04-11-2021

thurSday

DhaKa: November 4, 2021; Kartik 19, 1428 BS; Rabi-ul-awal 28,1443 hijri

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www.bangladeshtoday.net

Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.19; N o. 186; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00

international

IS attack on Kabul

hospital leaves

dead, 16 wounded

>Page 7

SPortS

Ronaldo surpasses

Solskjaer in Manchester

United goal records

>Page 9

art & culture

Mahiya Mahi to star

in 'Ohongkari Bou'

>Page 10

Trying our best to

execute jail killing

case verdict:Home

Minister

DHAKA : Home Minister Asaduzzaman

Khan on Wednesday said the government

is trying its best to execute the verdict

in the jail killing case, reports UNB.

"A prison is the safest place in the

world. The people of the country know it

very well how the killings were carried

out inside the jail. The verdict in the

Bangabandu killing has been executed

partially. We've been looking for the fugitive

convicts in the case," he said.

The minister was speaking after paying

homage to four national leaders at the

Old Central Jail in Najimuddin Road,

marking the Jail Killing Day.

"Two heinous killings occurred in

Bangladesh and one of that is August 15

killing while another is November 3 Jail

killing. Everyone knows who were

behind the killings," said the minister.

On November 3, 1975, four national

leaders and heroes of the country's

Liberation War-Syed Nazrul Islam,

Tajuddin Ahmad, Captain Mansur Ali

and AHM Quamruzzaman-were assassinated

inside the Dhaka Central Jail.

The four leaders had played a key role

in forming the Mujibnagar government

in exile that led the Liberation War of

1971 with Syed Nazrul Islam as acting

president, Tajuddin Ahmad as prime

minister, Mansur Ali as finance minister

and AHM Qamruzzaman as the home,

relief and rehabilitation minister.

Quran Desecration

Iqbal, 3 others put

on 3-day remand

DHAKA : A Cumilla court on Wednesday

placed Iqbal Hossain and three others

again on a three-day remand in a case

filed over desecration of Quran at a temporary

Puja mandao in Cumilla's

Nanuwar Dighir Par, reports UNB.

Judge of the Cumilla Senior Judicial

Magistrate Court-1, Chandan Kanti Nath

passed the order when police produced

them before the court with five-day remand

prayer, said Khan Kohammad Rezwan,

police super of Cumilla Criminal

Investigation Department (CID). The other

accused of the case are Ikram Hossain,

Humayun Ahmed and Foysal Ahmed.

Earlier on October 29, Iqbal and three

others accused in a case of desecration of

Quran were remanded for five days,

allowing police to further quiz them.

Iqbal and three others - Ekram, who

called 999 after the incident, and Daroga

Bari shrine caretakers Humayun Kabir

and Faisal - need to be questioned further

as they have started disclosing facts,

Rezwan said.

The previous seven-day remand ended

Friday. Police handed over the Quran

desecration case against Iqbal and three

others to the CID on October 24.

Police filed a case with Cumilla Kotwali

Police Station on October 13 against

unnamed people for "besmirching the

Quran and hurting religious sentiments,"

said Cumilla Additional Superintendent

of Police M Tanvir Ahmed.

Zohr

04:49 AM

11:50 PM

03:45 PM

05:26 PM

06:45 PM

6:04 5:20

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday. Photo : Star Mail

World must share responsibility

of climate migrants:Hasina

GLASGOW (SCOTLAND) : Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the world

has to share the responsibility of climate

migrants and address the issue of losses

and damages caused by climate change.

"Without ambitious mitigation efforts,

only adaptation measures are not enough

to slow, stop and reverse the adverse

impacts of climate change," she said.

The Prime Minister said this while delivering

her keynote speech titled "Call for

Climate Prosperity" at the Scottish

Parliament on Tuesday.

Speaker Alison Johnstone received

Sheikh Hasina on her arrival at the

Scottish Parliament. Sheikh Rehana and

CVF Thematic Ambassador Saima Wazed

Hossain were present.

Sheikh Hasina reiterated that the major

gas-emitting countries must submit and

implement aggressive nationally determined

contributions (NDCs).

She said the developed countries must

fulfill their commitment of providing 100

billion dollars annually for addressing climate

change to the developing countries,

with a special focus on the climate vulnerable

countries.

"These amounts should be in addition to

the existing ODA, and there needs to be

synergy among the different climate

funds. The distribution of the climate fund

should have a 50:50 ratio between adaptation

and mitigation," she added.

The Prime Minister emphasized the dissemination

of green technology from

developed countries to developing countries

at an affordable cost.

DHAKA : BNP senior leader Khandaker

Mosharraf Hossain on Wednesday said

BNP and other democratic parties will

join the next general election only under

an impartial government, reports UNB.

"Elections in Bangladesh won't be fair

and credible without a non-partisan neutral

government and democratic and

patriotic parties, including BNP, won't go

to that election," he said.

Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader

also said their party's stance is clear that it

will neither join any election nor any talks

under the current government.

Swadhinta Forum, a pro-BNP platform,

arranged the programme at the

Jatiya Press Club, marking the civil-military

'uprising on November 7, 1975'.

Mosharraf, a BNP standing committee

member, said the current government

will not easily restore the caretaker government

system. "That's why we have to

prepare for a movement."

He urged all the democratic parties to

get united to oust the current government

from power.

She said the global leaders have gathered

in Glasgow to demonstrate resolve

and ambition on climate action combining

their global collective efforts to

respond to the unprecedented challenges

and risks of the adverse impacts

of climate change from which no country

is immune.

Referring to the recently published

IPCC 6 Assessment report, she said it is

another wake-up call for all to take decisive

action now to save the planet from

temperature rise that cannot be

reversed, and a climate disaster.

"We're facing the most serious global

challenge of humankind. It's a major

threat to climate-vulnerable countries like

Bangladesh though we contribute less

than 0.47 per cent of global emissions,"

she observed.

Hasina mentioned that extreme temperature,

erratic rainfall, flood and

drought, more intense tropical cyclones,

sea-level rise, seasonal variation, river erosion,

ocean acidification are causing severe

negative impacts on the lives and livelihoods

of millions of the people of

Bangladesh and other climate vulnerable

countries.

"Sea-level rise induced by global warming

is a serious threat for Bangladesh. With

a 1-metre rise of sea level, tens of millions

of people in the coastal area of Bangladesh

will be displaced," she said.

Hasina said every year 2 percent of the

country's GDP is lost due to the adverse

impact of climate change, and it may go up

to 9 percent in the coming decades.

Democratic parties to join polls

only under neutral govt: BNP

"Restoring democracy in the country

and establishing a pro-people government

is now the main challenge to get rid

of corruption, misdeeds, enforced disappearance,

killing and extortion. A national

unity is necessary to overcome this

challenge," the BNP leader said.

He alleged the Awami League has been

carrying out a 'false' campaign against

Ziaur Rahman and the spirit of the civilmilitary

'uprising."

"They (AL leaders) used to say that Ziaur

Rahman came to power through a coup

and by killing people and soldiers. They're

distorting history to mislead the new generation.

But it's our responsibility to present

the facts to people," the BNP leader said.

He alleged that Awami League has

destroyed the spirit of the Liberation War

and the November 7 by destroying

democracy and people's voting rights.

Mosharraf said their party joined the

11th parliamentary polls without Khaleda

Zia and Tarique Rahman, but the ruling

party could not show courage to hold a

fair election.

Cox's Bazar airport expansion

Officials hope to

get direct int’l

flights by 2023

COX'S BAZAR : As the work on the

expansion of Cox's Bazar Airport runway

gains momentum, officials

involved with the project hope to get it

ready for direct international flights by

2023, almost a year before the schedule,

reports UNB.

"The runway expansion work is

going on really fast," director of the

project Yunus Bhuiyan told UNB in a

recent interview.

"Although the project is scheduled to

be completed in May 2024, our target

is to complete the work by November

2023," he said. Chairman of the Civil

Aviation Authority Air Vice Marshal M

Mofidur Rahman said that Cox's Bazar

will have an international standard

airport once the runway expansion

work is completed.

He said Cox's Bazar airport is going

to find a place in the list of world's most

beautiful airports. Tourists from different

parts of the world can come directly

to the tourist centres of the region.

"Pretty soon it would turn into an

international airport. New generation

Boeing 777-300 ER, B-747, Airbus and

other big planes will be able to take off at

this airport. This would create a regional

aviation hub at the airport," he noted.

The runway will be expanded to

10,700 feet to become the longest runway

in Bangladesh after the expansion

project is completed. And 1,300 feet of

the runway will run into the sea.

As part of the renovation the authorities

have already completed construction of a

new terminal building, increased supply of

power, installation of airfield ground lighting

system and other works.

BFIU summons 23

e-commerce Co &

persons bank accounts

SHafiqUl iSlaM (JaMi)

Cox'S BazaR CoRReSPondenT

An alleged Arakan Rohingya Salvation

Army (ARSA) leader has been found

dead at the Whykong Rohingya

refugee camp in Teknaf upazila of

Cox's Bazar district.

The deceased was identified as

Mohammad Hashim, 32, son of late

Nurul Amin of Camp No 22 of

Unchiprang in Whykong union.

Whykong police outpost's sub-

Inspector Mahabubur Rahaman said

Hashim was probably lynched by a mob.

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence

Unit (BFIU) has summoned the bank

accounts of 23 companies and individuals,

including Daraz, owned by Chinese e-

commerce giant Alibaba, which was

blacklisted by the intelligence agency.

This information was revealed by BFIU

sources on Wednesday. BFIU was given

a separate list by the three intelligence

agencies at a meeting held at the

Commerce Ministry on Monday

(November 1). The names of these 23 e-

commerce companies have been included

in the black list. BFIU has sought

information about the bank accounts and

transactions of these institutions and

concerned persons. After analyzing the

transactions of the accounts of the institutions,

the debts of the customers, the

amount deposited in the accounts, and

different information will be given to the

cabinet department on November 11.

There will be discussions on various

issues including refunds to customers.

Earlier, detectives had collected bank

account and transaction information of

10 companies including Evaly. These 23

companies were added to the black list

along with those 10 companies. As a

result, the number of blacklisted e-commerce

companies stood at 33. There are

various allegations against these companies

including selling products at high

temptations and not delivering products

even with customer orders.

Among the organizations and individuals

summoned for bank accounts are Daraz

and its proprietors Alibaba.com and

Ashiqul Alam Khan, the head of Priyashop

and the company. Besides, there are

Bangladesh Deal and Farzana Kabir Ishita

and Fida Mahmud Ashfaq of this company.

Accounts of Infinity Marketing and its

chairman Sirajul Islam have been summoned.

Others include Walmart and its

managing director Sheikh Farid Ahmed,

Alif World and its MD Rashedul Islam

Rayon, directors Mizanur Rahman, Sajjad

and Saif; Ames BD and its MD Ashekul

Islam Tanzeel, Chairman Kaiser Habib,

Director Md. Abdur Rauf Barek, Ahnaf

Tahmid Nahyan and Md. Kamruzzaman;

Annex World Wide and its Chairman

Mohammad Ali Rimon, MD Mohammad

Zulfiqar Ali, Director Md. Mofazzal

Hossain and Md. Feroz Alam and Bright

Hash and its owner Salekin.

Also on the list are Swadhin and its

directors Shadman Y, Shamira and

Dedrick Van Ommeren; Akash Neel and

its MD Moshiur Rahman and director

Iftekhar Uz Zaman Rony; Gazette

Mart.com and its owner Harun ur

Rashid. Sherrest.com and its chief executive

officer Khan Imran Russell, director

Md. Shamim Reza, Irfan Hossain,

Junaid Hossain, Rahat Hossain

Chowdhury and Sheikh Ahmed;

Ashther Protik and its owner Rousseau

Talukder; Tiktiki, Shop Up E-Loan, Bari

Dokan.com, E-Shop India, BD Like, Sun

Tune, Chalantika, Supam Products and

New Navana.

BFIU has already collected all the

bank account information of many

organizations like the controversial e-

commerce Evaly, e-Orange, Dhamaka

Shopping, QCom. Bank account

fridges and owners of several institutions

have been arrested. The central

bank has collected information on the

accounts of 10 e-commerce companies,

namely - Evaly, Alesha Mart, Qcom, e-

Orange, Dhamaka Shopping, Sirajganj

Shop, Aladin's Pradip, Boomboom,

Adian Mart and Needs.com BD.

Alleged ARSA leader found

dead at Rohingya camp

"However, the exact cause of death will

be clear after post-mortem," he said.

According to police sources, Hashim

used to assault Rohingya Muslims, identifying

himself as an ARSA leader.

Hashim was one of the masterminds

behind the recent assassination of top

Rohingya leader Mohib Ullah, the

sources said, not ruling out his involvement

in the madrasa attack.

Md Hafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge

of the Teknaf police station, said the body

was sent to the Cox's Bazar Sadar

Hospital morgue for an autopsy.

Rescue team of a relief train are working to rescue a derailed wagon of a oil train in

Khulna yesterday.

Photo : Star Mail

THuRSDAY, NoveMBeR 4, 2021

2

A new branch of Bio-Xin Cosmeceuticals has been inaugurated at the South Bridge Center on Banani

Road No. 11 in the capital recently.

Photo: Courtesy

Superintendent of Khulna district police Mohammad Mahbub Hasan

addressing a programme on Wednesday.

Photo: TBT

UP election

Voting to be held at 261 centers

in Khulna on Nov 11

TiTash ChaKraborThey, KhUlNa CorresPoNdeNT:

Voting will be held in 261 centers of 25 unions

under 4 upazilas of the district in second

phase of Union Parishad (UP) election on

November 11. More than half of the centers

are important. senior district election officer

M. Mazharul islam informed while

addressing a program on Wednesday. on the

other hand, superintendent of Khulna district

police Mohammad Mahbub hasan said, the

district police are also working to make the

election free, fair and neutral. action would

be taken against those who will cause any

disturbance.

in the second phase, elections will be held in

4 unions in rupsha, 4 in Fultala, 14 in

dumuria, 6 in Terokhada and 3 in batiaghata.

Voting will be held in 261 centers in 25

unions. out of 261 centers, there are 241 in

Khulna district area. The remaining 20

centers are in atra-Gilatla union under

Khulna city. out of 261 centers, 150 centers

are important. The rest of the centers are

normal.

on the other hand, campaign is going on

ahead of the election. a boat candidate has

been fined in rupsha Upazila for violating

election rules.

