26-10-2021

tueSday

DHaKa: October 26, 2021; Kartik 10, 1428 BS; Rabi-ul-awal 18,1443 Hijri

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www.bangladeshtoday.net

Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.19; N o. 177; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00

international

South Korea's leader

vows final push for

talks with North

>Page 7

South Asian nations

should work

together : Hasina

DHAKA : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

on Monday said South Asian nations

should work together to eliminate

hunger and illiteracy for the wellbeing of

the people of this region, reports UNB.

She said this when newly-appointed

Pakistani High Commissioner to

Bangladesh Imran Ahmed Siddiqui met

her at her official residence Ganobhaban.

Prime Minister's Press Secretary

Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the

meeting. He said the Prime Minister said

the cardinal principle of Bangladesh's

foreign policy enunciated by the father of

the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman which is 'Friendship to all, malice

to none'.

During the meeting, High

Commissioner Imran said Pakistan

wants to promote relations with

Bangladesh and presented an original

copy of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran

Khan's message.

He also presented a photo album, the

photo of the painting and video footage

of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's visit to

Pakistan as the Prime Minister of

Bangladesh. Bangabandhu attended the

OIC Summit held in Lahore, Pakistan on

February 24, 1974.

The Prime Minister thanked the High

Commissioner for handing over the historic

souvenir related to the memories of

Bangabandhu, the Father of the Nation.

She appreciated the publication of the

calligraphy book in Bangla by Pakistan

on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of

Bangladesh's independence.

Ambassador-at-Large Mohammad

Ziauddin and Principal Secretary Dr

Ahmad Kaikaus were present.

Rohingya Crisis

European

Commissioner

due today

DHAKA : European Commissioner for

Humanitarian Aid and Crisis

Management Janez Lenarcic arrives here

on Tuesday on a three-day visit to see the

situation at Rohingya camps in Cox's

Bazar and discuss ways of further cooperation

on humanitarian issues, reports

UNB.

His visit will focus on DG ECHO

(European Civil Protection and

Humanitarian Aid Operations)-supported

activities. It includes visits to the

Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar and disaster

preparedness initiatives in Dhaka

and surrounding areas.

He will meet senior government figures,

including Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina, said the Embassy of the

European Union in Bangladesh.

ECHO has delivered almost 30 million

euro in support to Bangladesh so far this

year. Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million

Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar and

Bhasan Char.

Zohr

04:46 AM

11:50 PM

03:50 PM

05:30 PM

06:50 PM

6:00 5:26

SPortS

China battles new Covid

outbreak with eye on

Winter Olympics

>Page 9

Dollar price in kerb

market crosses Tk 90

DHAKA : Looking for hilsa? No worries

it is coming back! Fishermen are

taking preparations to resume hilsa

netting as a 22-day ban imposed by

the government comes to an end

Monday midnight, reports UNB.

Besides catching, the ban was

imposed on selling, hoarding and

transporting the fish until October 25

to ensure safe spawning of the

national fish during its peak breeding

period.

The law enforcers seized huge

mother hilsa and fishing nets,

trawlers in different parts of the

country for catching hilsa defying the

ban. Fisheries Department, upazila

DHAKA :The exchange rate for the US

dollar in the open or kerb market has

crossed Tk 90 for the first time ever, worrying

Bangladeshis looking to travel

abroad and pushing up the prices of

some imported goods, reports UNB.

The businesses expressed concern as

the dollar price is fluctuating and it also

influences the jump in the US dollar price

in the banking channel also.

According to Bangladesh Bank (BB),

the interbank dollar exchange rate on

Sunday was Tk 85.70, whereas it was

Tk85.60 on Thursday.

On the other hand, different money

exchange houses were selling the greenback

at Tk 90.10 on Sunday, which is the

highest ever.

Business leaders said the dollar price

fluctuation is creating uncertainty among

the businesses as they cannot be sure

what the price of goods they are looking

to import would be in 5-10 days.

A former governor of BB, wishing

anonymity, told UNB that the dollar

price has jumped recently due to two reasons:

firstly, increased travel abroad for

different needs including study, health

and entertainment following the COVID-

19 restrictions being eased, or lifted

around the world.

Secondly, increased capital flight from

Bangladesh.

Giving an example, the former governor

said that some recent incidents of

banking- and e-commerce-related scams

hint at the increased capital flight from

Bangladesh.

Economists said that Bangladesh's

economy remains on the right track and

there is no reason to be worried as such

fluctuations in the exchange rate happen

sometimes.

Former adviser to a caretaker government

Dr. Mirza ABM Azizul Islam said

that import demand has increased in the

post-lockdown time as the industrial production

shows a rising trend.

The price increase of LNG and petroleum

products in the global market is also

another cause to raise the dollar demand

as Bangladesh uses USD to meet all kinds

of import payments, he said.

The country's forex reserves are at their

highest ever, export income and inward

remittance flow also good, so there is no

reason to be worried about a weakening

taka at this stage, but a cautionary measure

is to be taken for stabilizing the prices

in local commodity markets, Mirza Aziz

said.

Former governor of BB Dr. Salehuddin

Ahmed said that the exporters become

happy if taka becomes weak, but it creates

pressure to raise prices in the

domestic market.

He said the central bank sometimes

relaxed its policy in order to increase dollar

exchange rate so that the expatriates

could send money to the country in taka

and exporters could earn more.

The BB earlier spent about Tk700 billion

in the fiscal year 2020-21 to purchase

additional dollars from the market

to keep the money market stable.

Bangladesh Bank has supplied over

$1360000000 (136 crore) to different

scheduled banks to meet market demand

of foreign currencies.

The central bank will supply dollars

and try to keep the exchange rate of taka

stable against the US dollar, a senior BB

official said.

At present the central bank has enough

forex reserve to meet import demand for

11 months, whereas enough to meet 3

months' import spending is considered a

good amount, the official said.

and district administrations, police

and coast guard personnel carried

out regular drives to make sure that

the ban is implemented strictly.

The decision of imposing the ban

was taken at a meeting of the

National Taskforce held in

September with Fisheries and

Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim

in the chair.

During the meeting, the minister

said the government will take strict

action against those involved in

harming the national interest of the

country.

The objective of the restriction is to

save mother hilsa which lays eggs

For more

than 50 years, a

group of sewing

workers has

been working

in the capital's

Chankharpul

Nawab Katara

area. At present,

their profession

is under threat

due to the

development

of digital

technology in

the garment

world.

Photo : PBA

Baul Rita Dewan

indicted in

DSA case

DHAKA : A special tribunal on

Monday framed charges against three

including Baul singer Rita Dewan in a

case lodged under Digital Security Act

(DSA) for allegedly hurting religious

sentiments.

Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge

Mohammad Ash Sams Joglul Hossain

passed the order and set January 27,

2022, for start recording deposition of

the witnesses, tribunal clerk Shamim

Al Mamun told BSS.

The same tribunal on December 2,

2020, had issued arrest warrant

against three including Rita Dewan,

taking the primary probe report submitted

by Police Bureau of

Investigation (PBI) into cognizance.

The two other accused are Shahjahan

and Md Iqbal Hossain, who had distributed

Rita's songs via their YouTube

channels. Advocate Imrul Hasan filed

the case on February 2, 2020, with the

cyber tribunal in Dhaka.

Arrest warrants

issued against BNP

leaders Rizvi, Dulu

DHAKA : A Dhaka court

Monday issued warrants for

the arrest of BNP senior joint

secretary general Ruhul Kabir

Rizvi and its Rajshahi division

organizing secretary Ruhul

Quddus Talukder Dulu in a

case filed under the Special

Powers Act, reports UNB.

The case was filed at Shahbagh

police station in 2018 . Dhaka

Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM

Emrul Kayes passed the order.

Besides, the court accepted the

charge sheet submitted against them.

Delicious hilsa set to be back on menu

during the period. The peak hilsa

season is during the Monsoon

months of August, September and

October.

According to the Ministry of

Fisheries and Livestock, hilsa production

jumped from 3 lakh mts in

2008-09 to 5 lakh mts in 2017-18. In

2019, hilsa production rose to 5.33

lakh mts. The ministry has taken different

measures to boost its production

to 6 lakh mts in the current fiscal.

Hilsa has the highest contribution

to the country's fish production

as the single fish species. More than

12.0 per cent of the country's fish

production comes from hilsa.

art & culture

Nusraat Faria's

new song 'Habibi'

>Page 10

Why Regent's Shahed should

not be granted bail: HC

DHAKA : The High Court on Monday

issued a rule seeking explanation as

to why Regent group chairman

Mohammad Shahed should not be

granted bail in a money laundering

case, reports UNB.

The High Court bench of Justice M

Enayetur Rahim and Justice Sardar

Md Mostafizur Rahman issued the

rule.

The Anti-Corruption Commission

(ACC) and others concerned have

been asked to respond to the rule

within four weeks. Advocate Sagir

Hossain Leon appeared for Shahed

in the court while Advocate Khurshid

Alam Khan represented the ACC.

On May 24, the High Court denied

bail to Mohammad Shahed in the

case.

On August 25 last year, Criminal

Investigation Department inspector

Ibrahim Hossain filed the case

against Shahed and Regent Group

Managing Director Masud Parvez at

CAIRO : Sudan's ruling council head

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced

on Monday a state of emergency

across the country and the dissolution

of the transitional sovereign

council and the government.

Earlier, soldiers arrested most of

the members of Sudan's cabinet and

a large number of pro-government

party leaders in an apparent military

coup, throwing a fragile transition

towards democracy into disarray.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok

was detained and moved to an

undisclosed location after refusing

to issue a statement in support of the

coup, the information ministry said.

Joint military forces holding

Uttara West Police Station on charge

of laundering 11.02 crore.

On July 15 last year, Rab members

arrested Shahed from the border

area of Satkhira's Debhata on charge

of issuing fake Covid certificates.

Rab members raided the Uttara

and Mirpur branches of Regent

Hospital on July 6 and arrested

eight people on charges of issuing

fake Covid-19 certificates and

charging exorbitant fees for Covid

testing and treatment of inpatients.

On July 7 last year, the head office

of the Regent Group and both the

hospitals were sealed off and 17 people,

including Shahed, were sued on

charges of issuing fake Covid test

reports and taking money from

Covid patients for tests and treatment.

On Sept 28, 2020 a Dhaka court

sentenced him to life imprisonment

in an arms case.

Sudan's Burhan declares

state of emergency,

dissolves government

Hamdok under house arrest were

pressuring him to issue a supportive

statement, it said.

Sudan has been on edge since a

failed coup plot last month

unleashed bitter recriminations

between military and civilian groups

meant to be sharing power following

the 2019 ouster of former leader

Omar al-Bashir, who was toppled

and jailed after months of street

protests.

A political transition agreed after

his ouster has seen Sudan emerge

from its isolation under three

decades of rule by Bashir and was

meant to lead to elections by the end

of 2023.

Developing appropriate

attitudes among school

students underscored

RAJSHAHI: Developing

appropriate attitudes and

skills among the secondary

school students can be the

best ways of making

Bangladesh ready to face the

challenges of the 21st

century in the global aspects,

reports BSS.

Enriching the present

school students with timefitting

best practices has

become crucial because they

are the future force of

driving the country

competently.

The observations came at

the opening ceremony of a

two-day long workshop

titled "Dissemination of

UNESCO priorities among

students of secondary

schools through promotion

of global citizenship

education (GCED)" at the

auditorium of Rajshahi

Government Girls High

School in the city yesterday.

GD-1565/21 (4x3)

Australia aims to boost investment

ties with Bangladesh through TIFA

DHAKA : Australian High

Commissioner to Bangladesh

Jeremy Bruer has said his

country "wants to work

energetically" to enhance trade

and investment with

Bangladesh, noting that the

future is "golden" for the two

countries to collaborate in

broader areas and take the ties

to new heights.

"If you ask me for my

prognosis for the future of

Bangladesh-Australia relations

- I say again, the future is

golden," he said, highlighting

the opportunities that the

recently signed Trade and

Investment Framework

Arrangement (TIFA) offer,

reports UNB.

Cosmos Foundation, the

philanthropic arm of the

Cosmos Group, hosted a

dialogue as part of its ongoing

Ambassador's Lecture Series.

The opening remarks were

delivered by Cosmos

Foundation Chairman

Enayetullah Khan. The session

was chaired by Dr Iftekhar

Ahmed Chowdhury, a

renowned scholar-diplomat

and former Advisor on Foreign

Affairs of Bangladesh

Caretaker Government.

Former Foreign Secretary

Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury,

Distinguished Fellow at Centre

for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr

Debapriya Bhattacharya,

Professor at International

Relations Department of

Dhaka University Imtiaz

Ahmed, Brig Gen (retd)

Shahedul Anam Khan and

Honorary Advisor Emeritus,

Cosmos Foundation

Ambassador (retd) Tariq A

Karim comprised the panel of

discussants.

Highlighting Australia's

tremendous moral and

material support towards

Bangladesh, Dr Iftekhar

Chowdhury shared how the

focus of aid at that time shifted

to trade and commerce which

seem to have grown

"exponentially" leading to the

signing of TIFA.

Dr Debapriya said

Bangladesh-Australia

relationship is a classic case of

"suboptimal utilization" and it

remains "very underutilized,

underappreciated, understated

and less understood"

relationship in the current

context.

He said they need more data,

more research and need to

work out a pathway how the

relationship will prosper in line

with Bangladesh's

development ambitions and in

line with all the commitments.

The economist said

Bangladesh's development

ambitions in the coming days

are getting out of the LDC

group and it would like to retain

some of the privileges for

smooth and sustainable

development in the post LDC

phase.

He said Australia-

Bangladesh last September

signed TIFA which is a great

progress. "But as you know

TIFA by itself does not ensure

that flows will happen. It is a

platform to discuss problems at

certain points. The modern

approach to all the states is the

Comprehensive Economic

Partnership Agreement

(CEPA)."

The economist said the Indo-

Pacific stability and

sustainability approach of

Australia would fit in very well

in terms of investing in

Bangladesh.

"Our

development ambitions are

very much aligned with the

political strategic approach

which Australia was to perform

and this is global which will fit

into the global strategy.

One of the weakest points of

Austral-Bangladesh relations is

the lack of partnership with the

non-government

organizations, he said, adding,

"I insist that in the future, the

relationship among non-state

actors has to be strengthened to

bring in more knowledge and

analyses and transparency."

Prof Imtiaz said Australia

needs to show more of its

'Asianness' and not the

'Westernization' that they get to

see when they look at the Triad

(AUKUS).

The expert said he does not

see a future of QUAD so much

but flagged that AUSUK

singled out the Asian powers

out. "Japan is not there. India is

not there. So, Australia ends up

literally not being an Asian

country once again. That's the

problem."

He said it could be a problem

in the future for Australia itself,

given the kind of diaspora it is

having or will have in the

future. "I could see that it'll be

an issue in the future."

Prof Imtiaz thinks it is

important to see Australia in

the context of an Asian country.

"Then we're more comfortable

with that. The moment

Australia makes a relationship

particularly with the United

States, which could not be the

reliable friend that I've to say;

they've abandoned a lot of

friends - old friends."

He mentioned that the last

one they had abandoned was

the Kabul regime and the way

they did this was quite pathetic.

"I've been speaking here as an

IR person…because you talked

about the "golden future".

Shahedul Anam shed light

on "AUKUS", a historic security

pact in the Asia-Pacific by the

UK, US and Australia in what's

seen as an effort to counter

China.

He said people were

surprised at the new treaty

signed by the three big powers.

"But I was not because I saw it

coming."

Unless the QUAD

(Quadrilateral Security

Dialogue) among the United

States, India, Japan and

Australia is transformed into

an exclusively military or

defence-oriented pact, Anam

said, he believes "AUKUS" was

the only alternative.

AUKUS will let Australia

build nuclear-powered

submarines for the first time,

using technology provided by

the US.

TuESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2021

2

State Minister for Water Resources Ministry Zahid Faruk, MP inaugurated

the program titled 'Digital Flood Forecasting and Warning System' on

Sunday at Pani Bhaban Multipurpose Hall. Deputy Minister for Water

Resources AKM Enamul Haque Shamim, MP, State Minister for

Information and Communication Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak, MP

(Virtual), Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief

Mohammad Mohsin, Secretary General of Bangladesh Red Crescent Society

Mohammad Firoz Salahuddin were present as special guests. Engineer

Fazlur Rashid, Director General, Bangladesh Water Development Board,

gave a welcome address at the function presided over by Kabir Bin Anwar,

Senior Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources.

Photo : Courtesy

JnU students will get NID

facility in university

Nakibul Ahsan Nishad

National identity registration of students has

started at Jagannath University (JnU) campus.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr. Md. ImdadulHaque

inaugurated the National Identity Card

Registration Program for the students of

Jagannath University in collaboration with the

Election Commission of Bangladesh at 10 am on

Monday. Vice-Chancellor spoke at the presidency,

the University Treasurer Professor. Mr.

Kamaluddin Ahmed, Director General of National

Identity Registration Division of Bangladesh

Election Commission Mr. AKM HumayunKabir,

Project Director Brigadier General AbulKashem

Md. FazlulQuader, Election Officer of Dhaka

Region Mr. Helal Uddin and Senior Election

Officer Mr. Munir Hossain Khan. Director of

Student Welfare Prof.Dr. gave a welcome speech.

Md. Ainul Islam and conducted by Registrar

Engineer Md. Ohiduzzaman.

