INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(8162, 8162, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Challenging times are ahead for smaller, lighter-colored butterflies as Earth’s climate continues to warm, a new study has found.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Unlike their relatives with larger wings and darker colors, small butterflies with paler hues — particularly those belonging to the Lycaenidae family — have trouble regulating their body temperatures as the air temperature increases, according to the research.</div><div><br></div><div>Size often plays a role in heat tolerance for insects, but the impact of color was surprising and “may be a pattern specific to butterflies,” said lead study author Esme Ashe-Jepson, a doctoral student of zoology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Darker-winged butterflies, regardless of wing size, had consistently better outcomes throughout the research.</div><div><br></div><div>The findings, published July 12 in the Journal of Animal Ecology, offer more evidence of the outsize roles wings play in keeping butterflies cool — and why color matters.</div><div><br></div><div>How butterflies keep their cool</div><div><br></div><div>Butterflies need warmth from the sun to function. But when things really heat up, they adjust their body temperature in relation to the air temperature through strategies called thermal buffering and thermal tolerance.</div><div><br></div><div>Thermal buffering includes physical acts like moving into a cooler, shadier area or slanting wings out of the direct path of sunlight. Butterflies with larger wings can use that surface area to absorb heat when needed, but they may also be able to relocate to a cooler area faster than small-winged butterflies, according to the study.</div><div><br></div><div>Thermal tolerance, on the other hand, involves physiological processes like the production of heat shock proteins. “These are molecules that many animals, butterflies and humans included, produce to protect themselves from high temperatures,” Ashe-Jepson said. “They help to stabilise and repair proteins in your body that have been damaged by high heat.”</div><div><br></div><div>But that process uses up a butterfly’s resources, often at the cost of growth or reproduction. Results from this study backed up earlier research that demonstrated butterflies tend to rely on either thermal buffering or thermal tolerance — rather than using both — and that makes some species more vulnerable to increasing temperatures due to the climate crisis.</div><div>The ‘knockdown’ test</div><div><br></div><div>To test whether there was a relationship between thermal buffering and thermal tolerance in a variety of species of tropical butterflies, researchers from the University of Cambridge and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute captured butterflies in many types of habitats around Panama during both the wet and dry seasons between February 2020 and March 2022.</div><div><br></div><div>For the thermal buffering test, the researchers caught, tested and released 1,334 butterflies representing 54 species from six butterfly families. “My team and I spent many long days running around the rainforest in Panama with butterfly nets,” Ashe-Jepson said. “Our goal was to catch a butterfly without chasing it.”</div><div><br></div><div>When the insects fly, their body temperatures can change. Since the butterflies were not forced into a stressful chase by the researchers, their temperatures were expected to remain at normal levels for the environmental conditions.</div><div><br></div><div>After capture, the team members placed a measuring device called a thermocouple — which looks like an exposed wire — through the net and then ever so gently against the butterfly’s thorax, which is the middle part of its body, to record its temperature.</div><div><br></div><div>The thorax “is where the muscles that power butterfly flight are, and so are important body parts to maintain the temperature of,” Ashe-Jepson said.</div><div><br></div><div>To test thermal tolerance, a smaller group of the captured butterflies was put to work one more time. Each one was held in a glass jar set up to keep the butterfly from dehydrating. Then the temperature was steadily raised inside the jar to test how much each could stand before falling after losing motor control, a state known as “knockdown.”</div><div><br></div><div>In both experiments, dark butterflies the researchers captured warmed up and cooled down better than their paler relatives. Larger, darker butterflies more effectively used thermal buffering strategies to their advantage, while the smaller and darker butterflies were “able to tolerate higher temperatures” during the in-glass thermal tolerance test,” Ashe-Jepson said. “This places these dark butterflies in a relatively good place to cope with climate change.”</div><div><br></div><div>She added that the difference between the lowest and highest heat tolerance levels — more than 18 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) — really surprised her. “This is a massive difference for butterflies that live in relatively similar habitats,” Ashe-Jepson said, noting that one species survived temperatures of almost 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius). “For such a small animal, that is an incredible feat.”