02-07-2022

SatURDay, JULy 2, 2022
7
Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim addressing a seminar at National Press Club yesterday.
Crypto rules to make Europe a
global leader as prices plunge
LONDON Europe has moved to lead
the world in regulating the
freewheeling cryptocurrency industry
at a time when prices have plunged,
wiping out fortunes, fueling skepticism
and sparking calls for tighter scrutiny,
reports UNB.
European Union negotiators
hammered out the final details for a
provisional agreement late Thursday
on a sweeping package of crypto
regulations for the bloc's 27 nations,
known as Markets in Crypto Assets, or
MiCA.
"In the Wild West of the cryptoworld,
MiCA will be a global standard
setter," the lead EU lawmaker
negotiating the rules, Stefan Berger,
said in a news release. The EU's crypto
rules "will ensure a harmonized
market, provide legal certainty for
crypto-asset issuers, guarantee a level
playing field for service providers and
ensure high standards for consumer
protection."
Like the EU's trendsetting data
privacy policy, which became the de
facto global standard, and its recent
landmark law targeting harmful
content on digital platforms, the crypto
regulations are expected to be highly
influential worldwide.
The EU rules are "really the first
comprehensive piece of crypto
regulation in the world," said Patrick
Hansen, crypto venture adviser at
Presight Capital, a venture capital
fund.
"I think there will be a lot of
jurisdictions that will look closely into
how the EU has dealt with it since the
EU is first here," Hansen said.
He expected authorities in other
places, especially smaller countries
that don't have the resources to draw
up their own rules from scratch, to
adopt ones similar to the EU's, though
"they might change a few details."
Under the Markets in Crypto Assets
regulations, exchanges, brokers and
other crypto companies face strict
RAB-13 arrests
three cheats in
Rangpur
RANGPUR : Members of
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)
arrested three presumed
cheats on charges of cheating
common people promising
them jobs from Mithapukur
upazila here on Thursday
night.
The detainees were
identified as Md. Ahsanul
Islam alias Miru, 50, of Pirganj
upazila and Md. Enamul
Haque, 37, and Md. Raju
Miah, 32, of Mithapukur
upazila in the district.
"On the basis of an allegation
lodged by a man, an
operational team of the Crime
Prevention Specialised
Company (CPSC) of RAB-13
arrested the cheats while
realizing money from the man
from the spot," said a press
release issued.During
interrogation, the arrested
admitted that they had been
cheating people promising them
jobs in different government
organisations by realizing huge
money from them for a long
time."With assistance of the elite
force, the victim filed a case
against the arrested persons with
Mithapukur Police Station in this
connection," the release added.
rules aimed at protecting consumers.
Companies issuing or trading crypto
assets such as stablecoins - which are
usually tied to the dollar or a
commodity like gold that make them
less volatile than normal
cryptocurrencies - face tough
transparency requirements requiring
them to provide detailed information
on the risks, costs and charges that
consumers face.
The rules will help novice crypto
investors avoid falling victim to frauds
and scams that regulators have warned
are widespread in the industry.
"That's a huge benefit in this space,
especially for someone who has
absolutely no idea where to go to or
who to seek out or where to put my
money into," said Jackson Mueller,
director of policy and government
affairs at Securrency, a blockchain
infrastructure company.
Providers of bitcoin-related services
would fall under the regulations, but
not bitcoin itself, the world's most
popular cryptocurrency that has lost
more than 70% of its value from its
November peak.
To address concerns about the
carbon footprint left by bitcoin mining,
which guzzles massive amounts of
electricity for "proof of work"
computer processing to record and
secure transactions, crypto companies
will have to disclose their energy use
and prominently display information
online about their environmental and
climate impact.
Negotiators exempted NFTs, or nonfungible
tokens, which have boomed
over the past year. The EU said that
unlike cryptocurrencies, the digital
assets, which can represent artwork,
sports memorabilia or anything else
that can be digitized, are unique and
sold at a fixed price. But it left room to
reclassify them later as a crypto asset
under MiCA or as a financial
instrument.