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GD-1563/21 (7x4)

GD-1562/21 (13x4)

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2021

3

Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Md. Akhtaruzzaman inaugurated the newly constructed 'Science

Teachers Lounge' for university teachers at Faculty of Science and Biology building of Curzon Hall area

on Monday as the chief guest.

Photo : Courtesy

Dengue: 190 more hospitalized

in Bangladesh

DHAKA : Bangladesh

reported 190 new patients

being hospitalized with

dengue fever in 24 hours till

Monday morning, reports

UNB.

With no new deaths

reported, the number of

fatalities from the mosquitoborne

disease this year

remained static at 87,

according to the Directorate

General of Health Services

(DGHS).

Of the deceased, 80 people

died in Dhaka division alone,

Youth Summit on Aging2021’ ends at

Daffodil International University

Daffodil International University's Social

Business Students Forum and Aging

Support Forum have jointly organized the

'Youth Summit on Aging-2021' from October

13-25, 202. The summit based on the theme

"Digital equivalence for all age" ended today

at Daffodil Education Network Campus. The

summit included workshop, training for

senior citizen on "How to use mobile phone

technology" passing sometimes with senior

citizens, Innovation App development, Short

film making and campaign.

Dr. Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad,

Chairman, Palli Karmashayak Foundation

was present as the chief guest at the closing

ceremony of the program. Dr. Md. Sabur

Khan, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Daffodil

International University, Tasmima Hossain,

Editor of The Daily Ittefaq and Rabeya

Begum, Executive Director of Shariatpur

Development Society were present as the

special guests. Major General (Rtd.) Jiban

Kanai Das, Country Director of the Sir

William Beverage Foundation presided over

the program. The function was also

addressed by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Masum

Iqbal, Dean of the Faculty of Business and

Entrepreneurship of Daffodil International

University Hasan Ali, President of Aging

Support Forum Former BSCIC general

manager Manjuara Begum, SBSF vicepresident

Mr. Rakibul Islam, General

Secretary Mehdi Hassan Khan and Kazi

Mesbah-ur-Rahman, a senior administrative

two each in Chattogram and

Khulna divisions and one

each in Rajshahi, Barishal and

Mymensingh division.

Among the new patients,

154 were undergoing

treatment in hospitals in

Dhaka while the remaining

36 cases were reported from

outside the division.

Some 861 patients

diagnosed with dengue are

receiving treatment in the

country as of Monday.

Of them,703 patients are

receiving treatment at

different hospitals in the

capital while the remaining

158 were listed outside

Dhaka.

Since January, some

22,688 patients have been

admitted to different

hospitals with dengue in the

country. So far, 21,740

dengue patients have left

hospitals after recovery, said

DGHS.

In September, the country

recorded the highest number

of 7,841 dengue cases of the

current year with 22 deaths.

officer of Daffodil International University

were also present at the program.

Speaking as the chief guest, Dr. Quazi

Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said, the main

problem of the senior citi8zens is 'loneliness'.

He urged the youth to come forward to give

relief the senior citizens from this loneliness

and color their lives with light of peace and

happiness. Due to chronological

development of ICT Digital dividing gaining

momentum besides financial dividing, he

added. By the year 2050 the number of

senior citizen would increase tremendously

and the society would turn into a different

shape. He urged the youth to be prepared

themselves to face the challenges of that

time.

Dr. Md. Sabur Khan said, Senior citizens

always want to share their expertise with

new generation and we should provide them

that opportunity for the betterment of the

society. He advised to build Chaild care

beside Old home, so that the children can

gain challenging mentality among

themselves. He said, age is nothing ,but a

figure only.

Speaking as the special guest, Tasmima

Hossain said that the availability of internet

during the corona period has helped many

people to spend their time. We should all

have one in mind-soul-commitment. As one

generation moves forward, another

generation moves forward holding their

hands and this is a continuous trend.

Workshop

were held to

keep the edn

instts risk-free

A workshop on 'School Zone

Road Safety Assessment and

Improvement' was held at

Munshi Fazlur Rahman Govt.

College, Gauripur,

Doudkandi, Comilla recently.

Global Alliance NGOs for

Road Safety, a Switzerland

based donor organization

funded this project.

The workshop was jointly

organized by Eakok

Attomanobik Unnayan

Sangstha and Safe Road

Consultant. Md. Abdul

Wahed, Executive Director,

Eakok Attomanobik Unnayan

Sangstha, gave a welcome

address at the workshop and

Md. Abul Hossain, Director,

Safe Road Consultant,

presented the results of the

survey with a power point

presentation.

Md. Kamrul Islam Khan,

Upazila Nirbahi Officer,

Daudkandi Upazila, Cumilla

was present as the Chief Guest

at the Shirajul Islam, Principal

Munshi Fazlur Rahman Govt.

College Goripur presided over

the workshop.

IU resumes inperson

classes

ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY : The

authorities of Islamic

University in Kushtia resumed

in-person classes on Monday

after about 18 months of

closure due to Covid-19

outbreak, reports UNB.

The decision of resuming

physical classes was taken at

the university's 263rd

syndicate meeting held on the

campus in October 4. The

classes are being held

maintaining health

guidelines. The university

reopened all the halls for its

residential students on

October 9. The university

authorities allowed only those

students, who had received at

least one dose of a Covid

vaccine, to enter the halls.

Dr. Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, Chairman, Palli Karmashayak Foundation, Dr. Md. Sabur Khan, Chairman, Board of

Trustees, Daffodil International University, Tasmima Hossain, Editor of The Daily Ittefaq and Ms. Rabeya Begum, Executive

Director of Shariatpur Development Society and Major General (Rtd.) Jiban Kanai Das, Country Director of the Sir William

Beverage Foundation along with other distinguished guests unveiling the books " Probinder Galpo" written by Hasan Ali,

President of Aging Support Forum at the closing ceremony of 'Youth Summit on Aging-2021'.

Photo : Courtesy

12 kg gold bars seized

at Dhaka airport

DHAKA : Customs officials

on Monday seized 104 gold

bars worth some Tk8.44

crore from an aircraft at

Hazrat Shahjalal

International Airport in

Dhaka, reports UNB.

According to a press

release of the Directorate of

Customs Intelligence and

Investigation, a team of

customs officials, tipped off,

searched the cargo hold of a

Biman Bangladesh Airlines

flight from Dubai around

9.15am.

Later, the officials found

104 gold bars weighing 12 kg

in three packets hidden in

the cargo hole of the aircraft.

The gold bars were

brought for 'smuggling'

purposes to avoid duty fees.

However, no one was

identified, according to

customs

sources.

intelligence

SUST buzzing again as

dorms reopen

SYLHET : After nearly 19

months of Covid-forced

closure, Shahjalal

University of Science and

Technology (SUST)

welcomed back its

residential students to the

dormitories with flowers

and banners, reports UNB.

Only vaccinated finalyear

honours and master's

students were allowed to

enter the dormitories after

showing valid documents

and proof of receiving at

least one dose of a Covid

vaccine.

Students of other

sessions will gradually be

allowed to enter the

residential halls in phases

within the next few days.

SUST Vice Chancellor

Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed

welcomed back the

students after joining a

ceremony virtually in the

television room of

Bangabandhu Sheikh

Mujibur Rahman Hall.

Provosts of the five SUST

dormitories were present

at the function.

VC Farid Uddin said,"

Health guidelines will be

strictly maintained inside

the dorms. We (authority)

will be vigilant in ensuring

that no one illegally

occupies the dormitory

seats."

The UNB correspondent

found students in a

cheerful mood as they were

waiting to enter their

second home after a long

hiatus.

Sajjad Bhuiyan, a firstyear

master's student of the

university's Political

Studies department, said,

"After a long break, we

have been able to enter our

residential halls. The good

management of the hall

authorities has fascinated

us."

Physical classes are likely

to begin in some

departments from the first

week of November.

However, online classes

will continue, university

authorities said earlier.

BNP-Jamaat out to gain politically

by dividing people: Nanak

DHAKA : Awami League Presidium

Member Jahangir Kabir Nanak yesterday

said BNP-Jamaat is trying to achieve

political gain by dividing the country's

people.

He said this while addressing a round

table discussion organized by Jatiya

Samajtantrik Dal (Jasod) at the National

Press Club.

Nanak said the country is moving

forward under the dynamic leadership of

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, BNP's

conspiracy will not succeed, he added.

He also said the evil forces are spreading

misleading information in the country, they

have to be uprooted.

"The government led by AL President

and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has

taken actions against communal evil forces.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will not

tolerate terrorist activities", Nanak said.

He said Father of the Nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

had worked day and night for the country

after independence, but defeated forces of

the independence war killed Bangabandhu.

The power of pro-liberation forces has

been revived after Sheikh Hasina came to

power, Nanak said.

President of Jasod Hasanul Haq Inu

presided over the meeting while AL

Presidium Member Matia Chowdhury,

Dilip Barua, General Secretary of

Communist Party of Bangladesh (M-L),

Jasod leader Shirin Akhter, Bangladesh

Tarikat Federation President Syed Najibul

Bashar Maizbhandari and Ganatantri Party

General Secretary Dr Shahadat Hossain,

among others, were present.

A workshop on 'School Zone Road Safety Assessment and Improvement' was held at Munshi Fazlur

Rahman Govt. College, Gauripur, Doudkandi, Comilla recently.

Photo : Courtesy

DMP arrests 59 for

selling, consuming

drugs in city

DHAKA : Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan

Police (DMP) in anti-drug drives arrested 59 people on

charges of selling and consuming drugs in the city in the

last 24 hours till 6am, Monday

The Detective Branch (DB) of the DMP in association

with local police stations carried out the drives

simultaneously starting at 6am on Sunday, a DMP

statement said. In separate anti-drug operations, police

arrested drug paddlers and abusers and seized banned

and illegal drugs from the city's different areas.

During the drives, police also seized 260 grams and 11

puria (Small Packet) of heroin, 4.836 kilograms and 35

puria (Small Packet) of cannabis (ganja), four litre local

liquor and 4,702 pieces of yaba tablets, the statement said.

Police filed 51 cases against the arrestees in these

connections with police stations concerned under the

Narcotics Control Act.

Bangladesh inspiring

example of achieving unity

in diversity: BGMEA

DHAKA : Bangladesh is an inspiring example of achieving

unity in diversity, said the apex trade body of the country's

garments manufacturers Saturday, reports UNB.

"Bangladesh is home to diverse faiths, with people of

different religions and beliefs living alongside each other

in peace. The spirit of communal harmony has existed

here for hundreds of years," Bangladesh Garment

Manufacturers and Exporters Association President

Faruque Hassan said following a visit to St Mathuranath

AG Church in Gopalganj.

The BGMEA chief handed over a cheque of Tk3 lakh to

the church as a donation.

BGMEA Senior Vice-President SM Mannan (Kochi);

vice-presidents Shahidullah Azim, Khandoker Rafiqul

Islam, Md Nasir Uddin and Giant Group Director

Sharmeen Hassan Tithi were also present.

JS body for intensifying

installation of pre-paid

electricity metres

DHAKA : Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Power,

Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry yesterday recommended

intensifying installation of pre-paid electricity metres at upazila and

zila levels.

The parliamentary watchdog came up with the recommendation

at its 20th meeting held at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban here with

committee chairman Wasiqa Ayesha Khan in the chair.

It also recommended taking necessary steps to hold discussion

with the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry so that all the

cases related to power could be disposed speedily by forming

separate benches.

Committee members - State Minister for Power, Energy and

Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, SM Joglul Haider, Md Nurul

Islam Talukder, Md Aslam Hossain Sawdagar, Mosammat

Khaleda Khanam, Md Nuruzzaman Biswas and Nargis Rahman

joined the meeting.

Senior officials of the ministry, including the Power Division

Secretary, among others, took part in the meeting.

Covid's daily-death toll

falls to 5 in Bangladesh

DHAKA : Covid-19 claimed five more lives and infected 289 more

people in 24 hours till Monday morning, reports UNB.

Bangladesh last logged five Covid-related deaths on a single-day

on February 24 this year.

The fresh cases were detected after testing 20.773 samples, said

the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

With this, the daily-case positivity rate declined slightly to 1.39

per cent from Sunday's 1.49 per cent.

With the fresh numbers, the Covid fatalities reached 27,828

while the caseload climbed to 1,567,981 in Bangladesh, according to

the DGHS.

Among the latest deaths, two were men and three were women.

Of the 55 deaths recorded from October 18 to October 24, 12.7 %

received Covid vaccines while 87.3% did not, the DGHS added.

Comorbidities among Covid patients and deceased increased

6.1% this week compared to the previous week. Comorbidity

means the simultaneous presence of two or more diseases or medical

conditions in a patient. However, the mortality rate remained

static at 1.77 per cent compared to the corresponding period.

Also, the recovery rate increased slightly to 97.68 per cent, with

364 more patients getting cured.

TUeSdAy, OCTObeR 26, 2021

4

Time to stop Facebook, Google takeovers

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

A focus on

Bangladesh Bank

It was reported that serious allegations of

corruption committed by certain high ranking

officials of Bangladesh Bank were made in the

confessional statement of the managing director of a

leasing company who was arrested and taken into

custody by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The reports must have caused a rippling of concern

in the minds of all who have a stake in the integrity of

our financial system. The confessor in his statement

unambiguously disclosed that one former deputy

Governor of BB himself, plus one Executive Director

was sheltering and protecting a bunch of high level

officials in BB as they helped the notorious P K Haldar

in pulling out thousands of crores of Taka from

certain banks and non banking financial institutions

(NBFIs) and laundering such monies abroad.

The two allegedly also persuaded other top officials

of BB who went out for inspections in the affected

banks and NBFIs to hide the crimes and give a clean

bill of health in their functioning in their reports. In

return, they allegedly received big sums of bribe

money fromHaldar and associates for their

cooperation. The accused Deputy Governor and

Executive Director of BB were receiving payoffs from

Haldar to ensure that BB's inspections never unveiled

what crimes were being committed so flagrantly.

We feel concerned from reading these reports. But

would like to thank the ACC for getting this

confession from a key player in the crookery. Indeed,

the ACC has been playing a commendable role in first

finding out the enormousness of the thefts and

swindling committed by Haldar and his accomplices.

It appears that ACC could successfully lay its hands on

most of these persons and their stashed away ill

gotten wealth ; their monies and properties ( locally

available) have been already seized. ACC is now

actively engaged in bringing back Haldar from

Canada through INTERPOL and diplomatic contacts

with his host country.

But we would specially like to applaud ACC's

actions because their vigilance has led to the

unearthing of such a serious gang of crooks within

the upper echelon of the BB. Now that they have been

identified, we like to feel assured that the highest

authorities in the country will leave nothing not done

to flush very clean from top to bottom this pivotal

organization with which is crucially connected the

financial health of the country. It must not be

business as usual like temporarily taking

departmental actions such as suspension of the

identified in their jobs, keeping their jobs while

investigations go on, etc. The services of the accused

must be terminated with immediate effect.

Even the ones in BB who have had indirect

collaborative relations with them, they too should be

relieved of their duties and made to stand in the dock.

Of course, we are not saying that those who may

prove their innocence after fair investigations, they

shall not be considered for reappointment. But that is

another matter and time will tell. For now, people

want to see hard penal measures against the group

that have been connected with heinous immoral

activities and crimes sufficient to mar the good name

and standing of BB. BB's reputation as the guardian of

the country's financial system must be saved and

salvaged come what may.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) is the central Bank of the

country. It is just no ordinary bank. It is the apex bank

in the sense of regulatory powers it enjoys in relation

to all other commercial or scheduled banks in the

country and also non banking financial institutions

(NBFIs). In sum, it is at the heart of the financial

system of the country. The role it plays in watching

over the activities of banks and NBFIs reserves for it a

place of great trust and reliability in the financial

arena.

Should a bank or financial institution err in its policy

implementation or succumb to corruption or other

irregularities, it is BB that has the responsibility of

admonishing it, investigating its affairs, giving of

directives to it to improve and as a last resort to

intervene in its management directly to force it to cure

its sickness in any form. BB is expected to play this

role wherever and whenever the need arises in respect

of each scheduled bank or NBFI with the aim that the

health of the financial sector as a whole can be

scrupulously maintained always.BB's reputation as

the guardian of the country's financial system must be

saved,salvaged and restored come what may.

Notwithstanding the above, we are also fully aware

that BB as an institution has been performing above

average in the exercise of its functions at least in some

major policy making areas. Indeed its leaders under

different Governors have been doing a great deal of

positive things such as successively adopting prudent

monetary policies for the country, attracting

innovatively inward remittances, keeping inflationary

spirals at bay, operationalizing correct policy moves

to help reduce the economic impact of the pandemic,

etc. We do not mean to ignore these positive

achievements of our central bank. But a country's

central bank must be like a foolproof organization

that cannot allow even a small cancer in its body to

remain lest it starts grows alarmingly undermining

its viability. It must be cut off at the outset.

Zoom, email, connected workplaces

and solid internet connections at

home have made it possible to

work, shop, study and carry on our lives in

a way that wouldn't have been possible

had the pandemic hit, say, 20 years

earlier.

But parts of Big Tech - the parts that

track us and drive us to think dangerous

and antisocial things just so we keep

clicking - are doing us enormous damage.

Although it might seem like we can't

have the best of both worlds - the

connectivity without the damage - I

reckon we can. But we are going to have to

change the way we think about big tech.

The first thing is to recognize that Big

Tech is intrinsically weak. Yes, weak. The

second is that it has only become strong

each time we have let it.