Meanwhile, the election Commission has

taken various steps including exchanging

views with the candidates and motivating the

voters to make the election free, fair and

neutral. The training of polling officials has

already been completed. in particular,

Khulna deputy Commissioner Md.

Moniruzzaman Talukder, superintendent of

Khulna district Police Mohammad Mahabub

hasan, district election officer Md.

Mazharul islam and other responsible

officials have started these activities in each

upazila area.

Mohammad Mahabubu hasan hopes that

the election will be held on November 11. he

said the election in the second phase would be

more festive than the first phase

M Mazharul islam, senior election officer of

the district, said the next election on

November 11 will be a model election across

the country. in case of any violent incident

during the election, the polling will be

suspended.

bio-Xin

opens news

branch at

banani

The path to aesthetic

beautification in bangladesh

is now at banani with a wide

range of biotechnological

applications. The journey of

the new branch of bio-Xin

Cosmeceuticals has been

inaugurated at the south

bridge Center on banani

road No. 11, a press release

said.

after Chattogram,

rajshahi, sylhet and

dhaka's dhanmondi,

Uttara, shantinagar,

Mirpur, Wari and

bashundhara City outlets,

the journey to the 10th

branch of bio-Xin has been

opened in banani. residents

of Gulshan, banani and

baridhara will find the latest

and world-class skin

treatment here. bio-Xin's

new banani branch has

experienced doctors, trainee

therapists, psychiatrists and

skin care practitioners with

dermatology-recognized

skin care and slimming

solutions.

speaking on the occasion

of the launch of the new

branch, Mohammad

Zahidlu haque, Ceo of bio-

Xin Cosmeceuticals, said:

"our goal is to increase the

awareness of people around

the world about skin care

and to make people around

the world more aware about

skin care."

-Xin Cosmeceuticals

started its journey on

January 1, 2014. starting its

journey from a small office,

bio-Xin Cosmeceuticals,

now has 10 outlets in dhaka,

Chattogram, rajshahi and

sylhet by taking european

cosmetics and providing

premium treatment.

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ThURsDAY, nOvEMBER 4, 2021

4

China and the West can build a better world, together

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Thursday, November 4, 2021

Fixing the image

problem

Foreign direct investments (FDIs) into

Bangladesh continue to be not so impressive

whereas other countries in its neighbourhood

continue to be major beneficiaries of FDIs. China is at

the top in receiving FDIs. But India and Pakistan are

also receiving FDIs which are much bigger than the

amounts received by Bangladesh although these

subcontinental countries are probably not offering

remarkably better conditions of investment or

returns to the foreign investors than Bangladesh.

Thus, it is time to analyse what are the major

constraints standing in the way of attracting a much

greater volume of FDIs by Bangladesh and to address

them promptly and effectively.

Any sound analysis in this respect is very likely to

show up that the biggest bottleneck 'apparently' is the

country's inadequate energy supply. Investors in

many cases get scared by tendentious or poorly

written pieces in the media about insufficient power

and gas in Bangladesh.

For example, there is hardly knowledge abroad that

in recent years government has been able to increase

power generation from a paltry 3,500 mw to over

10,5000 mw. This added generation capacity is

meeting largely the current demand for electricity.

More significant is the fact that government remains

engaged dedicatedly in a fast-track programme to

boost power production to the neigbourhood of

20,000 mw by the time it ends its current tenure .

A similar energetic programme and its execution is

noted to increase gas production and find new

reserves of gas. Already, some gas fields have been

discovered and gas from the same is being readied for

sending to the national gas grid .

Thus, the energy situation is looking up as a whole

and foreign investors can expect steady and reliable

supplies of energy in Bangladesh in the mid and

longer terms. But how many potential foreign

investors know about this improving energy situation

in Bangladesh ? A few perhaps.

It would not be an overstatement to say that

Bangladesh has been suffering--most undeservedly--

from an unfavourable perception abroad. There are

many determinants of FDIs such as a positive macro

economic environment, sound state of

infrastructures, easily trainable workers, good terms

and conditions for repatriation of capital and profit by

the investors, etc.

Bangladesh is not lacking so much in these aspects

in relation to its neighbours. In fact, its labour cost is

lower than even China or other countries in the South

Asian region. Its infrastructures need upgrading and

improvement but are not so bad as to divert foreign

investments on a large scale. Its macro economy, with

some slumps, has been stable on the whole for a long

period. The macro economic indicators, specially the

foreign currency reserve, improved a great deal in

recent years.

Besides, the aptitude of its workforce to adapt to the

requirements and training of foreign funded

enterprises is noted to be relatively good. Certainly,

the conditions for FDIs in Bangladesh can be further

improved or need to be improved. But the same can

be no reasons for greater foreign investments not

coming into the country.

Bangladesh should have been a notable investment

destination for foreign investors by now from

whatever opportunities it presently extends to them.

Why the investors have not responded yet to these

opportunities, if one main answer is sought to this

question, it could be that potential investors are

mainly ignorant about what this country has to offer

to them or they are demotivated by an image problem

of the country that does no justice to it.

First of all, there is much information gap about

Bangladesh abroad. It is not known by many

intending investors that Bangladesh has developed a

world class export-oriented apparel industry, that it

exports high quality shrimp and frozen foods, that it

has much potential to make and export a wide range

of environmentally friendly products which have

rising demand in the world market and that the

biggest components of production costs, wages to be

paid to labour, are the cheapest by world comparisons

in Bangladesh that should help them to be very

competitive.

The local press and local correspondents of the

foreign media, operating from Bangladesh, should

take the lead in reporting extensively the success

stories of Bangladesh in the economic spheres instead

of emphasizing only the negatives of the country.

The chamber bodies should also work together to

project the country regularly in favourable light

through organising international seminars,

publicities in international business media, greater

holding of exhibitions of Bangladeshi products

abroad and circulation of information about the good

rates of return from investment in Bangladesh.

The publicities ought to singularly counteract the

canard that Bangladesh is a singularly law and order

problems ridden country and credibly expose it to the

foreign investors that law and order conditions in

Bangladesh are at least equal to, if not better,

compared to the other countries of South Asia.

In The Feeling of Power, a story by

celebrated American science fiction

author Isaac Asimov, humanity has

forgotten how to conduct even the

simplest mathematical equations. In a

distant future, complex machines conduct

all operations, as men and women watch

bewildered.

Suddenly a man rediscovers pencil and

paper arithmetic, empowering him to

perform simple multiplications without

relying on machine aid. Stunned by his

new powers, he shares the discovery with

Earth's government. The military

establishment quickly seizes on the new

powers to build a more effective, humanrun

space fleet to replace artificial

intelligence and defeat Earth's enemy,

planet Deneb.

Today we are still far from such levels of

technological dependency. And yet, an

increasing share of our lives is determined

by algorithms, workers are threatened by

automation and bossed around by apps,

and armies worldwide are engaged in an

artificial intelligence arms race.

In the face of growing public anxiety

about this state of affairs, governments

around the world are trying to take action

- to rediscover pencil and paper

arithmetic. The United States Congress

regularly grills Facebook in its hearings,

while the European Commission has an

ongoing antitrust litigation against

Google. Not much, however, has come

from any of this.

By contrast, China, the most

technologically driven country, has taken

more decisive action. Recent measures

implemented by the Chinese government

seem to point towards the possibility of

regaining a political, and hence human,

control over the direction of technological

and economic change. This has

momentous implications for the world

and opens a path beyond military

competition between China and the West.

Chinese philosopher Zhao Tingyang

recently echoed many Western

commentators in decrying the pervading

power of multinational corporations and

Big Tech, which, in his latest book, he calls

"the new authoritarian powers": corporate

nations gradually transforming

governments into their agents. The

Chinese government wishes to be

nobody's agent and it is actively trying to

reclaim the primacy of politics against

such new powers.

The government is now employing

various avenues - including antimonopoly

investigations, new laws and

direct communications with top

executives - to rein tech giants in. This

regretfully includes the type of

harassment impossible in Western

democracies, such as having Jack Ma,

CEO of Alibaba, "disappear" from view for

several months.

On a more legally sound basis, the

Personal Information Protection Law

LOREnZO MARsILI &MI YOU

(PIPL), passed in August, stipulates that

companies must abide by the minimum

amount of necessary data-gathering,

hence reducing the likelihood of personal

information abuse.

Behind the regulatory activism around

tech giants is a wider political and

economic plan. President Xi Jinping

wants to find a way to harness big data

and the success of large-scale

corporations and new billionaires to fuel

more broad-based economic growth.

A clear example comes from actions on

online tutoring, a sector that, the

government claims, has been "hijacked by

capital". Beijing said it would strictly

regulate the after-school tutoring sector as

part of stepped-up efforts to improve

public education, cut the cost of having

children and help raise China's birth rate.

It went so far as to ban private tutoring

companies from making profits, causing a

collapse in the market value of private

education firms.

The state-run, populist Global Times

recently justified the government's actions

as "preventing wealthy families with a

higher socioeconomic status from having

priority access to education resources".

Contrast this with the US, where little

action has been taken to counter "market

forces [that] have made American higher

education radically unequal", as Harvard

University-affiliated Harvard Magazine

describes it. The actions of the Chinese

government should be understood, more

generally, as a move aimed at increasing

people's incomes, and hence purchase

power, at the expense of corporate profits,

addressing the growing divide between

capital and labour.

Take the delivery economy, where gig

workers across the world are "uncertain,

scared, and barely scraping by". The

Chinese government forced online

platforms to ensure delivery staff earn at

least the local minimum income, which

caused delivery giant Meituan to lose

$40bn in market value. That is less money

in the bank accounts of investors, and

more money in the pockets of gig workers.

Similar considerations apply to a new

drive to reduce wealth concentration. In

August, the Communist Party emphasised

the need to "reasonably regulate

excessively high incomes" and prioritise

"common prosperity". Companies,

anticipating new regulatory action, have

responded by announcing a range of

RAMZY BAROUD

social, educational and charity

programmes.

Pinduoduo, the e-commerce platform

for group-buying deals, will invest $1.5bn

into a not-for-profit cause for agricultural

technology innovation and improving the

livelihood of rural farmers. Alibaba will

send technology officers to the

countryside and train 200,000 digital

technologists in underdeveloped areas.

Tencent pledged $7bn to support the

"common prosperity" campaign.

Just as in the case of the challenges of

Big Tech, wealth inequality and low

labour standards are issues that plague

Western countries as much as China. And

yet, action in advanced democracies

appears muted. Not only does inequality

continue to be on the rise, but the COVID-

19 pandemic has left millions jobless,

while large fortunes have skyrocketed in

what the Financial Times dubbed a

"billionaire boom". This is disaster

capitalism at its best.

"Tax the rich", wrote firebrand US

congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-

Cortez on the dress she wore to the Met

Gala. But the truth is that Western

democracies appear peculiarly unable to

overhaul an increasingly unjust economic

system. Left unchecked, this spells

disaster for the legitimacy of liberal

democracy.

Could China help the West address its

economic and democratic decline? This is

more than a provocation: the timidity of

the Western response to power, data and

wealth concentration has much to do with

the extremism that today plagues Western

democracies. As a growing share of the

electorate finds the system is not working

for them, the push towards populist

electoral proposals - or towards

abstention - inevitably grows.

Indeed, the most successful, large-scale

reforms of democratic capitalism took

hold precisely in response to similar

authoritarian competition: that with the

Soviet Union. The transformation of

laissez-faire capitalism and the

introduction of state intervention and

welfare protection by US President

Franklin D Roosevelt's famous "New

Deal" was directly inspired by the

application of state planning in Soviet

Russia. The post-war European welfare

state, which guaranteed three decades of

economic expansion and growing

equality, was, likewise, a direct response

to the threat of an impoverished

population "going Soviet" in the absence

of economic opportunities for all.

The West seems bent on responding to

China's rise by attempting to contain it

and build a system of alliances against it.

The recently announced AUKUS

agreement between the US, the United

Kingdom and Australia, and the resulting

arms race in the Pacific, is just the latest

milestone in a path all too reminiscent of

the opposing alliances that led Europe

towards World War I. To many observers

a clash of systems appears inevitable - this

is Thucydides' trap, signalling the

inevitability of a military confrontation

between a declining and a rising power.

But we need precisely the opposite of an

arms race and a cold war. The West can

respond by learning from China and

opening up a conversation on reforming a

dysfunctional global system. Taking back

a political direction over economic and

technological development does not

require going down China's authoritarian

road. Democracies, in their ideal form,

serve precisely to transform the will of the

people into just policy and place that will

above the economic interests of the richest

few. Do we need China's "common

prosperity" campaign to remind us of

that?

The future of humanity will depend in

no small measure on the conversations

that are taking place in China today. And

yet all this remains resolutely at the corner

of our public debates in the West. Rather

than shunning China, there is much

potential in people-to-people exchange,

and also organisational development and

coordinated actions.

When borders reopen as the COVID-19

pandemic subsides, we do not need a selfimposed

bamboo curtain separating the

West from China. We need to double

down on fostering political, cultural and

artistic exchange and on opening up

institutional and political forums where

concrete issues - such as wealth

inequality, technological sovereignty, as

well as of course climate transition - may

be discussed at all levels of government

and civil society.

In The Wandering Earth, the acclaimed

Chinese science fiction author, Liu Cixin,

tells the story of a collective effort by

humanity to move planet Earth away

from a dying solar system and into

another galaxy. Differently from Western

capitalist-dystopian narrations of a

privileged few escaping a planet in crisis,

this is a story of a humanity driven by

collective interest in addressing a

common challenge. As we face very

immediate and entirely non-fictional

planetary challenges today, the time is

ripe to open up a powerful transnational

cultural conversation on our common

future. Cooperation between China and

the West is at the heart of this mission.

Source: Al jazeera

West failing to back up its condemnations of Israel with action

The international uproar in response

to Israel's approval of a massive

expansion of its illegal settlement

enterprise in the occupied West Bank may

give the impression that such a reaction

could, in theory, force it to abandon its

plans. Alas, it will not, because the

statements of concern, regret,

disappointment and even outright

condemnation are rarely followed up with

meaningful action.

True, the international community has a

political and even legal frame of reference

regarding its position on the Israeli

occupation of Palestine. Unfortunately,

however, it has no genuine political

mandate, or the inclination to act

individually or collectively, to bring this

occupation to an end. This is precisely why

last week's announcement by Israel that it

has given "final approval" for the building

of 1,800 housing units and initial approval

for another 1,344 is unlikely to be reversed

anytime soon. One ought to keep in mind

that this decision came only two days after

the Israeli government had issued

construction tenders for another 1,355

housing units in the West Bank.