</div><div><br></div><div>Why butterfly color matters</div><div><br></div><div>During the knockdown test, the larger butterflies that had demonstrated the best thermal buffering abilities did not do as well as smaller-winged butterflies. Larger species tend to rely more on buffering strategies, leaving them vulnerable to temperature increases when they can’t change their position.</div><div><br></div><div>“This result implies that species with more stable body temperatures may be more vulnerable to increases in ambient temperatures,” said Akito Kawahara, professor and curator at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He was not involved with the research.</div><div><br></div><div>Ashe-Jepson’s theory on why color makes such a difference is “it comes down to experience.” Dark-winged butterflies, basically, get used to handling higher temperatures since they absorb solar radiation faster than their pale counterparts. They also “radiate heat more effectively than pale surfaces, and … may also be more likely to reduce their body temperature fast enough so to avoid reaching deadly temperatures,” she explained.</div><div><br></div><div>Paler butterflies rarely end up having to deal with high temperatures — they typically fly off to a cooler microclimate when things heat up. If more forest habitat is lost amid the ongoing climate crisis, paler butterflies will be at higher risk. They’ll be “in a dangerous place to cope with moving between increasingly far apart forest fragments, and when an extreme weather event, such as a heatwave, occurs,” Ashe-Jepson said via email.&nbsp; If they can’t manage their body heat, effectively in those situations, they’ll be in trouble.</div><div><br></div><div>Though nobody is certain how climate change will ultimately impact butterflies, one certainty is that “many species are disappearing. (The study) could provide insight into which species may survive under harsh climatic conditions,” Kawahara said.</div><div><br></div><div>There is no predicting a timeline for the loss of butterfly species, according to Ashe-Jepson. “We are unlikely to lose this entire (Lycaenidae) family of butterflies,” she said. There could be, however, “rapid extinctions within this family if we do nothing to preserve their habitats and combat climate change, particularly in the face of extreme weather events such as heatwaves,” she added.</div><div><br></div><div>Recently, there has been ample evidence that extreme weather events are increasing. “This is rather frightening for this highly diverse group of butterflies,” Ashe-Jepson said, “but there is hope that with appropriate management, such as maintaining forests and microclimates, we can preserve this group of beautiful and unique butterflies before they are lost.” Source: CNN&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas&nbsp;</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-23 22:52:44', '2023-07-23 22:52:44'),
(8163, 8163, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Saudi Arabia on Saturday expressed its “strong condemnation and dissatisfaction” with a failure to take necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of incidents of violations against Islamic sanctities, the Kingdom’s foreign ministry announced.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Recent public desecrations of the Qur’an by ultranationalist groups in Sweden has sparked widespread anger among the international community, while on Friday a man set fire to a book purported to be the Qur’an in front of the Iraqi embassy in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.</div><div><br></div><div>The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said an “extremist group in Denmark burned a copy of the Holy Qur’an, and raised slogans of hatred and racism against Islam and Muslims, in front of the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in the capital, Copenhagen.”</div><div><br></div><div>The incidents have prompted Middle Eastern nations to summon their Swedish and Danish diplomats in protest.</div><div><br></div><div>The ministry “expressed the Kingdom’s condemnation in the strongest terms of these acts that incite hatred and violence between religions,” and warned against “repeating these provocative acts” that affect millions of Muslims around the world and “are a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms.”</div><div><br></div><div>Jassem Albudaiwi, the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, also expressed his strong condemnation and denunciation of the burning and desecrating of a copy of the Qur’an in Copenhagen.</div><div><br></div><div>In a statement issued on Saturday, he said that “the continuation of these heinous acts and irresponsible behavior reflects extremism and hatred of religions,” and called on Denmark to “take immediate action to hold those extremists accountable in accordance with international laws, treaties and norms that protect and preserve religions.”</div><div><br></div><div>Kuwait also condemned the recent incident and said “this provocative act deepens hatred, fuels extremism, and offends Muslims worldwide.”