By "Big Tech" I mean Facebook and

Google and related companies such as

Instagram and YouTube (owned by

Facebook and Google respectively).

The firms that came before them were

indeed weak in the sense that they didn't

have a guaranteed future. Think back to

Netscape, Myspace, MSN and all those

other monoliths we were told at the time

would become natural monopolies.

Much of the behavior revealed by

Facebook whistle-blower Frances Haugen

this past month is that of a market leader

terrified it is losing its edge.

It switched what it showed away from

news towards posts that inflamed and

enraged people in 2018, with "unhealthy

side effects on important slices of public

content" in part because users had begun

to interact less with it.

Facebook knew that "we make body

image issues worse," in the words of one

of its memos, but did little to change the

way Instagram worked. In part, this was

because teens spent 50% more time on

Instagram than Facebook. Instagram

looked like the future.

When engagement on Instagram

started flagging, Facebook developed

plans for Instagram Kids, seeing pre-teens

as "a valuable but untapped audience".

These don't sound like the actions of a

company confident of staying on top.

And nor does its initial purchase of

Instagram in 2012 when it could have

started its own photo-sharing service on

mobiles, leveraging all that it had.

Facebook also bought WhatsApp in

2014 because its own messaging platform,

Messenger, was losing ground.

It couldn't grow anything like as big by

itself, because when firms grow beyond a

certain size they turn sluggish,

PeTeR mARTiN

RANViR S. NAyAR

bureaucratic. Google got bigger by buying

DoubleClick (the platform it uses to sell

the advertisements that drive its income)

and all manner of emerging platforms

including Android, YouTube, Waze and

Quickoffice. They are the actions of a

hungry company, but not one supremely

confident of staying at the top.

Australian academic Stephen King, a

former member of Australia's

Competition and Consumer Commission

and a current commissioner with its

Productivity Commission, says we need to

apply special tougher rules to takeovers by

companies such as Google and Facebook.

Usually, we only block takeovers where

the target is big. Instagram and WhatsApp

were small. Instagram reportedly had 13

full-time employees at the time of its

takeover, WhatsApp reportedly had 55.

Yet Facebook paid billions for them.

In the US and the UK both takeovers

were waived through.

Big Tech companies can do things with

tiny takeover targets others can't.

Takeovers can give them access to vast

networks of existing users and their data.

As King puts it, Instagram is big because

it was acquired by Facebook, not because

Instagram was necessarily the best target.

In Europe, the authorities were on to

this possibility and approved the takeover

of WhatsApp only after Facebook

informed them it would be "unable to

establish reliable automated matching

between Facebook users' accounts and

WhatsApp users' accounts."

This statement was incorrect, Facebook

has done it, and paid the European

Commission 110 million euros for

providing incorrect or misleading

information.

Had Australia been tougher, had the US,

the UK and the European Commission

been tougher, Facebook and Google

would be nothing like the behemoths they

have become today. They might have

peaked and be losing market share.

Their future is largely in our hands. For

Big Tech companies able to use the weight

of their networks (and only for those

companies) we could "just say no" to

takeovers. It's hard to think of a reason for

one to proceed. If needed, we could

change the law to make "no" the default.

This wouldn't shrink the companies in a

hurry. Most of the users of Facebook,

YouTube, Twitter and the like are locked

in, because that's where their friends are.

But where the friends are changes every

generation.

Source: Asia times

How to fight COVID vaccine misinformation?

Opposition to vaccination is as old

as vaccination itself. Although

vaccines save five lives every

minute, and even though 85 percent of

children worldwide are vaccinated against

diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough,

some people are resisting the life-saving

shots. A range of factors contribute to

vaccine opposition - from fear of needles

or side effects to conspiracy theories

involving governments or the

pharmaceutical industry.

Although anti-vaccination activists

ultimately have never prevailed, when

they find a temporary foothold in a

society, vaccination rates can decline, and

preventable illnesses increase.

The COVID-19 pandemic illustrates

everything we know about vaccines and

opposition to vaccines. The development

of safe COVID-19 vaccines has provided

us with the tools to combat the pandemic,

and with 6.5 billion doses already

administered, and more being

administered at the rate of 22 million per

day, there is light at the end of a dark

tunnel. On the other side of the ledger, the

pandemic not only caused the death of

millions, but it also created a toxic legacy

of misinformation and conspiracy

theories that has mobilised opposition to

vaccinations. This is unsurprising based

on what we know about human

behaviour. When people suffer a loss of

control over their lives or feel threatened,

they invariably become more vulnerable

to believing conspiracies. And if there is

one thing a pandemic is good at, it is to

Citizens of the world need to act now against climate change

For more than a year, the upcoming

climate change negotiations, called

the UN Climate Change Conference

(COP26), that gets underway in Glasgow

next week, has been touted as the last

chance to save humanity as well as Planet

Earth.

A number of international reports, done

by dozens of prestigious institutions and

scientists, have been raising alarms over

the torrid pace at which the Earth is racing

towards total annihilation due to humaninduced

climate change.

From the intergovernmental panel on

climate change, a global body of reputed

scientists mandated by the UN to study

the phenomenon to a whole lot of NGOs,

all have warned the world and business

leaders that we have let too much time slip

by without acting in a concrete manner on

emissions control. As recently as August,

the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC) released its latest report,

warning that it was code red for all of

humanity.

It had gone on to say that it was too late

to arrest the rise in global temperatures to

below the stated target of 1.5 degrees

Celsius from the pre-industrial era, as

envisaged in the Paris Agreement of

2015.Not only that, the IPCC further said

Australian academic Stephen King, a former member of

Australia's Competition and Consumer Commission and

a current commissioner with its Productivity

Commission, says we need to apply special tougher rules

to takeovers by companies such as Google and Facebook.

STePhAN LewANdOwSKy & PhiLiPP SChmid

create fear and loss of control. Although

this opposition has not prevented many

countries from reaching very high vaccine

uptake - for example in Spain, nearly 80

percent of the population has been fully

vaccinated, with Italy and France not far

behind - it cannot be ignored because

anti-vaccination activists are increasingly

resorting to intimidation and threats of

violence against healthcare personnel. In

the United Kingdom, police are now

protecting some mobile vaccination

stations, and in Germany, a man attacked

healthcare workers because they refused

to issue him a vaccination certificate

without giving him the shot.

In the United States, attitudes towards

vaccinations have become so politicised,

with several Republican leaders voicing

opposition to vaccines, that there is now a

striking gap in uptake between states

depending on which way they vote. States

that lean towards the Democrats have

high uptake, with Massachusetts and

Vermont topping at 78 percent, whereas

those that lean Republican lag behind,

with West Virginia bringing up the rear at

that with the current pace of emission

reductions, the world was almost certainly

headed to a catastrophic scenario of

around 3 degrees Celsius rise in

temperatures. As if to underline the

warning (not that any was needed), the

world has been hit by a series of ecological

catastrophes this year and more so over

the past three months. The recent

catastrophes highlight the fact that

climate change has now become a selffeeding

unstoppable monster that will

only become ever more omnipotent and

omnipresent.

Even though the warnings could hardly

ever be clearer or harsher about the failure

of global business and political leaders in

curbing emissions and the onset of a

series of climatic disasters as a direct

result of human activity over the past

48 percent. Perhaps most concerning,

there are growing signs that American

anti-vaccination campaigners have joined

forces with the extreme right and other

conspiracy theorists.

Given the obvious risk to public health

posed by anti-vaccination movements,

what can communicators and politicians

do to respond?

First, leadership matters. When

Unfortunately, these approaches have not been implemented

on a wide scale at the beginning of the pandemic.

Therefore, to minimise damage, it is sometimes

necessary to remove false information from users'

information channels - that is, "deplatforming" matters.

deciding about a complex issue like

vaccination, laypeople generally rely on

advice from trusted opinion leaders,

which may be experts, media personalities

or politicians. However, when issues

become politically polarised, the question

of whom to trust may become a matter of

partisanship rather than expertise. In fact,

evidence shows that the willingness to get

vaccinated against COVID-19 among

Republicans varies as a function of who

recommends getting vaccinated - Donald

Trump or Joe Biden. Thus, it is crucial

that opinion leaders understand their

effect on individuals' health decisionmaking

and put public health before

partisan divide. It is therefore important

several decades, the governments, as well

as companies, have so far paid only lip

service to the urgent task of emissions

control.

Ever since the IPCC was constituted in

1988, the body has been clear and direct

about putting the blame for climate

change on uncontrolled greenhouse gas

emissions caused by various human

activities and it has been issuing one stern

From the intergovernmental panel on climate change, a global

body of reputed scientists mandated by the UN to study the

phenomenon to a whole lot of NGOs, all have warned the

world and business leaders that we have let too much time slip

by without acting in a concrete manner on emissions control.

warning after another about the need to

curb these urgently. Yet, almost three and

a half decades later, besides making lofty

promises at each successive multilateral

meeting or the series of COPs, the global

leaders have singularly and spectacularly

failed each time.

Which has led to the current situation

where, in many ways, it is impossible to

slow down climate change even with

that some Republicans speak out in

favour of vaccination. Nonetheless, even

when leaders issue clear messages, some

individuals will carry on with publicly

questioning the effectiveness and safety of

vaccinations, almost inevitably by

spreading information that is outright

false or highly misleading. The messages

of these science deniers do the most

damage when left uncorrected.

Fortunately, research shows that the

effect of messages of science deniers can

be mitigated by providing fact-based

corrections or by unmasking logical flaws.

The recent Debunking Handbook

provides hands-on advice for

practitioners on how to structure

debunkings and write promising

corrections. The importance of debunking

has been recognised by various health

authorities around the globe. For

example, the World Health Organization

debunks emerging myths surrounding

COVID-19 on its website and through its

social media channels as part of its Myth

Busters initiative. Reactive approaches

like debunking can only be one building

block in the fight against misinformation.

In analogy to fighting a virus,

policymakers should not rely on

treatments alone but should invest in

prevention measures: psychological

vaccines against misinformation exist that

warn individuals about the threat of

disinformation and provide people with

strong counterarguments.

Source: Al jazeera

dramatic drops in emissions.

In the days leading up to each meeting

of the COP, it is evident to anyone, except

the government and business leaders, that

the positions of various countries and

communities as well as business are at

cross purposes and there are far too many

conflicts of interests for a meeting to lead

to any concrete and achievable outcomes.

Yet, the leaders plunge headlong into each

meeting promising to find the mysterious

key that would unlock the climate inaction

and open the gates to unprecedented

cooperation and a drop in emissions.

Though it is said to be the last chance to

save the Earth, it is best to keep low

expectations for the 2021 UN Climate

Change Conference in Glasgow and time

for citizens to take the matter into their

own hands.

Days before the COP21 meeting in Paris

was to open on November 30, 2015, it was

clear that no agreement was possible as

several questions deeply divided the

nations, especially among developed and

developing nations. For instance, the

developing nations were trying to nail the

rich nations to their long-pending and

much-delayed commitment of paying.

Source: Arab news

TueSDAy, oCToBeR 26, 2021

5

Cop26 summit failure could result in chaos

Artists paint a mural on a wall near one of the Cop26 venues.

Photo Jeff J mitchell

Poorest countries to benefit from

new climate funding plan

FionA hARvey

The world's poorest countries are set to

benefit from a new climate funding

plan to help them cope with the

impacts of climate breakdown, in an

effort to break the impasse between

developed and developing countries at

the UN Cop26 climate summit

The UK government, as Cop26 host,

will unveil the proposals on Monday

along with ministers from Germany

and Canada, who have been charged

with drawing up a plan for climate

finance, needed to gain the backing of

scores of developing countries for any

deal at the talks, which open in Glasgow

next Sunday.

However, the Cop26 climate finance

plan is likely to be overshadowed by a

row within the UK government over

overseas aid, as the chancellor of the

exchequer, Rishi Sunak, prepares fresh

cuts to the UK's aid budget in the

comprehensive spending review on

Wednesday, against the wishes of

Cop26 supporters in the cabinet.

Poor countries have been promised

since 2009 that by 2020 they would

receive at least $100bn a year from

public and private sector sources in

richer countries to help them cut

greenhouse gases and cope with the

impacts of extreme weather.

But that promise has not been

fulfilled and a report from the OECD

last month found that in 2019, the

latest year for which data is available,

only about $80bn was provided.

Alok Sharma, the UK cabinet

minister who will act as Cop26

president, said: "Developed countries

must deliver on the $100bn a year

promised to developing nations. This is

a totemic figure, a matter of trust, and

trust is a hard-won and fragile

commodity in climate negotiations."

Extra funding has been announced

by the US, Germany, Canada, Japan

and other countries, but more is

needed. The plan being unveiled on

Monday will propose meeting the

$100bn by taking an average of the

finance provided from 2020 to 2025,

instead of single years. More of the

money is expected to be devoted to

adaptation, which helps the poorest

countries more, rather than for cutting

emissions, which tends to flow to

middle-income countries.

The UK charged Germany and

Canada with formulating the climate

finance plan in an effort to draw from

as wide a range of donors as possible.

But it was also convenient to deflect

attention from the UK's own actions, in

slashing overseas development aid

from 0.7% of GDP to 0.5%, a cut of at

least £4bn a year.

Although the UK's funding for

climate finance of £11.6bn over five

years is ringfenced, the cuts -

announced last year and confirmed in

July - give a poor impression to allies

among developing countries and other

donor countries. Major figures in the

climate talks have described the ODA

cuts as "disastrous" and "inexplicable".

Tom Burke, the co-founder of the green

thinktank E3G, called the decision

"unnecessary and stupid".

While the UK is hoping some of that

criticism will be defused by the climate

finance plan, a fresh crisis looms.

The Guardian revealed this month

that Sunak was planning to use new

funding created by the International

Monetary Fund to substitute for some

of the overseas aid budget, in effect

depriving poor nations of new expected

funds. The funding, called special

drawing rights (SDRs), was provided to

all countries by the IMF to help them

cope with the impacts of Covid-19.

Other rich countries are expected to

offer their SDRs to poor nations,

enabling them to gain access cheaply to

foreign currency, necessary pay-down

loans and avoid a debt crisis. To use the

SDRs instead to replace existing aid

would reduce the UK's aid spending by

several billions over this parliament,

experts estimate.

Leading climate experts have said

this further cutting of overseas aid

would be highly damaging at Cop26.

One high-ranking official, who could

not be named, said Sunak's actions

were clearly against the spirit of the

IMF deal. They said: "The UK is not

doing anything that contradicts the

IMF rules or the OECD's definition of

aid, but it is substituting aid rather than

adding. G20 members discussed this

and nudged each other not to

substitute, but to add additional

resources to the funding pool."

Another expert added: "We seem to

have a UK Treasury adherence to

austerity which is at odds with the

urging of the managing director of the

IMF and the work of the UK as

president of Cop26, where the focus

has been on mobilising climate finance.

This [use of SDRs] seems to be odds

with the [world's] urgent priorities."

China, India and Brazil must set

out their plans to cut emissions

Chimneys at a coal-fired power plant in Shanghai. China produces about a

quarter of global emissions. `Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters

enviRonmenT DeSk

As we get closer to the

beginning of Cop26, I worry

that the main goal - keeping

temperature rises within 1.5C

above pre-industrial levels - is

slipping away. The Covid-19

pandemic offered the

opportunity for a global reset.

We could rebuild in a way

that was green and with

lower greenhouse gas

emissions.

We have not seen that

occur and have squandered

that opportunity. Going back

to the beginning of 2019, we

have had two years to reflect

on the reset that we needed,

but countries have not done

so.

We are seeing some bad

signs. China looking at

burning more coal because of

high energy prices is terrible.

China and many countries

talk about historic

responsibility for emissions.

Developed countries, such as

the US, the UK and other

European countries, were

burning fossil fuels at high

levels for a long time, so most

of the carbon that was in the

atmosphere in 1992, when

the UN framework

convention on climate

change was signed, came

from them.

But today China produces

about a quarter of global

emissions, so it has a historic

responsibility. The interests

of small developing countries

and large developing

countries are very different:

development versus

existence. For the larger

developing economies,

development is more

important than the climate.

But for us this is about

survival. At 1.5C, it will be

difficult but we can adapt.

Above 1.5C, we cannot and

the impacts will be terrible.

Our emissions are very

small in global terms. Even if

all of we small countries went

to zero emissions

immediately, that would not

have any impact on 1.5C.

Even if the big developed

countries cut their emissions

faster, that would still not

take us to 1.5C.

Every country is supposed

to come to Cop26 with

nationally determined

contributions (NDCs). But

what we have seen from

countries is not enough. The

present NDCs are not

targeting 1.5C. It's very

important that every decision

at Glasgow is aligned with

1.5C.

Some G20 parties have

made the necessary

adjustments and they are in

line with 1.5C. The G20 is

responsible for about 80% of

global emissions, but the

majority of large developing

countries that are members

of the G20 have not

submitted NDCs that are

aligned with 1.5C and many

have not submitted NDCs at

all.

We need the big developing

countries that are members

of the G20 to come forward

now. We have just one week

to Cop26, and the G20

leaders are preparing to meet

next weekend. China, India

and Brazil need to step up to

the plate urgently.

enviRonmenT DeSk

Global security and stability

could break down, with

migration crises and food

shortages bringing conflict

and chaos, if countries fail to

tackle greenhouse gas

emissions, the UN's top

climate official has warned

ahead of the Cop26 climate

summit.