Israel has rarely, if ever, reversed such

decisions. Moreover, since Israel's

occupation of East Jerusalem, the West

Bank and Gaza in 1967, its colonial project

has remained in a state of constant and

unhindered expansion. Fifty-four years

should be enough for the international

community to realize that Israel has no

intentions whatsoever to end its military

occupation of its own accord, to respect

international law or to cease the

construction of illegal settlements.

Yet, despite this, the international

community continues to issue statements

- moderate in their language at times and

even angry at others - without ever taking

a single action to punish Israel.

A quick examination of the US

government's reaction to the news of the

The government is now employing various avenues - including antimonopoly

investigations, new laws and direct communications with

top executives - to rein tech giants in. This regretfully includes the type

of harassment impossible in Western democracies, such as having

Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba, "disappear" from view for several months.

latest settlement expansion tells of the

lack of seriousness in Washington toward

Israel's continued disregard of

international law, peace and security in

the Middle East. "We strongly oppose the

expansion of settlements," said US State

Department spokesman Ned Price,

adding that the Israeli decision is

"completely inconsistent with efforts to

lower tension and ensure calm."

Since when was Israel concerned about

"lowering tensions" and "ensuring calm?"

If these were truly important US demands

and expectations, why then does America

keep funneling billions of dollars a year in

military aid to Israel, knowing full well

that it will be used to sustain the illegal

Israeli occupation of Palestine and other

Arab lands? If, for the sake of argument,

we assume that Washington is finally

shifting its policies on Israel and Palestine,

how does it intend to pressure Israel to

cease settlement construction? Price has

the answer: The Biden administration will

"raise our views on this issue directly with

senior Israeli officials in our private

discussions," he said last week. So the US

will raise its views, as opposed to

demanding accountability, threatening

retaliation or withholding funds.

While it is true that the US government

is Israel's main Western benefactor,

Washington is not the only hypocritical

administration in this regard. The

Europeans are not fundamentally

different, even though their statements

might be a tad stronger in terms of

language. "Settlements are illegal under

international law and constitute a major

obstacle to the achievement of the twostate

solution and a just, lasting and

comprehensive peace between the

parties," read a statement issued by the

office of EU foreign policy chief Josep

Borrell on Friday. This mirrors the exact

sentiments and language of numerous

statements issued in the past; ones that

"strongly reject" the Israeli action and

"urge" the Israeli government to "revoke"

its recent decisions for the sake of

"sustainable peace," and so on. The task of

preparing these statements must be the

easiest of all clerical jobs at the EU's

offices, as it is largely a matter of a simple

cut and paste.

And when it comes to action, Brussels,

like Washington, refrains from taking any.

Worse, these entities often bankroll the

very actions they protest, while insisting

they are standing at the exact same

And when it comes to action, Brussels, like Washington,

refrains from taking any. Worse, these entities often bankroll

the very actions they protest, while insisting they are standing

at the exact same distance between Israelis and Palestinians,

assigning themselves such roles as "honest peace brokers.

distance between Israelis and

Palestinians, assigning themselves such

roles as "honest peace brokers," "peace

mediators" and the like.

The onus is not on colonial powers to

behave themselves, but on the rest of the

world to hold them to account.

One should not be in the least bit

surprised by Israel's recent

announcement. In fact, we should expect

more settlement expansion and even the

construction of new settlements, because

that is what colonial Israel does best.

Within a matter of a few days, Israel has

announced its intention to build, or accept

bids for, nearly 4,500 settlement units.

Compare this with the settlement

expansion seen during Donald Trump's

time in office. "Israel promoted plans for

more than 30,000 settler homes in the

West Bank during the four years (Trump)

was in power," the BBC reported, citing

Israeli group Peace Now. But if the new

Israeli government under Naftali Bennett

continues with this hurried pace of illegal

housing construction, it could potentially

match - and even overtake - the expansion

that took place during the terrible years of

the Trump era. With no accountability,

this catastrophic political paradigm will

remain in place, irrespective of who rules

Israel and who resides in the White

House.

Israel is doing what any colonial power

does: It expands at the expense of the

native population. The onus is not on

colonial powers to behave themselves, but

on the rest of the world to hold them to

account. This was also true in the case of

South African apartheid and numerous

other examples throughout the Global

South.

The truth is that a thousand or even a

million more statements by Western

governments will not end the Israeli

occupation or even slow the pace of Israeli

bulldozers as they uproot Palestinian trees

and destroy Palestinian homes to make

way for yet more illegal colonies. If the

West's words are not backed up by action

- which is very much possible, considering

the massive military, political and

economic leverage it wields over Israel -

then it will remain a party to this conflict,

not as a "peace broker" but as a direct

supporter of the Israeli occupation and

apartheid.

Source: Arab news

ThurSDAY, NoVeMBer 4, 2021

5

Tackling misinformation on

climate crisis on Facebook

The pilot program will open up 10 Tesla charging stations to other electric cars in the

Netherlands.

Photo: Sean Gallup

Tesla opens Superchargers to

other electric cars for first time

TeChNoloGY DeSK

Tesla is opening its charging network to

other electric cars for the first time with

a pilot programme in the Netherlands,

as the world's most valuable carmaker

looks to bring electric vehicles into the

mainstream.

The programme will be tested at 10

locations in the Netherlands, the

company said on Monday, adding that

Dutch non-Tesla electric vehicle drivers

can access the Tesla stations, or

Superchargers, through the Tesla app.

Tesla drivers can continue to use

these stations and the company will

closely monitor each site for

congestion. Tesla operates more than

25,000 Superchargers worldwide,

while other carmakers have formed

alliances or invested in startups for

networks as they rush new electric

vehicles to market.

The Superchargers are open to cars

with the Combined Charging System

(CCS) favoured by BMW, Mercedes-

Benz maker Daimler, Ford and the

Volkswagen group, which includes

Audi and Porsche. Tesla uses the CCS

standard in Europe, allowing a wide

range of cars to charge in stations

without an adapter that uses a similar

connector.

Charging prices for non-Tesla drivers

would include extra costs to support a

broad range of vehicles and site

adjustments to accommodate these

vehicles, Tesla said. "This move directly

supports our mission to accelerate the

world's transition to sustainable

energy."

Tesla, which crossed $1tn in market

capitalisation for the first time last

week, has defied supply chain issues

and global chip shortages to mark a

record quarter for car deliveries as

demand ramps up and its investments

in new factories pay off.

KAri PAul

Misinformation about the

climate crisis runs rampant

on Facebook, a new study

has found, and comes

mostly from a handful of

"super polluter"

publishers.

Ten publishers are

responsible for 69% of

digital climate change

denial content on

Facebook, a new study

from the Center for

Countering Digital Hate

(CCDH) has found. The

outlets, which the report

labels the "toxic ten",

include

several

conservative websites in

the US, as well as Russian

state media.

The Center for Countering

Digital Hate used

NewsWhip, a social media

analytics tool, to analyze

6,983 climate crisis denial

articles that were featured in

Facebook posts in the last

year.

The articles included

condemnations of the "cult

of 'climate change'" whose

"worship" risks people's

future or told readers not to

"worry too much about CO2

baking the planet".

Together, the posts raked

up 709,057 interactions.

Facebook strongly rejected

the study in a statement,

with a spokesman saying

the analysis from CCDH

"uses a flawed methodology

designed to mislead people

about the scale of climate

misinformation on

Facebook".

He added that the

700,000 interactions

mentioned in the report on

climate denial represent

0.3% of the over 200m

interactions on public

English-language climate

change content from pages

and public groups over the

same time period.

"We continue to combat

climate misinformation by

reducing the distribution of

anything rated false or

misleading by one of our

factchecking partners and

rejecting any ads that have

been debunked," he said.

Tuesday's study echoes

past research on what has

come to be known as the

"Dirty Dozen" - a group of

accounts responsible for

the vast majority of Covid-

19 misinformation

circulating on social media.

It underscores just how

much of an impact a small

number of widely read

websites can have in the

algorithm-driven

Facebook ecosystem, said

the US senator Sheldon

Whitehouse.

"Facebook and other

social media companies

make money when they

send users down rabbit

holes of climate denial," he

said. "That's a very

dangerous business model

for the future of the

planet."

In 2020, Facebook

launched a Climate Change

Science Center, which

contains factual data from

credible sources on the

climate crisis to counteract

the spread of

misinformation on its

platforms. It also adds

informational labels to

some posts about the

climate crisis, which direct

users to the center. A

spokesman for Facebook

said it received more than

100,000 visitors each day.

That resource was

previously targeted

primarily at US users, but

on Monday, the company

announced it was

expanding its Climate

Change Science Center to

more than 100 countries,

labeling posts for the first

time in Belgium, Brazil,

India, Indonesia, Mexico,

the Netherlands, Spain and

Taiwan.

But the study's authors

are asking the social media

platform to go much

further. They called on

Facebook to stop taking

payment from the

publications to promote

their content and to label

misinformation about the

climate crisis on a larger

number of posts. The study

found that 92% of the most

popular articles examined

did not have a label about

climate

crisis

misinformation.

CCDH also called on

Google to remove eight of

the 10 publications using

Google Ads to profit from

their climate crisis denial

content. The researchers

determined those eight

Facebook and other social media companies make money when they

send users down rabbit holes of climate denial. Photo: Andre M Chang

publications earned an

estimated $3.6m through

Google Ads in the last six

months.

Imran Ahmed, chief

executive of the Center for

Countering Digital Hate,

argued that the "bad faith

misinformation" pushed

by the 10 websites is

designed to undermine

social media users'

confidence in science. By

not acting more forcefully,

Ahmed said, "big tech is

once again on the wrong

side of science, truth and

human progress." The

websites named in the

study did not immediately

respond to requests for

comment.

Yahoo withdraws from China

The camera app is excellent, with simple but useful photography aids, though it lacks a dedicated

macro photography mode.

Photo: Samuel Gibbs

SAMuel GiBBS

Google’s Pixel 6 review

The Pixel 6 is Google's

affordable flagship phone

for 2021 and proves to be

a leader in the field with a

top-class camera and a

new advanced chip at its

heart - while undercutting

most of the competition

on price.

The phone costs £599

($599/A$999), which is

£250 less than the Pixel 6

Pro, while still offering

90% of what you get with

Google's top model. It has

a 6.4in 90Hz OLED

screen that is flat, not

curved at the sides. The

display is slightly less

sharp, slower and smaller

than that on the 6 Pro, but

is still very good with

excellent brightness and

viewing angles.

The sides are painted

black aluminium, the

back is glass, and there is

a large camera bar design

similar to the 6 Pro.

Despite the reduced

screen size the Pixel 6 is

not a small phone and is

only 1.1mm narrower and

3g lighter than its bigger

sibling. Those with

smaller hands will

struggle to hold it in one

hand without an

attachment.

Along with the Pixel 6

Pro, the Pixel 6 is the first

phone to feature Google's

custom Tensor processor.

It matches rivals from

Qualcomm and Samsung

on speed, but is better

optimised for Google's

various AI systems.

Battery life is good but

not great, lasting about 34

hours between charges,

putting on par with rivals

from Samsung and but

some way behind 46-hour

iPhone 13. That was with

the screen on for about

five hours in various

messaging, note-taking

and utility apps, the

browser and taking about

20 photos, spending

about two hours on 5G

and the rest on wifi.

Google does not provide

an expected lifespan for

the battery. Those in

similar devices typically

maintain at least 80% of

their original capacity

after 500 full charge

cycles. The Pixel 6 is

generally repairable by

Google and third-party

repair shops. Screen

repairs cost £129, back

glass repairs cost £139

and battery replacements

cost £89 out of warranty.

The Pixel 6 contains

100% recycled aluminium

in its frame, accounting

for about 14% of the

phone by weight. The

company publishes

environmental impact

reports for some of its

products. Google will

recycle all Pixel devices

free of charge.

The Pixel 6 ships with

Google's latest Android

12, which includes a load

of customisation options

and refinements. For

more, see the Pixel 6 Pro

review.

Google will provide at

least three years of major

Android updates and

monthly security fixes. It

will then provide an

additional two years of

updates with the

"frequency and categories

of updates depending on

the hardware capabilities

and needs". Samsung

supports its top phones

for four years, while

Fairphone is aiming for

six years and Apple

supports its iPhone for up

to seven years.

The Pixel 6 has the same

50-megapixel main and

12MP ultrawide camera

as the 6 Pro and produces

very similar results. That

makes it one of the very

best cameras you can get

on a smartphone,

particularly at under

£600. It lacks an optical

zoom camera, and while

Google's up to 7x digital

zoom is one of the best, it

is no substitute for optical

magnification.

The 8MP selfie camera

is good, producing

detailed shots with lots of

drama, but occasionally

the images were a bit soft,

particularly in lower light

levels. The Google Pixel 6

costs £599 ($599/A$999)

with 128GB of storage.

For comparison, the

Pixel 6 Pro costs £849,

Pixel 4a costs £349, the

OnePlus 9 costs £629, the

Samsung Galaxy S21+

costs £949, the Xiaomi

11T Pro costs £599, the

iPhone 13 costs £779 and

the Fairphone 4 costs

£499.

ViNCeNT Ni

Yahoo has announced its

withdrawal from the

Chinese market in the

latest retreat by foreign

technology firms

responding to Beijing's

tightening control over the

industry. "In recognition of

the increasingly

challenging business and

legal environment in

China, Yahoo's suite of

services will no longer be

accessible from mainland

China as of November 1,"

the company said on

Tuesday.

The timing of the pullout

coincided with the

implementation of China's

new data protection law,

which came into effect on

Monday. The legislation,

which was years in the

making, was likened by

some to the Chinese

equivalent to the stringent

GDPR in Europe.

The law limits what

information companies

can gather and sets

standards for how it must

be stored. It also stipulates

that companies operating

in the country must hand

over data if requested by

authorities, making it

difficult for international

firms to operate in China as

they may also face pressure

back home over giving in to

Beijing's demands.

In the run-up to the

implementation of the

legislation, foreign tech

companies have been

warning their users of the

changes in their services in

recent months.

Yahoo's withdrawal came

less than a month after

another US tech company,

Microsoft's

networking

professional

platform

LinkedIn, announced was

shutting down operations

in China.. In public, the

company blamed a

"significantly more

challenging operating

environment" as well as

"greater compliance

requirements in China".

