Ned Price

called the discussions "candid and

professional," with the U.S. side reiterating that

the Taliban will be judged on their actions, not

only their words.

"The U.S. delegation focused on security and

terrorism concerns and safe passage for U.S.

citizens, other foreign nationals and our Afghan

partners, as well as on human rights, including

the meaningful participation of women and

girls in all aspects of Afghan society," he said in

a statement.

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen

also told The Associated Press that the

movement's interim foreign minister assured

the U.S. during the talks that the Taliban are

committed to seeing that Afghan soil is not used

by extremists to launch attacks against other

countries.

On Saturday, however, the Taliban ruled out

cooperation with Washington on containing

the increasingly active Islamic State group in

Afghanistan.

IS, an enemy of the Taliban, has claimed

responsibility for a number of recent attacks,

including Friday's suicide bombing that killed

46 minority Shiite Muslims. Washington

considers IS its greatest terrorist threat

emanating from Afghanistan.

"We are able to tackle Daesh independently,"

Shaheen said when asked whether the Taliban

would work with the U.S. to contain the Islamic

State affiliate. He used an Arabic acronym for

IS.

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation

for Defense of Democracies who tracks militant

groups, agreed the Taliban do not need

Washington's help to hunt down and destroy

Afghanistan's IS affiliate, known as the Islamic

State in Khorasan Province, or ISKP.

The Taliban "fought 20 years to eject the U.S.,

and the last thing it needs is the return of the

U.S. It also doesn't need U.S. help," said Roggio,

who also produces the foundation's Long War

Journal. "The Taliban has to conduct the

difficult and time-consuming task of rooting

out ISKP cells and its limited infrastructure. It

has all the knowledge and tools it needs to do it."

The IS affiliate doesn't have the advantage of

safe havens in Pakistan and Iran that the

Taliban had in its fight against the United

States, Roggio said. However, he warned that

the Taliban's longtime support for al-Qaida

make them unreliable as counterterrorism

partners with the United States.

The Taliban gave refuge to al-Qaida before it

carried out the 9/11 attacks. That prompted the

2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that drove

the Taliban from power.

"It is insane for the U.S. to think the Taliban

can be a reliable counterterrorism partner,

given the Taliban's enduring support for al-

Qaida," Roggio said.

TuESDAY, OCTObEr 12, 2021

8

IBBL inaugurates Palashbari

Branch in Gaibandha

Elon Musk says Tesla moving

headquarters to Texas

Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd

inaugurated Palashbari Branch as its

375th Branch at Kalibari Bazar Road,

Palashbari, Gaibandha recently.

Mohammed Monirul Moula,

Managing Director and CEO of the

bank inaugurated the Branch as the

chief guest, a press release said.

Muhammad Qaisar Ali, Additional

Managing Director, Miftah Uddin,

Executive Vice President of the Bank,

AKM Moksed Chowdhury Bidyut,

Chairman of Palashbari Upazila, Md.

Kamruzzaman, Upazila Nirbahi Officer

and Md. Golam Sarwar Biplob,

Palashbari Poura Mayor addressed the

program as the special guest. Md.

Mahboob Alam, Senior Executive Vice

President of the Bank presided over the

function while Md. Abdus Sobhan,

Head of Bogura Zone of the bank

addressed welcome speech. Rabiul

Hossain Pata, President of Palashbari

German

industrial

output slumps

on supply

chain woes

FRANKFURT: German

industrial production fell

more sharply than

expected in August, official

data showed Thursday, as

supply chain frictions

weigh heavily on Europe's

biggest economy, reports

BSS.

Federal statistics agency

Destatis said industrial

output slumped by four

percent month-on-month,

after experiencing a

rebound in July, according

to figures adjusted for

seasonal swings.

Analyst surveyed by

Factset had predicted an

August decline of just 0.1

percent.

"Producers continue to

report about the

production being

constrained by a shortage

of supply of intermediate

products," Destatis said in

a statement.

Hardest hit was

Germany's flagship car

industry with a 17.5 percent

drop in output.

Like other automakers

around the world, German

manufacturers are

grappling with a shortage

in computer chips, spurred

by a pandemic-induced

surge in demand for

electronic devices.

Republican leader

offers temporary

fix to US debt crisis

WASHINGTON: The top

Republican Senate leader on

Wednesday proposed a truce to

squabbling in Congress that

risks pushing the United States

into what the White House and

industry leaders warn would be

"catastrophic" debt default,

reports BSS.

Senate Minority Leader

Mitch McConnell said

Republicans would allow

Democrats to vote for

temporarily lifting the debt

ceiling, which is about to expire,

triggering a government

default, "into December."

This would give Democrats

time to find a longer-term

solution and will "protect the

American people from a nearterm

Democrat-created crisis,"

McConnell said..

But the White House

response to the offer was

lukewarm, with Biden's

spokeswoman Jen Psaki calling

on Senate Republicans not to

"kick the can down the road"

when an immediate, long-term

solution was available.

Press Club, Md. Al Amin, proprietor of

Al-Amin Traders, Dholi Rani, woman

entrepreneur, Tajneen Sultana,

proprietor of Famous Fashion House

and Nirmal Chandra, businessman

addressed on behalf of clients. Mir

Rahmat Ullah, Head of Rangpur Zone,

Khaled Mahmud Raihan, FCCA, Senior

Vice President, A.M. Shahidul Amran,

Assistant Vice President, Head of

different branches of the bank, clients,

social elites were present on the

occasion.

Mohammed Monirul Moula in his

speech as the chief guest said, Islami

Bank is currently providing modern

technology-rich services to its clients

through 375 branches, 200 subbranches

and 2600 agent banking

outlets. Through improved and sincere

customer service, IBBL has become an

institution of trust and confidence of

the people of the country. He said

DHAKA : Swiss

entrepreneurs has

expressed their interest to

invest in Bangladesh's

leather industry, reports

BSS.

Ambassador of Switzerland

in Dhaka Nathalie

Chuard expressed his

country's interest in this

regard while meeting with

Industries Ministry Nurul

Majid Mahmud Humayun

at the latter's office at the

secretariat here today, a

press release said.

Islami Bank has been successfully

conducting investment activities in the

government-announced stimulus and

priority sectors, including providing

investment facilities to government

officials and employees. Income tax

and passport fees, government revenue

and fees are being easily paid through

all branches and sub-branches of IBBL

Automated Chalan System.

He added that Islami Bank is making

need-based investments for food

security, employment, poverty

alleviation and maximum utilization of

human resources. He directed the

officials to spread internet banking,

CellFin app and other technology-rich

services of IBBL. He called upon the

bankers to conduct banking activities

prioritizing business expansion and

entrepreneur development in

Palashbari area.

State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam is seeing compressors manufacturing

at Walton factory. WHIL's MD and CEO Golam Murshed are

also present.

Photo: Courtesy.

‘Walton plays a leading role in

the export-oriented industry’

State Minister for Planning Dr

Shamsul Alam opined that

Walton has been playing a

leading role in the efforts of

flourishing local exportoriented

industries. Walton is

now the leader of domestic

electronics industry. The others

could follow them. Walton

brand's one or more products

are available in the country's

every household. This is a great

success not only of Walton but

also of Bangladesh, a press

release say.

The government has been

providing all necessary

assistances to boosting the

local manufacturing industry,

he said and assured of

updating the public

procurement rules for giving

priority to the domestic

industries

during

government's purchase.

The state minister for

planning made the remarks

just after visiting Walton

factory at Chandra in Gazipur

on Monday. During his visit,

Dr Shamsul Alam witnessed

the unimaginable progress of

the domestic hi-tech goods

manufacturing industry.

Earlier in the morning,

Walton Hi-Tech Industries

Limited (WHIL) Managing

Director and also Chief

Executive Officer Golam

Murshed as well as Director

Sabiha Jarin Orona welcomed

the state minister at the

factory complex with flower

bouquet.

Among others, Additional

Deputy Commissioner of

Gazipur Abul Kalam, WHIL's

Deputy Managing Directors

Humayun Kabir and Alamgir

Alam Sarkar, Walton Digi-

Tech Industries Limited's

DMD Liakat Ali, WHIL's

Senior Executive Directors

Col. (Retd.) SM Shahadat

Alam, Uday Hakim, Sirajul

Islam, Firoj Alam, Yusuf Ali

and Easir Al-Imran, Executive

Directors Zahidul Islam,

Shahjada Salim, Shahjalal

Hossain Limon, Mohasin Ali

Molla and Media Adviser

Enayet Ferdous were also

present.

After the visit, the state

minister said, Walton factory

is very neat and clean. The

factory establishments are

built up in environmentfriendly

manner. The ETP

(Effluent Treatment Plant) is

kept run.

WHIL's Managing Director

and CEO Golam Murshed

said, the electronics industry,

is another potential export

sector as like the ready-made

garment industry. The

government has been working

with the vision of reaching the

list of developed countries by

2041.