Patricia Espinosa,

executive secretary of the

UN Framework Convention

on Climate Change, said:

"We're really talking about

preserving the stability of

countries, preserving the

institutions that we have

built over so many years,

preserving the best goals

that our countries have put

together. The catastrophic

scenario would indicate that

we would have massive

flows of displaced people."

The impact would cascade,

she said, adding: "It would

mean less food, so probably

a crisis in food security. It

would leave a lot more

people vulnerable to terrible

situations, terrorist groups

and violent groups. It would

mean a lot of sources of

instability."

She told the Observer in

an interview: "It doesn't only

speak to the environmental

side. It is also about the

whole system we have built.

We know what migration

crises have provoked in the

past. If we were to see that in

even higher numbers - not

only international

migration, but also internal

migration - [it would]

provoke very serious

problems."

The unusually strong

warnings from the normally

reserved Espinosa comes as

world leaders make their

final preparations for the

Cop26 talks in Glasgow. The

leaders of the G20 nations of

the world's largest

developed and developing

economies will gather in

Rome next weekend for two

days of preliminary talks,

then fly to Glasgow, to join

about 100 other heads of

government for the Cop26

climate talks on 1 November.

Espinosa, a former

minister in the Mexican

government took on the UN

climate role in 2016. She

shares

primary

responsibility for the talks

with Alok Sharma, the UK

cabinet minister who will act

as president. Over two

weeks, they will try to bring

nearly 200 countries

together to implement the

goals of the landmark 2015

Paris climate agreement, by

agreeing stiff cuts to

greenhouse gas emissions in

the next decade.

Some key leaders -

including Xi Jinping,

president of China, now the

world's biggest emitter of

carbon dioxide, and Russia's

Vladimir Putin - are unlikely

to attend. Espinosa said

these absences would not

prevent a successful

outcome, adding: "Not all

countries are going to be

represented at head of state

level. I don't have any

information about President

Xi's presence but I continue

to engage with the Chinese

delegation, and there is very

important engagement by

China in the process."

So far, the commitments

countries have made to

reduce emissions fall short

of the 45% cut, based on

2010 levels, that scientists

say is needed by 2030 to

limit global heating to 1.5C

above pre-industrial levels,

the tougher and safer of the

two goals in the Paris accord.

Espinosa said: "What we

need to get at Glasgow are

messages from leaders that

they are determined to drive

this transformation, to make

these changes, to look at

ways of increasing their

ambition."

She also held out the

possibility that if a shortfall

remains at Glasgow, as is

likely, between necessary

and offered cuts, nations

could be asked to revise their

plans soon after - though

that is likely to be unpopular

with many. Under the Paris

agreement, revisions are

supposed to take place every

five years - it is six this time

as Cop26 was delayed by a

year because of Covid - but

experts believe this is too

long, as emissions are still

rising and the 1.5C target will

slip out of reach unless sharp

cuts are made this decade.

"It is probably not the

most attractive idea to

government representatives

- when you have finished the

plan, come back and tell all

those involved, 'OK, now you

have to continue revising

your plan''," she said. "But

this is the biggest challenge

humanity is facing, so we

really don't have an option.

And we know that situations

change, technologies

change, processes change, so

there's always room for

improvement."

Top climate official issues strong warning on effect of unchecked greenhouse

gases ahead of summit.

Photo: Fayez nureldine

Wildlife is being hit hard by climate chaos

PhoeBe WeSTon

Sweating, headaches, fatigue,

dehydration - the ways heat exhaustion

affects the human body are well

documented. As temperatures inch up

year by year we need to change the way

we live, creating cooler places that

provide refuge from heat.

But what about wildlife? We know

mass die-offs are becoming more

common as heatwaves sweep

terrestrial and marine ecosystems, but

incremental increases in temperature,

which are much harder to study, are

harming almost all populations on our

planet.

Earlier this year, for the first time, a

paper was published on the impact of

heat stress in large Arctic seabirds.

Normally, research on species in that

corner of the world is about

adaptations to the cold, but in an era of

climate chaos, learning to live with heat

is the new challenge.

Emily Choy, a biologist from McGill

University in Montreal, Canada, has

been studying a colony of thick-billed

murres on the cliffs of Coast Island in

Hudson Bay after reports of birds dying

in their nests on warm days. These

black-plumed birds spend summer

months perched on cliffs in full sun

with little shade. Males and females

alternate 12-hour shifts sitting on their

eggs.

Their high metabolisms keep them

warm when diving in waters that are

8C and cooler, so when faced with

temperatures of 21C, the birds struggle

to keep cool, panting and flapping their

wings, according to the paper

published in the Journal of

Experimental Biology. As the Arctic

warms at twice the global rate, these

temperatures are becoming

increasingly common.

"When we compared our data, we

could really only do comparisons with

desert species that are well adapted for

heat," says Choy. "Most of the work that

has been done on thermal physiology in

Arctic species has focused on heat

conservation.

"Murres are cold-adapted and

basically specialised for Arctic

environments, so they are quite

sensitive and could be possible canaries

in the coalmine for the impacts of

climate change," she adds.

As well as undergoing physical

changes, animals across the world are

changing their behaviour - murres, for

example, are spending more time

getting into the water to cool off,

leaving their eggs exposed to gulls and

Arctic foxes. For parents, it's a trade-off

between keeping cool enough to avoid

heat stress and protecting their young.

Many birds with similar ecological

niches are at risk. Endangered bank

cormorants risk overheating when

sitting on eggs on exposed, rocky cliffs

in southern Africa, according to

research published in Conservation

Physiology.

"This puts a lot of stress on the adults,

and when the adults leave the nest to

cool down, the eggs and chicks are

more exposed to the sun and predators.

A lot of eggs and chicks can be lost in a

particularly hot summer," says Dr

Henry Häkkinen from the Zoological

Society of London, one of the paper's

authors. Great skuas in Shetland are

spending more time bathing to avoid

overheating, again leaving eggs and

chicks exposed to predators.

Lots of animals face similar

challenges. Research shows that in

hotter temperatures grizzly bears in

Alberta, Canada, look for more closed,

shaded vegetation, while in Greece,

brown bears are more likely to be active

at night. Making these changes has

knock-on effects and is a trade-off for

spending less time hunting for food, or

looking out for predators.

Although heatstroke is an issue, the

main cause of mortality is a change in

behaviour that leads to wildlife being

more vulnerable in their environment.

"I think heat stress is the very obvious

big thing, but that is really the far

extreme of climate change impacts.

That's really the worst case," says Dr

Daniella Rabaiotti, a researcher at the

ZSL Institute of Zoology. "Often I think

we're seeing population level effects

that aren't this big population crash

from heat stress, but I don't think we

have a full understanding of quite how

widespread these impacts are at the

moment."

Her research focuses on endangered

wild dogs, which - unlike Arctic birds -

are well adapted to heat. But rising

temperatures are making it too hot for

them to hunt and pup survival is

plummeting. "They're not getting as

much food because they have less time

to hunt," says Rabaiotti.

Habitat loss is key in exacerbating

wildlife's ability to respond to the

climate crisis. Humans have destroyed

so much habitat, many populations of

wild animals have been left fragmented

and unable to move and find cooler

areas in response to changes in their

environment. Wild dogs, Ethiopian

wolves, red wolves, tigers, lions and

cheetahs have all lost more than 90% of

Bees flock to water during an intense drought in South Africa.

Photo: Derek Turner

their ranges.

"Animals suffer when they can't do

anything," says Rabaiotti. "You'll

probably see a correlation between how

much range of a species is lost, and how

hard it is going to get hit by climate

change."

In terms of knowing what

conservation efforts to implement in

which places, we need to keep using

and gathering data from long-term

projects, says Rabaiotti. This is because

impacts are often localised and

environment specific. "A lot of climate

change is focused on very large-scale

impacts," she says.

TUeSDAY, OCTOBeR 26, 2021 6

Khulna Range DIG awards two

officers of jashore district police

SHAHID jOy, jASHORe CORReSPOnDenT

Khulna Range Police DIG

Dr. Khandakar Mohid

uddin, BPM (Bar) presided

over the monthly crime

review meeting at the

meeting room of Khulna

Range DIG on Sunday.

In the meeting, in

recognition of the good work

done in September of the

current year, Khulna Police

Ranger along with the

officers gave a presentation

on the work evaluation of

the police officers of the 10

district police chiefs.

Police personnel from

district Thana and various

units of the police were

present at the time. In

recognition of the

commendable work of the

police officers and members

of the police force, jashore

"A" Circle, Additional

Superintendent of Police

Mohammad Belal Hasain

and jashore Katwali Model

Police Station Officer-in-

Charge Md. Tajul Islam

were awarder by Khulna

Range DIG. District Police

Super Pralay Kumar

jaoardar BPM (Bar) PPM

was present at the time of

receiving awards of the two

officers.

Jashore "A" Circle, Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Belal

Hasain and Jashore Katwali Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md.

Tajul Islam recieved awards for their special contribution in curbing

crimes in the district by Khulna Range DIG on Sunday. Photo: Shahid Joy

It has been alleged that some influencial people are filling up a hundred-year-old

government canal to build road for their houses in

Gournadi.

Photo: Gias Uddin Mia

Forging social resistance to check

sound pollution stressed

RAjSHAHI: Health

experts and academicians

stressed the need for forging

social resistance to fight

against the sound pollution

to save people from being

infected with various

physical and mental

disorders, reports BSS.

They came up with the

importance while

addressing a training

workshop for the students in

Ctg records ever lowest

0.19pc Covid-19

positivity rate

CHATTOGRAM: The

district recorded ever lowest

Covid-19 positivity rate of

0.19 percent while only four

fresh cases were reported

after testing 2020 samples

during the last 24 hours till

last morning, reports BSS.

The Covid-19 situation is

improving consistently

during the last few months,

Civil Surgeon Dr Ilias

Chowdhury told BSS.

With the newly infected

patients, the number of

Covid-19 cases stands at

102,163 in the district.

"The number of cured

patients from the lethal virus

stood at 87,604 in the

district with the recovery of

37 more patients in last 24

hours," Dr Ilias said, adding

that the percentage of

recovery rate is 85.75.

tackling noise pollution at

Rajshahi College auditorium

yesterday afternoon.

The Department of

environment (Doe)

organized the training

session in association with

its Integrated and

Partnership in Controlling

Sound Pollution Project.

Commissioner of Rajshahi

division Dr Humayun Kabir

addressed the workshop as

chief guest with Rajshahi

College Principal Prof Abdul

Khaleque in the chair.

Professor Dr Asadur

Rahman from the

Department of ear nose and

Throat in Rajshahi Medical

College and Hospital and

Prof Abul Kalam Azad from

the Institute of

environmental Sciences in

Rajshahi university

presented two keynote

papers.

Doe Additional Director

General Humayun Kabir,

Divisional Director of the

Directorate of Health

Services Dr Habibul Ahsan

Talukder, Additional Deputy

Inspector General of Police

joydeb Bhadra and Deputy

Commissioner of Rajshahi

Metropolitan Police Anirban

Chakma also spoke.

The meeting was told that

sound pollution is the main

reason behind 30 major

diseases in the human body

and around five percent of

the population is affected

physically and mentally by

the pollution.

It was also informed that

the project aims to highlight

the noise pollution issue by

measuring its effects on

children and to raise

awareness and develop a

strategy paper on possible

interventions.

It also aims to align

stakeholders - including

local government, people

and nGOs - with the issue.

In his remarks, Dr

Humayun Kabir said sound

pollution

causes

multifarious physical and

mental disorders of people.

utmost emphasis should be

given on creating massawareness

with full-length

enforcement of the existing

laws to protect public health

from the adverse effects of

sound pollution, he said.

Mentioning that excessive

traffic noise disrupts

people's lives, he said:

"now, it's the time to forge

social resistance against

noise pollution for a

sustainable socio-economic

development. We should

build safe havens for the

future generations."

earlier in the morning, the

Doe organized a similar

training workshop for the

imams and khatibs at Imam

Training Academy

auditorium so that they can

contribute to minimise

sound pollution.

ultra poor women

gets goat in Magura

ROKIBuL HOQue DIPu,

MAGuRA CORReSPOnDenT

18 ultra poor women got

36 goats in Magura. earlier

18 women of Athar khada

union under Magura sadar

upazila were trained over

goat rearing training.

After training they were

provided with the goats.

non government

organization Palli Prokriti

disbursed the goats with the

help of Bangladesh nGO

foundation. The goats were

distributed under the

program of empowerment

and poverty alleviation of

Prokriti executive director

Shafiqur Rahman and local

union council member

Milon Shen were present in

the distribution ceremony.

Distribution of

quality seeds

will boost crop

production:

Speakers

GAIBAnDHA: Speakers at a

function here yesterday

underscored the need for

providing quality seed to

farmers to help them boost

production of agri-crops to

ensure sustainable food

security in the country,

reports BSS.

"Quality seeds is the prerequisite

to get desired output

from the crops including high

value crop paddy and save the

farmers from being cheated",

they said.

They made the comments

while addressing a Seed

Retailers Workshop at the

Federation hall room of

Khordo-Komorpur union

under Sadullapur upazila in

the district on Sunday.

In cooperation with IRRI

(International Rice Research

Institute), RDRS Bangladesh,

a reputed national nGO of the

country, organized the

function under Accelerated

Genetic Gains in Rice Alliance

(AGGRi) project.

Deputy Director (DD) of the

department of Agricultural

extension (DAe) Md Belal

uddin addressed the function

as the chief guest while

upazila agriculture officer Md.

Khajanur Rahman spoke as

special guest at the

programme.

Presided over by federation

chairman Gouri Rani, the

function was also addressed,

among others, by sub

assistant agriculture officers

Md. younus and nazmul

Hossain and agriculture

officer of RDRS Bangladesh

Fazlul Karim and field

facilitator of the project Akbar

Hossain.

Protest meeting

over attack on

landless people

held in Pirganj

BISHnu ROy, PIRGAnj CORReSPOnDenT

Landless people held a view

exchange meeting with the

journalists on various issues

including lawsuits and

attacks on landless people

on Pirganj khas land in

Thakurgaon.

In

collaboration with CDA

Dinajpur, the meeting was

organized by Pirganj Press

Club at the upazila Landless

Samay Parishad on Londay.

During the time,

Gajdranath Roy, President

of Ranishankal-Pirganj

Landless People's

Organization, Salmon Roy,

President of Landless

Coordinating Committee of

Dalatpur union no. 8,

Kawsar Alam, Regional

Coordinator of CDA, joynal

Abdin Babul, Vice-President

of Pirganj Press Club

Bishnupada Roy were

among others present at the

occasion.

earlier, the landless

people went to the upazila

Parishad with a rally

demanding immediate

distribution of khas lands.

Goat distribution ceremony held among ultra poor women in Magura recently.

RAnGPuR: no death due to Covid-19

was recorded during the last 24 hours

ending at 8 am yesterday in the division

where the pandemic situation

continues improving in the last more

than two months, reports BSS.

"earlier, no Covid-19 casualty was

recorded on October 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12,

13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 23

last here," Divisional Deputy Director

(Health) Dr Abu Md Zakirul Islam said

yesterday.

The number of Covid-19 fatalities

remained steady at 1,240 in the

division.

The district-wise breakup of the total

fatalities stands at 293 in Rangpur, 80

in Panchagarh, 89 in nilphamari, 68 in

Lalmonirhat, 69 in Kurigram, 252 in

Thakurgaon, 326 in Dinajpur and 63 in

Gaibandha, he said.

The average casualty rate is now 2.24

percent in the division.

Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19

cases reached 55,280 as 15 new patients

were found virus positive after testing

363 samples with the infection rate of

4.13 percent on Sunday here.

earlier, the daily Covid-19 positivity

rates were 2.38 percent on Saturday,

10.40 percent on Friday, 0.38 percent

on Thursday, 1.97 percent on

Wednesday, 2.56 percent on Tuesday

and 2.72 percent on Monday last in the

division.. The district-wise break up of

total patients include 12,458 of

Rangpur, 3,802 Panchagarh, 4,439 of

nilphamari, 2,738 of Lalmonirhat,

4,637 of Kurigram, 7,611 of

Thakurgaon, 14,736 of Dinajpur and

4,859 of Gaibandha in the division, he

added.

Divisional Director (Health) Dr Md

Motaharul Islam said a total of 2,91,321

collected samples were tested till

Sunday, and of them, 55,280 were

found Covid-19 positive with an average

infection rate of 18.98 percent in the

division.

Since the beginning of the pandemic,

the total number of healed Covid-19

patients reached 52,944 with recovery

of 19 more patients on Sunday in the

division where the average recovery rate

currently stands at 95.77 percent.

The 52,944 recovered patients

Landless people held a view exchange meeting with the journalists on various

issues including lawsuits and attacks on landless people on Pirganj

khas land on Monday.

Photo: Bishnu Roy

RAjSHAHI: nine more

people have tested positive

for Covid-19 in five districts

of the division on Sunday,

taking the caseload to

98,865 since the pandemic

began in March last year,

reports BSS.

However, the new

positive figure is almost

half compared to the

previous day's figure, said

Dr Habibul Ahsan

Talukder, divisional

director of Health, adding

that Saturday's infection

figure was 16.

Besides, Wednesday's

infection figure was just

four, which was the lowestever

in the division since

the second wave of the

pandemic hit the country.

Meanwhile, the

recovery count rose to

95,052 in the division

after 39 patients were

discharged from the

hospitals on the same day.