The European rules are aimed at
maintaining financial stability - a
growing concern for regulators amid a
string of recent crypto-related crashes.
For example, the stablecoin TerraUSD
imploded last month, erasing an
estimated $40 billion in investor funds
with little or no accountability.
The meltdowns have spurred calls
for regulation, with other major
jurisdictions still drawing up their
strategies. In the U.S., President Joe
Biden issued an executive order in
March on government oversight of
cryptocurrency, including studying the
impact on financial stability and
national security.
Last month, California became the
first state to formally begin examining
how to broadly adapt to
cryptocurrency, with plans to work
with the federal government on
crafting regulations.
The U.K. also has unveiled plans to
regulate some cryptocurrencies.
A few European countries, like
Germany, already have basic crypto
regulations. One of the EU's goals is
bringing rules in line across the bloc, so
that a crypto company licensed in one
country would be able to offer services
in other member states.
The EU rules, which would still need
final approval and are expected to take
effect by 2024, include measures to
prevent market manipulation, money
laundering, terrorist financing and
other criminal activities.
The EU also provisionally agreed
Wednesday on new rules subjecting
cryptocurrency transfers to the same
money-laundering rules as traditional
banking transfers.
When a crypto asset changes hands,
information on both the source and the
beneficiary would have to be stored on
both sides of the transfer, according to
the new rules. Crypto companies
would have to hand this information
over to authorities investigating
criminal activity such as money
laundering or terrorist financing.
Navy report: Multiple errors poisoned
Pearl Harbor water
PEARL HARBOR : A Navy investigation
released Thursday revealed that shoddy
management and human error caused fuel to
leak into Pearl Harbor's tap water last year,
poisoning thousands of people and forcing
military families to evacuate their homes for
hotels, reports UNB.
The investigation is the first detailed
account of how jet fuel from the Red Hill Bulk
Fuel Storage Facility, a massive World War
II-era military-run tank farm in the hills
above Pearl Harbor, leaked into a well that
supplied water to housing and offices in and
around the sprawling base. Some 6,000
people suffered nausea, headaches, rashes
and other symptoms.
After months of resistance, the military in
April agreed to an order from the state of
Hawaii to drain the tanks and close the Red
Hill facility. A separate report the Defense
Department provided to the state
Department of Health on Thursday said
December 2024 was the earliest it could
defuel the tanks safely.
The investigation report listed a cascading
series of mistakes from May 6, 2021, when
operator error caused a pipe to rupture and
21,000 gallons of fuel to spill when fuel was
being transferred between tanks. Most of this
fuel spilled into a fire suppression line and sat
there for six months, causing the line to sag. A
cart rammed into this sagging line on Nov.
20, releasing 20,000 gallons of fuel.
The area where the cart hit the line isn't
supposed to have fuel, and so the officials
who responded to the spill didn't have the
right equipment to capture the liquid.
"The team incorrectly assumes that all of
the fuel has been sopped up," Adm. Sam
Paparo, the commander of the U.S. Pacific
Fleet, told reporters at a news conference.
About 5,000 gallons wasn't recovered.
"Meanwhile, over the course of eight days,
that fuel enters into this French drain that is
under the concrete and seeps slowly and
quietly into the Red Hill well. And that fuel
into the Red Hill well is then pumped into the
Navy system," Paparo said.
Red Hill officials thought that only 1,618
gallons had leaked in the May spill and that
they recovered all but 38 gallons. They
noticed that one of the tanks was short
20,000 gallons but believed it had flowed
through the pipes and didn't realize it had
flown into the fire suppression line. They
didn't report the discrepancy to senior
leadership.
After the November spill when people started
getting sick, the military moved about 4,000
mostly military families into hotels for months
while they waited for their water to be safe again.
The report said officials defaulted to assuming
the best about what was happening when the
spills occurred, instead of assuming the worst,
and this contributed to their overlooking the
severity of situation.