Referring to the relations

with Switzerland since the

independence of

Bangladesh, Humayun

said that Switzerland has

been cooperating

continuously in the field of

human development of

SAN FRANCISCO : Tesla

chief Elon Musk told

investors on Thursday that

the leading electric vehicle

maker is moving its

headquarters from Silicon

Valley to Texas, where it is

building a plant, reports BSS.

"I'm excited to announce

that we're moving our

headquarters to Austin,

Texas," Musk said at an

annual shareholders meeting.

"Just to be clear, though, we

will be continuing to expand

our activities in California."

Musk said Tesla sales are

growing strongly, and the

company is ramping up

deliveries despite shortages of

computer chips and other

components.

Tesla aims to increase

production at its plant in

Fremont, California, by some

50 percent, Musk said.

But that plant is hitting its

limits on how much more it

can handle, he said.

"When we first went in

there it was it like a kid in his

parents' shoes; tiny us and

Chief trade

negotiators

from US, China

hold ‘candid

exchange’

WASHINGTON : US Trade

Representative Katherine

Tai spoke with Chinese Vice

Premier Liu He on Friday

evening to discuss Chinese

commercial practices that

Washington deems unfair,

reports BSS.

"During their candid

exchange, Ambassador Tai

and Vice Premier Liu

acknowledged the

importance of the bilateral

trade relationship and the

impact that it has not only

on the United States and

China but also the global

economy," the USTR said in

a statement.

This was the second

consultation between the

two countries' chief trade

negotiators after relations

were seriously damaged

under former US president

Donald Trump. The two last

spoke in May.

Friday's talk was "an

opportunity for the United

States and China to commit

to forging a trade

relationship that is managed

responsibly," a USTR official

said on condition of

anonymity.

Tai underscored US

concerns "relating to China's

state-led, non-market

policies and practices that

harm American workers,

farmers and businesses," the

USTR said.

The Biden administration

says China's massive state

subsidies for national

companies, intellectual

property theft and other

factors create a heavily

uneven playing field in

trade.

Swiss entrepreneurs keen to invest in leather industry

Bangladesh.

He said Switzerland is

investing in different

sectors, including

pharmaceutical,

infrastructure, technical

services and consumer

goods.

He called upon the Swiss

investors to invest more in

those sectors.

During the meeting,

Swiss envoy handed over

to the minister a letter

from a tannery industry

based in Zurich,

Switzerland, and

expressed interest in

visiting tannery in Savar.

The Industries Minister

thanked him and said that

Central Effluent Treatment

Plant (CETP) is being

constructed in the tannery

industrial city of Savar.

this giant factory," Musk said

of its inaugural plant in

Silicon Valley.

"Now, it's like a spam can.

We are hitting the sides of the

bowl."

He noted that the cost of

living in Silicon Valley is high

for workers, with home prices

putting them out of reach for

workers, who often wind up

with long commutes.

Musk has clashed with

regulators in California, and

is among high-profile tech

figures who personally left the

state for places with lower

income taxes and less

regulation.

"This was a smart strategic

move for Tesla," said

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives.

"We believe this was the

first step towards Tesla

making Austin its domestic

and global foundational

location over the coming

decade with its recent

frustration with California

officials likely accelerating

this move."

A stockholder-submitted

Kraft' is a popular shoe brand in Chittagong. In

just one year, the company has become known

not only in Chittagong but all over the country.

And this has been possible because of the

online facilities. Through the website

www.kraft.com.bd, shoppers from all over the

country can buy shoes of their choice. The Kraft

list includes a collection of different designs for

Gas price spike sends stocks sliding

LONDON:A 25 percent

jump in European gas prices

to record peaks on

Wednesday fanned inflation

concerns, sending equities

sliding as investors worried

higher prices could choke

the global economic

recovery, reports BSS.

Frankfurt, London and

Paris equity markets lost

around two percent at one

point on worries that high

prices for gas along with oil

could accelerate inflation,

forcing tighter global

monetary policy that would

pull the rug out from the

global economic recovery

proposal to have Tesla

disclose more about diversity

and inclusion efforts at the

company won approval,

despite opposition from the

board of directors, according

to preliminary results.

It calls for comprehensive

breakdowns of Tesla's

workforce by race and gender,

along with insights into how

well efforts to improve

diversity are doing, to be

routinely disclosed to

investors.

"The business case for

diversity is clear," said Calvert

Research and Management

vice president Kimberly

Stokes, who spoke on behalf

of the proposal.

"As shareholders we are

concerned that Tesla's lack of

focus on equity, diversity and

inclusion could hinder the

company's ability to innovate

in the future."

Calvert's winning proposal

was one of four put on the

agenda by investors urging

Tesla to better protect worker

rights and well-being.

from the Covid-19

pandemic.

Equity markets also fell at

the start of trading in the US,

where concerns about the

pace of economic recovery

are being accentuated by

political deadlock that could

halt plans to step up

government spending and

even trigger a US debt

default.

Europe's Dutch TTF gas

price rocketed as high as

162.12 euros per megawatt

hour, while UK prices soared

to 407.82 pence per therm

before giving up their gains.

Gas demand is also

A California jury this week

ordered Tesla to pay a Black

former employee $137

million in damages for

turning a blind eye to racism

the man said he encountered

at the firm's Silicon Valley

auto plant.

"They awarded an amount

that could be a wake-up call

for American corporations,"

said civil rights attorney Larry

Organ, who represented the

former Tesla worker.

"Don't engage in racist

conduct and don't allow racist

conduct to continue."

Owen Diaz was hired

through a staffing agency as

an elevator operator at the

electric vehicle-maker's

Fremont factory between

June 2015 and July 2016,

where he was subjected to

racist abuse and a hostile

work environment, according

to the court filing.

Instead of a modern

workplace, the plaintiff

"encountered a scene straight

from the Jim Crow era," said

the suit.

Innovation in footwear

DHAKA :The customers' of

the Postal Department's

mobile financial service

Nagad can now enjoy up to 12

percent cashback for

shopping in superstores,

reports BSS.

From selected superstores,

customers can now enjoy up

to 12 percent cashback for

payment through Nagad.

The Nagad customers can

avail this offer once in a day

from Shwapno, Prince Bazar,

Agora, Meena Bazar, Daily

Shopping, Lavender,

Unimart, Wholesale Club and

Khulshi Mart.

During the campaign,

Nagad users can also avail the

offer maximum twice or Taka

200 instant cashback from

the selected superstores, said

a press release.

Besides, in another 22

superstores, Nagad users can

avail up to 12 percent or Taka

100 cashback offer which

could be redeemable once

during the campaign.

The instant cashback offer

of Nagad will continue until

men, women and children, a press release said.

Sohel Farid, the owner of Kraft, launched the

first outlet in Chittagong in 2020. "We have

been conscious of our product quality from the

beginning," he said. "And I can say this utmost

honesty and faith.

At the same time, our products are

affordable.

Nagad offers 12pc cashback

in superstores payment

October 31. Users can enjoy

the offer by doing merchant

payment through app, USSD

or scanning the QR code.

About the campaign, Nagad

Chief Marketing Officer

(CMO) Sheikh Aminur

Rahman said that Nagad is

working to bring any service

to the fingertip of the users

instantly.

heightened in Asia, and

particularly from China.

"Natural gas prices have

climbed to new peaks ... as

insufficient levels of

inventories ahead of the

winter season drive

concerns for a spike in

inflation and energy prices

for consumers," said XTB

analyst Walid Koudmani.

"These supply constraints

could translate into higher

costs of fuel moving into the

winter months, a prospect

which could further slow

down economic recovery

and worsen moods across

markets."

tUeSDAY, oCtober 12, 2021

9

Messi opened the scoring as Argentina thumped neighbors Uruguay 3-0 in an entertaining World

Cup qualifier on Sunday.

photo: Ap

Messi’s Argentina thrash Uruguay,

Brazil lose 100pc qualifying record

SportS DeSk

Lionel Messi opened the scoring as

Argentina thumped neighbors

Uruguay 3-0 in an entertaining World

Cup qualifier on Sunday, reports BSS.

Goals from Rodrigo De Paul and

Lautaro Martinez rounded off a

successful night for Lionel Scaloni's

team in Buenos Aires as they

maintained their unbeaten start to the

qualification campaign and closed the

gap at the top of the single South

American table to six points behind

Brazil, who drew 0-0 with Colombia.

"We played a great match, I think

we're improving a lot," said Messi. "It

was a tough match and we had to win it.

"Uruguay sit back and are dangerous.

Once we scored the first goal we started

to find spaces and many appeared."

The first half was a classic end-to-end

thriller with both sides hitting the

woodwork before Argentina opened

the scoring.

Uruguay's Luis Suarez looked lively

early on and had three gilt-edged

chances, all from the corner of the six

yard box.