The death toll reached

1,671, including 685 in

Bogura, 318 in Rajshahi

with 193 in its city, and

173 in natore as no new

death was reported

during the period, Dr

Talukder added.

Besides, all the positive

cases of Covid-19 have, so

far, been brought under

treatment while 22,975

were kept in isolation units

of different dedicated

hospitals for institutional

supervision. Of them,

19,365 have been released.

Meanwhile, 31 more

people have been sent to

home and institutional

quarantine afresh while 69

others were released from

isolation during the same

time. Of the nine new

cases, four were detected in

Bogura, followed by two in

Pabna and one each in

Rajshahi, natore and

joypurhat districts.

With the newly detected

patients, the district-wise

break-up of the total cases

now stands at 28,077 in

Rajshahi, including 22,640

Photo: Rokibul Hoque Dipu

Rangpur records no Covid

death in 24 hours

include 11,362 of Rangpur, 3,671

Panchagarh, 4,343 nilphamari, 2,625

Lalmonirhat, 4,527 Kurigram, 7,278

Thakurgaon, 14,352 in Dinajpur and

4,786 Gaibandha districts in the

division.

Among the 55,280 patients, 53 are

undergoing treatments at isolation

units, including 10 critical patients at

ICu beds and seven at High

Dependency unit beds, after recovery of

52,944 patients and 1,240 deaths while

1,043 are remaining in home isolation.

"Meanwhile, the number of citizens

who got the first dose of the Covid-19

vaccine rose to 45,21,934, and among

them, 20,79,343 got the second dose of

the jab till Sunday in the division,"

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 in the division. He however

urged everyone to abide by the health

directives to stop further spread of the

lethal virus.

40800 farmers to

get agri incentive

in jamalpur

jAMALPuR: Agriculture

department will provide

incentive of TK 3 crore 20

lakh 3000 to 40800 small

and marginal farmers in the

district this Robi season,

reports BSS.

Department

of

Agricultural extension

(DAe) office sources said the

underprivileged farmers will

get the incentive in

cultivating seven crops.

They said 10,000 farmers

will get incentive for wheat

cultivation, 10,000 for

maize, 15,000 for mustard,

5000 for groundnut, 500 for

onion, 200 for lentil and 100

for mung bean cultivation.

Covid-19 cases reach 98,865 with

9 new cases in Rajshahi division

in city, 5,666 in

Chapainawabganj, 6,404

in naogaon, 8,383 in

natore, 4,623 in

joypurhat, 21,610 in

Bogura, 11,383 in Sirajganj

and 12,709 in Pabna.

A total of 1,13,740

people have, so far, been

kept under quarantine

since March 10 last year

to prevent the community

transmission of the

deadly coronavirus

(COVID-19).

Of them, 1,12,564 have,

by now, been released as

they were given clearance

certificates after

completing their 14-day

quarantine.

Facebook dithered in curbing

divisive user content in India

NEW DELHI : Facebook in India has

been selective in curbing hate speech,

misinformation and inflammatory

posts, particularly anti-Muslim

content, according to leaked

documents obtained by The Associated

Press, even as its own employees cast

doubt over the company's motivations

and interests, reports UNB.

From research as recent as March of

this year to company memos that date

back to 2019, the internal company

documents on India highlight

Facebook's constant struggles in

quashing abusive content on its

platforms in the world's biggest

democracy and the company's largest

growth market. Communal and

religious tensions in India have a

history of boiling over on social media

and stoking violence.

The files show that Facebook has

been aware of the problems for years,

raising questions over whether it has

done enough to address these issues.

Many critics and digital experts say it

has failed to do so, especially in cases

where members of Prime Minister

Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya

Janata Party, the BJP, are involved.

Across the world, Facebook has

become increasingly important in

politics, and India is no different.

Modi has been credited for leveraging

the platform to his party's advantage

during elections, and reporting from

The Wall Street Journal last year cast

doubt over whether Facebook was

selectively enforcing its policies on hate

speech to avoid blowback from the

BJP. Both Modi and Facebook

chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg

have exuded bonhomie, memorialized

by a 2015 image of the two hugging at

the Facebook headquarters.

The leaked documents include a

trove of internal company reports on

hate speech and misinformation in

India. In some cases, much of it was

intensified by its own "recommended"

feature and algorithms. But they also

include the company staffers' concerns

over the mishandling of these issues

and their discontent expressed about

the viral "malcontent" on the platform.

According to the documents,

Facebook saw India as one of the most

PM, officials detained,

internet down in

apparent Sudan coup

CAIRO : Sudan's interim

prime minister and a number

of senior government officials

were arrested Monday, the

information ministry said,

describing the actions as a

military coup, reports UNB.

The internet in the country

was largely cut off and

military forces closed bridges,

according to the ministry's

Facebook page. It said the

whereabouts of Prime

Minister Abdalla Hamdok

were not immediately known.

Meanwhile, the country's

state news channel played

patriotic traditional music

and scenes of the Nile river.

The country's main prodemocracy

group and the

largest political party urged

people in separate appeals to

take to the streets to counter

the apparent military coup.

Thousands of people flooded

the streets of Khartoum and

its twin city of Omdurman.

Footage shared online

appeared to show protesters

blocking streets and setting

fire to tires as security forces

used tear gas to disperse

them.

A takeover by the military

would be a major setback for

Sudan, which has grappled

with a transition to

democracy since long-time

ruler Omar al-Bashir was

toppled by mass protests two

years ago.

Early Monday, the U.S.

Special Envoy to the Horn of

Africa Jeffrey Feltman said

Washington was "deeply

alarmed" by reports of the

military takeover.

Monday's arrests come

after weeks of rising tensions

between Sudan's civilian and

military leaders. A failed coup

attempt in September

fractured the country along

old lines, pitting moreconservative

Islamists who

want a military government

against those who toppled al-

Bashir in protests. In recent

days, both camps have taken

to the street in

demonstrations.

Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation

and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim

content, according to leaked documents obtained by The

Associated Press.

Photo : AP

"at risk countries" in the world and

identified both Hindi and Bengali

languages as priorities for "automation

on violating hostile speech." Yet,

Facebook didn't have enough local

language moderators or contentflagging

in place to stop

misinformation that at times led to

real-world violence.

In a statement to the AP, Facebook

said it has "invested significantly in

technology to find hate speech in

various languages, including Hindi and

Bengali" which has resulted in

"reduced amount of hate speech that

people see by half" in 2021.

"Hate speech against marginalized

groups, including Muslims, is on the

rise globally. So we are improving

enforcement and are committed to

updating our policies as hate speech

evolves online," a company

spokesperson said.

This AP story, along with others

being published, is based on

disclosures made to the Securities and

Exchange Commission and provided to

Congress in redacted form by former

Facebook employee-turnedwhistleblower

Frances Haugen's legal

counsel. The redacted versions were

obtained by a consortium of news

organizations, including the AP.

Back in February 2019 and ahead of a

general election when concerns of

misinformation were running high, a

Facebook employee wanted to

understand what a new user in the

country saw on their news feed if all

they did was follow pages and groups

solely recommended by the platform

itself.

The employee created a test user

account and kept it live for three weeks,

a period during which an extraordinary

event shook India - a militant attack in

disputed Kashmir had killed over 40

Indian soldiers, bringing the country to

near war with rival Pakistan.

In the note, titled "An Indian Test

User's Descent into a Sea of Polarizing,

Nationalistic Messages," the employee

whose name is redacted said they were

"shocked" by the content flooding the

news feed which "has become a near

constant barrage of polarizing

nationalist content, misinformation,

and violence and gore."

Seemingly benign and innocuous

groups recommended by Facebook

quickly morphed into something else

altogether, where hate speech,

unverified rumors and viral content ran

rampant.

South Korea's president said Monday he'll keep striving to promote peace

with North Korea through dialogue until the end of his term next May,

after Pyongyang raised animosities with a resumption of provocative

weapons tests.

Photo : AP

South Korea's leader vows final

push for talks with North

SEOUL : South Korea's president said

Monday he'll keep striving to promote peace

with North Korea through dialogue until the

end of his term next May, after Pyongyang

raised animosities with a resumption of

provocative weapons tests.

While launching a spate of newly

developed weapons in recent weeks, North

Korea has also slammed Washington and

Seoul over what it calls hostility toward the

North.

Its actions indicate North Korea wants its

rivals to ease economic sanctions against it

and accept it as a legitimate nuclear state,

experts say, reports UNB.

In his final policy speech at parliament,

President Moon Jae-in said he'll "make

efforts to the end to help a new order for

peace and prosperity on the Korean

Peninsula be established through dialogue

and diplomacy."

Moon, a champion of greater

reconciliation with North Korea, once

shuttled between Pyongyang and

Washington to help facilitate now-stalled

nuclear diplomacy between the two

countries.

Pyongyang turned a cold shoulder on

Moon after its diplomacy with Washington

broke down in early 2019 amid bickering

over the sanctions.

Moon praised himself for paving the way

for a peace process on the Korean Peninsula

by holding three summits with North Korean

leader Kim Jong Un and helping arrange the

first-ever North Korea-U.S. summit between

Kim and then-President Donald Trump in

2018.

But Moon acknowledged his push for

peace through dialogue remains

"incomplete."

Moon's single five-year term ends next

May, and he's barred by law from seeking

reelection.

The presidential candidate of Moon's

ruling liberal party has unveiled a similar

North Korea policy as Moon's. Surveys

indicate a neck-and-neck race with a

potential conservative candidate, who will

likely take a harder line on the North.

Moon's appeasement policy on North

Korea has been divisive, with his supporters

call him a peace-making mediator while his

opponents accused him of helping North

Korea find ways to weaken international

pressure and perfect its weapons systems.

The North Korean weapons systems tested

recently are mostly short- and mediumrange

weapons that place South Korea and

Japan within their striking ranges. Last

Tuesday, North Korea fired a ballistic missile

from a submarine in its most significant

weapons test since President Joe Biden took

office in January.

Palestine condemns

Israeli plan to build

new settlement homes

RAMALLAH : Palestine on

Sunday condemned Israel for

issuing tenders to construct

1,355 new housing units in

Israeli settlements in the West

Bank.

The Palestinian Ministry of

Foreign Affairs said in a

statement that "putting

tenders to build more than

1,355 settlement units is an

official Israeli persistence to

keep constructing settlements

in the Palestinian territories."

The statement added that

the ongoing settlement

building in the West Bank and

East Jerusalem "is a blatant

disregard for the international

and the U.S. positions which

reject settlements."

It warned of the

repercussion "of the

disastrous settlement projects

on the chances of achieving

peace based on the principle

of the two-state solution."

The statement held the

Israeli government "fully and

directly responsible for the

consequences of its decisions

which violated all the red

lines."

On Sunday, the Israeli

media reported that Israel

issued tenders for the

construction of around 1,355

new housing units in the

existing West Bank

settlements.

Chinese province

closes tourist sites

following virus cases

BEIJING : A northwestern

Chinese province heavily

dependent on tourism

closed all tourist sites

Monday after finding new

COVID-19 cases, reports

UNB.

Gansu province lies along

the ancient Silk Road and is

famed for the Dunhuang

grottoes filled with Buddhist

images and other religious

sites.

The National Health

Commission said 35 new

cases of local transmission

had been detected over the

past 24 hours, four of them

in Gansu.

Another 19 cases were

found in the Inner Mongolia

region, with others spread

across several provinces and

cities. Residents in parts of

Inner Mongolia have been

ordered to stay indoors.

Despite having largely

stamped out cases of local

infection, China maintains a

zero-tolerance policy toward

the pandemic, characterized

by lockdowns, quarantines

and compulsory testing for

the virus.

The spread of the delta

variant by travelers and tour

groups is of particular

concern ahead of the Winter

Olympics in Beijing in

February. Overseas

spectators already are

banned, and participants

will have to stay in a bubble

separating them from

people outside.

Unknown armed men gun

down religious scholar in

Afghanistan's eastern province

JALALABAD, Afghanistan :

Unknown armed men shot

dead a religious scholar who

served as a prayer leader at a

local mosque in Behsoud

district of Afghanistan's

eastern Nangarhar province

on Monday, a local official

said, reports UNB.

The official on the

condition of anonymity said

that the unknown armed

men opened fire on prayer

leader Mufti Sayedullah in

the Muqam Khan area on

Monday morning, killing

him on the spot.

The police have yet to

make comment on the

incident.

Separately, a roadside

bomb struck a vehicle in

Qasim Abad locality in

police district 8 of Jalalabad

city in the morning rush

hour on Monday, injuring

two persons, an eyewitness

said on the condition of

anonymity.

TueSDAY, OcTOber 26, 2021

7

Officials detained, internet

down in possible Sudan coup

CAIRO : Military forces detained a number

of senior Sudanese government figures on

Monday, the country's information ministry

said, as the country's main pro-democracy

group called on people to take to the streets

to counter an apparent military coup, reports

UNB.

The ministry said the internet had been cut

off and military forces closed bridges. The

country's state news channel played patriotic

traditional music and scenes of the Nile river.

The Umma Party, the country's largest

political party, described the arrests as an

attempted coup, and called on people to take

to the streets in resistance.

Earlier, the Sudanese Professionals'

Association, a group leading demands for a

transition to democracy, issued a similar call.

A possible takeover by the military would

be a major setback for Sudan, which has

grappled with a transition to democracy

since long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir was

toppled by mass protests.

Monday's arrests come after weeks of

rising tensions between Sudan's civilian and

military leaders. A failed coup attempt in

September fractured the country along old

lines, pitting more-conservative Islamists

who want a military government against

those who toppled al-Bashir more than two

years ago in mass protests. In recent days,

both camps have taken to the street in

demonstrations.

The information ministry said in a brief

statement on its Facebook page that the

whereabouts of the officials were not known.

It did not provide details about who was

detained. Earlier Monday, two officials

confirmed that at least five government

figures were detained. The officials spoke on

condition of anonymity because they were

not authorized to speak to the media.

The officials said the detained government

members include Industry Minister Ibrahim

al-Sheikh, Information Minister Hamza

Baloul, and Mohammed al-Fiky Suliman,

member of the country's ruling transitional

body, known as The Sovereign Council, and

Faisal Mohammed Saleh, a media adviser to

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

The whereabouts of Hamdok were not

immediately clear, amid media reports that

security forces were stationed outside his

home in Khartoum.

Military forces detained a number of senior Sudanese government figures

on Monday, the country's information ministry said, as the country's main

pro-democracy group called on people to take to the streets to counter an

apparent military coup.

Photo : AP

Drought-stricken California

doused by major storm

SAN FRANCISCO : A powerful storm

barreled toward Southern California after

flooding highways, toppling trees and

causing mud flows in areas burned bare by

recent fires across the northern part of the

state. Drenching showers and strong

winds accompanied the weekend's arrival

of an atmospheric river - a long and wide

plume of moisture pulled in from the

Pacific Ocean. The National Weather

Service's Sacramento office warned of

"potentially historic rain."

Flooding was reported across the San

Francisco Bay Area, closing streets in

Berkeley, inundating Oakland's Bay

Bridge toll plaza and overflowing rivers in

Napa and Sonoma counties. Power poles

were downed and tens of thousands of

people in the North Bay were without

electricity.

By Sunday morning, Mount Tamalpais

K…DK-107

GD-1567/21(6x3)

just north of San Francisco had recorded a

half foot (15 centimeters) of rainfall during

the previous 12 hours, the weather service

said. "Some of our higher elevation

locations could see 6, 7, 8 inches of rain

before we're all said and done," weather

service meteorologist Sean Miller said.

About 150 miles (241 kilometers) to the

north, the California Highway Patrol

closed a stretch of State Route 70 in Butte

and Plumas counties because of multiple

landslides within the massive Dixie Fire

burn scar. "We have already had several

collisions this morning for vehicles

hydroplaning, numerous trees falling, and

several roadways that are experiencing

flooding," the highway patrol's office in

Oroville tweeted on Sunday. "If you can

stay home and off the roads today, please

do. If you are out on the roads, please use

extreme caution."

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2021

8

First Security Islami Bank Limited celebrated its 22nd Anniversary on Monday in a simple ceremony

organized at it's Head Office. The bank is providing shariah based modern banking services to clients since

its inception. The bank has 193 branches, 122 Sub branches, 65 Agent Banking Outlets, 192 own ATM network

throughout the country and also providing Online Banking, Internet Banking, SMS Banking, Mobile

Banking, School Banking services. On the occasion of 22nd anniversary, Syed Waseque Md. Ali, Managing

Director of the bank gratefully acknowledged the support & guidance of FSIBL Valued Clients, Bangladesh

Bank, Shareholders, Bangladesh Security & Exchange Commission, Dhaka & Chittagong Stock Exchanges

Ltd., Well Wishers & Employees. Among others, Abdul Aziz and Md. Mustafa Khair, Additional Managing

Director(s), Md. Zahurul Haque and Md. Masudur Rahman Shah, Deputy Managing Director(s) and

Divisional Heads were also present on the occasion.

Photo : Courtesy

Prime Minister's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman

visits Walton Compressor Factory.

Photo: Courtesy

‘Electronics will overtake

garments sector’

Salman F Rahman opined after visiting Walton factory

Salman Fazlur Rahman, Private Industry and

Investment Advisor to Prime Minister, said

that the government has created suitable

atmosphere for private industry sector. Walton

has fully utilized those opportunities. The

company has product diversity. They are

manufacturing various products including all

kinds of spare parts. The way Walton is

marching forward, I firmly believe that in

export earning electronics sector will overtake

readymade garment sector, says a press

release.