Paparo said the Navy was trying to move
away from that. He called it an ongoing process
"to get real with ourselves" and "being honest
about our deficiencies."
Photo : PID
Man held with
yaba tablets in
Barguna
BARGUNA : District
Department of Narcotics
Control in a drive held a drug
peddler with 300 pieces of
yaba tablets and two grams
Ice
(crystal
methamphetamine meth) in
the district town yesterday.
The detainee was identified
as Md Sogir, 37.
Sub-Inspector of Barguna
district Department of
Narcotics Jakir Hossain said
on information they searched
Sogir's house located in Choto
Labon Gola area yesterday
morning and found the yaba
tablets and Ice. A case was
filed under Narcotics Control
Act against him.
Fairs & discussions
mark DU's anniversary
celebrations
DHAKA : The country's
most coveted Dhaka
University (DU) observed its
102nd birth anniversary on
Friday through day-long
programmes.
DU Vice Chancellor Prof
M o h a m m a d
A k h t a r u z z a m a n
inaugurated the celebration
programmes by cutting a
102-pound cake at the
central field of the university
campus around 10am.
He then hoisted the
national flag as well as flags
of the country's oldest
university and halls in the
presence of students,
teachers and other
university staff.
DU
pro-VC
(administration) Prof
Muhammad Samad, pro-VC
(education) Prof ASM
Maksud Kamal, proctor Prof
AKM Golam Rabbani and
registrar Prabir Kumar
Sarkar were present on the
occasion.
A three-day researchpublication
fair was also
inaugurated at the central
ground of the university.
The fair has 10 pavilions for
faculties and one for
institutes.
The Vice-Chancellor also
inaugurated a discussion
meeting on 'Research and
innovation: Industryacademy
cooperation' at the
auditorium of Teacher
Student Center (TSC) at
11.30am.
BOU to launch bachelor
programme in KSA soon
DHAKA : Bangladesh Open University
(BOU) Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Syed
Humayun Akhtar has said the university
will soon launch bachelor programme (BA
and BSS) for Bangladesh expatriates in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
He made the remarks while speaking at a
recent virtual view-exchange meeting on the
activities of BOU's Nish-2 programme with
the Bangladesh Embassy in Saudi Arabia, a
press release said.
Humayun said the BOU is going to
introduce bachelor programme - Bachelor
of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Social Science
(BSS) - outside the country so that the
Bangladeshi expatriates, who are called
remittance fighters, can become educated
through this programme and can live with
dignity there.
It is possible to increase the country's GDP
with getting the remittance fighters
educated through the BOU programme, he
said.
Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
Dr Mohammad Javed Patwary, BOU
SSHL's Dean Professor Md Jahangir Alam,
Dean of Open School Prof Sabina Yasmin,
Acting Director of Information and Public
Relations AFM Mezbah Uddin and Deputy
Chief of Mission of the Bangladesh Embassy
Abul Hasan Mridha, among others, spoke at
the meeting.
11 fresh Covid-19 cases diagnosed
in Rangpur division
RANGPUR : A total of 11 fresh Covid-19
cases, highest number in a day in recent
months, were diagnosed after testing 618
new samples in Rangpur division on
Thursday.
Health officials said new Covid-19 cases
have been reported everyday since last
June 22 in the division.
The new 11 infected patients are two
from Rangpur, one from Nilphamari and
eight from Dinajpur districts.
"With the diagnosis of the 11 fresh cases,
the total number of Covid-19 patients rose
to 64,192 in the division," Divisional
Director (Health) Dr. Abu Md. Zakirul
Islam told BSS.
The total number of recovered patients
of the lethal virus remained steady at
62,785 as no more patients healed during
the last 24 hours ending at 8 am on
Friday. The number of casualties also
remained steady at 1,284 as no new death
was reported during the period.
Meanwhile, more 13,570 doses of
Covid-19 jabs were administered on
Thursday raising the number of
inoculated vaccines to two crore 99 lakh
three thousand and 717 doses in the
division.