Two, including an acrobatic volley,

were parried by goalkeeper Emiliano

Martinez, while his third effort came

back off the near post.

For Argentina, Giovani Lo Celso

skewed wide form 10 yards and

Lautaro Martinez was narrowly unable

to direct De Paul's cross on target.

Lo Celso then broke from deep and

rounded goalkeeper Fernando

SportS DeSk

England head coach Chris

Silverwood believes Joe

Root's leadership played a

key role in ensuring he could

select the strongest possible

squad for the Ashes tour to

Australia, reports BSS.

For several months it

seemed possible the Ashes

would be cancelled due to

the concerns of England's

players and their families

Muslera, but his shot crashed down off

the bar onto the goalline before

bouncing away to safety.

Messi had a low shot from the D

deflected inches past the post and then

broke the deadlock in bizarre fashion.

His chip into the box with the outside

of his left boot was missed by Nicolas

Gonzalez, whose presence seemed to

deceive Muslera, the goalkeeper also

missing the ball as it nestled in the

bottom corner.

Muslera flirted with disaster

moments later when he dribbled past

Martinez in his area but Uruguay's

nerves were rattled and Argentina

doubled their lead with another scrapy

goal.

Messi's pass was deflected into the

path of Martinez whose miss-kick fell

kindly for De Paul to stroke home.

Martinez then had a chance to put the

game to bed in first half stoppage time

but shot straight at Muslera.

He did secure the win, though, on 62

minutes when left unmarked at the

back post to tap in De Paul's cross.

The second half did not match the

thrill-a-minute first but Argentina

controlled the game. It could have been

worse for Uruguay but Muslera made a

fine double save from Angel Di Maria

and Messi in the last minute.

The returning Neymar could not

inspire Brazil to victory as hosts

Colombia ended their perfect start to

the qualification campaign in

Barraquilla.

The Selecao had won their first nine

about Australia's tough

coronavirus quarantine

rules.

England vice-captain Jos

Buttler was among the

senior players to express

doubts about taking part in

the series, which starts in

Brisbane on December 8.

But Silverwood said Test

skipper

Root's

compassionate, diplomatic

approach helped get the

players to buy into the tour

eventually.

When Silverwood revealed

England's 17-man Ashes

squad on Sunday, there were

no objectors or opt-outs

from the list. "There were a

lot of negotiations that went

on and one thing we did see

was a lot of class from our

captain. He really did lead

from the front," Silverwood

said.

qualifiers, scoring 22 goals to lead the

table by eight points before kick-off.

Coach Tite's side are still almost

certain to qualify for next year's finals in

Qatar as they maintain a 13-point lead

over fifth-placed Colombia, with the

top four progressing automatically.

"Neymar did well as the team's

leader," said Tite, but "he was well

marshalled" by a Colombian side that

has "more technical qualities than

other teams."

Brazil started brightly and dominated

the opening quarter as Colombia

goalkeeper David Ospina made saves

from Neymar and Lucas Paqueta.

Neymar's cute reverse pass then put

Paqueta in one-on-one with Ospina but

on the stretch he poked the ball wide.

Neymar was at the heart of much of

Brazil's attacks but when he teed up a

teammate on the edge of the area, it

was defensive midfielder Fred who

appeared on the scene, and it was no

surprise to see him blaze over the bar

from 18 yards.

Colombia grew more adventurous in

the second half and Brazil goalkeeper

Alisson Becker saved efforts from

Mateus Uribe and Juan Quintero, while

Radamel Falcao had the ball in the net

20 minutes from time but it was

disallowed for a foul on Militao.

Raphinha almost fashioned a winner

for Brazil when he picked out fellow

substitute Antony with a perfect inswinging

delivery, only for Ospina to

make a brilliant reaction save from

point-blank range.

Silverwood hails Root’s influence

over Ashes squad

england head coach Chris Silverwood believes Joe root's leadership

played a key role in ensuring he could select the strongest possible squad

for the Ashes tour to Australia.

photo: Ap

"I can't emphasise enough

how classy he was within

those negotiations and the

way he listened to both sides

of the argument.

"He showed a lot of

empathy and a lot of really

good leadership skills to get

the players to this point. His

players have got behind him

and will follow him, so will I

and my staff.

"What it has done, I think,

is galvanise his position as a

leader. All the boys have

recognised that, all my staff

have recognised that and it

has made us all pull in

behind him."

England's star all-rounder

Ben Stokes remains on an

indefinite break from cricket

while he prioritises his

mental health and recovers

from a finger injury.

There appears to be some

logistical wriggle room for

Stokes to join up with the

Ashes squad as a late arrival.

But, considering the

sensitivity of his situation,

Silverwood refused to give

any indication if that could

happen.

"There will be no pressure

from me for him to rush

back. When Ben isnready,

he'll give me a call and then

we'll cross that bridge when

we come to it," he said.

"My first intent is to make

sure he's OK from a wellbeing

point of view.

Denmark, Germany bid to wrap

up World Cup spots

SportS DeSk

Denmark can qualify for the 2022

World Cup with victory over Austria on

Tuesday, while Germany could book a

spot in Qatar when they visit North

Macedonia on Monday, reports BSS.

Belgium could also secure a place in

next year's finals if Wales fail to win

against Estonia in Tallinn, also on

Monday.

However, the Danes are the only

side heading into the next round of

European qualifiers not needing other

results to go their way to progress.

The Euro 2020 semi-finalists have

impressed with seven straight wins,

without conceding a goal, to move

seven points clear of second-placed

Scotland in Group F.

Group winners qualify automatically

for the tournament, with the runnersup

heading into playoffs alongside two

sides from the Nations League.

The electric atmosphere at

Copenhagen's Parken Stadium played a

big part in the Danes' European

Championship run, which started with

the loss to Finland when Christian

Eriksen suffered a shocking collapse

mid-match.

The agonising last-four defeat by

England at Wembley could have

derailed Kasper Hjulmand's men, but

they are the only country in European

qualifying still with a 100-percent

record. Three more points would

ensure the next chapter of the team's

journey will be at the World Cup.

They will also qualify with a draw if

Scotland are held by the Faroe Islands,

or if the Scots lose.

Denmark could be the first team to

join hosts Qatar in reaching the global

showpiece, if results do not go Belgium

and Germany's way on Monday.

Germany can wrap up top spot in

Group J with victory when they visit

North Macedonia, if Armenia lose or

draw in Romania.

The four-time world champions

have recovered after a shock home

defeat by the North Macedonians in

March, winning all four qualifiers

under new coach Hansi Flick.

World Cup-winning boss Joachim

Loew left after a difficult end to his

reign, with that loss to North

Macedonia following a 6-0 humbling

by Spain, before a last-16 exit at Euro

2020 to old rivals England.

But former Bayern Munich coach

Flick has seen young players including

Denmark can qualify for the 2022 World Cup with victory over Austria on tuesday.

Big Bash League

scraps plans for

TV umpire

SportS DeSk

Australia's Big Bash League

has abandoned plans to

introduce TV umpires this

year due to border closures

and problems getting the

technology and operators to

venues, officials said Monday,

reports BSS.

The Twenty20 tournament

had planned to use Decision

Review System (DRS) for the

season starting December 5,

with a full home-and-away

schedule after a series of

controversial umpiring

decisions in 2020-21.

But the need to get

government exemptions for

up to 15 British-based

operators to enter Australia,

and then move them and the

equipment around the

country to 14 venues with

states having their own Covid

regulations proved too great a

challenge.

"It just got to a point where

we couldn't reliably be clear

that we could do all 61 games

in a way the competition

would warrant," Alistair

Dobson, Head of Big Bash

Leagues, told cricket.com.au.

"It's a combination of

people, technology, time and

setup. Introducing that in a

normal year for the first time

will be a challenging project,

so to overlay all the other

issues we're dealing with, it's

just a step too far."

Most other domestic T20

leagues, including the Indian

Premier League and the

Hundred, use or have used

DRS.

Despite this, Cricket

Australia said it expected the

system to be available for the

upcoming men's Ashes series

against England, which is an

easier logistical operation

with only five venues.

Covid committee to

decide on T20 World

Cup matches : ICC

SportS DeSk

The fate of Twenty20 World

Cup matches if players test

Covid positive will be decided

by a committee and not by

the member boards, the

global governing body said

Sunday, reports BSS.

T20 cricket's showpiece

events begins October 17 in

the United Arab Emirates

and Oman with the

International Cricket Council

hoping for a smooth

tournament amid

coronavirus concerns.

India's pull out just two

hours before the toss of the

fifth Manchester Test due to

Covid fears in their camp last

month left the England and

Wales Cricket board facing

financial losses and was a

reminder of the uncertain

times.

ICC's acting chief executive

Geoff Allardice said any such

last-minute decisions will be

taken by a bio-safety advisory

group.