The Prime Minister's Private Industry and

Investment Adviser made the remarks just

after visiting Walton factory at Chandra in

Gazipur on Saturday (23 October 2021).

During his visit, Salman F Rahman cut a large

cake to celebrate the milestone of one lakh

refrigerator export.

IFIC Bank Limited's Managing Director

Shah Alam Sarwar and Personal Secretary to

the Prime Minister's Private Industry and

Investment Adviser Zahidul Islam Bhuiyan

accompanied Salman F Rahman during the

visit.

Earlier in the morning, Walton Hi-Tech

Industries Limited (WHIL) Vice-Chairman S

M Shamsul Alam, Directors S M Rezaul Alam,

S M Monjurul Alam, Sabiha Jarin Orona,

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

Golam Murshed welcomed Salman F Rahman

and other guests at the factory complex with

flower bouquet.

Among others, Gazipur Police Super S M

Shafiqullah Shafiq, Additional Deputy

Commissioner Mamun Sarder, WHIL's

Deputy Managing Directors Humayun Kabir

and Alamgir Alam Sarker, Walton Digi-Tech

Industries Limited's DMD Liakat Ali, WHIL's

Senior Executive Directors Col. (Retd.) SM

Shahadat Alam, Uday Hakim, Tanvir Rahman,

Anisur Rahman Mollick, Firoj Alam, Yusuf Ali,

Mostofa Nahid Hossain, Mohasin Sarder, Al

Imran, Amin Khan and Easir Al-Imran,

Executive Directors Abdullah Al-Mamun,

Zahidul Islam, Shahjada Salim, Shahjalal

Hossain Limon and Mohasin Ali Molla were

also present.

After the visit, Salman F Rahman said:

When Walton says 'Made in Bangladesh', it's

really made in Bangladesh. This means

Walton manufactures every spare parts. R&D

(Research and Development) is most vital for

achieving the target of becoming a developed

country within 2041 and Walton is doing

excellent work in this sector. The R&D of

Walton is very rich with Bangladeshi

engineers.

UK announces

o6 bn health

spending ahead

of key budget

LONDON : The British

government will provide

an extra o6 billion to its

National Health Service to

tackle backlogs built up

during the pandemic,

finance minister Rishi

Sunak will announce in

this week's budget, reports

BSS.

All eyes will be on Sunak

Wednesday as he outlines

the government's tax and

spending plans for the next

year.

He is grappling with a

range of problems thrown

up by the pandemic and

lockdowns, with many

anticipating tax hikes to

deal with record

borrowing.

Sunak told the BBC on

Sunday that the country

would have to wait until

Wednesday to find out his

tax plans.

But his office released

details of the o6 billion

($8.25 billion, seven billion

euros) health fund for

patients waiting for

diagnostic tests and nonemergency

operations.

Part of the funding will

go towards creating 100

"one-stop-shop" diagnostic

centres across England to

catch life-threatening

diseases such as cancer.

Sunak called it a "gamechanging

investment... to

make sure we have the

right buildings, equipment

and systems to get patients

the help they need."

The minister will also

announce a o5 billion fund

for innovative healthrelated

projects, according

to his office.

Asiatic Laboratories Ltd. launches Initial Public Offering (IPO)

Asiatic Laboratories Limited started its

journey to Initial Public Offering (IPO) under

Book Building method as per Bangladesh

Public Issue Rules-2015. The company

arranged a Road Show Programme on

Sunday evening, October 24. 2021 at the

Grand Ballroom of the Radisson Blu Water

Garden Hotel in the capital. Managing

Director Md. Monir Ahmed, Chairman Mrs.

Tahmina Begum, Executive Director Mr.

Maqsood Ahmed, Director Operation Ms.

Sadia Ahmed, Independent Director,

Company Secretary, Chief Financial Officer

of Asiatic Laboratories Limited and other

officials were present on this occasion.

Representatives of Issue Manager and

Registrar of Issue, Underwriters, Merchant

Banks, Fund Manager, Bond Manager,

Insurance Company, DSE-CSE Trec

Holders, Mutual Funds, NBFIs and other

representatives as per Public Issue Rules-

2015 were also present on the occasion.

To gain market share and to become a

reputed pharmaceutical company in

Bangladesh Asiatic Laboratories Limited is

participating in the IPO for Taka 95 crore

subject to the approval of BSEC through

Book Building Method. After spending on

the IPO, the company will use the rest of the

money to

build new

factory

buildings,

capital

machineries

and partially

repayment of

s loans.

Speaking

on the

occasion,

Managing

Director of

the

company,

Monir Ahmed, said, "Successfully

completing the IPO will enable us to achieve

our desired production capacity and market

share. According to the projected financial

statement, our sales revenue in 2025 will be

287.63 crore and production capacity will

increase to 2.87 crore pieces per year. This

means that the sales revenue will increase by

98% from the current sales revenue and the

payback period is presumed 2.5 years. We

will be able to meet the market demand of

Bangladesh and then export to other

developed countries. This is the best time to

invest in Asiatic Laboratories Ltd. and we

will be able to give our shareholders the right

returns and start our next milestone in the

capital market. "

Over the past few years, local

pharmaceutical companies have been

working as game changers, with 90% of the

market being dominated by local

pharmaceutical companies. Recently, the

pharmaceutical market has great potential

and is projected to become a 6 billion market

by 2025, with 114% growth from 2019. Since

Asiatic has a very good reputation among the

doctors because of its quality, we have a huge

opportunity to set up an anti-cancer plant;

Which can be supplied not only in the

country but also abroad, said the officials of

the company.

At the end of the event, a question-andanswer

session was held for the

representatives of Eis, where the managing

director, Directors & Company Secretary of

the company, answered the quarries. The

company also said the quarries section will

be open for next 3 days as per public Issue

Rules an Eis can openly rise their question on

the Red Herring Prospectus of Asiatic

Laboratories Limited to the Issue Managers

& companies mail address.

Two-motorbike winners receive

motorbikes from Tamim Iqbal

Winners of the ongoing

cash-in service campaign of

Nagad, the mobile financial

service of the Postal

Department, were handed

over motorbikes by the

brand ambassador of the

company Tamim Iqbal.

They received the gift from

the one-day captain of

Bangladesh cricket team on

the Channel 71 show "Nagad

presents Tamim Iqbal" after

the T20 World Cup Match

On Sunday, a press release

said.

This week's winners were

Khondker Riazul Haque and

Md Mazharul Islam, both

residents of Dhaka. During

the gift handover ceremony,

Tamim spoke with them and

asked about the secret of

their high score. The

campaign, launched on the

occasion of the T20 World

Cup, will continue until 14

November. Under the

campaign, Nagad users can

win a motorbike every day

by doing cash-in or adding

money, recharging mobile

phones, and playing the T20

quiz. At the same time, the

first five users in every

minute will win BDT 100

bonus.

About the campaign,

Tamim Iqbal said, "The love

of the general people will

carry the cricket of the

country to a different height.

Everyone should avail more

and more bonus and bike

offers by participating in the

Nagad quiz."

Nagad Chief Marketing

Global Islami Bank formally opened its two branchesnamelyMohammadpurChowrasta Branch, Dhaka

and Dakshin Keraniganj Branch, Keraniganj on Monday. Syed Habib Hasnat, Managing Director of the

Bank has virtually inaugurated the operation of both the branches as Chief Guest. Additional Managing

Director Md. Golam Sarwar and Kazi Mashiur Rahman Jayhad, Deputy Managing Director Ataus Samad,

Divisional Heads from Head Office, Branch Managers & distinguished clients were also present on the

occasion. It was expected that through the latest technological support, the bank will provide quality service

to the customers & will expand its network at home & abroad to provide "Banking with Faith" to its

stakeholders.

Photo : Courtesy

IPDC Finance Ltd, in collaboration with Bangladesh Supply Chain Management Society (BSCMS), has

launched Bangladesh Supply Chain Excellence Awards (BSCEA) 2021. The inauguration ceremony took

place at a press conference which was held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon. This is the 4th edition of this prestigious

BSCEA which was first held on 2018.

Photo: Courtesy

Mercantile Bank Limited organized a two day training for the officials of

Internal Control & Compliance Division (ICCD) of Head Office recently.

Resource personnel from Bangladesh Bank Training Academy and officials

from respective departments of central bank conducted the training sessions.

Md. Mahmood Alam Chowdhury, Deputy Managing Director & COO of the bank

inaugurated the training program. In his address Chowdhury advised participating

officers to strictly adhere with the circulars from central bank, meticulously

follow audit guidelines in discharging their assigned responsibilities and

safe guard bank's interest at all times. S.M. Salim Uddin, General Manager,

Bangladesh Bank Training Academy graced the training program as Guest of

Honor. Javed Tariq, Principal of Training Institute moderated the training program

with the assistance of faculties of the institute.

Photo : Courtesy

Officer Sheikh Aminur

Rahman said, "Nagad

always ensures exciting

offers ad services for its

users. That's why Nagad is

the name for trust and

reliability for 5.5 crore

users."

Simple' life in

Iraqi desert

village cut off

from the grid

AL-SAHL : In Iraq's vast

western desert, some 200

families live in a hamlet

largely cut off from the rest of

the world, their only

neighbour one of the country's

biggest military bases.

"We live a simple, primitive

life," said Abu Majid, one of

the elders from Al-Sahl.

"Our village is over one

hundred years old and it still

has no electricity, no medical

centre," said the man in his

70s, wearing a traditional

robe and a red-and-white

keffiyeh scarf.

Lost in rocky hills and

surrounded by humble palm

groves, Al-Sahl is around 250

kilometres (155 miles)

northwest of the capital

Baghdad, reports BSS.

Yet the closest hospital is

more than half an hour's drive

away along a bumpy road, the

only education facility is a

primary school, and residents

rely on livestock and farming

to survive.

tUeSDAY, october 26, 2021

9

Lionel Messi was kept quiet as 10-man paris Saint-Germain settled for a 0-0 draw with bitter rivals

Marseille in a heated atmosphere in Ligue 1 on Sunday.

photo: Ap

Messi muted as 10-man PSG

draw with Marseille

SportS DeSk

Lionel Messi was kept quiet as 10-man

Paris Saint-Germain settled for a 0-0

draw with bitter rivals Marseille in a

heated atmosphere in Ligue 1 on

Sunday, reports BSS.

The meeting of French football's

biggest rivals was briefly held up on

more than one occasion as objects were

thrown from the stands when PSG

players went to take corner kicks.

There was another interruption in the

second half when one young man

invaded the pitch and approached

Messi before being escorted off by a

legion of security staff.

It was that sort of night for PSG, who

could not get into their stride and were

reduced to 10 men when Achraf

Hakimi was sent off in the second half

following a VAR review for a last-man

challenge on Cengiz Under just outside

the box.

The game was also marked by two

goals disallowed in the first half for

tight VAR offside decisions, one an

own-goal by Marseille defender Luan

Peres and another at the opposite end

from Arkadiusz Milik. It is a perfectly

acceptable result for Mauricio

Pochettino's side, who have lost just

one of their opening 11 matches in

Ligue 1 and are seven points clear at the

top from Lens in second.

"I think we played very well, but we

just couldn't get the goal," Pochettino

told broadcaster Amazon Prime.

"The team showed great character,

and of course identity and style."

However, the performance of PSG's

attacking superstars will again come in

for scrutiny.

Pochettino selected Messi, Neymar

and Angel Di Maria in a line of three

behind Kylian Mbappe but that quartet

was kept quiet for most of the game by

a hard-working Marseille side.

"I thought we deserved the three

points today because we were better

than them," insisted Marseille's onloan

Arsenal midfielder Matteo

Guendouzi.

Messi was coming up against Jorge

Sampaoli, who coached the six-time

Ballon d'Or winner at the 2018 World

Cup when in charge of Argentine, and

who is now on the Marseille bench.

The former Barcelona man scored

twice for the Qatar-owned club in their

3-2 midweek win over RB Leipzig in the

Champions League, but here he rarely

looked finding the net.

A close-range header that was tipped

over by home goalkeeper Pau Lopez in

the first half was the closest Messi

came.

All of his three goals in a PSG shirt

have come in the Champions League,

while he is yet to score in four Ligue 1

appearances.

The visitors, deprived of any

travelling support amid concerns about

potential crowd disorder, thought they

had gone in front in the 14th minute.

Neymar's ball across goal looking for

Mbappe was turned into his own net by

Peres, but the goal was disallowed for

an offside against the world's most

expensive player.

Milik then had a goal at the other end

ruled out midway through the first half.

The Polish striker controlled a low

ball and fired in but the goal did not

stand because Pol Lirola was just

offside before crossing.

PSG lost Marco Verratti to injury just

before half-time and had Hakimi sent

off in the 57th minute for shoving over

Under, a yellow card upgraded to red

after another VAR review.

Di Maria was sacrificed to allow

Pochettino to send on another defender

and Marseille had chances, with

Valentin Rongier and substitute

Konrad de la Fuente both missing from

close range.

Mbappe was denied by a brilliant

William Saliba challenge at the other

end, and Marseille are fourth with a

game in hand.

Earlier Lens beat Metz 4-1 to stay

second, with Wesley Said scoring twice,

while Nice are third after coming from

two goals down to beat Lyon 3-2.

Michael Jordan

sneakers sell for

nearly $1.5 mn,

an auction record

SportS DeSk

A pair of sneakers worn by

NBA superstar Michael

Jordan early in his career sold

for nearly $1.5 million on

Sunday, setting a record price

at auction for game-worn

footwear, Sotheby's said,

reports BSS.

The white leather shoes

with the red Nike swoosh and

soles were worn by the iconic

player in the fifth game of his

rookie season with the

Chicago Bulls, when Nike's

Jordan-affiliated brand was

only just taking off as a

sensation both on and off the

court.

"The most valuable

sneakers ever offered at

auction -- Michael Jordan's

regular season game-worn

Nike Air Ships from 1984 --

have just sold at $1,472,000

in our luxury sale in Las

Vegas," the auction house

said in a statement on Twitter.

The astronomical price

easily beat the record held by

a pair of Nike Air Jordans

which sold for $615,000 in

August 2020 at a Christie's

auction.

A pair of Nike Air Yeezy 1s

worn by rapper Kanye West

sold for $1.8 million in April,

triple the previous record for

sneakers -- although that was

a private sale.

Salah hits hat-trick as Liverpool

humiliate Man Utd

SportS DeSk

Liverpool inflicted a historic hammering on

Manchester United as Mohamed Salah

scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win at Old

Trafford on Sunday, leaving Ole Gunnar

Solskjaer clinging to his job, reports BSS.

For the first time in Premier League

history, United trailed 4-0 at half-time and

failed to score in a hopelessly one-sided

contest. The Red Devils have now taken a

run of one point from a possible 12 in the

league. Naby Keita started the rout before

Diogo Jota doubled Liverpool's lead inside

15 minutes.

Salah then took centre stage to take his

tally for the season to 15 goals in 12

appearances and become the top-scoring

African player in Premier League history in

the process.

To round off a miserable day for United,

Paul Pogba lasted less than 15 minutes as a

second-half substitute as he was shown a

straight red card for a reckless lunge that

forced Keita to leave the pitch on a

stretcher.

Liverpool's first victory in front of a crowd

at Old Trafford under Jurgen Klopp moves

them back above Manchester City into

second, just a point behind leaders Chelsea.

By contrast, United's hopes of a first

league title since 2013 already look over as

they remain eight points off the leaders.

That gap is likely to grow in the coming

weeks with Tottenham and City to come in

the next fortnight before an international

break.

Whether Solskjaer will still be in charge

come November is now in serious doubt as

he has completely failed to form a balanced

team from a talented collection of star

players.

The Norwegian will wonder what might

have been had Bruno Fernandes not fired

over a glorious chance to open the scoring

on three minutes.

But soon the defensive cracks that have

blighted United's season began to appear.

Salah teed up Keita to open the floodgates

after just five minutes with a composed low

finish past David de Gea.

United came from 2-0 down at the break

to beat Atalanta 3-2 in the Champions

League on Wednesday.

But former midfielder Paul Scholes'

warning after that match that Liverpool

would be 4-0 up in 45 minutes if handed

the same space to attack into came to

fruition.

Jota justified his selection ahead of Sadio

Mane as he stretched to turn in Trent

Alexander-Arnold's cross to double

Liverpool's advantage.

Salah has now scored in 10 consecutive

games and overtook Didier Drogba with his

105th Premier League goal when the

Egyptian turned home Keita's cut-back

with the United defence all at sea.

Cristiano Ronaldo was lucky to avoid a

red card as United's frustration bubbled

over in first-half stoppage time when he

was booked for lashing out at

Curtis Jones in a sign of what was to come

as the home side lost their discipline.

Liverpool inflicted further punishment

before the break when Salah smashed

home his 14th goal in 12 games this season

at De Gea's near post.

Liverpool inflicted a historic hammering on Manchester United as Mohamed Salah scored a hat-trick in a

5-0 win at old trafford on Sunday, leaving ole Gunnar Solskjaer clinging to his job. photo: Ap

GD-1569/21 (8 x 4)

Real Madrid beat struggling

rivals Barcelona in La Liga

SportS DeSk

Real Madrid piled renewed

pressure on Barcelona coach

Ronald Koeman as David

Alaba scored a scintillating

goal to help them seal a 2-1

victory in the Clasico at

Camp Nou on Sunday,

reports BSS.