On Tuesday, Yahoo users

in mainland China were

told the company's services

would no longer be

accessible. The products

affected included Aol.com,

and news outlets such as

TechCrunch. Users of apps

such as Yahoo Weather

were told in October that it

would be discontinued this

month, according to the

Wall Street Journal.

Yahoo has had a

tumultuous and

controversial existence in

mainland China. In 2007,

the company was criticised

by lawmakers in the US

A woman walks past a Yahoo billboard in a Beijing subway in March 2006.

after it handed over data on

two Chinese dissidents to

the the authorities,

eventually leading to their

imprisonment.

In recent years, as

regulations toward foreign

tech companies hardened

and domestic competition

grew, Yahoo began to

downsize its operations in

China. In 2015, it shuttered

its Beijing office.

Analysts say Yahoo's

withdrawal from the

country is largely symbolic

as at least some of Yahoo's

services, including its web

portal, have already been

blocked. China has also

blocked other US internet

services such as Facebook

and Google. Mainland

users who wish to access

these websites use a virtual

private network (VPN) to

circumvent the block.

Photo: AP

THURsDAY, NOvemBeR 4 , 2021 6

182 candidates likely to be elected

unopposed in Raozan

gazi JoYnal abeDin, Raozan CoRResponDent

in the upcoming up elections in Raozan,

182 candidates are likely to be elected

unopposed.

as per the schedule announced in

Raozan among the 1,008 union

parishads of the country in the 3rd

phase, the last date for submission of

nomination papers was on november 2

(tuesday) afternoon. upazila Returning

office and election officer arun uday

tripura confirmed that one form each

has been submitted for the posts of

chairman, member and reserved female

member in each of the 14 unions of

Raozan upazila till 5 pm yesterday.

From the morning of november 1

(Monday) at the office of the upazila

Returning officer, the awami league's

boat symbol was nominated and 14

chairman candidates supported by local

Mp abM Fazle karim Chowdhury

submitted their election code of conduct

forms. it is also learned that a total of 18

candidates for the posts of grassroots up

members and reserved women

members of awami league in 14 unions

of the upazila have collected and

submitted forms from the office of the

upazila Returning officer. in each of the

14 unions, one candidate for the post of

chairman, one member for each of the 9

wards and one candidate for the post of

3 reserved women members have

collected and submitted the forms. in

this year's up election, no party other

than awami league has collected and

submitted the forms of the candidates in

Raozan upazila. besides, due to the able

leadership of local Mp abM Fazle karim

Chowdhury, there was no hint of a rebel

candidate.

upazila election officer and

Returning officer told the bangladesh

today that a total of 162 forms have been

submitted for each post till 5 pm when

the candidates collected four hundred

and fifty forms for different posts. if no

candidate is eliminated after the

november 4 election, if no one

withdraws on the last day of the

november 11 withdrawal, 14 chairmen of

14 unions, 137 up members and 42

reserved women members are likely to

be elected unopposed.

Freedom fighter shafiqul islam in

Haldia union no. 1, abdur Rahman

Chowdhury lalu in Dabua union no. 2,

priyatosh Chowdhury in Chikdair union

no. 3, nurul abchar banshi in gahira

union no. 4, binjuri lal Chowdhury in

binajuri union no. 7 are going to be

elected unopposed as chairman. nizam

uddin ahmed Chowdhury in kadalpur

union no. 8, Rokon uddin in no. 9

pahartali union, Muktijoddha abbas

uddin in no. 10 purbagujra union, lion

sahabuddi arif in no. 11 West gujra

union, syed abdul Jabbar sohel in no.

12 urkirchar union, no. 13 in nap.

sarwardi sikder in 15th noajishpur

union. among them Rabidra lal

Chowdhury, nizam uddin ahmed

Chowdhury and babul Mia are the new

faces this time.

Jail Killing Day was observed in Ishwardi on Tuesday.

Photo: Gopal Odhikari

Jail killing Day observed in ishwardi

gopal oDHikaRi, isHWaRDi CoRResponDent

Jail killing Day was observed in

ishwardi on tuesday. on the occasion of

the day, nuruzzaman biswas, Mp of

pabna 4 constituency, Chief of Regional

Mujib bahini and heroic freedom fighter

laid wreath at the portrait of Father of

the nation bangabandhu sheikh

Mujibur Rahman at ishwardi upazila

awami league office in the morning.

During the time, upazila awami

league president and upazila parishad

Chairman naib ali biswas, Md.

Rashidullah, bir Muktijoddha golam

Mostafa Channa Mandal, bashir ahmed

bakul, newly elected general secretary

of ishwardi upazila awami league and

former Mayor of ishwardi Municipality

alhaj abul kalam azad, Chairman

abdus salam khan, District Council

Member shafiul alam biswas, Convener

of upazila swecchashebok league

Masud Rana and leaders of awami

league, Juba league, Chhatra league,

swecchashebok league and other

affiliated organizations were present.

In the upcoming UP elections in Raozan, 182 candidates are likely to be elected unopposed. Photo: TBT

80pc of bangabandhu

Hi-tech park work

completed in Rajshahi

RaJsHaHi: around eighty

percent infrastructure

development works of the

under-construction

bangabandhu sheikh Mujib

High- tech park here has

already been completed

creating a high hope among

all concerned in terms of

generating job opportunities,

reports bss.

the park is being built on

around 31 acres of land in

nabinagar area adjacent to

Rajshahi metropolis aimed at

establishing knowledge-based

it industries together with

ensuring an area-based

development.

bangladesh Hi-tech park

authority is implementing the

taka 335.51-crore project

initiated by the information

and Communication

technology Division with the

main thrust of creating scopes

for the new it entrepreneurs

and employment generation.

employment opportunities

for around 14,000 youths

both male and female will be

created upon successful

completion of the project by

December, 2022, said

engineer akM Fazlul Haque,

Director of the project.

the infrastructure

development works included

land development, a tenstorey

silicon tower in the area

of 2.70 lakh square-feet,

substation and generation

building, internal roads and

drains, boundary wall and

high-speed internet.

Construction works of

'sheikh kamal it incubation

and training Centre' inside

the park compound has

already been completed, he

said, adding a total of ten it

farms have started working

there after taking space.

besides, work on the 'sajeeb

Wazed Joy silicon tower' is at

the final stage.

there is also provision of

constructing Cineplex for

showing video documentaries

to the investors from both

home and abroad besides an

auditorium.

engineer Haque said the

silicon tower will have

multipurpose facilities

including two basement

parking floors, high standard

training, seminar and

conference rooms, rentable

office spaces and lounge and

recreation area.

besides, the 62,000 squarefeet

it incubation centre with

an energy efficient state of the

art office building has

multipurpose training

facilities, high quality startups,

rainwater harvesting and

renewable energy sources.

all sorts of business

environment were ensured

for attracting investors from

both home and abroad.

He said the bangabandhu

Hi-tech park aims to create an

atmosphere for establishing

industries on iCt,

engineering, electronics,

telecommunication and

biotechnology. besides, more

avenues of employment for

the iCt people will be created

in this venture.

Football tactician Faisal has made his 10th guinness record.

Photo: Rokibul Hoque Dipu

RMCH records

two more fatality

in Covid-19 unit

RaJsHaHi: Rajshahi

Medical College Hospital

(RMCH) recorded two more

fatality in its Covid-19 unit in

the last 24 hours till 6am

yesterday, taking the death

toll to four in the last three

days of this month, reports

bss.

the previous day's fatality

figure was one. However, on

sunday, the death figure was

zero after a long five

consecutive days. besides, on

Monday last, the hospital

recorded zero deaths after a

long time since the second

wave of the pandemic hit the

country around seven months

back.

earlier, the number of

casualties was 100 in october,

167 in september, 340 in

august, 566 in July and 405 in

June, health officials said.

Football tactician

Faisal makes 10th

guinness record

Rokibul Hoque Dipu ,

MaguRa CoRResponDent

Football tactician Faisal has

made his 10th guinness

record. Faisal is the son of

shohel Rana of village

Hazipur under Magura

sadar upazila. He is a

student of Magura

polytechnic institute.

Faisal informed , i was

fond of cricket from my

childhood. after passing

ssC i mastered some arts of

football tactic. When i

displayed my tactic in the

local village field huge

people enjoyed my tactic

and encouraged me. then i

made a plan to write my

name in guinness book and

became successful. Finally i

have made my 10th

guinnesss record by rolling

football 46 times in 30

seconds on my forehead

When contacted Magura

deputy commissioner Dr

asharaful alam told , we are

proud of Faisal . We are

ready to give him any

cooperation.

Barisal University has started the vaccination programme of Covid-19 on Tuesday. Photo: Courtesy

1,500 corona-hit families get

revival support in Rajshahi

RaJsHaHi: around 1,500 marginalized

families badly affected by the adverse

impact of Covid-19 have started getting

support, including monetary and incomegenerating

training and assets, as

emergency response in Rajshahi, reports

bss.

the stimulus supports are being given

on behalf of a project titled "Resilience to

economic Volatility of indigenous and

Vulnerable populations through

empowerment (ReViVe)" so that the

target group of people can get back their

normal life through recouping the losses.

they are also being motivated to

improve hygiene practices for CoViD-19

prevention through providing 1,500 hand

washing devices.

the project is being implemented in six

unions of nachole and gomostapur

upazilas in Chapainawabganj district.

DasCoH Foundation has started

implementing the project in cooperation

with Heks/epeR supported by

switzerland since July last for contributing

to the holistic development of

disadvantaged communities, including 80

percent ethnic minorities.

a four-member delegation of the

project-funding agencies visited the

ReViVe project activities at thekapara

village under gomostapur upazila sharing

views with the beneficiaries on tuesday.

sDC program Manager sabina

Yeasmine lubna and its Junior program

officer Jana Roethlisberger, Heks-epeR

Country Director Dora Choudhury and its

Head of Finance abul Hasnat were the

delegation members.

DasCoH Foundation Chief executive

officer akramul Haque apprised the team

that the ultimate goal of the two-year

project is to contribute to the economic

recovery and resilience of indigenous and

other marginalized communities.

"We have divided the beneficiary

households into 50 groups by primary

selection of beneficiaries through social

mapping, wellbeing ranking and

prioritization for successful

implementation of the project," he said,

adding each of the households is being

brought under cash incentives worth taka

4,000.

in phases, they will be imparted training

on various income-generating activities,

including agriculture, vegetable farming,

homestead gardening, fisheries, livestock,

vermicompost and horticulture, based on

their interest and choice.

apart from this, the beneficiaries will be

given post-training materials and logistic

support so that they can engage

themselves in the incomegenerating

activities for improving their living and

livelihood condition through best use of

their knowledge acquired from the

training.

akramul Haque told bss that the project

has a provision of establishing market

linkage between the beneficiaries and the

line departments for generating a market

chain as well as value chain of the farm

products.

emphasis has been given on

strengthening coordination and

collaboration among the project

stakeholders and local authorities.

Covid-19

vaccination

programme

begins at bu

barisal university has started

the vaccination program of

Covid-19. With the initiative

of barisal university

administration and in

collaboration with barishal

City Corporation, vaccination

of Covid-19 will be carried out

on 03 and 04 november 2021

from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm, a

press release said.

the activities started at 10

am on november 3 through

the medical center of the

university. During the time,

university proctor Dr. Md

khorshed alam, assistant

proctor Dr Md Mizanur

Rahman, Dr. Md Mahfuz

alam, sanbin islam, Majdul

islam, Medical officer Dr

tanjin Hasan, Dr shammi

ara nipa, security officer

sanowar parvez liton,

Medical assistant syed

bahauddin and other bCC

officials were present.

under this program, all the

students of bu who have not

yet received the Cavid-19

vaccine can easily get the 1st

and 2nd dose of the vaccine

through registration. For two

days, about seven hundred

students have been able to get

the vaccine through

registration. barisal

university Corporation

Mayor sarniabat sadiq

abdullah and all concerned

were thanked for the overall

support of barisal university

in providing Cavid-19 vaccine.

World leaders promised to protect Earth's forests, cut methane emissions and help South Africa

wean itself off coal at the U.N. climate summit Tuesday - part of a flurry of deals intended to avert

catastrophic global warming.

Photo : Internet

Leaders vow to protect forests,

plug methane leaks at COP26

GLASGOW : World leaders promised

to protect Earth's forests, cut methane

emissions and help South Africa wean

itself off coal at the U.N. climate

summit Tuesday - part of a flurry of

deals intended to avert catastrophic

global warming, reports UNB.

Britain hailed the commitment by

over 100 countries to end deforestation

in the coming decade as the first big

achievement of the conference in the

Scottish city of Glasgow, known as

COP26 - but experts noted such

promises have been made and broken

before.

The U.K. government said it has

received pledges from leaders

representing more than 85% of the

world's forests to halt and reverse

deforestation by 2030. Among them

are several countries with massive

forests, including Brazil, China,

Colombia, Congo, Indonesia, Russia

and the United States.

GD-1616/21(10x4)

More than $19 billion in public and

private funds have been pledged

toward the plan.

"With today's unprecedented

pledges, we will have a chance to end

humanity's long history as nature's

conqueror, and instead become its

custodian," British Prime Minister

Boris Johnson said.

"Let's end this great chainsaw

massacre by making conservation do

what we know it can do, and that is

deliver long-term sustainable jobs and

growth as well."

Experts and observers said fulfilling

the pledge will be critical to limiting

climate change, but many noted that

such grand promises have been made

in the past - to little effect.

"Signing the declaration is the easy

part," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio

Guterres said on Twitter.

is essential that it is implemented

now for people and planet." Alison

Hoare, a senior research fellow at

political think tank Chatham House,

said world leaders promised in 2014 to

end deforestation by 2030, "but since

then deforestation has accelerated

across many countries."

Brian Rohan, head of forests at

environmental law charity ClientEarth,

said that to succeed, the pledge "needs

teeth."

Forests are important ecosystems

and provide a critical way of absorbing

carbon dioxide - the main greenhouse

gas - from the atmosphere. But the

value of wood as a commodity and the

growing demand for agricultural and

pastoral land are leading to widespread

and often illegal felling of forests,

particularly in developing countries.

"We are delighted to see Indigenous

Peoples mentioned in the forest deal

announced today," said Joseph

Itongwa Mukumo, an Indigenous

Walikale and activist from Congo.

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163 illegal Nigerian

migrants deported

from Libya

TRIPOLI : Libya's anti-illegal

migration department said

on Tuesday that 163 illegal

migrants have been deported

to their native country of

Nigeria.