"We have a committee set

up to look at any cases that

arise during the event and

they will look at identifying

close contacts and taking

decisions around future

events," Allardice told a

virtual news conference

"Any decisions around

matches will be taken by that

committee and it's not going

to be something that's going

to be dealt with by the

members as it may do in

bilateral cricket.

The 16 nations at the

World Cup will be confined

to their hotels for the

majority of the month-long

tournament.

Allardice also played down

Afghanistan's participation

with spotlight on the wartorn

nation due to the recent

takeover of Taliban.

"When the change of

regime took place in

Afghanistan in August, we

have been in regular touch

with the Afghanistan Cricket

Board," said Allardice.

"Our primary function is to

support the development of

cricket in that country

through the member board.

We have said all along that

we are waiting to see how

things unfold under the

different regime in that

country.

"The ICC board will

consider it when they next

meet which is looking like the

end of the T20 World Cup."

Australia Test captain Tim

Paine recently said teams

could pull out of the World

Cup or boycott games against

Afghanistan over the

Taliban's reported ban on

women participating in

sport.

Allardice said there was no

doubt over Afghanistan's

participation in the

showpiece event.

"They are full member of

the ICC and the team is

preparing for the event at the

moment and will be playing

in Group B," he said.

"As far as their

participation in the event, it's

proceeding as normal."

Meanwhile the decision

review system will be used

for the first time in a T20

World Cup and Allardice said

there will be two reviews in

each innings.

Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala come

through, while wingers Leroy Sane and

Serge Gnabry have started to find form.

"The earlier we qualify, the better.

Today was a big step. Now we want to

make it clear on Monday," Gnabry said

after Friday's 2-1 win over Romania.

World number one-ranked side

Belgium could also qualify despite not

being in action due to their

participation in the Nations League

finals, where they finished fourth.

Roberto Martinez's men are eight

points clear of the Czech Republic and

Wales with two matches to play and

will be sure of first place if the Welsh

drop points in their game in hand

against Estonia.

Elsewhere, England could move to

the brink of qualification in a home

clash with Hungary on Tuesday, when

their nearest Group I rivals Albania and

Poland meet in Tirana.

Sweden are looking to move two

points clear of Spain at the Group B

summit with victory against Greece on

Tuesday.

Switzerland have a chance to edge

level on points with European

champions Italy in Group C when they

take on Lithuania in Vilnius.

photo: Ap

Im roars to US

PGA Tour title

in Las Vegas

SportS DeSk

South Korean Im Sung-jae

torched the TPC Summerlin

course with nine birdies in a

nine-under-par 62 on Sunday

to win the PGA Tour's

Shriners' Children's Open by

four strokes, reports BSS.

Im's impeccable day

included a 30-foot birdie to

open his round and five

birdies in a row from the ninth

through the 13th as he built a

24-under-par total of 260 in

Las Vegas.

That was plenty for a player

who started the day three

shots off the pace and finished

with his second US tour title,

four strokes in front of

American Matthew Wolff.

Wolff had five birdies in a

three-under-par 68 that put

him on 20-under 264.

He sneaked past a group

that shared third on 19-under:

Australian Marc Leishman,

Slovakian Rory Sabbatini and

American Adam Schenk.

Leishman climbed the

leaderboard with an eightunder

63 that featured nine

birdies and one bogey.

Sabbatini fired a 64 and

overnight leader Schenk

settled for a 70.

Im, the PGA Tour's 2019

rookie of the year, had

captured his first title at the

2020 Honda Classic.

"It was very tough to get my

first win but I felt like the

second one was harder and

harder," the 23-year-old said.

"But I kept my patience. I

tried to stay composed

throughout the period and I'm

glad it came."

Playing partner Chad

Ramey had a close-up view of

Im's impressive round.

"He hit it well and his putter

got hot," Ramey said.

TUesDAY, ocToBeR 12 , 2021

10

Foad Nasser teams up with 9

artists in Puja songs

Chanchal's 'Taqdeer' receives

Promax India Award

TBT RepoRT

Chanchal Chowdhury starrer acclaimed web series

titled 'Taqdeer' wins an award in India. Directed by

Syed Ahmed Shawki the web series premiered on

Hoichoi in December 2020. The series has now

won the Best Regional Web Series of the year in the

'Gold' category in the prestigious Promax India

Award.

Promax works with the marketing of the Indian

entertainment industry, there was a competition

among other nominated contents from ZEE5

Global, Alt Balaji, Hotstar and Voot, in which

Hoichoi's 'Taqdeer' was recognised as the best web

series of the year.

The eight episode web series features actor

Chanchal Chowdhury, along with talented artistes

Ratree debuts in acting with

short film titled 'Nari'

TBT RepoRT

Before Ratree's debut, her elder sister

popular theatre, television and film actor

of present generation Chamok Tara

started her career in acting. Basically

her elder sister's inspiration, Ratree

came into the field of acting. Student

of Class-VII, Ratree has already

acted in a short film titled 'Nari',

which was released on Sunday on

YouTube channel of Chamok

Tara.

Directed by Chamok Tara,

Iftekhar Ahmed Nabil wrote

story of the short film. Ratree

started her acting career

under elder sister's

direction. For this reason,

she is very much excited.

While sharing her

feelings in this regard

Ratree said, "When Apu

started acting in

theatre, TV and

cinema I did not

know what is acting.

But at one stage, I

understood about

acting. From that

time, I dreamt to

stand in front of

the camera. But

due to various

reasons, I

couldn't get the

scope for

acting. In the

meantime, Apu

like Manoj Pramanik, Sanjida Preety, Partha Barua,

and Sohel Mondal Rana, among others. 'Taqdeer'

produced by Syed Ahmed Shawki, a young

producer from Dhaka.

Receiving the award, Sakib R Khan, Head of

Hoichoi Bangladesh, said, "The Promax India

Digital Reinvent Awards is prestigious. Receiving

this award still seems surreal to me. It would be

better if a story born from the heart of Dhaka were

awarded among the best Indian content.

"It was a truly honourable moment to see a story

born out of the heartland of Dhaka, being

nominated among some of the best Indian content

and winning Gold from a global platform like

Promax. The entire team of Hoichoi and 'Taqdeer'

is extremely overwhelmed with this success," he

concludes.

launched her YouTube channel. She released

some works there. She also got response for

those works on her YouTube channel. From

that time, I started to see dream more. At

last, after acting in short film Nari my

dream came into true. ChamokApu did

not make me nervous during shooting

of the short film. But I was nervous it's

true but tried to give my level best

effort to portray my character

properly. Now viewers will give

their judgment about my

performance in the short film."

Ratree also said, "If my family cooperates

me, then I will be regular in

acting. According to Ratree, her elder

sister Chamok is her favourite actor

because Ratree was brought up to

watch her sister's acting. For this

reason, I like my sister's acting. My

mother is our world. We miss our

father a lot. If my father was alive

he will surely become happy for

us."

Chamok Tara said, "Now

Ratree will work only for

my YouTube channel. She

will study properly now.

There are many times

for her acting. Basically

Ratree started acting

only for fascination. If

she wants to take

acting professionally I

have no objection in

this regard. At first,

she should complete

study successfully."

TBT RepoRT

Musician Foad Nasser Babu has

teamed up with nine promising

artists for two brand-new songs

on the occasion of Durga Puja,

the biggest festival of the Hindu

community.

The singers are-Samarjit Roy,

Bijon Mistri, Chanda

Chakraborty, Utpala Das,

Ananya Acharya, Swapnil

Sajeeb, AP Shubho, Raka Popi

and Sushmita Saha.

Lyricist Sumon Saha penned

both songs titled - 'Sharat-er Nil

Akash'

and

'BachharGhureTumi Abar Ele

Ma'. Babu has composed the

music for the songs. Of the

singers, Samarjit Roy, Bijon

Mistri, Chanda Chakraborty

and Utpala Das have lent their

voices to 'Sharat-er Nil Akash'

while 'Bachar GhureTumi Abar

Ele Ma' have been sung by

Bollywood and Hollywood actress Priyanka

Chopra Jonas has given various hit projects

all around the globe! The Bollywood diva

recently opened up about having some

restrictions on what she will be uploading on

Ananya Acharya, Swapnil

Rajib, AP Shubho, Raka Popy

and Sushmita Saha.

Both songs have been

produced for a special

programme on Bangladesh

Television (BTV), 'Sharad

Ananda', to celebrate the Durga

Puja. Regarding the songs,

Foad Nasser Babu said,

"Earlier, I had to do

composition and music

arrangement for many songs

which were very close to the

category of 'Kirtan' (devotional

song), while working on movie

songs. I worked on a Puja song

for the very first time in 2020

which was warmly accepted by

the audience." "It feels good

that we have done the songs

nicely. I always love to

collaborate with the younger

artists. I have enjoyed the

teamwork with the performers

in the two new songs this time

as well," he told. The celebrated

composer expressed gratitude

to Sumon Saha and BTV for the

collaboration. "Lyricist Suman

Saha's words have influenced

the songs a lot. I hope the

audience will like the new Puja

songs," he said. All the

her social media account from now on.