Alaba's bending shot had

Madrid in front for the

majority of an end-to-end

contest, with Lucas Vazquez

making it two in injury-time

before Sergio Aguero tapped

in his first goal for Barcelona

with seconds left.

Barca have now lost a

fourth consecutive Clasico

for the first time since 1965

and stay a lowly eighth in La

Liga, five points behind

Madrid, who surge back to

the top of the table. After

beating Valencia and

winning a crucial

Champions League game

against Dynamo Kiev this

week, it represents a fresh

set-back for Barca and

Koeman, whose future will

again come under scrutiny.

Madrid, meanwhile, see

their own recovery

bolstered, after backing up a

thumping win over Shakhtar

Donetsk to leave a rocky run

in the rear-view mirror.

This was the first league

meeting between these clubs

without either Lionel Messi

or Sergio Ramos since 2005

and while there were still

veterans on show - Luka

Modric, Toni Kroos, Karim

Benzema, Gerard Pique and

Sergio Busquets all starting -

it was a Clasico more about

the future.

For the first time in 65

years, six players younger

than 22 began the game

while Gavi, Barcelona's 17-

year-old midfielder, was the

youngest Barca starter in a

Clasico in almost a century.

The promotion of a duel

between Ansu Fati and

Vinicius Junior perhaps felt

a little forced, but both

players have become

symbols of hope.

Fati endured one of those

games to be expected

sometimes of an 18-yearold,

with the occasional

threat dotted across a

quieter display than he

would have liked.

Vinicius, though, was

electric from the start, a

constant thorn in

Barcelona's side, especially

in the first half, and

instrumental in Alaba's

superb, counter-attacking

opener.

Barcelona were the more

purposeful early on, setting

their stall out by dominating

the ball but Madrid were

happy to sit deep and posed

the greater problems on the

break.

Vincius beat Oscar

Mingueza with a superb turn

through his opponent's legs

and as Mingueza scuttled

back to recover, Vinicius cut

across him and fell to the

floor. The contact was there

but minimal and the referee

was unconvinced.

Unvaccinated players can compete

at Australian Open: leaked email

SportS DeSk

Unvaccinated players will be allowed to compete at the

Australian Open but must complete 14 days in hotel

quarantine, according to a leaked WTA email Monday,

although a government official insisted the matter was not

yet settled, reports BSS.

The rules would also likely apply to the men's tour, leaving

the door open for world number one Novak Djokovic to

defend his title at Melbourne Park in January.

The email to players from the women's governing body was

leaked to New York Times tennis writer Ben Rothenberg,

who posted it on Twitter, and contradicts officials' earlier

statements implying unvaccinated players would not be

granted visas.

The email said that players fully inoculated against

coronavirus would not have to quarantine or remain in biosecure

bubbles, enjoying "complete freedom of movement".

Unvaccinated players can come to Australia but would

have to undergo two weeks' mandatory hotel quarantine and

submit to regular testing, it stated.

"We feel the need to reach out to you all to clear up false

and misleading information that has recently.

been spread by other parties about the conditions the

players will be forced to endure at next year's Australian

Open," the email read.

AvBGmwcAvi/†mbv/631

13/10/21

GD-1566/21(3x2)

TUesDAY, ocToBer 26, 2021

10

'Nonajoler Kabbo' to hit

theatres on 26 Nov

'Nonajoler Kabbo' (The Salt in Our Waters), a much

acclaimed film by young writer-director Rezwan Shahriar

Sumit which received awards at numerous international

film festivals last year, will have its theatrical release in

Bangladesh on November 26, reports UNB.

The date for the theatrical release of the film was

revealed at a press conference on Saturday noon at the

Dhaka Club in the capital, joined by the cast and crew

members of the film. Actors including Titas Zia, Fazlur

Rahman Babu, and TasnovaTamanna joined the press

conference alongside director-producer Sumit, noted

film director Amitabh Reza, Star Cineplex chairman

Mahboob Rahman Ruhel and the music director for the

film Arnob.

'Nonajoler Kabbo' has performed at major festivals in

London, Busan, Göteborg, Seattle, São Paulo, Torino, and

Singapore. The film is now making its way beyond the

festival circuit, to the upcoming United Nations Climate

Conference COP26 this year in Glasgow, Scotland. At the

UN Climate Conference of Youth COY16, the first screening

of 'Nonajoler Kabbo' will take place in front of young climate

leaders from all across the world. The second showing will

take place at the Cinema Auditorium (IMAX theater) in the

official COP26 Green Zone.

This summit is expected to attract a majority of

international leaders including Bangladesh Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina. The critically acclaimed film

depicts an epic cultural confrontation in Bangladesh's

climate frontlines, with the elemental battle of land and

sea, man and nature functioning as an interactive setting

for a dramatic meditation on tradition and modernity. "I

traveled to a remote fishing community in Patuakhali

three years ago to make this film, and I'm sorry to inform

you that the coastal village where we shot 'Nonajoler

Kabbo' no longer exists. For 1.5 years, I was unable to

return to the location due to the pandemic and when I

returned to that beloved place and those beloved people,

all I found were some broken tree branches and the

rising tide," Sumit said at the event. The sea level in this

area has risen dramatically in the last 2-3 years,

according to Sumit, and the high tide is regularly eroding

the land, and Cyclone Amphan last year wreaked havoc.

"I met some of the fishing village brothers and sisters

who acted in Nonajoler Kabbo,"Sumit tells UNB, "Even

Hilsa, they said, isn't as plentiful as it once was. I realized

that their lives are far more horrific than the story in my

film, thus I applied for the United Nations Climate

Conference because I want to tell the world about these

people's sufferings."

'Nonajoler Kabbo' was co-produced by Rezwan

Shahriar Sumit and French producer Ilann Girard. The

film features stunning visuals shot by award-winning

Thai cinematographer Chananun Chotrungroj.

The film's editor, Academy Member Kristan Sprague,

was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture this

year, for her recent film 'Judas and the Black

Messiah.'Rezwan Shahriar Sumit, the film's Bangladeshi

writer and director, was awarded a writing grant by

Spike Lee, who also mentored him at NYU Tisch's Grad

Film Program.

'Nonajoler Kabbo' has won several national-international

awards and grants, including the NETPAC Award (Best Asian

Feature) at 26th Kolkata International Film Festival in 2021,

TFL Audience Design Fund 2020, Bangladesh's National Film

Grant in 2017, CNC Aide aux cinémas du monde 2018, and

Spike Lee Writing Grant 2016, to name a few.

'Ityadi' to air on Oct 29

TBT reporT

Popular magazine show 'Ityadi'

this time coming to Sonargaon,

Narayanganj keeping the

tradition of highlighting

historical places intact, the latest

episode it was filmed there on

October 14.

It has been shot in front of

"Baro Sardar Bari", the historical

residence of Issa Khan, the king

of Sonargaon during the early

16th Century. The show features

two songs from eminent singers.

Kumar Bishwajit and Chisti Baul

have voiced one of the songs

Indian celebrities from the

world of Bollywood and cricket

are increasingly launching

digital memorabilia through

non-fungible tokens (NFT),

hoping to rake in thousands of

dollars by cashing in on

growing interest in such assets.

NFTs are a type of digital

asset which use blockchain to

record the ownership of items

such as images, videos and

other collectables. Their

roaring popularity has baffled

many but the explosive growth

shows no sign of abating.

Bollywood superstars such as

Amitabh Bachchan and

Salman Khan are planning to

launch NFTs soon. While

Bachchan's NFTs will include

written by Monirujjaman Polash

and composed by IbrarTipu and

around 50 dancers performed

on the other song featuring the

history of Sonargaon.

The show will also feature two

informative documentaries

chronicling the history and

culture of Sonargaon and an

educational report on Shahed

Kayser amongst other

performances.

AmirulHaque Chowdhury,

Solaiman Khoka, Dilara Zaman,

Ziaul Hasan Kislu, and

Shabnam Parvin among others

will also be seen essaying

autographed posters of his

movies, Khan has been

building excitement on his

Twitter account by telling his

43 million followers about the

planned NFT launch.

"NFTs are right now alien to

Bollywood but I am sure they

(film stars) will see this as

another platform where they

can use their existing content

and generate revenue," said

Ayaan Agnihotri of Bollycoin,

an NFT marketplace for

Bollywood assets. Agnihotri

said that within days of launch

this month, his platform sold 8

million of the 20 million

available so-called "Bolly

Coins", crypto tokens that can

be used to buy NFTs when they

different characters in the latest

episode. The programme will be

telecast on BTV World on 29

October, after Friday night's 8

pm news. According to a press

release the show will not be aired

are launched. One Bolly Coin is

worth 10 US cents.

But its still early days for

celebrity NFTs in India.

Indian cricketer Dinesh

Karthik is auctioning a digital

art reel from a cricket match

where he hit a match-winning

six on the last ball for around 5

ethereums, a digital currency,

worth around $20,000. But he

has yet to receive any bids.

"NFT has picked up a lot in

the West in the last one year

with now iconic moments from

basketball being bought by

fans digitally, which gave us

the idea,"Karthik told Reuters.

Others have had success.

One of India's top fashion

designers, Manish Malhotra,

recently sold NFTs of digital

sketches of some of his most

famous creations for $4,000 a

piece. Malhotra's website

shows one can purchase some

of his bridal wear outfits at a

lower price range of $2,500-

on BTV, due to the T-20 World

Cup.

Produced by Fagun Audio

Vision and hosted by Hanif

Sanket, Ityadi is sponsored by

Keya Cosmetics Limited.

Bollywood stars, Indian

celebrities launch NFTs

amid global craze

$3,500.

The rise of NFTs has baffled

many who say it makes little

sense to spend large sums of

money on items that don't

physically exist and can simply

be viewed online.

Still, global sales volumes of

NFTs have galloped to $10.7

billion in the third quarter of

2021, making an eightfold

increase from the previous

quarter, data from market

tracker Dapp Radar showed.

read more.

Vishakha Singh, vice

president for NFTs at Indian

crypto exchange WazirX, said

celebrity participation in the

segment is set to create

excitement in the space.

This, she said, "is great for

the ecosystem. This will help us

in garnering more awareness

towards this new game

changing world of digital

assets," Singh said.

Source: The Indian Express

'The Matrix Resurrections' rated

R for violence, language

The upcoming fourth Matrix

film, 'The Matrix Resurrections,'

has officially been rated R for

"violence and some language."

'The Matrix', which was released

in 1999, was directed by Lana

and Lilly Wachowski and

became a massive cultural

phenomenon, spawning two

sequels. The Wachowski's

returned to direct both sequels,

'The Matrix Reloaded' and 'The

Matrix Revolutions', both of

which were released in 2003.

Lana Wachowski returns for

'The Matrix Resurrections' as

producer, director, and cowriter

with sister Lilly opting to

sit the fourth film out. 'The

Matrix Revolutions', the most

recent film in the franchise,

ended with Neo (Keanu Reeves)

seemingly sacrificing his life to

end the long-running battle

between humans and their

machine overlords, but

Resurrections is being billed as a

sequel to the original Matrix

film. Reeves returns for

Resurrections along with co-star

Carrie-Anne Moss, who played

his love interest Trinity in the

original trilogy. Morpheus

returns for Resurrections, albeit

a much younger version of the

character, which will be played

by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

instead of Laurence Fishburne.

According to a new article, the

Motion Picture Association has

officially given The Matrix

Resurrections an R-rating for

"violence and some language."

This rating puts the film in line

with the previous three 'Matrix'

movies, which were all also rated

R for violence and language,

with the second film also

featuring a brief sex scene.

Considering the level of

violence typically found in the

Matrix films, the R rating isn't

necessarily a surprise, but it will

likely come as a relief to fans of

the original trilogy who want to

see the franchise's signature

action make a return.

'The Matrix Resurrections'

releases simultaneously in

theaters and on HBO Max on

December 22 of this year.

Source: India Today

Nusraat Faria's new

song 'Habibi'

TBT reporT

Actress Nusraat Faria, who

made her singing debut with

the song 'Pataka' in 2018, is

now coming with a new song

titled 'Habibi'.

She dropped a teaser of the

music video on her verified

Facebook page on Saturday

night. The title and the teaser

hinted that its music has an

Arabic touch.

Faria said that it took around

seven months to complete the

song which was recorded on

September 3 in India.

In April 2018, Nusraat Faria

released her first song 'Pataka',

for which she collaborated with

singer-composer Pritom Hasan.

Written by Rakib Hasan Rahul,

the song had its music directed

by Pritom.

Pataka's music video featuring

Nusraat Faria was viewed over

16 lakh times on the YouTube

channel of India's SVF and over

82 lakh times on the YouTube

channel of CMV of Bangladesh.

Pataka's music video was

directed and choreographed by

Baba Yadav of India.

Faria drew attention of her

fans unleashing her singing

talent and also her dancing

skills in the upbeat track. Two

years later, she came with her

second song 'Ami Chai Thakte'

along with a catchy music video,

which was released under the

banner of SVF. The song was in

the voice of Faria along with

Bangladeshi-Canadian rapper

Master D. It was written by

Syed Atiq. The music starring

both Faria and Master D was

made under the direction and

choreography of Baba Yadav.

H o r o s c o p e

ArIes

(March 21 - April 20) : Disappointing

emails or calls could come your way

today. Perhaps someone you were

hoping to visit with won't be able to

make it, or perhaps a friend had to turn down an

invitation to a party. Don't let it spoil your mood.

Things happen. Keep yourself busy with

preparations and enjoy your day. Don't go to the

opposite extreme and work too hard.

TAUrUs

(April 21 - May 21) : You may feel

worried about your financial situation

today. You may have been expecting

to receive some money that's now

delayed. A temporary separation from a romantic

partner could have you feeling a little blue. If you

keep yourself busy and don't dwell on it, time will

pass quickly until you're together again. In the

evening, take some time to relax.

GeMINI

(May 22 - June 21) : An unexpected event

might cause you to be temporarily

separated from the special person in your

life. Confusion surrounding the incident and your mate's

role in it might plague you, and you might doubt your

friend's motives. Money may be on your mind, and the

need for it may have you brainstorming ways to increase

your income. Don't make any decisions now.

cANcer

(June 22 - July 23) : Mild cold

symptoms could affect your ability to

tend to your chores today. You're an

active person, so this could affect your

self-confidence and ability to do what you want to do.

Upsets beyond your control within your circle of

friends could also affect your concentration. Don't

dwell on them. Dose yourself with juice and tea and

get through the day.

Leo

(July 24 - Aug. 23): The special

someone in your life might feel a

little jealous of your friends now.

Perhaps you've had a number of

invitations that only involve you and your pals.

It might be a good idea to turn down one in

favor of being with your partner. Goals and

projects may be blocked temporarily, which is

frustrating. Let them ride for now.

VIrGo

(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23): You likely want to

take the day off, perhaps to take care of an

unfinished creative project you've been

working on for some time. But you aren't likely to get very

far since disagreements within your friends keep your

mind occupied and you may be upset. Despite it all, try to

stay focused. That's the only way to get anything

accomplished.

LIBrA

(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): You're thinking

about friends and family members

who live far away and wondering

what they're doing. You could feel a

little nostalgic, longing for times long past. Don't

dwell on it. Call your friends. They'll be glad to

hear from you and you'll feel more positive about

the day. In the evening, give some attention to

those you love who live nearby.

scorpIo

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22): Money matters

might be tangled today. There could be a

delay in receiving funds due you, which

could prove frustrating but can be

straightened out. This isn't a good day to make

investments, buy property, or seek a loan. The strain of

dealing with this might cause a few doubts about your

money management skills. Don't despair. This is

temporary and probably beyond your control.

sAGITTArIUs

(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): Troubles with friends

and possibly a romantic partner over the

past day or two could have you feeling

unloved, insecure, and emotionally blocked.

All signs indicate that these feelings aren't accurate. Your

friends haven't changed their attitude toward you. There's

still a lot of love directed your way. Whatever problems you

may have had are just a bump in the road.

cAprIcorN

(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20) : You may have

sniffles or a sore throat, possibly

necessitating taking time off from

work. This could be unwelcome,

as it keeps you from going out on a date as

well. Try to keep your mind occupied with

activities that don't tire you physically. And

take some vitamin C!

AQUArIUs

(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) : Lack of contact

with a close friend or romantic partner

might find you feeling lonely and

insecure, wondering if he or she has

forgotten you or simply doesn't care to be around you

anymore. This is more likely your insecurity than

anything based in reality. Sometimes people are

busy! Give your friend a call. Chances are the person

will be very glad to hear from you.

pIsces

(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20) : Responsibilities at

home may weigh on your mind today and

interfere with other obligations. This could

cause some inner conflict, but you have a

personal life and it's important to take care of these

things, too. Upsets in your circle of friends could distract

and stress you. Make an effort to balance it all and you'll

make it through the day.

tUeSDAY, OCtOBer 26, 2021

11

Australia wants Facebook to

seek parental consent for kids

CANBERRA : Australia plans to crack down on online

advertisers targeting children by making social media platforms

seek parental consent for users younger than 16 years old to join

or face fines of 10 million Australian dollars ($7.5 million) under

a draft law released Monday.

The landmark legislation would protect Australians online and

ensure that Australia's privacy laws are appropriate in the digital

age, a government statement said.

Social media platforms would be required to take all

reasonable steps to verify their users' ages under a binding code

for social media services, data brokers and other large online

platforms operating in Australia,

The platforms would also have to give primary consideration

to the best interests of children when handling their personal

information, the draft legislation states.