"Based on instructions

from the Ministry of Interior

and the Attorney General's

office, 163 illegal Nigerian

migrants, including women

and children, managed to

return to their country

voluntarily in cooperation

with the International

Organization for Migration

(IOM)", the department said

in a statement.

All the migrants have been

tested for COVID-19 before

departure, it added.

Libya has been suffering

insecurity and chaos since

2011, making the North

African country a preferred

point of departure for illegal

migrants who want to cross

the Mediterranean Sea to

European shores.

The

Voluntary

Humanitarian Return

program, run by the IOM,

arranges the return of illegal

immigrants stranded in Libya

to their homelands.

Since 2015, more than

53,000 illegal migrants have

returned from Libya through

the program, with support

from the European Union

and the Italian Migration

Fund, according to the IOM.

UN migration agency

provides assistance

for families affected

by floods in Libya

TRIPOLI : The International

Organization for Migration

(IOM) said Tuesday that it

provided assistance to over

150 families displaced by

floods in eastern Libya.

"More than 150 families in

eastern Libya have been

displaced from their homes

due to flash floods caused by

the heavy rain over the

weekend," the UN migration

agency said in a statement.

This emergency triggered

the UN Rapid Response

Mechanism (RRM) which

includes coordinated

emergency assistance from

World Food Programme,

United Nations Population

Fund (UNFPA) Libya, United

Nations Children's Fund

(UNICEF) Libya and IOM to

support the affected

households with assistance,

the statement said.

"In line with RRM's

commitment to respond

within 72 hours of an

emergency, IOM jointly with

RRM members distributed

food, core relief items and

drinking water in Albayar to

85 households and in

Almaraj/Tacnis to 73

households," it said.

Lebanon working to

solve dispute with Gulf

countries: president

BEIRUT : Lebanon's

President Michel Aoun said

on Tuesday that Lebanese

authorities are working on

solving the dispute with Saudi

Arabia and other Gulf

countries, a statement by

Lebanon's presidency

reported.

"We are working on all

levels in hope to find a suitable

solution for the dispute with

the Gulf," Aoun said during

his meeting with members of

the European Parliament's

Delegation for relations with

the Mashreq countries.

Aoun said that Lebanon has

already been suffering from

multiple crises including the

repercussions of the civil war

in neighboring Syria and the

presence of a big number of

refugees in the country in

addition to the impact of the

Beirut port blasts and recently

the Gulf countries' decision to

ban imports from Lebanon.

He noted that the current

government is proceeding

with preparations for the

negotiations with the

International Monetary Fund

based on a recovery plan that

aims at rebuilding the

economy by implementing

the much needed reforms.

ThUrSDAY, NovEmbEr 4, 2021

7

IS attack on Kabul hospital

leaves 7 dead, 16 wounded

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN : Islamic State

militants set off an explosion at the entrance

to a military hospital in the Afghan capital on

Tuesday, killing at least seven people, a

senior Taliban official said. It was one of the

most brazen IS attacks yet since the Taliban

took control of Afghanistan in the summer,

reports UNB.

Among those killed were three women, a

child, and three Taliban guards, said Taliban

spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. Five

attackers were also killed, he said, adding

that Taliban guards prevented them from

getting into the hospital. He said the attack

was over within 15 minutes.

"No one was killed inside the hospital," the

spokesman said. He said Taliban guards

thwarted IS plans to target medical staff and

patients in the 400-bed facility.

He said Taliban special forces were

subsequently deployed and searched the

hospital and that a helicopter was used in the

operation.

Health officials said 16 people were

wounded in the attack on the Sardar

Mohammad Dawood Khan hospital in

Kabul's 10th district. Mujahid said five

Taliban fighters were among the wounded.

Earlier, another Taliban official had said

the attack was carried out by six men, and

that two of them were captured.

During the attack, city residents had

reported two explosions in the area, along

with the sound of gunfire.

In recent weeks, IS militants carried out a

series of bombing and shooting attacks. IS

has stepped up attacks since the Taliban

takeover of the country.

Taliban fighters block roads after an explosion Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021. An explosion

went off Tuesday at the entrance of a military hospital in Kabul, killing severa; people

and wounding over a dozen, health officials said.

Photo : AP

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GD-1610/21(6x3)

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THuRSDAY, NOveMBeR 4, 2021

8

First Security Islami Bank Ltd inaugurated 53rd Foundation Course at FSIBL Training Institute for newly

recruited Probationary Officers with a view to building skilled human resources for providing better

banking services. Abdul Aziz, Managing Director (Current Charge) of the Bank inaugurated the training

program. In his inaugural speech, he has given importance to build the bank as a modern Islami bank,

wished probationers bright career, advised all to be careful, honest and sincere in banking activities.

Among others, A. K. M. Amjad Hussain, Principal, Abul Kalam Mojibur Rahman and Shahid Mujtaba

Jamal, Faculty Member of Training Institute were present in the program. There are 27newly recruited

officers of the bank participating in the course.

Photo: Courtesy

IBBL inaugurates Maheshpur

Branch in Jhenaidah

Islami Bank Bangladesh

Ltd inaugurated its 377th

Branch at Maheshpur in

Jhenaidah recently .

Mohammed Monirul

Moula, Managing Director

and CEO of the bank

inaugurated the Branch as

chief guest. Abu Reza Md.

Yeahia, Deputy Managing

Director of the Bank

presided over the program

while Md. Abdur Rashid

Khan, Mayor of Maheshpur

Pourashabha addressed the

program as special guest.

Md. Maksudur Rahman,

Head of Jashore Zone of the

bank addressed the

welcome speech while

Nazrul Islam, Vice President

and Imrul Huq, Manager of

HNA's $170b

restructuring

approved by

Chinese court

BEIJING : A Chinese court

has given the green light for

the $172 billion restructuring

of debt-laden conglomerate

HNA Group, in a process that

could suggest how authorities

will deal with embattled

property giant Evergrande,

reports BSS.

The group-China's largest

private aviation conglomerate

and owner of one of the

country's biggest carriers

Hainan Airlines-filed for

bankruptcy in January after

struggling to resolve a drawnout

cash crisis.

Since then it has been in a

restructuring process

overseen by the local

government as it tries to settle

debts.

The revamp will see the

mammoth group split into

four sections-aviation,

airports, financial and

commercial-with new

shareholders.

HNA said in a statement

Sunday that a court in

southern Hainan where it is

based had approved a plan for

the reorganisation.

The restructuring comes as

investors eye the fate of

property giant Evergrande,

which is mired in more than

$300 billion of liabilities from

a years-long acquisition binge,

including into electric vehicles

that were once billed as a rival

to Elon Musk's dominant

Tesla brand.

While the government has

not yet decided to bail out the

struggling developer, analysts

say Evergrande could be

forced to undergo a similar

state-led restructuring.

Maheshpur Branch

addressed in the program.

Md. Fashiar Rahman,

President, Maheshpur

Bazar Banik Samiti, ATM

Khairul Anam, Head Master

of Maheshpur Poura Lab

School and Jesmin Khatun,

Women Entrepreneur

addressed on behalf of

clients. Executives and

employees of the bank,

clients, well wishers and

local elites were present on

the occasion. Later, CRM

and ATM booth of the

branch was also

inaugurated, a press release

said.

Mohammed Monirul

Moula said in his speech of

chief guest that Islami Bank

WASHINGTON : President

Joe Biden on Tuesday

booted Ethiopia from a vital

trade pact due to rights

concerns as the historic US

ally declared a state of

emergency over rebel

advances north of the

capital, reports BSS.

Frustrated after repeated

warnings to Prime Minister

Abiy Ahmed about suffering

in the nearly year-old war,

the Biden administration

said it was removing

Ethiopia, as well as coup-hit

Guinea and Mali, from the

African Growth and

Opportunity Act (AGOA).

In a notice to Congress,

Biden said that Ethiopia's

eligibility would end on

January 1 over "gross

violations of internationally

recognized human rights."

AGOA, a landmark 2000

law credited with boosting

industry in sub-Saharan

Africa, removed US duties

on most exports if countries

adhere to good governance.

The Tigray war has

generated accounts of

massacres, mass rapes and

widespread hunger in what

US Secretary of State

Antony Blinken has

described as "acts of ethnic

cleansing."

Jeffrey Feltman, the US

special envoy for the Horn

of Africa, said Thursday

there could no longer be

"business as usual" with

Ethiopia's government

which he accused of

intentionally hindering

is the largest bank in the

country and the only bank in

Bangladesh in the list of top

one thousand banks in the

world. The deposit of this

bank is more than 1.33

trillion from which

investment has been

providing in the need based

and labor intensive

industries of the country.

IBBL is providing state-ofthe-art

services to its clients

through 377 branches, 196

sub-branches, 2600 agent

banking outlets and more

than 2000 ATMs and CRM

Booths. IBBL has become

an institution of trust and

confidence of the people of

the country through its

largest number of branches,

humanitarian aid.

"No government can

tolerate an armed

insurgency-we get that-but

no government should be

adopting policies or

allowing practices that

result in mass starvation of

its own citizens," Feltman

said at the US Institute of

Peace.

Ethiopia, which in recent

weeks has lobbied to stay in

AGOA, said it was

"extremely disappointed"

by the decision.

"These actions will reverse

significant economic gains

in our country and unfairly

impact and harm women

and children," a trade

ministry statement said.

Ethiopia's exports to the

United States have risen

from $28 million in 2000 to

nearly $300 million in

2020, with almost half the

goods falling under AGOA,

according to Abiy's

government.

Later on Tuesday the US

State Department also

issued a new "Do not travel"

advisory for Ethiopia and

said American citizens

"should consider departing

now" on commercial

airlines. - Rebel gains -

Abiy, who won the Nobel

Peace Prize in 2019,

launched the military

campaign in November

2020 after attacks on the

federal army by the Tigray

People's Liberation Front

(TPLF).

The rebels in recent days

largest online network,

information technology,

security system, expansion

of digital banking services

and sincere customer

service.

IBBL is successfully

conducting investment

activities in the

government-announced

incentives and priority

sectors, including providing

investment facilities to

government officials and

employees, he said. Income

tax, VAT and passport fees,

government revenue and

fees can also easily be paid at

all branches, sub-branches

and iBanking of Islami Bank

through Automated Challan

System (A-Challan). He

called upon all to take part

in the task of building

Bangabandhu's Golden

Bangladesh by enriching

themselves and creating

employment by availing the

investment facilities of

Maheshpur Branch. He

advised the officials to

expand the business in the

region through Maheshpur

Branch as well as spread

iBanking, CellFin App and

other technology rich

services.

Biden revokes Ethiopia

trade preferences as

Tigray war intensifies

have claimed control of two

key cities and have not ruled

out marching on Addis

Ababa.

Authorities ordered

residents of the capital to

register their firearms as

state-affiliated media

announced a nationwide

state of emergency.

Feltman, the US envoy,

said Washington had

directly warned TPLF

leaders not to advance on

the capital and instead to

pursue talks.

He voiced exasperation at

allegations in Addis Ababa

that the United States is

seeking to overthrow Abiy

and install a government

along the lines of late

strongman Meles Zenawi, a

former TPLF chairman.

"That is just not true,"

Feltman said.

But Cameron Hudson, a

former US official now at

the Atlantic Council,

questioned the timing of the

long-expected AGOA

decision just as rebels

advanced.

It "could end up looking

like regime change

depending on how things

play out," he tweeted.

Under the TPLF-led

governing coalition that

preceded Abiy, Ethiopia

sought

to create a national

network of industrial parks,

with AGOA's tax benefits

giving a major advantage

over manufacturing hubs

outside of Africa.

Stocks mostly

rise but China

data hits HK

LONDON : World stock

markets mostly rose Monday,

with Tokyo leading the way as

a win for Japan's ruling party

in a weekend general election

fuelled hopes it will push

ahead with a fresh stimulus,

although Hong Kong was hit

by data showing further

weakness in China's economy,

reports BSS.

The yen neared a four-year

low against the dollar with

Japan seemingly not on

course to tighten monetary

policy in the short term, in

contrast to the Federal

Reserve which this week

could announce plans to

begin tapering its pandemicfuelled

stimulus support.

"European markets are

following the Japanese lead

after a Liberal Democrat

majority helped drive the

Nikkei higher," noted Joshua

Mahony, senior market

analyst at IG trading group.

Tokyo's main stocks index

closed up 2.6 percent after

Prime Minister Fumio

Kishida won a strong majority

in the weekend poll, giving

him the freedom to push

through a big spending

programme to kick-start the

stuttering economy.

Investors were looking

ahead to the Federal Reserve,

which this week is expected to

unveil a timetable for tapering

its vast bond-buying stimulus

programme.

A statement by Fed boss

Jerome Powell following the

monetary policy meeting will

be closely followed for an idea

about when the US central

bank will start hiking interest

rates.

German industry

says supply

situation

improving slightly

FRANKFURT : Material

shortages facing German

industry as a result of current

global supply chain

bottlenecks eased in October,

a survey showed Wednesday,

but businesses still expect the

situation to remain difficult

for months to come, reports

BSS.

Overall, 70 percent of

companies surveyed by the Ifo

institute reported difficulties

in getting their hands on raw

materials and components in

October, a drop of seven

percentage points from the

previous month.

Businesses nonetheless

continued to face significant

constraints, with suppliers of

electrical equipment,

carmakers and the

mechanical engineering

sector most impacted.

On average, companies

expected the shortfall to

continue for eight months,

with the car industry seeing

the shortages lasting as long

as 10 months.

"It's too early to speak of an

easing. Especially because

businesses expect shortages to

continue into the new year,"

Ifo survey head Klaus

Wohlrabe said.

Standard Chartered

Bangladesh has recently

inked an agreement with

IDLC Finance Ltd (IDLC) to

act as banking partner for its

online digital deposit

collection, a press release

said.

IDLC Finance has recently

launched an Online Digital

Deposit Service to

encourage customers to

meet their deposit needs

without visiting branches

physically. This service will

serve as a single gateway

with multiple payment

options to collect the

deposits from IDLC's valued

depositors, and the real time

API integration will allow

instant transfer of deposit

information.

Standard Chartered

provided IDLC Finance with

its state-of-art solution

called 'Straight2Bank Pay'.

Leveraging on Standard

Chartered's 'Straight2Bank

Whistleblower blasts

Facebook's Meta rebrand

LISBON : Whistleblower

Frances Haugen issued a

stinging rebuke of

Facebook's "Meta" rebrand

on Monday, accusing the

company of yet again

prioritising expansion over

people's safety, reports BSS.