The actress said that she's a very guarded

person and even if she's quite open about

posting pictures of herself, her husband

Nick Jonas and her family online, there are

few things that her fans 'will never see'.

Priyanka Chopra was featured on the first

episode of the Victoria's 'Secret Voices'

podcast, hosted by Amanda de Cadene.

There she opened up about the toxic and

'unsafe' nature of the internet and that the

actor has taught herself to be in control,

even when she isn't really.

On the Podcast, Priyanka Chopra said,

"I'm very private; my family, my home, my

feelings, I keep them closely guarded."

When she was asked how she determines

what she wants to 'keep private', Priyanka

said, "I don't have kids yet, so I don't know

what to feel about that. It's something that

I'd like to think about sooner than later. I

performing singers in 'Sharater

Nil Akash' and 'Bachhar

Ghure Tumi Abar Ele Ma' will

be seen in the music videos on

'Sharad Ananda' during the

Durga Puja. Both songs are also

expected to be released on the

internet.

Priyanka Chopra compares

herself to 'street dog'

think with me, I don't like digging too deep.

I'll maybe show an image of me and my

husband, or me and my mom and my

brother, but you'll never see what actually

happens within the sacred, safe space of my

home."

The actress continued, "It's a little bit

ornamental, I feel what I share, and unless

I'm having a moment where I feel

vulnerable, talk about my feelings in a

caption or something. I've to build a very

hard exterior. I started in this business when

I was 17, predominantly in a patriarchal

industry, and you kind of had to toughen up

and pull up your boots to just survive. And

you're not allowed to feel anything. I built

myself to be a survivor, to be a street dog,

who's going to be like, 'I'm going to do

whatever I need and do it with grace and

dignity'."

Source: Mid-Day

'Resident Evil 2021' movie poster

teases zombie origin story

The Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City

poster teases the origins of the T Virus and

zombie outbreak in the titular American city.

The 2021 film is inspired by Capcom's iconic

survival-horror video game franchise. It is

unconnected to the first 'Resident Evil' film

series that was directed by Paul W.S.

Anderson, with Johannes Roberts taking on

directorial duties.

'Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City'

adapts the events of the first 2 games where

the Midwestern town of Raccoon City

becomes overrun by the undead following the

outbreak of an experimental virus at a

mansion in the surrounding mountains. A

small group of survivors sets out to uncover

the truth behind the horror and expose the

Umbrella Pharmaceutical Company's

involvement. Following the release of the

film's first trailer, a new teaser poster for the

film has been revealed.

Posted on the 'Resident Evil' Twitter

account, the film's poster sets the more serious

tone of the upcoming release while leaning

into the franchise's key settings. The poster

features a bloodied and torn umbrella inspired

by the villainous Umbrella Corporation's logo

in front of the Raccoon City Police

Department, an iconic location from the

second and third game that's been faithfully

recreated for the film. The poster also features

the film's title and tagline, "Witness The

Beginning Of Evil," while also featuring the

films' November 24th release date.

'Welcome To Raccoon City' was announced

in 2017 following the release of 'Resident Evil:

The Final Chapter', with producers confirming

a reboot, which was in the works. Roberts

joined the project in 2018, taking up directing

duties and becoming the writer, following

'Mortal Kombat' writer, Greg Roberts, leaving

the protect. Photos of the film's cast were

released in August 2021, showing off Kaya

Scodelerio, AvanJogia, Robbie Amell, Hannah

John-Kamen.

Source: Deccan Chronicle

H o R o s c o p e

ARIes

(March 21 - April 20) : Have you been

thinking about moving? Perhaps

you've even bought a new home.

Whatever your situation, you may

execute some paperwork today, perhaps an

agreement with a realtor or contractor, or maybe

escrow papers. This could be frustrating, as the

wording of the documents might seem obscure. Get

it out of the way. You won't regret it!

TAURUs

(April 21 - May 21) : A new, exciting

neighbor could move in near you. If

you're single, this person might be a

potential romantic partner. If you aren't,

you could make a new friend. When you meet, you

could hit it off immediately and talk for hours. But

don't monopolize this person's time. You won't want

to disrupt the moving process. Don't be shy about

seeking this person out later.

GeMINI

(May 22 - June 21) : Have you been

waiting to execute some paperwork

regarding money? If so, you might finally

be able to do it today. Your signature on

these documents may represent the first step to

increased income as well as a whole new life, perhaps

even something as subtle as a transformed state of

mind. The change could be as monumental as a move

to a distant place. Make the most of it.

cANceR

(June 22 - July 23) : Transformation of

your life, even your very being, may

have been in the works for some time.

Today you could finally see it made

manifest. Dreams come true, perhaps in an

unconventional and unexpected manner. Don't move

too quickly or eagerly. Think carefully before

committing to any plans. Don't be afraid to consult

others. Move cautiously and good fortune will follow.

Leo

(July 24 - Aug. 23): Have you been

concentrating strongly on spiritual

studies for a while? Do you meditate

regularly? If so, don't be surprised if

insights and revelations come to mind today. Write

them down. There will be too many to remember.

If you're inclined toward writing, you might set

your ideas down in a book, perhaps with publishing

in mind. Doors open wide for you.

VIRGo

(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23): Today you'll meet

a very compatible and exciting circle

of new friends. These people may be

from foreign countries, or they

might be involved in professions in religion, law,

or education. They'll feel like kindred spirits.

You'll be able to talk with them for hours.

Whatever their circumstances, these people

could be your friends for life.

LIBRA

(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): Today an opportunity

may come your way that causes you to

consider changing your career. No matter

what you've been involved with up to now,

education could attract you, perhaps involving

metaphysical or philosophical subjects. Is transforming

your working life the right thing to do now? Only you

know. Bear in mind that this opportunity may be a gift

from the Universe. Follow your heart.

scoRpIo

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) : New beginnings

are heralded today, particularly where

travel, education, and legal matters

are concerned. Difficult decisions may

need to be made. Don't agonize over them.

Whatever you decide should work out beautifully.

Think carefully about your plans. Take care of any

paperwork that you've put off before moving on to

more interesting matters.

sAGITTARIUs

(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): Your dreams may

hold the key to your future financial

success. Though the symbols that your

unconscious sends could be obscure, it

would pay you to try to make sense of them. You may

have had experiences in the past that enable you to

make practical decisions now, especially concerning

money. Make a list of your insights and check them

out. You'll find this useful!

cApRIcoRN

(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20): The primary focus

today should be on romance and

commitment. Have you been thinking

about getting married? If so, you could

be surprised to learn that your significant other has

been thinking the same thing. This could be the end

of a long period of uncertainty. It's apt to prove a

very healing experience. Don't be surprised if people

tell you how attractive you look!

AQUARIUs

(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) : A new addition to

your routine may be in the works.

Whether this involves work that

produces additional income or is of a

voluntary nature, you can expect your tasks to

change in some way, probably for the better. You

could also be thrown in with people you find

compatible.

pIsces

(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20) : A new

romance is definitely in the air. This

could be a renewal of he romance

within a current relationship or, if

you're single, someone new and exciting might

cross your path. This person could be from a distant

place or in a profession such as law or education.

Whatever your situation, the feeling is going to

persist at least through next month.

TueSDAY, OCTOBeR 12, 2021

11

MCC Mayor Md. Ikramul Haque Titu inaugurated five development works in Ward No. 21 of

Mymensingh City Corporation on Monday.

Photo: Ali Ahsan Raj

Southern California

beach set to reopen

after oil spill

HUNTINGTON BEACH : A

Southern California beach

that had been closed since

an undersea pipeline leaked

crude into ocean waters last

week is set to reopen

Monday, officials

announced Sunday night.

City and state beaches in

Huntington Beach will

reopen after water quality

tests revealed no detectable

levels of oil associated toxins

in the ocean water, the city of

Huntington Beach and

California State Parks said in

a news release. They are still

urging visitors to avoid areas

that smell of oil and not to

touch any oiled materials

that wash ashore, reports

UNB.

That news will likely

please surfers and beachgoers

like Richard Beach,

who returned to the waves in

Huntington Beach with his

bodyboard - until lifeguards

jet skis chased him out on

Sunday. He trekked back

across the beach, passing

workers in hazmat suits

tasked with clearing the

sand of sticky, black blobs

that washed ashore after the

spill.

"The water's perfect," said

Beach, 69. "Clear all the way

to the bottom."

Huntington Beach and

nearby coastal communities

have been reeling from last

week's spill that officials said

sent at least about 25,000

gallons (95,000 liters) and

no more than 132,000

gallons (500,000 liters) of

oil into the ocean.