The code would also require platforms to obtain parental

consent for users under the age of 16.

The proposed legal changes come after former Facebook

product manager Frances Haugen this month asserted that

whenever there was a conflict between the public good and what

benefited the company, the social media giant would choose its

own interests.

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and

Suicide Prevention David Coleman said the new code would lead

the world in protecting children from social media companies.

"In Australia, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was

a consistent increase in signs of distress and mental ill health

among young people.

Human chain

demanding justice

for AL leader held

S Mizanul Islam, Banaripara

Correspondent

Locals have formed a human

chain demanding justice for

Awami League leader

(member of Upazila Awami

League) Selim Bepari (alias

Totla Selim) of Syed Kathi in

Banaripara. Terrorists, land

robbers, false cases, the

controversial person is

demanded to be tried.

The human chain was held

on the main road of Awar

Bazar in Syedkathi on

Monday afternoon.

Banaripara Upazila Awami

League member Mithu

Gharami, Syedkathi Union

Awami League secretary

spoke. Shahid Mridha,

Awami League leaders

Bazlur Rahman, Abdus

Salam, Mizanur Rahman

and others. In this regard,

Selim Bepari said, all the

allegations are false.

Israel set to OK 3,000

West Bank settler

homes this week

TEL AVIV : Israel is

expected to move forward

with thousands of new

homes for Jewish settlers in

the West Bank this week, a

settlement watchdog group

said Sunday, reports UNB.

The plan for some 3,000

new settler units in the West

Bank has already drawn

calls for restraint from the

U.S., which on Friday voiced

"concern" over the expected

approvals.

Locals staged a human chain demanding justice for Awami League leader (member of Upazila

Awami League) Selim Bepari in Banaripara on Monday.

Photo: S Mizanul Islam

Joy Bangla Youth Award application

timeline extended to Oct 31

DHAKA : Youths transforming

communities through social initiatives

can apply for the fifth installment of the

Joy Bangla Youth Award till October

31.

The application deadline has been

extended considering the

overwhelming response from the

young change-makers and the overall

circumstances.

The invitation for applications

commenced on September 24, said the

not for profit organization Centre for

Research and Information (CRI),

whose youth secretariat Young Bangla

organizes the award.

Applicants have to visit

http://jbya.youngbangla.org, the

website of Young Bangla, to complete

their submissions. The selection

procedure for the award will roll on

after October 31.

The award is designed to recognize

countrywide young changemakers,

help them network among themselves

and enhance the services they are

already providing to their

communities.

Since its inception in 2014, Young

Bangla has been conferring the award

to the youths and youth organizations

successfully involved in changing the

social paradigm in their respective

areas.

"Joy Bangla Youth Award is back for

the fifth time to celebrate the young

changemakers' dedication to the

country. The country's biggest youth

platform Young Bangla is once more

set to award the youths who have taken

the country forward," added CRI

sources.

The award will feature two new

additions-conferring ceremony and

lifetime achievement awards.

At least 4 dead

in avalanche

on Ecuador's

volcano

QUITO : At least four

people were killed on

Sunday by an avalanche on

the Chimborazo volcano in

central Ecuador, said the

country's Integrated

Security Service ECU 911.

The avalanche fell on a

group of 12 hikers as they

were climbing the volcano

at an altitude of about

6,100 meters, the agency

said in a statement, reports

UNB.

After the incident

reported at 06:30 local

time (1130 GMT), the

Special Operations Group

of the National Police, the

local fire department and a

police helicopter were sent

to rescue the hikers, whose

nationalities have not been

revealed.

The access to the

Chimborazo Fauna

Production Reserve, which

surrounds the volcano, has

been suspended.

Chimborazo is the

highest volcano and

mountain in Ecuador, with

a height of 6,263 meters

above sea level. Its snowcovered

peak is a popular

summit for local and

foreign climbers.

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GD-1568/21 (12x5)

Tuesday, Dhaka: October 26, 2021; Kartik 10, 1428 BS; Rabi-ul awal 18, 1443 hijri

Japan to provide US$ 5 mn to promote

Bangladesh primary education

DHAKA : Bangladesh and Japan on

Monday signed an exchange of notes and

grant agreement on the "Japanese Grant

Aid for the Fourth Primary Education

Development Programme (PEDP4).'

Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito

Naoki, Secretary, Economic Relations

Division, Ministry of Finance Fatima

Yasmin and Chief Representative, JICA

Bangladesh office Hayakawa Yuho

signed the documents for over JPY 500

million or US$ 5 million, reports UNB.

Ambassador Naoki said Japan has

consistently made efforts to promote

quality education in Bangladesh since the

country's independence in 1971.

"Higher education is important, but for

the development of the country, it is

essential to extend cooperation at every

level of education. Above all, education is

the only way for children born into poor

families to overcome poverty and

empower themselves. Japan will continue

its strong involvement in primary education,"

he said.

Secretary Fatima Yasmin said Japan's

cooperation covers a wide range of fields,

from infrastructure to education.

"Education, in particular, is an investment

for the future, and Japan has

always been willing to cooperate and provide

assistance for the future of

Bangladesh. We are very grateful to

Japan. I would like to ask for Japan's

continued cooperation in primary education."

PEDP is a national development strategic

programme for primary education in

Bangladesh. Japan has been supporting

PEDP in cooperation with other development

partners since 2011 under the

Sector Wide Approaches (SWAPs).

Pakistan high

Commissioner

to Bangladesh,

imran ahmed

Siddiqui

met Prime

minister

Sheikh hasina

at her office

yesterday.

Haircut humiliation

Probe body recommends action

against teacher Farhana

SIRAJGANJ : The probe committee

formed by Rabindra University has recommended

taking action against its

teacher Farhana Yeasmin Baten for trimming

the hair of its 14 students saying

that it has found the 'proof of her offence',

reports UNB.

Registrar of the university Sohrab Ali

told UNB on Monday that they received

the probe report on Thursday.

After receiving the report, a syndicate

meeting was called on Friday.

An investigative team of the University

Grants Commission (UGC) will visit the

university campus on Wednesday and

the final decision on the fate of Farhana,

a teacher of Cultural Heritage and

Bangladesh Studies department, will be

taken after that, Sohrab said.

Meanwhile, the university students

resumed their protests on Sunday

demanding that the teacher be terminated.

The protestors on that day confined

30 teachers and staff of the university to

two academic buildings for at least 10

long hours-from 2pm-1.30am.

Besides, Shamim Hossain, a third-year

student of Cultural Heritage and

Bangladesh Studies, on Sunday reportedly

attempted to kill himself by swallowing

poison demanding termination of

Farhana. He was taken to the Upazila

Health Complex by his classmates.

Another student, Abid Hasan, tried to

follow Shamim by apparently cutting his

veins with a blade, but was later stopped

by other students.

On September 26, Associate Professor

Farhana Yeasmin Baten, also the chair of

the Cultural Heritage and Bangladesh

Studies Department, was charged with

forcibly cutting the hair of 16 students.

The following day, Nazmul Hasan

Tuhin, a student, tried to take his own life

by consuming sleeping pills, prompting

the university students to burst into

protests. They also boycotted all the

exams and classes on September 28.

Amid the protests, Farhana relinquished

her three administrative positions

on the same day. Later, a five-member

probe body was formed to investigate

the incident. The university finally suspended

Farhana on September 30.

Covid's daily-death

toll falls to 5 in

Bangladesh

DHAKA : Covid-19 claimed five more

lives and infected 289 more people in 24

hours till Monday morning, reports

UNB.

Bangladesh last logged five Covidrelated

deaths on a single-day on

February 24 this year. The fresh cases

were detected after testing 20.773 samples,

said the Directorate General of

Health Services (DGHS).

With this, the daily-case positivity rate

declined slightly to 1.39 per cent from

Sunday's 1.49 per cent. With the fresh

numbers, the Covid fatalities reached

27,828 while the caseload climbed to

1,567,981 in Bangladesh, according to the

DGHS. Among the latest deaths, two

were men and three were women.

Of the 55 deaths recorded from

October 18 to October 24, 12.7 % received

Covid vaccines while 87.3% did not, the

DGHS added. Comorbidities among

Covid patients and deceased increased

6.1% this week compared to the previous

week. Comorbidity means the simultaneous

presence of two or more diseases or

medical conditions in a patient.

However, the mortality rate remained

static at 1.77 per cent compared to the

corresponding period.

Students are given class-exams in accordance with the distance rules in the educational institution,

but outside the students-parents are not seen to accept it.

Photo : Star mail

Vaccinated Bangladeshis can visit Thailand

without quarantine from Nov 1

DHAKA : Thailand will allow fully vaccinated

travellers from Bangladesh from

November 1 without quarantine under

the 'Sandbox Scheme' in the designated

tourism areas of Thailand, reports UNB.

On spending a week in those designated

areas, travellers will be allowed to

move in any areas of the country.

The Embassy of the Kingdom of

Thailand is expected to share the information

detailing the new arrangement.

Newly appointed Ambassador of Thailand

to Bangladesh Makawadee Sumitmor gave

the updates when she met State Minister for

Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam at the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.

To expand bilateral trade, both the

state minister and the ambassador hoped

that two countries would make efforts for

concluding a Free Trade Agreement

(FTA) in the near future.

The Ministry of Commerce is currently

carrying out a feasibility study in this

regard. Shahriar welcomed the new ambassador

and hoped that during her tenure in

Dhaka, Bangladesh-Thailand bilateral relations

would reach a newer height through

meaningful and pragmatic cooperation and

collaboration in different areas of interest.

He mentioned that Bangladesh and

Thailand have been enjoying excellent

friendly and cordial relationships since

independence. He suggested that next year

the two countries would jointly celebrate

the golden jubilee of diplomatic relations.

He said Thailand is important to

Bangladesh for a wide range of issues

such as trade, science-technology, medical

services, tourism, foreign investment,

connectivity, etc.

He suggested that the multi-faceted

relations could be expanded further if

more people-to-people contacts take

place and barriers in trade and investment

are removed.

Shahriar shared with the Thai ambassador

the various aspects of the miraculous

economic progress that Bangladesh

has attained under the visionary leadership

of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Highlighting the growing purchasing

capacity of the people of Bangladesh,

particularly of the bulging middle-class,

as well as the investment friendly policies

of the Government of Bangladesh, the

state minister told the Thai envoy that

more Thai investors could invest in

Bangladesh and avail the opportunities

offered by a market of more than 160

million people.

Court sets Jan 10 for

framing charges against

Samrat in graft case

DHAKA : A Dhaka Court on Monday fixed

January 10 for framing charges against

expelled Jubo League leader and casino

kingpin Ismail Hossain Chowdhury

Samrat in graft case, reports UNB.

The case was scheduled to be heard in

the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions

Judge KM Imrul Kayesh on Monday.

However, the prison authorities sent a custody

warrant without appearing in court as

Samrat was ill.

The court then fixed January 10 for holding

the hearing on the charge sheet.

Subhash Kumar Ghosh, senior jail

superintendent of Keraniganj Central Jail,

said in the custody warrant that Samrat

has been undergoing treatment in

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical

University (BSMMU) Hospital since

November 24 last year. And so, it was not

possible to produce him in court.

Earlier on Wednesday, the court issued a

production warrant and ordered the prison

BNP is in dream of recurring

another 1/11 in country: Quader

DHAKA : Ruling out the possibility of

recurring the situation like one-eleven in

the country, Road Transport and Bridges

Minister Obaidul Quader on Monday

said BNP is in a dream of recurring

another one-eleven when the army

backed caretaker government declared

state of emergency for long two years

after the regime of BNP in 2006.

"BNP is expecting one more oneeleven...but

it would not take place again

in the country,' he said.

Quader, also general secretary of the

ruling Awami League, made this comment

while addressing a press conference

at his ministry office in the secretariat

here. "BNP wants to go to power not

through the ballot, but through any

undemocratic way," he told the press

conference.

Sharply criticizing a statement made

by the BNP leaders that 'BNP will never

participate in elections under the ruling

Awami League,' the ruling party leader

said "It [BNP's statement] is nothing but

a suicidal tendency by a responsible

political party."

Quader, however, assured that the

election will not take place under the

Awami League government, but it will be

held under the Election Commission

(EC). Although the BNP is still pursuing

their 'outdated way' about participating

in the polls, but it is obvious that the elections

will be held timely in the country,

he said.

Blasting the BNP for resorting to

rumour and propaganda as their political

strategy, the minister said the birth of

this particular political party is widely

known to the people. "BNP is now in a

dilemma as either they are not triggering

movement or participating in the elections,'

he said. Terming the BNP as an

authorities to produce Samrat before it on

October 25 in a graft case.

According to the case, Samrat was

accused of acquiring assets worth Tk 2.94

crore beyond his known sources of income.

The Deputy Director of Anti-Corruption

Commission (ACC) filed the case against

him on November 12 in 2019.

On November 26 last year, the investigation

officer of the case, Jahangir Alam, submitted

a charge sheet before the court.

On October 6 in 2019, Rab arrested

Samrat and his associate Enamul Haque

Arman from Chauddagram in Cumilla.

Rab later raided his Kakrail office on that

day.

During this time large quantities of foreign

liquor, pistols and two hides of kangaroo

were seized from his office.

He was later sentenced by a mobile court

to six months in prison under the Wildlife

Conservation Act and was sent to jail the

same day.

isolated party, Obaidul Quader said not

Awami League, but BNP is on the brink

of bankruptcy as the party is in fear of

election and people have no belief on

their capacity to hold any demonstration.

"Their [BNP's] existence now has been

limited to facebook and online," the ruling

party leader told the function.

Regarding the selection of candidates

for the local government elections,

Quader said directives have been given to

the grassroot level for sending particulars

of the party's tested leaders to the center.

But appeal could be filed as per the party

manifesto, if there is any allegation

against any candidate, he added.

Five workers burnt

in N’ganj steel mill

explosion

NARAYANGANJ : Five workers sustained

burn injuries in an explosion at a steel factory

in Rasulpur area of Fatullah upazila on

Monday. The injured were identified as

Sohel Rana, 36, Liton,35, Arif,27, Billal

Hossain,35, and Mohammad Ali, 26.

Mohammad Ali's condition is critical,

doctors said. Chemist of the factory Md

Ashik rescued the workers and took

them to Sheikh Hasina National Institute

of Burn and Plastic Surgery.

Md Ashik said the explosion occurred

around 11:30 am apparently in the water

supply pipeline of the factory. The hospital

authority said the injured got 50 per

cent to 11 per cent of their body burnt.

Dhaka Medical College Hospital police

camp in-charge Bacchu Mia said the five

injured who were admitted to the hospital

are workers of CHRM steel mill in

Fatullah.

Photo : PiD

BNP Chief Khaleda

Zia admitted in ICU

of Evercare hospital

Shafiqul iSlam (Jami)

BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia has

undergone a minor operation. Now she is

in ICU of Evercare hospital. However, she

is healthy. Khaleda Zia's medical team

member Dr. Zahid Hossain said this at a

press conference at the BNP chairperson's

office in Gulshan on Monday afternoon.

Dr. Zahid said the BNP chairperson had a

minor operation. After a physical examination,

the doctors saw that she needed a

biopsy. There are small lumps in one place.

Since there is a lump, a biopsy has been

done to know its nature. Begum Zia is

healthy after the operation.

Asked by reporters how long it would

take to get results after the operation, he

said it takes time to get results in terms of

biopsy. It may take up to 72 hours. Again,

sometimes it takes 15-21 days after such

an operation. It can't say today.

Dr. Zahid said Khaleda Zia's vital

parameters are stable after the operation.

She is now undergoing treatment in the

ICU. Biopsy is the diagnostic part, what

will be the next treatment, it will be right

later. Her son Tareq Rahman spoke to

her after the operation. Younger brother

Shamim Iskander and younger son's wife

Sharmila Rahman Sithi also spoke.

He said she needs treatment at a dedicated

hospital. You will all pray for her.

She asked for blessings from the countrymen.

She seemed to recover quickly.

Everyone will play their due role in

ensuring his treatment outside the country.

Khaleda Zia needs to be taken abroad

for better treatment.

At the press conference, BNP secretary

general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir

said the medical board had advised to

take Khaleda Zia abroad for better treatment.

She needs treatment at a multiadvanced

center due to various chronic

diseases. Hospitals in our country do not

have this system. This is what we have

been saying over and over again. After

the operation, Khaleda Zia said that she

is now safe and well.

HC summons ACC

IO over allegations

of demanding bribe

DHAKA : The High Court (HC) on

Monday summoned Anti-Corruption

Commission (ACC) assistant director

Alamgir Hossain to give explanation over

the allegations of demanding bribe from

the accused.

A High Court division bench of Justice

Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice

SM Mozibur Rahman passed the order,

asking the ACC official to appear before

the court at 10am on November 7 and

submit his explanation in writing.

"The court also issued a rule in this

regard and asked the ACC to keep the probe

suspended against the people that filed the

writ in this regard, till holding hearing on

the rule," Deputy Attorney General AKM

Amin Uddin Manik told BSS.

Advocate Md Kamal Hossain took part

in the hearing for the petitioner, while

Md Asif Hossain argued for the ACC.

Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin

Uddin Manik said ACC assistant director

Alamgir Hossain was the investigation

officer (IO) of a case against one Md

Abdul Quddus Hawlader and his wife

Mahinur Begum.

26-10-2021

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