</div><div><br></div><div>The foreign ministry urged the Danish government to reveal the motives behind “this disgraceful act and to take all necessary legal actions to stop such irresponsible actions and behavior.”</div><div><br></div><div>It also called on the Danish government to work to prevent the “recurrence of such acts and to bring perpetrators to accountability,” arguing that “freedom of expression should not be used to insult Islam and all religions.”</div><div><br></div><div>The ministry called on the international community to step up efforts to counter these incidents, enact laws that criminalize offending religions and promote adherence to relevant international conventions and resolutions, including the recent UN Human Rights Council’s resolution on countering religious hatred that was adopted this month.</div><div><br></div><div>Tunisia issued a similar statement and called on all countries to respect sanctities so that “heinous crimes” that contradict the values ​​of coexistence and tolerance are not repeated to fuel extremism and terrorism. - Arab News&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-23 23:46:19', '2023-07-23 23:46:19'),
(8164, 8164, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday arrived in Rome to attend the UN Food Systems Summit at the invitation of the UN Secretary-General.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The three-day summit will open at Italy\'s capital city on Monday, July 24.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier and her entourage flew from Dhaka by a regular flight of Qatar Airways. It landed at Rome Fiumicino Airport at 1:40pm local time (05:40 pm BST).</div><div><br></div><div>The flight earlier departed Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 05:05am.</div><div><br></div><div>The summit titled ‘United Nations Food Systems +2 Stocktaking Moment’ (UNFSS+2) will be held at the Headquarters of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with the theme of ‘Sustainable Food Systems for People, Planet and Prosperity: Diverse Pathways in a Shared Journey.’</div><div><br></div><div>During her stay in Italy, she will also hold a bilateral meeting with her Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday, July 25.</div><div><br></div><div>On Monday, PM Hasina will address the opening ceremony of the summit as a special guest. UN Secretary-General António Guterres, among others, is expected to speak at the event, said officials accompanying her.</div><div><br></div><div>She will then attend a plenary session on food systems and climate action at FAO headquarters, hold talks separately with FAO Director General Qu Dongyu and President of International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD) Alvaro Lario, join the inauguration ceremony of the Bangladesh-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Room at the FAO headquarters and attend a reception to be hosted by the FAO Director General the same day.</div><div><br></div><div>Two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on ‘cooperation in the field of energy’ and ‘cultural exchange programme’ are expected to be signed between the two countries during her visit.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, Hasina will join a regional envoy conference, which will be held with participation of 15 Bangladeshi envoys stationed in Europe, and a community event on Tuesday, July 25.</div><div><br></div><div>Hasina is expected to leave Rome for home wrapping up her visit on Wednesday, July 26. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 00:12:35', '2023-07-24 00:12:35'),
(8165, 8165, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday alleged that the government is using \"internet shutdown\" as a weapon to suppress the movement of the opposition.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Speaking at a press conference at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office, he said the current regime is also using the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) as a modern tool to repress people, deprive them of their rights to have uninterrupted internet access and snatch their freedom of expression.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The government is using a new digital weapon, \'internet-shutdown\', to snatch people\'s right to have nonstop internet access and their freedom of expression out of its fear of a mass uprising,” the BNP leader said.</div><div><br></div><div>Apart from the internet shutdown, he said the government has continued various other forms of digital torture, including monitoring the smartphones of the opposition leaders, violating their personal privacy, and checking their cell phones. \"We strongly protest the abuse of digital technology.”</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader demanded the government immediately repeal the Digital Security Act (DSA) as not only the BNP leaders and workers but also the freethinkers are being subjected to harassment through it.