New Zealand's doctors

and teachers must

soon be vaccinated

WELLINGTON, New

Zealand : Most of New

Zealand's health care workers

and teachers will soon be

legally required to get

vaccinated against the

coronavirus, the government

announced Monday.

A new mandate compels

doctors, pharmacists,

community nurses and many

other health care workers to

be fully vaccinated by

December. Teachers and

other education workers

must be fully vaccinated by

January, reports UNB.

COVID-19 Response

Minister Chris Hipkins said

many in those professions

had already gotten their jabs

but they couldn't leave

anything to chance, especially

because those people deal

with sick patients and young

children who aren't yet

approved for the vaccine

themselves.

"It's not an easy decision,

but we need the people who

work with vulnerable

communities who haven't yet

been vaccinated to take this

extra step," Hipkins said.

New Zealand already

requires many people who

work at the border to be

vaccinated.

The announcement comes

as New Zealand battles an

outbreak of the highly

transmissible delta variant in

its largest city, Auckland.

Multiple development works

inaugurated in Mymensingh City

Ali Ahsan Raj, Mymensingh Correspondent

Mayor Md. Ikramul Haque Titu

inaugurated five development works in

Ward No. 21 of Mymensingh City

Corporation at a cost of Taka 5 crore 27 lakh.

All these works were inaugurated on

Monday noon.

The works include construction of drain

pipe of 400 m at BAU 02 Gate, 1350 m

behind BAU Suhrawardy Hall, 500 m from

BAU E / 5 Quarter to Baishakhi Chattar,

620 m RCC road behind BFRI water tank

and 900 feet from BAU 1st Gate to

administrative building 9 Construction.

During the time, the mayor said, the

proper quality of roads, drains or any

development work built for the people must

be ensured. No one will be exempted on the

question of quality. He further said that

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is sincere

about the people of Mymensingh City. She

has given city corporations and multiple

development projects for the development

of the people of the city. Strict action will be

taken if there is any weakness in the proper

implementation of these projects.

During the time, Mymensingh City

Corporation Panel Mayor-0 Samima

Akhter, Councilor of 21 no Ward Md.

Mostafa Faruq, Councilor of Ward no 25

Md. Monowar Hossain, Executive Engineer

Md. Zahirul Haque, Assistant Engineer Md.

Jasim Uddin, local Notable personalities

were present.

German companies

urge next government

to step up on climate

BERLIN : Dozens of large German

companies have urged the country's next

government to put in place ambitious

policies to meet the goals of the Paris climate

accord.

In an open letter Monday, 69 companies

said the next government needs to put

Germany "on a clear and reliable path to

climate neutrality" with a plan for doing so

within its first 100 days in office.

The signatories included chemicals giant

Bayer, steelmaker ThyssenKrupp and

sportswear firm Puma.

The center-left Social Democrats narrowly

beat outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's

conservative Union bloc in last month

election. They are due to meet Monday with

the environmentalist Greens party and the

pro-business Free Democrats to discuss

forming a coalition government.

"Climate protection was the decisive topic

in the federal election and the parties must

place it at the top of their agenda in building

the new federal government," said Michael

Otto, board chairman of mail order company

Otto Group and president of the Foundation

2 Degrees, which organized the letter.

Earlier this year, Merkel's government

adopted a plan to reduce the country's

greenhouse gas emissions to 'net zero' by

2045, five years earlier than previously

planned.

But official figures show that Germany is

slipping behind on its ambitions for cutting

greenhouse gases, with 2021 emissions

forecast to rebound sharply after a

pandemic-related economic slump.

The foundation, which says its members

have an annual turnover of about 1 trillion

euros ($1.16 trillion) and employ more than

five million people worldwide, wants the

next government to support the rollout of

renewable energy and enact a climatefriendly

tax reform that includes a

strengthened carbon pricing system to

prevent investments in power-hungry

industries going abroad.

Pointing toward the upcoming U.N.

climate summit in Glasgow and Germany's

presidency of the Group of Seven major

economies next year, the companies said the

government must also work to set

international standards for the global

financial system and climate-neutral

products.

"As businesses, we are prepared to fulfil

our central role in climate action. We call

upon the new German government to make

the transformation to climate neutrality the

central economic project of the coming

legislative period," they said.

Czech president hospitalized;

Could affect forming new govt

PRAGUE : Czech President Milos Zeman was

rushed to the hospital on Sunday, a day after the

country held parliamentary election in which

populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis' party

surprisingly came in second and Zeman has a key

role in establishing a new government, reports

UNB.

The Czech presidency is largely ceremonial but

the president chooses which political leader can try

to form the next government. Earlier Sunday,

Zeman met with Babis, his close ally, but the prime

minister made no comment as he left the

presidential chateau in Lany, near Prague. On

Saturday, the centrist ANO (Yes) party led by

Babis, a populist billionaire, narrowly lost the

Czech Republic's election, which could spell the

end of the euroskeptic leader's reign in the

European Union nation of 10.7 million people.

North Korea threatens

top UN body after

emergency meeting

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA :

North Korea has warned the

U.N. Security Council

against criticizing the

isolated country's missile

program, in a statement

Sunday that included

unspecified threats against

the international body,

reports UNB.

During an emergency

closed-door meeting of the

top U.N. body Friday, France

circulated a proposed

statement that expresses

concern over North Korea's

missile launches and calls on

it to fully implement council

resolutions that ban its

ballistic missile firings.

On Sunday, Jo Chol Su, a

senior North Korean Foreign

Ministry official, warned the

U.N. council it "had better

think what consequences it

will bring in the future in

case it tries to encroach upon

the sovereignty" of North

Korea.

UN peacekeeper killed,

3 injured following

mine explosion in

northeastern Mali

BAMAKO : A United

Nations Multidimensional

Integrated Stabilization

Mission in Mali

(MINUSMA) peacekeeper

was killed and three were

seriously injured following

the explosion of an

improvised explosive device

in the northeast of Mali, a

UN official said.

The head of the UN

mission, El-Ghassim Wane,

announced Saturday on his

Twitter account that it was a

MINUSMA vehicle that hit

an improvised explosive

device near Tessalit of Kidal

region.

"The death toll is one and

three serious injuries ... This

reminds us of the ongoing

danger to our peacekeepers

and the sacrifices made for

peace in Mali," Wane

tweeted.

At least 12 killed in

highway accident in

northeastern Brazil

BRASILIA : At least 12

people were killed and more

than 20 injured after a truck

crashed into a bus and a van

on Wednesday night on

Brazil's BR 101 highway,

near the city of Novo Mundo

in Bahia state, the Federal

Highway Police said on

Thursday, reports UNB.

According to the report,

the accident occurred at

about 8:30 p.m. local time

on Wednesday.

The truck was loaded with

eucalyptus logs and was

heading to the city of

Itabuna in Bahia, but on a

curve the vehicle's extension

detached and hit both the

bus and the van coming in

the opposite direction head

on, and the logs fell on the

vehicles.

The drivers of the bus and

the van died on the spot,

while the truck driver fled

the scene of the accident.

The injured were taken to

hospitals in the cities of

Eunapolis and Porto Seguro,

with six in serious condition.

Due to strong currents in the Padma river, ferry services have been declared closed again on

Shimulia in Munshiganj and Banglabazar in Madaripur routes. BIWTC took the decision to avoid the

accident as the intensity of Padma suddenly increased on Monday.

Photo: TBT

Community dialogue on

good governance held

A daylong community dialogue on "Good

Governance" was held in Sitakunda,

Chattogram. The focus of the dialogue was

engaging the community in the main stream

of development activities actively by

building awareness and strengthening

knowledge level on Right to information, its

application and liberal values.

The community dialogue was jointly

organized by Bangladesh NGOs Network for

Radio and Communication with the

technical support of Friedrich Naumann

Foundation for Freedom (FNF Bangladesh)

in the Upazila Parishad Auditorium,

Sitakunda, Chattogram, a press release said.

In his welcome speech, Omar Mostafiz,

Programme Manager, FNF Bangladesh

described the perspective of Friedrich

Naumann Foundation for Freedom and its

venture in Bangladesh. Mark Manash Saha

have shared the goal and objectives of the

community dialogue and invited the

participants to raise the relevant issues

related to good governance context of

Sitakunda, Chattogram.

In his speech, Shahadat Hossain, Chief

guest and Upazila Nirbahi Officer,

Sitakunda said that good governance

couldn't be established without

transparency, accountability and

community engagement. He urged that we

have limitations so good governance can

only be established with the collective

initiatives of government, NGOs, CSOs and

communities and knock at the right doors,

no via medium and just now.

In his speech, Dr. Nur Uddin Rashed,

Special guest and Upazila Health and

Family Planning Officer, Sitakunda said that

in the Upazila Health complex there is no

broker/mid-Manship at present. As a result,

the people are getting service support

without harassment. The number of

patients is increasing day by day. People are

now getting updates of the Upazila health

services through ICT i.e. social media.