The former Facebook

engineer, who leaked a trove

of internal documents that

have sparked weeks of

criticism of the social media

giant, also called on its

chairman and CEO Mark

Zuckerberg to step down.

Speaking at the Web

Summit tech conference in

Lisbon, Haugen said was

"unconscionable" that

Facebook was trumpeting its

ambitions to develop the

"metaverse"-a virtual reality

version of the internetrather

than focusing on

fixing existing problems.

"Over and over again

Facebook chooses

expansion in new areas over

sticking the landing on what

they've already done," she

told an audience of tens of

thousands in the Portuguese

capital.

"Instead of investing in

Rainbow Paints launches

‘Service Month’

Rainbow, popular paint brand of RFL Group,

has launched 'Service Month' for the third

time with a view to providing maximum

service to its customers. RN Paul, Managing

Director of RFL Group, inaugurated the

service month at RFL Head office in Badda

on Tuesday, a press release said.

During the service month, customers will

enjoy discount up to 25 percent on paint

products and five percent discount on

hardware products and painting service.

Customers will be able to purchase products

of the brand in installment of maximum six

months from Rainbow Paints showroom. All

paint related solution including selection of

paints for houses is available for customers

during the service month. Moreover, there is

scope to win attractive prizes including

refrigerator, TV, microwave oven, bicycle,

dinner set, through raffle draw by purchasing

products during the campaign. Top

purchaser will get opportunity to travel

Nepal.

Addressing the program, RN Paul said,

"RFL Group gives highest importance to the

quality of products as well as satisfaction of

its customers. Now is the season of painting.

But people face problems including selection

of paints. For the reason, we have introduced

Pay' with API integration,

IDLC Finance will be able to

deliver a seamless

experience to its valued

depositors so that depositors

can open fixed deposit

accounts anywhere anytime

and make payment using

making sure their platforms

are a minimum level of safe,

they're about to invest

10,000 engineers in video

games."

Facebook last month

announced that it will hire

10,000 new staff in Europe

over the next five years in its

bid to build the metaverse,

which would use virtual

reality to make online

experiences-like chatting to

a friend, or attending a

concert-feel face-to-face.

The company last week

announced it was changing

the name of Facebook's

parent company to "Meta"

to signal the change in focus.

Critics have derided the

rebrand as an attempted

distraction from the

avalanche of damaging

revelations from Haugen's

leaked documents.

The "Facebook Papers"

show that company

executives knew of their

sites' potential for harm on

numerous fronts, including

the uncontrolled spread of

hate speech in developing

countries as well as

Instagram's impact on teens'

multiple payment options at

their convenience.

Jamal Uddin, CEO &

Managing Director, IDLC

Finance said, "We are

delighted to have Standard

Chartered Bank as a

payment gateway and

mental health.

Haugen has accused

Facebook of ignoring

concerns raised by its own

employees in the pursuit of

profit.

Asked if Zuckerberg

should step down, she said:

"I think Facebook would be

stronger with someone

who's willing to focus on

safety, so yes." She went on:

"It doesn't make him a bad

person to have made

mistakes, but it is

unacceptable to continue to

make the same bad mistakes

after you know that those are

mistakes."

Haugen has testified

before US and UK

lawmakers in recent weeks,

but the Web Summit-which

she officially opened, with an

explosion of confetti raining

down from the ceilingmarked

her first appearance

before a wider public.

She said it was

"overwhelming" to speak in

front of so many people,

telling the crowd: "Right

now my heart is beating

about as fast as I can

imagine."

the campaign for the third time. We hope

that people will take all of our services during

the service month."

Kamrul Hasan, Chief Operating Officer at

Rainbow Paints, said "the main attraction of

the service month is the opportunity to

purchase products in installment. There is an

opportunity verify the quality of paints as

well as color selection through free sampling.

Moreover, mechanized painting service will

be provided through Insta paintings tool.

Through this, dust free and quick painting

servicecan be provided. Customers can also

avail the service from the authorized dealers

of Rainbow Paints across the country."

Md. Shahjahan, Consultant of Rainbow

Paints, Saleh Ahammad Chowdhury,

General Manager (Research and

Development,)Fahim Hossain, Head of

Marketing and Nazmul Akand, Brand

Manager, among others, were present on the

occasion.

There are 35 types of paints in decorative,

floor coating, marine, car, powder coating,

industrial, wood coating categories.

Customers can purchase Rainbow Paints

across the country through about two

hundred and fifty outlets and authorized

dealers across the country.

Standard Chartered partners with IDLC

banking partner for our

Online Deposit product. The

'Straight2Bank Pay' service

will provide our valued

customers with a

convenient, reliable and

cost-effective option for their

deposit payments."

tHurSDAY, NoveMber 4, 2021

9

ronaldo scored late in the club's 2-2 draw with Atalanta, helping seal an improbable point

in Italy.

photo: Ap

Emery admits to

Newcastle interest but

insists no formal offer

SportS DeSk

Villarreal coach Unai Emery

said on Tuesday that

Newcastle have shown

interest in appointing him as

their coach but that there

has been no formal offer

from the Premier League

club, reports BSS.

Newcastle, who sit 19th in

the table, are seeking a

replacement for Steve Bruce,

whom they sacked last

month.

Emery was speaking after

Villarreal's 2-0 victory over

Young Boys in the

Champions League, a result

that leaves them level on

points with Manchester

United in Group F.

"There has been interest

but I have spent the whole

day thinking about the

game. There is no offer," said

Emery.

"I am focused on

Villarreal, I am very happy.

If there was an offer I would

speak to the president. In

principle I will be in charge

on Sunday against Getafe."

Former Arsenal boss

Emery admitted he "had not

said no" to Newcastle and

said he would evaluate any

offer that arrives.

"I have not said no," said

Emery. "I have a lot of

respect for the club and the

players and maximum

respect for the president.

Rizwan, Babar

guide Pakistan to

World Cup semis

with Namibia scalp

SportS DeSk

Pakistan became the first

team to reach the Twenty20

World Cup semi-finals after

beating Namibia by 45 runs,

with brilliant half centuries

from Mohammad Rizwan

and skipper Babar Azam in

Abu Dhabi on Tuesday,

reports BSS.

Rizwan finished with a

slow-to-fast 50-ball 79 not

out while Babar notched his

23rd

Twenty20

international fifty with a 49-

ball 70 to lift Pakistan -- who

won the toss and batted -- to

189-2 in their 20 overs.

Namibia tried their best to

match their opponents with

David Wiese notching 43

not out and Craig Williams

scoring 40 but Pakistani

bowlers never allowed them

a free hand as they managed

144-5 in 20 overs.

With four wins in as many

games, Pakistan became the

first side to reach the last

four from Group 2. This will

be their fifth semi-final in

Twenty20 World Cup

history -- the most by any

team.

Williams knocked five

boundaries and a six

before he holed out to

spinner Shadab Khan

while Wiese smashed two

sixes and three boundaries

in his 31-ball knock.

Ronaldo surpasses Solskjaer in

Manchester United goal records

SportS DeSk

Cristiano Ronaldo has surpassed his current

manager's goalscoring mark at Manchester

United after the Portuguese star helped lead

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side to a last-gasp

draw on Tuesday, reports AP.

Ronaldo scored late in the club's 2-2 draw

with Atalanta, helping seal an improbable

point in Italy.

The Portuguese striker himself called the

result "lucky", although the stats show

there's nothing fortunate about Ronaldo's

goalscoring prowess.

With his late goal on Tuesday, Ronaldo has

now scored 127 goals in 303 appearances

across his two stints at Manchester United.

Those 127 goals are one more than his

current manager, with Solskjaer finding the

back of the net 126 times in 366 total games.

Ronaldo and Solskjaer overlapped as

team-mates during the Portuguese star's

first stint at the club, playing together from

2003 until the Norwegian's retirement in

2007.

"It was a difficult game, I know when we

play in Bergamo it is always difficult, but we

believe until the end and I am so happy," he

told BT Sport.

"We never give up, we believe until the

end, it is a good result for us. The beginning

was tough, we knew Atalanta would do a lot

of pressure, they have a fantastic coach,

when I played at Juventus they were always

difficult to play against. We were a little bit

lucky in the end but that is football.

"We have to still improve, we have

different players, different system, we have

to adapt with each other, but it will take time.

we have time to improve and be better."

Ronaldo has proven to be Man Utd's

saviour since returning to the club this

summer, scoring several late goals to keep

the team afloat.

In total, Ronaldo has nine goals in 11

games and has scored in all four of the club's

Champions League matches so far.

Up next for Ronaldo and Man Utd is

another massive game as they face rivals

Manchester City this weekend.

Vitesse Arnhem the

visitors for Conte's

Tottenham debut

SportS DeSk

Before making his return to the touchline in

the Premier League, Antonio Conte's first

match in charge of Tottenham Hotspur will

come in the Europa Conference League on

Thursday when his new side play host to

Vitesse Arnhem, reports BSS.

Conte was appointed as the new head coach

of Spurs on Tuesday on a deal until the end of

next season, the north London club moving

quickly to get the 52-year-old after sacking

Nuno Espirito Santo on Monday.

The Italian has enjoyed great success in

management, notably winning the Premier

League in charge of Chelsea in 2017 and the

Serie A title last season with Inter Milan.

However, now he takes charge of a club that

has won nothing since a League Cup in 2008

and is currently in ninth place in the Premier

League, five points outside the top four.

The inaugural Europa Conference League

offers a viable path to silverware for Conte at

Spurs, but they are already playing catch-up at

the halfway stage in Group G.

A 1-0 defeat away to Vitesse in the

Netherlands a fortnight ago left Tottenham in

third place with four points, two points behind

the Dutch side and three adrift of group

leaders Rennes.

It is therefore important for Conte that he

gets off to a winning start, although it remains

to be seen if he will rest key players with an eye

on Sunday's match at Everton.

The likes of Hugo Lloris and Son Heungmin

have hardly featured in the group stage,

but the Vitesse coach already said he hoped to

be facing full- strength opposition, including

Harry Kane.

"If they have more of their top stars then it is

a clear signal that they take us seriously, and

this I think we deserve," the German Thomas

Letsch told local broadcaster Omroep GLD.

"In Europe we did a real good job until now

and we want to go on like this."

The most eye-catching result in the last

round of games in Europe's new third-tier

competition saw Norwegian champions

Bodo/Glimt hammer Jose Mourinho's Roma

6-1 to go top of Group C.

The teams now meet again in Rome with

Mourinho's side on a run of just one win in five

games, while their opponents head from north

of the Arctic Circle to Italy in buoyant mood --

they are also closing in on a second straight

Norwegian title.

Conte was appointed as the new head coach of Spurs on tuesday on a deal

until the end of next season.

photo: Ap

China's struggling ice

hockey team keep

Beijing Olympics place

SportS DeSk

China's men's ice hockey

team will not be kicked out of

their home Winter Olympics

at Beijing 2022, the sport's

governing body said, having

threatened exclusion over the

hosts' "insufficient sporting

standard", reports BSS.

China have an automatic

place at February's Games as

hosts, but there are fears that

they could face

embarrassment with matches

in their group against NHLpacked

rosters from the

United States and Canada.

Speaking to AFP in

September, Luc Tardif, the

new president of the

International Ice Hockey

Federation (IIHF), said:

"Watching a team being

beaten 15-0 is not good for

anyone, not for China or for

ice hockey."

But following a three-day

IIHF Council meeting in

Zurich, Tardif said in a press

release: "To be clear, the IIHF

is not going to remove the

Chinese team from the

Olympic Games.

"The status of the men's

national team as a host nation

participant in the Olympic ice

hockey tournament was

confirmed by (IIHF)

Congress and remains

unchanged."

The IIHF said that it was

working with China's ice

hockey association to arrange

two games "in a joint effort to

evaluate the status of the

team's preparations".

China's men, who will also

face fifth-ranked Germany at

the Games, are 32nd the

world rankings.

The Beijing Winter

Olympics begin on February

4, 2022.

GD-1617/21(10x4)

Djokovic survives scare to battle

past Fucsovics in Paris

SportS DeSk

World number one Novak Djokovic endured

a tough return to the ATP singles circuit but

battled through to beat Marton Fucsovics of

Hungary 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round of

the Paris Masters on Tuesday, reports BSS.

The 34-year-old 20-time Grand Slam

champion had said on Sunday his greatest

fear was lack of match practice having not

played since Daniil Medvedev dashed his

dreams of a Grand Slam sweep in the US

Open final in September.

The Serbian's fears were borne out as

Fucsovics put up a sterner test than the

'rabbit caught in the headlights' one he had

produced when they met in the Wimbledon

quarter-finals earlier this year.

"It is my return to competition after

almost two months of not playing in an

official tournament," said Djokovic.

"Thus it was difficult to get into my

rhythm but I am happy it is a decent win."

Djokovic -- who rare for him is also

playing the doubles in Paris -- said he

expected a tough match despite having

beaten his opponent the three previous

times they had met. "It was a super battle,"

he said. "Now I must play more to rediscover

my level of intensity. "The more matches I

play the better I will play. "I know this well

as I have been in this situation before.

Hopefully that experience will be useful."

Djokovic barely had to engage second gear

when cruising to the first set in 38 minutes

with the loss of just two games.

But Fucsovics broke early to go 3-1 up in

the second, energising the evening crowd at

Bercy. Djokovic served to save the set to

love at 5-3, but the Australian, French and

Wimbledon champion was unable to

prevent Fucsovics serving out to take the

match to a decisive set.

Djokovic, though, pulled it together in the

third set and broke his 29- year-old

opponent to go 4-2 up.

Djokovic had a match point on Fucsovic's

next service game as he turned the screw but

the Hungarian saved it and stayed in the

contest by winning the game to trail 3-5.

Djokovic, though, made no mistake

when he served for the match to see off

his 40th-ranked opponent and progess to

the third round.

World number one Novak Djokovic endured a tough return to the Atp singles

circuit but battled through to beat Marton Fucsovics of Hungary 6-2,

4-6, 6-3 in the second round of the paris Masters on tuesday. photo: Ap

ThurSdaY, noVeMBer 4, 2021

10

Simon's 'Day After' grabs

nomination at IDFA

Acclaimed Bangladeshi filmmaker Kamar Ahmed

Simon's documentary 'Day After...' (Anyadin…) has

been nominated for honours at the International

Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)

2021, widely revered as one of the best film festivals in

the world, reports UNB.

IDFA 2021 authorities officially announced this on

Monday and also enlisted the film among the 14 flicks

in the 'International Competition' section of the

festival's site. This year's festival is scheduled to take

place from November 17 to 28, and the Bangladesh-

France-Norway joint venture film is scheduled to

have its world premiere at Tuschinski Theatre-1 in

Amsterdam on November 21.