</div><div><br></div><div>“Internet-shutdown incidents are terrible violations of civic rights. It is a crime similar to murder and enforced disappearance,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>When a person is subjected to enforced disappearance, Fakhrul said, only one person is lost. “But if the internet is shut down somewhere, crores of people in the country and abroad become victims of it. Erasing people’s existence online is as much a crime as a murder. The fascist Awami League regime is continuously committing this crime.”</div><div><br></div><div>BNP’s media cell arranged the press conference to protest against all forms of digital torture, including internet shutdown.</div><div><br></div><div>Fakhrul highlighted the incident of shutting down mobile internet services during BNP’s rally in front of its Nayapaltan central office on July 12 last and during BNP’s divisional rallies in Khulna, Barisal, Faridpur, Sylhet, Cumilla, Rajshahi and Dhaka in November and December last year.</div><div><br></div><div>He alleged that though the interest services were disconnected in the Nayapaltan area on July 12 during BNP’s rally, the internet connection was normal on the same day during the ruling party’s rally in Baitul Mukarram National Mosque area.</div><div><br></div><div>According to a report released by digital rights watchdog Access Now this year, the BNP leader said Bangladesh ranked fifth in the world in terms of the number of internet shutdowns.</div><div><br></div><div>He said four countries---India 84 times, Ukraine 22 times, Iran 18 times, and Myanmar 7 times—shut down the internet due to a state of insurgency or a war-like situation.</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader questioned whether there was any war in Bangladesh for which the government was forced to shut down internet services six times. “Against whom the government is waging that war?.”</div><div><br></div><div>\"Internet services are now an essential means of expressing people’s opinions. Discontinuance of this service mainly hampers the freedom of expression,” he observed.</div><div><br></div><div>Stating that internet services are now not limited to social media entertainment only, the BNP leader said as these services have expanded to many important areas, including financial transactions, education, medical treatment, data collection, preservation, outsourcing, overseas travel, employment, and job interviews, and has become an indispensable part of life, reports UNB</div><div><br></div><div>“So, we believe that the incidents of blocking or controlling the Internet services are a clear violation of the civic rights of individuals, a clear violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international agreements on civil and political rights,\" Fakhrul asserted.</div><div><br></div><div>He also said that the police are harassing ordinary people by illegally arresting them on the streets and searching their mobile phones.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 02:42:38', '2023-07-24 02:42:38'),
(8166, 8166, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A week-long \'National Fisheries Week-2023\' will begin from tomorrow highlighting the importance of fisheries resources in fulfilling nutritional and food demand of the country\'s ever increasing population.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"The National Fisheries Week will be celebrated in the country like every year with a commitment of involving people in socio-cultural development through raising the production of the fisheries resources,\" according to an official release received here today.</div><div><br></div><div>President Mohammad Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued messages on the eve of the event.</div><div><br></div><div>The week will be observed till July 30 with a theme of \"Nirapad Machhea Varbo Desh, Gorbo Smart Bangladesh (The country will be filled with safe fish, Build the Smart Bangladesh)\".</div><div><br></div><div>To mark the event, the concerned Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock has taken different programmes across the country. Besides, different programmes will also be observed locally in all upazilas and districts along with the central programmes.</div><div><br></div><div>On the first day of the week, a colorful street rally will be brought in the city\'s Manik Mia Avenue at 8am on July 24. Fisheries and Livestock Minister</div><div><br></div><div>SM Rezaul Karim will attend a press conference at Matsya Bhavan at 10.30am on the day.</div><div><br></div><div>On July 25, Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will attend the inaugural function of \"National Fisheries Week-2023\" as the chief guest at Osmani Memorial auditorium in the capital.</div><div><br></div><div>The National Fisheries Padak, 2023 will be awarded to some 21 individuals and organisations in eight categories recognizing their important contribution to the fisheries sector.</div><div><br></div><div>In addition to this, President Mohammed Shahabuddin as part of the central programme of the week will release fish fries at his official residence Bangababhan pond at 5pm on July 27.</div><div><br></div><div>Even, the colorful boat rally will also be held in the city\'s Hatirjheel and different newspapers will publish special supplements while Bangladesh Betar and Bangladesh Television (BTV) and private TV channels will air different documentaries highlighting the success of the sector. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 02:45:01', '2023-07-24 02:45:01'),