The panelists of the dialogue have

introduced them with availability and

services. They acknowledged that

community engagement is a must for

establishing good governance. The

participants raised their queries and

questions to the related panelists and they

attended those accordingly. Both panelists

and participants expressed their positive

impression that due to Right to Information

Act. 2009, now people can ask for

information and they get it by following the

procedure. But most of the people do not

know about the procedure. As a result,

transparency and accountability is ensured.

Now, the main challenge is to building

awareness among the communities and

encourage them to follow the procedure to

get information and available services.

A total of 60 representatives of

government and non-government officials,

teachers, layers, COSs, Cultural activists,

women leaders, ethnic and transgender

groups, media activists and community

radio broadcasters have participated in the

dialogue.

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB-12) and Bangladesh Standards and Testing

Institution (BSTI) raided two institutions in Bogura and seized a large

quantity of goods, fined them Tk 30,000 and filed a case. Photo : TBT

Navy nuclear engineer charged

with trying to pass secrets

WASHINGTON : A Navy

nuclear engineer with access

to military secrets has been

charged with trying to pass

information about the

design of American nuclearpowered

submarines to

someone he thought was a

representative of a foreign

government but who turned

out to be an undercover FBI

agent, the Justice

Department said Sunday,

reports UNB.

In a criminal complaint

detailing espionage-related

charges against Jonathan

Toebbe, the government

said he sold information for

nearly the past year to a

contact he believed

represented a foreign power.

That country was not named

in the court documents.

Toebbe, 42, was arrested in

West Virginia on Saturday

along with his wife, Diana,

45, after he had placed a

removable memory card at a

prearranged "dead drop" in

the state, according to the

Justice Department.

It wasn't immediately

clear whether the Toebbes,

who are from Annapolis,

Maryland, have lawyers. The

Navy declined to comment

Sunday.

The FBI says the scheme

began in April 2020 when

Jonathan Toebbe sent a

package of Navy documents

to a foreign government and

wrote that he was interested

in selling to that country

operations manuals,

performance reports and

other sensitive information.

Authorities say he also

provided instructions for

how to conduct the furtive

relationship, with a letter

that said: "I apologize for

this poor translation into

your language. Please

forward this letter to your

military intelligence agency.

I believe this information

will be of great value to your

nation. This is not a hoax."

That package, which had a

return address in Pittsburgh,

was obtained by the FBI last

December through its legal

attache office in the

unspecified foreign country.

The court documents don't

explain how the FBI came to

receive the package or from

whom.

In any event, the FBI used

Toebbe's outreach as the

launching pad for a

monthslong undercover

operation in which an agent

posing as a representative of

a foreign contact made

contact with Toebbe and

agreed to pay thousands of

dollars in cryptocurrency for

the information that Toebbe

was offering.

After weeks of back and

forth over email, the

undercover agent in June

sent Toebbe about $10,000

in cryptocurrency,

describing it as a sign of

good faith and trust, the FBI

says.

Weeks later, federal agents

watched as the Toebbes

arrived at an agreed-upon

location in West Virginia for

the exchange, with Diana

Toebbe appearing to serve as

a lookout for her husband

during a dead-drop

operation for which the FBI

paid $20,000.

The FBI recovered a blue

memory card wrapped in

plastic and placed between

two slices of bread on a half

of a peanut butter sandwich,

court documents say. The

records on the memory card

included design elements

and performance

characteristics of Virginiaclass

submarine reactors.

The Justice Department

describes those submarines

as "cruise missile fast-attack

submarines, which

incorporate the latest in

stealth, intelligence

gathering, and weapons

systems technology."

Iran's 20-pct enriched

uranium stockpile exceeds

120 kg: nuke chief

TEHRAN : The head of

Atomic Energy Organization

of Iran (AEOI) said that his

country's stockpile of 20-

percent enriched uranium

has exceeded 120 kg, Tasnim

news agency reported on

Sunday.

Regarding the storage of 20

percent enriched uranium,

"we have exceeded 120 kg and

in this matter, we are ahead of

the plan," Mohammad

Eslami, the head of the AEOI,

was quoted as saying.

According to 2015 nuclear

deal, also known as the Joint

Comprehensive Plan of

Action (JCPOA), "20-percent

uranium fuel was supposed to

be given to the Tehran

reactor, but it was not given,"

Eslami said.

"If we had not started

producing this amount of fuel

ourselves, this has turned into

one of our problems today,"

he added, reports UNB.

Tuesday, Dhaka: October 12, 2021; ashwin 27, 1428 BS; Rabi-ul awal 4, 1443 Hijri

NBR urged to withdraw, slash

duties on 4 essential items

DHAKA : The Ministry of

Commerce has urged the National

Board of Revenue (NBR) to withdraw

customs duty on onion

import, aiming to keep its price

stable in the market, reports UNB.

The ministry also urged the

NBR to slash import duties on

crude soybean oil, palm oil and

sugar to cool the overheated

domestic market.

The request was made at a

meeting of the Ministry of

Commerce at the Secretariat on

Monday to keep the stock, supply,

import and price situation of the

commodities stable.

"NBR has been requested to

withdraw the import duty on

onion, and reduce the duties on

crude soybean, palm oil and

unrefined sugar in public interest,"

additional secretary to

Import and Internal Trade division

of the Commerce Ministry

AHM Safiquzzaman said at the

meeting.

The Ministry of Agriculture has

been requested to issue IP by

completing the quarantine examination

of imported onions as soon

as possible, he added.

According to the ministry, two

army Chief General S M Shafiuddin ahmed inaugurated army aviation Forward Base Chattogram at

Shah amanat international airport on Monday.

Photo: Star Mail

Turag trawler capsize

2 more bodies

recovered

DHAKA : The death toll from the

trawler capsize in the Turag

River rose to seven with the

recovery of two more bodies on

Monday, reports UNB.

However, the identities of the

deceased could not be known

yet.

Fire service divers recovered

the body of a 30-year-old woman

from the Turag river at

Koylaghat of Aminbazar in the

morning, said Md Raihanul, station

officer (media) of Fire

Service and Civil Defense headquarters.

Later, Naval police recovered

the body of a two-year-old child

from the Muktarpur river in

Munshiganj at noon.

Earlier, the bodies of four children

and a woman were

retrieved from the river on

Saturday.

Kazi Mazharul Islam, officerin-charge

of Savar Police Station,

said the Gabtoli-bound vessel

with 15 people on board capsized

in the river after hitting the bulkhead

off the coast of Savar's

Aminbazar on the outskirts of

Dhaka on Saturday morning.

While eight people managed to

swim to safety, seven others

went missing.

On information, divers from

the local fire service station

rushed to the spot and launched

a rescue operation.

teams, led by Commerce Ministry

officials, regularly monitor important

markets in the Dhaka City

Corporation areas every day.

Market monitoring is also

done in districts and upazilas

led by Deputy Commissioners

and Upazila Nirbahi Officers

and with the help of the officials

of the National Consumers

Rights Protection Department.

To keep the onion market stable

from the experience of the last

year, onion sales started in

September through the Trading

Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).

TCB has been selling 400 to

1000 kg of onions in 400 trucks

every day (20-25 days per month)

since September, 2021. The

amount of onion allotment per

truck will be increased, if

required, said the ministry officials.

Other products-sugar, soybean

oil and lentils-along with

onions are sold regularly. TCB is

running regular sales from

trucks in Dhaka with 80-95

trucks. It has so far procured

15,000 metric tonnes of onion

from India and Turkey, they

said.

Tune of separation now being

played in BNP: Quader

DHAKA : Awami League General

Secretary Obaidul Quader yesterday

said the tune of separation is now

being played in the BNP.

"The clarinet of separation is

being played in BNP's own house

now. One by one, the BNP leaders

are leaving their house (the party).

The tune of division is being played

in the 20-party alliance too," he

said.

Quader, also the road transport

and bridges minister, made the

remarks at the inaugural function of

a conference of five units of

Mohammadpur's Ward-19 AL in the

capital.

He said: "The BNP itself is getting

divided. Now I hear that it would

form committee sitting at home

without holding a central conference...there

is no democracy in the

party. How will they establish

democracy in the country?"

Responding to a comment of

Election Commissioner Mahbub

Talukder, the AL general secretary

said he gets surprised seeing that an

election commissioner is giving

political statements in favour of a

party holding a position in a constitutional

body.

About the country's mega projects,

the road transport and bridges minister

said the prime minister will

inaugurate metro rail, Padma

Bridge, Bus Traffic Transit, Gazipur-

No security threat

during Durga

Puja: RAB DG

DHAKA : Director General (DG) of Rapid Action

Battalion (RAB) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-

Mamun yesterday said that there is no security

threat or danger of any kind of sabotage during

the Durga Puja, one of the important festivals of

the Banglee Hindus.

"RAB has set up an overall security blanket

in Dhaka and elsewhere across the country...