In addition to directing, Simon wrote the

screenplay for this 121-minute documentary. He is

also the film's cinematographer.

Produced by Sara Afreen for Studio BEGINNING

(Bangladesh), the film is co-produced by Dominique

Welinski for DW and Ingrid LillHøgtun for Barents

film As (Norway).

This is the second film in Simon's water trilogy. The

maiden film of this exclusive trilogy was 'Shunte Ki

Pao!' ('Are You Listening!') (2012).

The film received two Jan Vrijman Fund awards

from IDFA, was named one of the outstanding

pitches at the Asian Forum for Documentaries, and

also won the Bangladesh National Film Award for

best documentary film in 2015.

In addition to these, 'Shunte Ki Pao!' ('Are You

Listening!') was also the winner of the Grand Prix

at Cinéma du Réel France, Best Cinematography

and Golden Conch awards for the best

documentary at 13th Mumbai International Film

Festival (MIFF) in India, Audience Choice Award

at the Seattle South Asian Film Festival (SSAFF) in

the US, Jury Award at Film South Asia, Nepal, and

also nominated as the official selection in more

than 40 festivals, including IDFA and Yamagata

International Festival.

Celebrating the art of documentary films with this

in-person festival in cinemas across Amsterdam, a

total of 264 films will be screened at IDFA's 34th

edition.

Alia-Ranbir marriage not this year!

Bollywood couple Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt's

wedding has always been talk of the town.

Whether or not they are getting married, their fans

have been sharing their reactions on social media and it

clearly seems that they are eagerly waiting for the big

day. As per latest reports, Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor

will not get married this year.

Bollywood galore is abuzz with wedding dates of your

favorite celebraties. After rumoured couple Vicky

Kaushal and Katrina Kaif, long-time lovebirds

Rajkummar Rao and Patralekha to tie the knot this year,

another couple making headlines is Alia Bhatt and

Ranbir Kapoor.

There is no end to wedding rumors and speculations

of the duo. After reports of the couple to tie the knot this

year, the latest murmurs are that Ranbir and Alia will

not be getting hitched in 2021.

The speculations began last year that the couple had to

delay their wedding due to the COVID19 pandemic. From

the beginning of this year, different dates and venues

surfaced for the couples wedding festivities. Certain reports

also claimed that Ranbir Kapoor had pushed the Animal

shoot to 2022 as the two were getting married in

December in Italy. However, there have been no official

confirmation by the couple or their family members.

Earlier while talking about Alia and Ranbir, former's

mother, Soni Razdan told Bollywood Life, "Even I don't

know when it'll (the wedding) happen. Even I'm waiting

for some information."

"Well, there's a lot of time left. It will happen

sometime in the future, and that is a long way off. Now,

when it will happen, I don't know. Maybe, you'll have to

call Alia's agent for that, but even her agent might not

know," Soni added.

Undoubtedly, Alia and Ranbir make for Bollywood's

most adorable couple. Their fans cannot wait to see the

duo being hitched. Whether or not they are getting

married, their fans have been sharing their reactions on

social media.

Source: India Today

Mahiya Mahi to star in

'Ohongkari Bou'

TBT reporT

Director Chayanika Chowdhury has roped in

popular actor Mahiya Mahi and DA Tayeb for

her second venture "Ohongkari Bou". The

film will chronicle the impact of class divide in

marriage. "Mahiya Mahi will essay the

character of a snobbish girl who marries a

middle class man," said DA Tayeb.

"Immediately after the wedding, the

character of Mahiya Mahi makes her

husband's life a living hell," he added. Though

the storyline sounds a bit clichéd, the film will

be made keeping the contemporary audience

in mind. "After a long time, we will witness

this type of story. Keeping the modern era in

mind, we will give a fresh twist to the storyline

Towhid

Ethun's

new song

'Amito

Emoni'

released

Reportedly, Marvel is

preparing to begin

production on four new

projects from Phase 4 of the

MCU in 2023, including a

'Thunderbolts' movie. Phase 4

has presented some difficulties

for Marvel, starting with the

kickoff film 'Black Widow' being

delayed by over a year due to

theater closures during the Covid-

19 pandemic. As a result, 2020

was the first year since 2007 that

didn't see a single project from

the MCU. Even now that Phase 4

has fully kicked into gear in 2021

with two films and 3 Disney+

live-action shows that have

already premiered, and 'Eternals',

'Spider-Man: No Way Home',

and 'Hawkeye' still on the

horizon,

Despite this, the company is still

experiencing setbacks. Because of

the interlocking nature of their

productions, additional pandemic

delays have caused Marvel to push

back the dates of nearly every

Phase 4 movie set to debut after

'Spider-Man', by a couple of

months each. They even had to

remove two previously set dates

from the slate to the chagrin of

many eager fans.

Even though the timeline has

been pushed back, it seems that

the same conversations that led

to this new restructuring of Phase

4 have included the greenlight on

several new projects. According

to The GWW, in 2023, Marvel

will begin production on a

and the characters. I hope the audience will

return to the theatres to watch our film,"

added Tayeb.

"I am excited to collaborate with Tayeb who

always stands by people during their tough

times and never forgets to appreciate them

for their notable works," said Chayanika

Chowdhury. "I hope we will be able to finalize

the script by today.

Currently, we are on the hunt for selecting

the best crew members for our film," she

added. Chayanika Chowdhury, who has

directed 416 television projects, made her

directorial debut with Siam Ahmed and Pori

Moni starring "Bishwa Shundori."

She will start directing the web-film

"Antorale" in January 2022.

Salehuddin Sohel

Police officer Towhid Ethun's new song

'Amito Emoni' was released recently.

Sharif Siraj has composed the music and

melody of this song published under the

banner of YouTube channel T-Music.

Thunderbolts film adaptation

along with the previously

announced 'Fantastic Four'

movie. They are also reportedly

moving forward on a 'Shang-Chi

2' (no surprise after 'Shang-Chi'

obliterated pandemic box office

records) and a 'Black Panther:

Wakanda Forever' spinoff series

featuring DanaiGurira as Okoye.

The only project on this

rumored slate that has been

previously announced is

'Fantastic Four', which has

'Spider-Man: No Way Home'

director Jon Watts attached.

While the Okoye series and

Shang-Chi 2 are natural

continuations of established

characters who have proven

Music has been arranged by M. A.

Rahman.

A video has been made under the

direction of Nazmul Evan. The models are

Mahtabin Momo and Evan Mishal.

In the context of the song, Towhid

Ethun said, the song is a melody based

love song, here the love of the couple is

revealed. I hope everyone will like the

song. Besides, From now on I desire to

sing regularly.

It is learned that Towhid Ethun has been

involved in music since childhood. Apart

from learning music at various local music

schools, he also performed regularly at

various events.

Towhid Ethun did not give up his

addiction to music even while studying at

Dhaka University. But after joining the

police force, regular singing has been

stopped a little bit. Incidentally, Towhid

Ethun is known as Towhidul Islam in the

workplace.

He is currently working in the Counter

Terrorism and Transnational Crime-CTTC

Unit, as Additional Deputy Commissioner.

Four new MCU Phase 4

movies, shows revealed

their box office mettle, the

'Thunderbolts' would be a

brand new addition to Phase 4.

The team, essentially the

'Suicide Squad' of Marvel, was

rumored to be included in the

Disney+ series 'The Falcon and

the Winter Soldier', though that

never came to fruition.

Source: Indian Express

h o r o S c o p e

arieS

(March 21 - April 20) : There are

moments when your clear thinking

reveals your tremendous maturity.

You're not a dreamer, so it's difficult to lead you

into ambiguous situations. If you currently have

sentimental affairs going on, this would be an

excellent day to take stock, but try not to be too

cold-hearted.

TauruS

(April 21 - May 21) : In the past few

days, you may have felt somewhat

frustrated in your initiatives. Either

outside obstacles (such as events that

caused delays) or inner restraints (such as your

apathy) presented a clear challenge. Before you can

make any real progress, certain matters must be

resolved. The day ahead may give you an

opportunity to finally settle these issues.

GeMini

(May 22 - June 21) : It will be a

stimulating day for you. You'll feel great

and have no trouble channeling all your

energy into your activities. Don't be surprised if you

encounter some resistance. Creative as your ideas

are, they may not suit everyone. In fact, you may

confront some rebelliousness. Be persuasive and

you'll get your way.

cancer

(June 22 - July 23) : Be careful not to

lose your temper today. You're

champing at the bit these days, though

your daring nature has been restrained

by financial and professional constraints. It's useless

to entertain grandiose illusions at the moment.

Moreover, you can expect some confrontations if you

try. If you're advised to be more conservative, heed the

suggestion.

leo

(July 24 - Aug. 23): Today, time

will freeze and even seem to go

backward. Use this pause to reflect

on your motivations. The astral

clues seem to suggest that you're currently

settling questions that concern the fate of

another person. Perhaps you should be

spending an equal amount of time considering

your fate as well

VirGo

(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23): The climate is

tense today. You'll be aware of a

feeling of restlessness and a longing

for change, but you'll also be reluctant to make any

real moves in that direction. Your judgment tells

you that complaints that don't lead to action are

meaningless. So why not be the catalyst that

provokes some action?

liBra

(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): You can

interpret the day ahead as an openended

question about you. You may

have noticed certain physical or

psychological aspects that you're uncomfortable

with. The day ahead may force you to take action

to correct that attitude. You'll accomplish a great

deal if you share your concerns with a friend or

relative.

Scorpio

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22): Sometimes

people may reproach you for being

less than tactful in relationships.

The planetary positions are going

to help you be more sensitive. You'll feel like

you suddenly have a much greater capacity for

listening. Whether or not it's true, others have

the impression that you're no longer so selfcentered.

SaGiTTariuS

(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): You have an

unusual gift for making a situation seem

less dramatic. With today's astral

energy, you'll witness crises of all kinds.

You'll be the one who reassures people and is able to

sum up the situation objectively without panic or

exaggerating. This, coupled with your legendary calm,

makes for a great combination!

capricorn

(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20) : Dare to express

your ideas without fearing

ridicule. This is what the planetary

configuration has to say to you

today. This is exactly what you like, because

fear of ridicule is generally your downfall. The

challenge for you is to say what you think

clearly without borrowing the ideas of others.

Dare to do it!

aQuariuS

(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) : If you've felt the

desire to write something, now is the

time to do it. You certainly don't lack

imagination. Your problem may be

that you have difficulty taking your prose seriously.

Don't think so seriously about being "a writer."

Just write and let people read what you write. A

writer's group would be a great way for you to

come out of hiding.

piSceS

(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20) : You may have some

strong hesitation during the day. You

may have to cover up the truth or say it

out loud. If so, say what's on your

mind. You'll be supported by the planets, which will

help you formulate your ideas in a way that won't

shock people. In fact, you might even sway some of

them to your point of view!

THuRSDAY, NoveMBeR 4, 2021

11

Md Mesbahul Islam, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture as the

chief guest addressed a seminar titled 'Hydro-Geological Investigation of

Ground Water Resources Assessment for Sustainable Development of

Minor Irrigation' as the chief guest at BADC's Shech Bhaban in the capital

on Wednesday.

Photo: Courtesy

Present govt. working for development of

agriculture and farmers: Mesbahul Islam

Md Mesbahul Islam, Senior Secretary of the

Ministry of Agriculture said that 'we need to

increase food production as the population

grows. We need to produce more crops with

less water. BADC is playing an important role

in food production. In order to ensure food

security, BADC has also been providing

quality seeds, fertilizers and irrigation services

to the farmers. The present government is

working for the development of agriculture

and farmers, a press release said.

He said that while addressing a seminar

titled 'Hydro-Geological Investigation of

Ground Water Resources Assessment for

Sustainable Development of Minor

Irrigation' as the chief guest at BADC's Shech

Bhaban in the capital on Wednesday. Acting

Chairman (Additional Secretary) of BADC

Dr. AKM Munirul Haque presided over the

seminar.

Among others, Md. Ziaul Haque, Member

Director (Micro Irrigation) Engineer, BADC,

Abusaleh Khan, Executive Director, Institute

of Water Modeling (IDBM), BUET Water

and Flood Management Professor Dr.

Masfiqus Salehin, Professor of Geology at

the University of Dhaka Dr. Kazi Matin

Uddin Ahmed, Member Director (Finance)

of BADC Md. Amirul Islam, Member

Director (Seeds and Horticulture) Md.

Mostafizur Rahman were also present in the

seminar.

Biden uses trip abroad to confront

China on climate, more

GLASGOW : Over five days

abroad at two global

summits, President Joe

Biden showed a new

willingness to openly

confront China over climate

change and its lack of

leadership on the global

stage.

Biden ended his time at

the U.N. climate summit in

Scotland on Tuesday by

chastising Chinese President

Xi Jinping for physically

skipping the event and

failing to make the level of

commitments that roughly

100 other nations did to

curb greenhouse gasses. Xi

also avoided the earlier

Group of 20 summit in

Rome, allowing Biden to

dominate the conversation

as he met with his French,

Italian, British and German

counterparts.

"We showed up, and by

showing up we've had a

profound impact on the way

I think the rest of the world

is looking at the United

States in its leadership role,"

Biden said at a Tuesday

news conference wrapping

up his trip abroad. Biden

added that China had made

a "big mistake" in bypassing

the events because "they've

lost an ability to influence

people around the world."

But Biden's global

progress and willingness to

challenge China - a stance

that also was critical to the

rise of his predecessor

Donald Trump - may be lost

in the fog of domestic

politics.

Biden jetted back to

Washington to confront his

deepest challenge yet as he

struggles to pass $3 trillion

in new government

spending, including $555

billion to combat climate

change. His poll numbers

are flagging. The headwinds

could worsen in Congress,

where a wave of retirements

bodes poorly for holding on

to Democratic majorities in

next year's elections.

And another blow greeted

his arrival: Republican

Glenn Youngkin defeated

Democrat Terry McAuliffe

in the race for Virginia

governor, an outcome

widely thought to cast

another shadow on the 2022

elections and reflect poorly

on Biden's own agenda as

well as his efforts to

campaign for McAuliffe.