(8167, 8167, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Although all quarters agree on the demand for risk-free roads, the rate of accidents has not yet come down to a tolerable level. Instead, several fatal accidents are happening every day across the country.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Around 16 major causes have been identified behind these accidents, according to a press release from the Shipping and Communications Reporters Forum (SCRF) today.</div><div><br></div><div>After 17 people died and at least 30 others were injured when a passenger bus lost control and fell into a pond in Jhalakathi on Saturday, questions over road safety have again emerged, the press release said.</div><div><br></div><div>According to SCRF, 2,898 people died and 4,720 were injured in 2,781 road accidents across the country in the first six months of this year.</div><div><br></div><div>Among them, 1,079 motorcycle accidents killed 1,088 people.</div><div><br></div><div>The SCRF observation says that the government\'s policymaking body is sincere in preventing road accidents. However, there is also a lack of accountability from some officials and employees of the concerned government organisations.</div><div><br></div><div>The influence of owners and labour leaders in the transport sector, interference from political leaders including public representatives, and a lack of awareness among drivers, workers, passengers, and pedestrians are also responsible for accidents.</div><div><br></div><div>SCRF identified 16 major causes of road accidents: unfit vehicles; unskilled, unaware and unwell drivers; reckless driving; overtaking in violation of prevailing law and regulations; exhausted drivers and helpers due to no fixed weekend leave and working hours; dilapidated roads; significant number of risky turning points on national highways and inter-district roads; large number of motorcycles used commercially on long-distance roads; slow-moving three wheelers on highways; unskilled youths and minors on motorcycles; lack of capacity of the BRTA and irregularities and corruption of many officials and employees concerned; poor traffic management and shortage of highway police and other resources; lack of awareness and knowledge of traffic laws among the general public; tendency of drivers and pedestrians to disobey traffic laws; laxity of authorities concerned in enforcing existing laws; and extortion from vehicles at terminals and several roads, including highways. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 02:53:07', '2023-07-24 02:53:07'),
(8168, 8168, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh reported 2,292 new dengue cases in the 24 hours till Sunday morning, the highest number of hospitalisation in a day from the mosquito-borne disease this year.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>During the period, nine more deaths were reported from dengue, raising the fatalities from the infection to 176.</div><div><br></div><div>Of the new patients, 1,064 were admitted to hospitals in Dhaka and the rest outside it, according to DGHS.</div><div><br></div><div>A total of 7,175 dengue patients, including 4,149 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.</div><div><br></div><div>So far, the DGHS has recorded 32,977 dengue cases and 25,626 recoveries this year.</div><div><br></div><div>The country logged 281 dengue deaths in 2022 – the highest on record after 179 deaths recorded in 2019. Also, it recorded 62,423 dengue cases and 61,971 recoveries last year. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 03:00:00', '2023-07-24 03:00:00'),
(8169, 8169, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A SSC examinee died after falling off the seventh floor of a building in Khilgaon area in the capital on Sunday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The deceased was identified Mobasshar Hossain,16, son of Abdul Ghafur of Baliakandi village of Senbag upazila of Noakhali district. He appeared in the&nbsp; SSC examination from Noakhali Baliakandi Nabakrishna High School this year.</div><div><br></div><div>Victim’s cousin Kamal Hossain said Mobasshar, who came to Dhaka on July 8, caught fever on Saturday night.</div><div><br></div><div>Around 10:30 pm, Mobasshar accidentally fell from the balcony of the seventh floor and got seriously injured.</div><div><br></div><div>Later, the doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital declared him dead around 2.30 am.</div><div><br></div><div>DMCH&nbsp; camp police inspector Bachchu Mia said the body was sent to the hospital morgue for post-mortem. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 03:12:48', '2023-07-24 03:12:48'),