There is no security threat or danger of any

kind of sabotage during Durga Puja," he told

journalists after inspecting the overall security

measures at the Banani Puja Mandap here.

He said that the RAB is ready to deal with any

sort of untoward situation. Its strict surveillance

and intelligence activities were greatly increased

all over the country, including the capital Dhaka.

Referring to the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus)

pandemic, the RAB chief hoped that

everyone would be careful about the health

rules as well as social distancing in the prevailing

situation.

He said that the elite force members will

impose round-the-clock security vigilance at all

the puja mandaps across the country through

using its bomb disposal unit and dog squad,

patrol team unit and CCTV camera.

"Every battalion has a control room. The overall

surveillance will continue round-the-clock

from the RAB headquarters' control room,"

Mamun mentioned.

The DG urged the people to inform the RAB

offices if they see any kind of unpleasant situation

anywhere, saying that immediate actions would

be taken in this connection. Senior RAB officials

accompanied him.

Tongi four-lane road project and the

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman Tunnel (Karnaphuli

Tunnel) next year.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has

added a new trend of development

and created history in the country,

he said.

"Some 10 flyovers will be built in

Bangladesh. When four mega projects

are inaugurated next year, the

people will stop criticism of BNP.

There would be no place of criticism

for them (BNP leaders)," Quader

said.

Issuing a warning to the AL leaders

and workers, he instructed them

not to allow terrorists, extortionists,

land grabbers, drug dealers and

wrongdoers in the parity.

"Don't bring bad people in the

party to increase the number of your

own people. These bad guys are the

cuckoos of spring. When good people

come to the Awami League, we

will be stronger," he said.

AL presidium member Jahangir

Kabir Nanak, its organising secretary

Mirza Azam, Dhaka North City

AL president Sheikh Bazlur

Rahman, its general secretary SM

Mannan Kochi, vice-president

Sadek Khan and organising secretary

Azizul Haque Rana, among others,

spoke at the meeting with

Ward-19 AL president Salim Ullah

Salu in the chair.

Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Bengali Hindu community, began on Monday

with Maha Sashthi puja. The photo was taken from Sri Sri Bardeswari Kalimata Temple in

Sabujbagh area of Dhaka.

Photo: Star Mail

Have enough

onion in stock;

nothing to worry

about: Minister

DHAKA : Commerce Minister Tipu

Munshi on Monday said there is adequate

stock of onion in the country and

there is no reason to panic over it.

"The supply of onions is normal as we've

some 5 lakh mts in stock. Besides, onions

are being imported from India and

Myanmar," he said while speaking at a

meeting over keeping the stock, supply,

import and price situation of the commodities

stable held at the Secretariat.

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh

(TCB) is selling onions at Tk 30 per kg

through trucks and new onions will reach

the markets after a month, said Tipu. The

Commerce Ministry and National

Consumer Rights Protection are monitoring

the markets regularly, he said.

Tipu also urged the traders to run their

business with honesty and sincerity.

Mentioning that the government has

taken necessary steps to keep the onion

price stable, the minister said action will

be taken if anyone found involved in

raising the price of onion creating an

artificial crisis. Meanwhile, the Ministry

of Commerce has urged the National

Board of Revenue (NBR) to withdraw

customs duty on onion import, aiming

to keep its price stable in the market.

The ministry also urged the NBR to

slash import duties on crude soybean oil,

palm oil and sugar to cool the overheated

domestic market.

More e-commerce scams

exposed

Six officials of Tholay.com,

WeCoom.com held

DHAKA : Members of the Criminal

Investigation Department (CID)

detained six officials of Tholay.com and

WeCoom.com on charge of embezzlement

of Tk 2.5 crore.

They were detained after an aggrieved

customer lodged a complaint with the

police against the two e-commerce platforms

on charge of fraud, said Additional

Deputy Inspector General of CID Imam

Hossain while briefing reporters at its

headquarters on Monday.

The detainees are Nazrul Islam, head of

operation of Tholay.com and WeCoom.com,

Sohel Hossain, 27, accounts officer of the

firms, Tarek Mahmud Anik, 28, digital communication

officer, Sazzad Hossain alias

Piash, 27, sales executive officer, Munna

Pervez, 26, call centre executive officer and

Masum Hasan, 27, supervisor

The CID team also recovered some documents

of agreement, bank cheques, photocopy

machines, registrars and currency

counting machines from the office.

While briefing, Imam Hossain said the

e-commerce platforms allured customers

with many discounts and offers and swindled

Tk 2.5 crore from them, he said.

Khairul Alam Mir, 27, a customer,

complained that the companies offered

many products at lucrative prices and

promised that they would ensure delivery

of their products within 30 days but

failed to do that. The scams of e-commerce

platforms surfaced recently with

the detection of fraudulence by a number

of e-commerce firms, including

Evaly and E-orange.

3 US-based economists receive

economics Nobel Prize

STOCKHOLM : Three U.S-based

economists won the 2021 Nobel prize

for economics on Monday for work on

drawing conclusions from unintended

experiments, or so-called "natural

experiments."

David Card of the University of

California at Berkeley was awarded

one half of the prize, while the other

half was shared by Joshua Angrist

from the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology and

Guido Imbens

from Stanford

U n i v e r s i t y ,

reports UNB.

The Royal

S w e d i s h

Academy of

Sciences said

the three have

"completely reshaped empirical work

in the economic sciences." "Card's

studies of core questions for society

and Angrist and Imbens' methodological

contributions have shown

that natural experiments are a rich

source of knowlege," said Peter

Fredriksson, chair of the Economic

Sciences Committee. "Their research

has substantially improved our ability

to answer key causal questions,

which has been of great benefit for

society."

Unlike the other Nobel prizes, the

economics award wasn't established in

the will of Alfred Nobel but by the

Swedish central bank in his memory in

1968, with the first winner selected a

year later. It is the last prize

announced each year.

NaKiBul aHSaN NiSHaD

21 teachers of different departments of

Jagannath University have taken place

in the list of world's best researchers. All

these teachers of JnU have got a place in

the AD Scientific Index-2021, which was

recently published with the best

researchers in the world. They are

among the 1,788 researchers in

Bangladesh on the list.

Professor KamrulAlam Khan is ranked

1st among the researchers of this

University and 17th among the

researchers of Bangladesh, Saleh Ahmed

is ranked 2nd and Mohammad

Musharraf Hossain is ranked 3rd.

The other teachers in the list are

Mohammad Sayed Alam, Sayed

TasnimTouhid, SharifulAlam, Delwar

Hossain, MA Mamun, Qutb Uddin,

Zulfiqar Mahmood, Mohammad

Lokman Hossain, Atiqul Islam, Noor

Alam Abdullah, RajibulAkand,

Mohammad Ali, Zahid Hasan, AKM

Lutfar Rahman, Jayant Kumar Saha,

Md. Abdul Baki, ParimalBala and Md.

Bayezid Ali.

The list of researchers from 206 countries

in 12 categories has been published

Last week, the 2021 Nobel Peace

Prize was awarded to journalists

Maria Ressa of the Philippines and

Dmitry Muratov of Russia for their

fight for freedom of expression in

countries where reporters have

faced persistent attacks, harassment

and even murder. Ressa was

the only woman honored this year

in any category.

The Nobel Prize for literature was

awarded to

U . K . - b a s e d

T a n z a n i a n

w r i t e r

A b d u l r a z a k

Gurnah, who

was recognized

for his "uncompromising

and

compassionate

penetration of the effects of colonialism

and the fate of the refugee."

The prize for physiology or medicine

went to Americans David Julius and

Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries

into how the human body perceives

temperature and touch.

Three scientists won the physics

prize for work that found order in

seeming disorder, helping to explain

and predict complex forces of nature,

including expanding our understanding

of climate change.

Benjamin List and David W.C.

MacMillan won the chemistry prize

for finding an easier and environmentally

cleaner way to build molecules

that can be used to make compounds,

including medicines and

pesticides.

21 teachers of JnU in best

researchers in the world

in the ranking. 7 lakh 8 thousand 561

researchers have got a place in it. Scientific

Index publishers rankings based on

Google Scholar's research profile for

researchers over the past five years based

on research's H Index, Iten Index and

Citation Score.

In this regard, Prof.Dr. Parimal Bala,

Director of Research, said, "21 teachers

from Jagannath University have got a

place in the list of best research in the

world, which is a source of pride for us,

but there are many more teachers who

deserve this place.

The names of those who have done various

researches but have not uploaded the

research papers online have not come up.

We are hopeful that this number will be

much higher in the future.

The Vice Chancellor of the University,

Prof. Dr. Imdadul Haque said, "It is good

news for us that we have so many teachers

in the world's best research." We have

already entered into several agreements

with a number of research institutes to

make the research activities in the university

more dynamic. InshaAllah, better

results will come in the future and the

quality of research will improve.

12-10-2021

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