Among the 13,570 doses of the jabs
inoculated on Thursday, 532 were
administered as the first doses, 1,467 as
the second doses and 11,571 as the booster
doses.
"Till Thursday, a total of 1,35,60,920
people got the first doses of Covid-19 jabs,
and of them, 1,30,11,718 got the second
doses and 33,31,079 got the booster
doses," Dr. Islam added.
Dr. Islam called upon citizens to
sincerely abide by the health directives
and wear masks while remaining outside
to remain safe as the number of Covid-19
cases is rising again in the country.
Russian missiles kill at least
19 in Ukraine's Odesa region
KYIV: Russian missile attacks on residential
areas in a coastal town near the Ukrainian port
city of Odesa early Friday killed at least 19
people, authorities reported, a day after Russian
forces withdrew from a strategic Black Sea
island, reports UNB.
Video of the pre-dawn attack showed the
charred remains of buildings in the small town
of Serhiivka, located about 50 kilometers (31
miles) southwest of Odesa. The Ukrainian
president's office said three X-22 missiles fired
by Russian bombers struck an apartment
building and two campsites.
"A terrorist country is killing our people. In
response to defeats on the battlefield, they fight
civilians," Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
said.
Ukraine's Security Service said 19 people
died, including two children. It said another 38,
including six children and a pregnant woman,
were hospitalized with injuries. Most of the
victims were in the apartment building,
Ukrainian emergency officials said.
The airstrikes followed the pullout of Russian
forces from Snake Island on Thursday, a move
that was expected to potentially ease the threat
to nearby Odesa, home to Ukraine's biggest
port. The island sits along a busy shipping lane.
Russia took control of it in the opening days
of the war in the apparent hope of using it as a
staging ground for an assault on Odesa. The
Kremlin portrayed the departure of Russian
troops from Snake Island as a "goodwill
gesture" intended to facilitate shipments of
grain and other agricultural products to Africa,
the Middle East and other parts of the world.
Ukraine's military claimed a barrage of its
artillery and missiles forced the Russians to flee
in two small speedboats. The exact number of
withdrawing troops was not disclosed.
The island took on significance early in the
war as a symbol of Ukraine's resistance to the
Russian invasion. Ukrainian troops there
reportedly received a demand from a Russian
warship to surrender or be bombed. The
answer supposedly came back, "Go (expletive)
yourself."
Zelenskyy said that although the pullout did
not guarantee the Black Sea region's safety, it
would "significantly limit" Russian activities
there.
"Step by step, we will push (Russia) out of our
sea, our land, our sky," he said in his nightly
address.
In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces kept up
their push to encircle the last stronghold of
resistance in Luhansk, one of two provinces
that make up the country's Donbas region.
Moscow-backed separatists have controlled
much of the region for eight years.
Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai said the
Russians were trying to encircle the city of
Lysychansk and fighting for control over an oil
refinery on the city's edge.
"The shelling of the city is very intensive,"
Haidai told The Associated Press. "The
occupiers are destroying one house after
another with heavy artillery and other weapons.
Residents of Lysychansk are hiding in
basements almost round the clock."
The offensive has failed so far to cut
Ukrainian supply lines, although the main
highway leading west was not being used
because of constant Russian shelling, the
governor said. "The evacuation is impossible,"
he added. But Russian Defense Ministry
spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Friday that
Russian and Luhansk separatist forces had
taken control of the refinery as well as a mine
and a gelatin factory in Lysychansk "over the
last three days." Ukraine's presidential office
said a series of Russian strikes in the past 24
hours also killed civilians in eastern Ukraine -
four in the northeastern Kharkiv region and
another four in Donetsk province.
Russian bombardments killed large numbers
of civilians earlier in the war, including at a
hospital and a theater in the port city of
Mariupol.
. On the occasion of Dhaka University Day, a rally was brought out at the campus yesterday. Photo : Courtesy