(8170, 8170, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Tens of thousands of protesters marched into Jerusalem on Saturday evening in a last-ditch show of force aimed at blocking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul, as more than 100 of Israel’s former security chiefs signed a letter pleading with the Israeli premier to halt the legislation.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>In scorching heat that reached 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit), the procession turned the city’s main highway into a sea of blue and white Israeli flags as marchers completed the last leg of a four-day, 70 kilometer (45-mile) trek from Tel Aviv to Israel’s parliament.</div><div><br></div><div>The marchers — who spent the last three nights along the way in rows of small white tents — were welcomed in Jerusalem by throngs of cheering protesters. They planned to camp outside the Knesset, or parliament, ahead of Monday’s expected vote. Meanwhile, tens of thousands flooded the streets of the coastal city of Tel Aviv, the country’s main hub.</div><div><br></div><div>Netanyahu and his far-right allies claim the overhaul is needed to curb what they say are the excessive powers of unelected judges. But their critics say the plan will destroy the country’s system of checks and balances and put it on the path toward authoritarian rule.</div><div><br></div><div>The proposed overhaul has drawn harsh criticism from business and medical leaders, and a fast-rising number of military reservists in key units have said they will stop reporting for duty if the plan passes, raising concern that the country’s security interests could be threatened.</div><div><br></div><div>Over 100 top former security chiefs, including retired military commanders, police commissioners and heads of intelligence agencies joined those calls on Saturday, signing a letter to Netanyahu blaming him for compromising Israel’s military and urging him to halt the legislation. The signatories included Ehud Barak, a former Israeli prime minister, and Moshe Yaalon, a former army chief and defense minister. Both are political rivals of Netanyahu. - AP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 03:20:06', '2023-07-24 03:20:06'),
(8171, 8171, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A dissemination seminar on “Early Detection of Liver Cancer Patient through Simple Blood Test” was held today at Holiday Inn Dhaka. The dissemination seminar is based on the article published in the high-impact peer-reviewed international journal Nature Communications.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The test identifies liver cancer through distinctive DNA methylation signatures and has the potential to revolutionize liver cancer detection in high-risk populations (that includes people with liver diseases, type 2 diabetes and alcoholics), thereby decreasing morbidity and mortality rates associated with this cancer.</div><div><br></div><div>HKG Epitherapeutics Ltd., the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, and a team of eminent Bangladeshi clinicians and scientists conducted the research work.</div><div><br></div><div>Professor Moshe Szyf, the Chairman of HKG Epitherapeutics Ltd., and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada presented the keynote, Professor Dr Mamun Al Mahtab, Hepatologist, BSMMU discussed on Bangladesh and Global scenario regarding Hepatitis and liver cancer, and icddr,b scientist Dr Wasif Ali Khan discussed the protocol title.</div><div><br></div><div>Professor Dr Sharfuddin Ahmed, Vice-chancellor, BSMMU graced the event as the chief guest. Additionally, Dr Rafique-us-Saleheen, Programme Manager-1, Non-communicable Disease Control Program, DGHS, and Dr Afsana Alamgir Khan, Assistant Director (Project Coordination), DGHS were present as special guests and icddr,b’s Executive Director Dr Tahmeed Ahmed chaired the event.</div><div><br></div><div>Liver Cancer, a prevalent global cancer, is often detected at advanced stages, leading to treatment challenges and reduced survival rates. The developed assay uses sophisticated sequencing and multiplexing techniques to differentiate liver cancer samples from normal tissues, other blood samples, and non-liver cancer tumours, overcoming the limitations of traditional diagnostic methods.</div><div><br></div><div>The research group evaluated the assay on 554 clinical study participants, comprising liver cancer patients, non-liver cancer patients, individuals with chronic hepatitis B, and healthy controls. The results revealed a liver cancer detection sensitivity of 84.5% at 95% specificity, demonstrating its promising potential for early liver cancer detection (registered in ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT03483922, a registry of clinical trials run by the United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health).</div><div><br></div><div>Professor Dr Sharfuddin Ahmed, Vice-chancellor, BSMMU said, “Today\'s dissemination seminar marks a remarkable stride in the field of healthcare, with the potential to transform liver cancer detection. As we unite to combat liver cancer, this innovative assay, rooted in distinctive DNA methylation signatures, holds the promise to positively impact high-risk populations, reducing the burden of this prevalent cancer.”</div><div><br></div><div>Professor Moshe Szyf, stated “Our developed high-throughput assay represents an innovative step forward in cancer detection. It contributes significantly to the early detection of HCC, with the potential to transform cancer diagnostics and patient outcomes.”