GD-1611/21 (3x3)

†kL nvwmbvi g~jbxwZ


GD-1620/21( 4x4)

GD-1612/21 (6x4)

GD-1613/21 (6x4)

GD-1619/21 (8.8x4)

thursday, dhaka: november 4, 2021; Kartik 19, 1428 Bs; Rabi-ul awal 27, 1443 hijri

Unite to eradicate extremist

communal forces from

Bangladesh: Quader

DHAKA : Awami League general secretary

Obaidul Quader on Wednesday

urged all democratic, patriotic and noncommunal

forces to unite and uproot the

extremist communal forces from

Bangladesh, reports UNB.

"After the assassination of Bangabandhu,

the seeds of communalism were sown in

the country. The challenge now is to eradicate

these extremist communal forces. All

democratic, patriotic and non-communal

forces must unite to eradicate the extremist

communal forces," he said.

Quader said these after placing a wreath

at the graves of the August 15 martyrs and

national leaders at the Banani graveyard.

Presidium members-Matia Chowdhury,

Dr Abdur Razzak, Shahjahan Khan and

Jahangir Kabir Nanak; Joint General

Secretaries-Hasan Mahmud, Mahbubul

Alam Hanif, Dr Dipu Moni, AFM Bahauddin

Nasim; Science and Technology Secretary

Abdus Sabur, Office Secretary Biplob Barua,

Deputy Office Secretary Sayem Khan and

others were present in the programme.

Marking Jail Killing Day, the ruling

Awami League and its associate bodies

also paid tributes to Father of the Nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

and the four national leaders who were

killed in state custody on this day way

back in 1975.

Awami League leaders and supporters

paid homage by laying wreaths at the

portrait of Bangabandhu in front of

Bangabandhu Bhaban on a limited scale

following Covid-safety protocols.

The four national leaders-Syed Nazrul

Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Capt Mansur Ali

and AHM Qamruzzaman-were gunned

down inside Dhaka Central Jail on

November 3 in 1975, three months after the

gruesome killings of Bangabandhu and

most members of his family.

The largest Dipali festival in

subcontinent begins at Barishal

Zihad Rana, BaRishal CoRRespondent

The Hindu community across the district

began to observe the Shamshan Dipali

Utsav at Maha Shamsan ghat on

Wednesday, plus Dipabali and Diwali

Utsav in their houses.

The Dipali festival, which started at 5

pm on Wednesday, will end on

Thursday. However, all the formalities of

the festival will end on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, the Barishal Metropolitan

Police has taken maximum security measures

around tamid he Dipali festival. The

crematorium area has been covered with

security blankets since Tuesday.

CCTV cameras have been set up at the

crematorium along with members of the

law enforcement agencies. At the same

time, this is the first time that the

Metropolitan Police will monitor the

security system through drone cameras.

And so on Tuesday morning, the Deputy

Commissioner of the Southern Zone of

the Metropolitan Police Ali Ashraf visited

the Adi Mahasmashan of Kaunia. The

senior city police official is hopeful that

the Dipali celebrations of the followers of

traditional religions will be completed in

a peaceful atmosphere without any disturbance

or untoward incidents.

Speaking on the occasion, Tamal Malakar,

General Secretary, Barishal Mahasmashan

Raksha Committee, said, Satyananda Dasgupta,

the father of nature poet Jibanananda Das,

Sarbananda Dasgupta, the grandfather,

Biplobi Deben Ghosh, the British opposition

leader, Manorama Basu and his aunt are

buried in this crematorium.

Of which there are 900 tombs, whose relatives

live in different countries including

India. Those tombs are marked in yellow.

Besides, candles, incense sticks and lamps

will be lit in the tombs on the evening of

Diwali on the initiative of the committee.

During the inspection, Dy Commissioner

of Police Md Ali Ashraf said, "We have made

all kinds of preparations to complete the

Dipali festival peacefully with religious

solemnity. At the crematorium, uniformed

law enforcers as well as detectives and whiteclad

policemen will be on duty to ensure

overall security. Moreover, the Dipali festival

will be monitored through drone cameras,

said the city police official.

It is to be noted that the special religious

festival of Barisal Hindu community

has a history of traditional worship of

more than 160 years dating back in 1850.

The religious fervour takes place at the

night before Kali Puja for blessings of the

departed souls of near and dear ones.

preparations have been taken to celebrate diwali festival at a

shamsan ghat in Barishal.

photo: tBt

awami league

leaders paid

homage to

Bangabandhu

and the four

national leaders

in the

morning by

placing

wreaths at the

Bangabandhu

Memorial

Museum and

the Four

national

leaders

Memorial

Museum at the

old Central Jail

in the city.

photo : tBt

Bangladesh to

take over SATRC

chairman in 2023

DHAKA : Bangladesh will take over as

chairman of the South Asian

Telecommunications Regulatory Council

(SATRC) in 2023, reports UNB.

Bangladesh Telecommunication

Regulatory Commission (BTRC)

Chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder was

elected vice-chairman of SATRC for

the current year and chairman for

2023.

The decision was taken at the 22nd

meeting of the SATRC during November

1-3, with the supervision of the Asia-

Pacific Telecommunity (APT), the BTRC

said Wednesday.

Given the ongoing Covid-19 situation

in the Asia-Pacific region, the APT

Secretariat in consultation with the

chairman and vice-chairman of SATRC

decided that SATRC-22 would be organised

virtually.

The meeting was attended by the

heads of telecommunication regulatory

bodies, designated senior-level officers of

SATRC members - Bangladesh, Bhutan,

India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal,

Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran.

SATRC-22 discussed the key policy

and regulatory issues in SATRC member

countries. It approved the outcomes

of SATRC Action Plan Phase VII

and discussed and adopted SATRC

Action Plan Phase VIII.

Mitu murder case

Court rejects

PBI's final report

CHATTOGRAM : A Chattogram court

on Wednesday rejected the final report of

Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) in

Mahmuda Khanam Mitu murder case

and ordered it to conduct further investigation,

reports UNB.

Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate

Begum Mehnaz Rahman passed the

order after rejecting the final report of

PBI in the case.

The court also rejected the 'naraji(discontent)

petition' of former police superintendent

Babul Akter in the case, said

Advocate Iftekhar Saimul Chowdhury.

Babul, who served as SP of

Chattagram, has been in Feni District jail

since May 17.

On May 12, Babul was taken on a 5-day

remand by PBI for interrogation after

being arrested in a case filed by his

father-in-law over his wife's killing.

On June 5, 2016, unidentified

assailants gunned down Babul's wife

Mitu at the port city's GEC intersection

while she was going to drop her sevenyear-old

son Mahir Akhter for a bus of

Chittagong Cantonment Public School

and College.

Soon after the crime, Babul had filed a

murder case with Panchlaish police station

against three unidentified men.

On June 24, 2016 night, he was questioned

for 15 hours at the intelligence

office in Dhaka and on September 6, he

voluntarily resigned from the police

service.

On May 11, PBI submitted its report in

the murder case. They also found Babul's

involvement in the case.

Later, Babul's father-in-law filed a

fresh case against him on May 12.

Eight people including Babul were

accused in the case filed by Mitu's father,

Mosharraf Hossain.

The other accused are Kamrul Islam

Shikder alias Musa, Ehteshamul Haque

Bhola, Motaleb Mia alias Wasim, Anwar

Hossain, Khairul Islam alias Kalu, and

Shahjahan Mia.

Jail killing day observed

with due respect

DHAKA : Cross section of people observed

the Jail Killing Day with due respect and

paid glowing tributes to four national leaders

and 1971 Liberation War forerunners-

Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed,

Captain M Mamnsur Ali and AHM

Quamaruzzaman-recalling their gruesome

killing inside high security Dhaka

Central Jail on this day in 1975.

The assailants of the August 15, 1975

carnage with supports of their political

patron Khondker Mostaq Ahmed gunned

the four captive leaders and four top associates

of Father of the Nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Their goal was visibly to expose

Bangladesh to extreme wilderness after

killing Bangabandhu along with most of

his family members and toppling his postindependence

government.

History suggests two units of

Bangladesh Army's tank and artillery regiments

staged the August 15 carnage and

the subsequent jail killing while the later

episode which came as a counter coup was

waged to discipline the culprit leaders of

these units.

In face of the global pandemic coronavirus

(COVID-19), the Jail Killing Day

this year was observed across the country

through various programmes maintaining

the health guidelines.

Awami League (AL) and its associate

bodies as well as different organizations

observed the day in a befitting manner

through daylong programmes.

AL's daylong programmes started with

lowering the national and party flags at

half mast and hoisting black flag at

Bangabandhu Bhaban and Awami League

offices across the country, including its

central office, at the dawn today as a mark

of respect to the martyrs of November 3,

EU to remain "steadfast partner"

of BD on Rohingya front: Envoy

DHAKA : Head of Delegation of the

European Union (EU) to Bangladesh

Ambassador Charles Whiteley has said

they will continue to be a "steadfast partner"

of Bangladesh in meeting the needs

of the Rohingya and the host community

with continued pressure on Myanmar for

their safe return to their place of origin in

Rakhine State.

"Clearly, I think, the majority of the

Rohingya do want to go back to home,"

he told UNB in an interview mentioning

that everyone, including the government

of Bangladesh, underlined that any

return has to be "voluntary and safe" for

the refugees.

Responding to a question on the EU's

business link with Myanmar, the EU

envoy said they are very careful when it

comes to the economy as some people

say why the EU does not suspend the

Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme.

Myanmar has been a member of the

World Trade Organization (WTO) since

1995 and, as a least developed country,

benefits from the EBA scheme, which

grants unilateral duty- and quota-free

access for all exports, except arms and

ammunition, to the EU.

Ambassador Whiteley said Myanmar

military does not have any interest in garment

factories in Myanmar and the

women and garment workers benefit

from the industry a bit like Bangladesh.

1975.

Around 8:30 am, AL General Secretary

and Road Transport and Bridges Minister

Obaidul Quader paid homage to Father of

the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman on behalf of Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina by placing a wreath at the

portrait of Bangabandhu in front of

Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at

Dhanmondi-32 in the city.

Later, flanked by central leaders of the

party, Quader placed another wreath at

the portrait of Bangabandhu, while AL

central leaders were present.

The leaders and workers of Awami

League's associate bodies, including

Dhaka city south and north units of AL,

Awami Jubo League, Chhatra League,

Mohila Awami League, Sramik League,

Krishak League, Jubo Mohila League and

Swechchasebok League as well as other

socio-cultural organisations paid homage

to Bangabandhu and four national leaders

by placing wreaths at the portrait of

Bangabandhu.

As part of the party programme,

Obaidul Quader along with senior leaders

placed wreath at the grave of Shaheed of

August 15 and the national four leaders at

Banani. He paid homage at the grave of

Shaheed of August 15 and to Syed Nazrul

Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed and Captain M

Mamnsur Ali on behalf of Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina first and later with party

leaders.

The AL leaders also offered fateha. A

milad mahfil and special munajat were

also held there. To mark the day, a discussion

was held at AL central office in

the city's Bangabandhu Avenue area

around 11 pm with Awami League

Presidium Member Begum Matia

Chowdhury in the chair.

twenty-one herons got new life from the cage. on Wednesday, members of the Chalanbeel

Biodiversity protection Committee released these birds.

photo : tBt

"So, what we don't want to do is to

impose measures that punish the innocent

people of Myanmar who already suffered

a great deal as a result of recent

events in Myanmar," he said.

The envoy made it clear that any step to

address the economic and financial ties

has to take into account the human cost.

"I think that's well-understood in

Bangladesh."

Appreciating Bangladesh's generosity

in hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas, the

Ambassador said the whole world was

moved when Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina said they are feeding over 160

million people of Bangladesh and they

can also feed the Rohingyas. "It's very

moving and humane statement."

The envoy said they are doing all they

can in the EU to put pressure on

Myanmar but the situation in Myanmar

is very difficult which is evolving all the

time as they no longer have a civilian in

the government.

He said they have put three rounds of

sanctions on Myanmar targeting dozens

of individuals and economic entities.

In June, the European Council

imposed sanctions on eight individuals,

three economic entities and the War

Veterans Organisation in relation to the

military coup staged in Myanmar on

February 1, and the ensuing repression

against peaceful demonstrators.

Rangpur custodial death

HC seeks police probe

report by Nov 11

DHAKA : The High Court on Wednesday

directed police to submit their probe

report over the death of Tajul Islam

allegedly after police torture at Haragach

in Rangpur, reports UNB.

The HC bench of Justice Mamnoon

Rahman and Khandaker Diliruzzaman

also asked police to submit his postmortem

report to the court.

The court fixed November 15 for the

next hearing. Deputy Attorney General

Amit Das Gupta read out the Rangpur

Police Commissioner's report before the

court which was sent from Rangpur

through an email.

According to Rangpur Police

Commissioner's report, a four-member

probe committee has been formed

which has been asked to submit its

report within seven days. The autopsy

report did not mention about any

injury marks on Tajul's body, it said.

On Tuesday, the HC bench of Justice

Mamnoon Rahman and Khandaker

Diliruzzaman asked Deputy Attorney

General Amit Das Gupta to inform the

court about the steps taken in this regard

after consultation with the Rangpur

police commissioner.

Tajul Islam, 55, a resident of Dalalhat

village in Haragach union, was reportedly

beaten to death by police at Haragach

Natun Bazar around 6 pm on Monday.

Tajul was detained with some drugs

during a police drive at Haragach

Natun Bazar on Monday evening and

he fell unconscious as police beat him

up mercilessly. At one stage, police

pushed him against a wall and he died

on the spot.

Enraged by the incident, locals cordoned

off Haragach police station, threw

brick chips at police and vandalized some

vehicles.

Covid Economic

Recovery: AIIB to

provide $250 mn

DHAKA : Bangladesh will receive

$250 million from the Asian

Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)

to implement a government programme

for the country's sustainable

economic recovery from Covid-19 fallouts.

ERD Secretary Fatima Yasmin and

AIIB's vice president, investment operations

(Region-1) DJ Pandian signed

the loan agreement virtually on behalf

of their respective sides.

The finance division has taken the

programme to reform policies for the

recovery of Bangladesh economy from

the pandemic shocks.

The Asian Development Bank

(ADB). AIIB, the lead financier of the

programme, is contributing $250 million

as a co-financier.

Under the programme, steps will be

taken to reduce and rationalize expenditure

by reforming and strengthening

the public finance management (PFM)

system and expanding financial

resources, said Fatima.

The programme also aims to create

financing opportunities for industries

and entrepreneurs such as small,

medium and cottage industries whose

sources of funding are insufficient, she

said.

The loan will be received in AIIB's

standard term and conditions. The

repayment period of the loan is 20

years, including a 3-year grace period.

04-11-2021

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