</div><div><br></div><div>Professor Dr. Mamun Al Mahtab, Head of the Interventional Hepatology Division, BSMMU, who led this research from BSMMU, stated that “While further study is required, this development represents a substantial stride towards a standard early detection tool for individuals at high risk of liver cancer, with the ability to considerably reduce the disease\'s impact on people at risk of developing liver cancer”.</div><div><br></div><div>Dr. Wasif Ali Khan, a Scientist at the icddr,b and Principal Investigator of the research who led and coordinated the project, remarked “This breakthrough development is a critical milestone in liver cancer detection, with tremendous potential to save lives and improve healthcare in Bangladesh. Our unwavering commitment to advancing cancer diagnostics is reflected in this remarkable achievement, aimed at enhancing the well-being of our population. The test will significantly reduce the burden of liver cancer and create a healthier future for all.” - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 03:45:39', '2023-07-24 03:45:39'),
(8172, 8172, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The leader of Spain\'s opposition conservative party Alberto Núñez Feijóo has claimed victory in a snap election, but without the result he needed.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Even with the support of the far right, his Popular Party (PP) has fallen short of a majority in parliament.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The cheers at the rival Socialist camp were just as loud as Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared: \"The reactionary bloc has failed.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While both can claim success, Spain is left with an inconclusive result.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">But Mr Sánchez has been vindicated in his controversial decision to call the vote in the searing heat of a Spanish summer, when election-day temperatures reached 40C in some parts of the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Turnout topped 70%, as voters sensed the importance of the election, breaking off from their holidays to vote in swimwear and with beach gear in tow.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"No pasarán,\" supporters chanted outside Socialist HQ - they shall not pass - referring both to far-right party Vox and the anti-fascist slogan of the Spanish civil war.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nonetheless, Mr Feijóo told cheering conservative supporters that it was now his duty to try to form a government.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Spaniards know we have gone from being the second force to the party with the most votes,\" he said, adding: \"I hope this doesn\'t start a period of uncertainty in Spain.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But that is what Spain is facing. Because with Vox on 33 seats and Mr Feijóo\'s PP on 136, they would be seven seats short of an absolute majority of 176 in parliament, so the most likely result of this election is another poll towards the end of the year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That is why Mr Sánchez\'s Socialists and his far-left allies Sumar appeared happiest.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The reactionary bloc of regression, which set out a complete reversal of all the advances that we\'ve achieved over the past four years, has failed,\" he told supporters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The right has repeatedly attacked Mr Sánchez because of a badly framed law on sexual consent, as well as reforms on abortion and transgender rights.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But the opposition also targeted the support he received from Catalan and Basque nationalists, arguing that concessions he made to them threatened Spain\'s territorial unity.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some PP supporters outside party HQ chanted Que te vote Txapote, an anti-Sánchez slogan meaning \"Let Txapote vote for you\", which referenced a militant who carried out killings for the defunct Basque group Eta.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For much of the night the mood among PP supporters had been subdued and celebrations finally picked up when their party overtook the Socialists in the results. As their leader finished his speech, little groups of voters draped in Spanish flags asked each other what would happen next.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">These were not victorious activists celebrating. Despite the rhetoric from the balcony above, this felt like an empty win.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One Spanish website, El Español, said that despite the PP\'s victory, Pedro Sánchez still had a chance of forming a government.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But those very slim chances would require going even further than before in securing separatist support. He would also need the backing of a hardline pro-independence party, Together for Catalonia (Junts), which appears unwilling to support him.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 70% turnout was higher than in November 2019, despite the summer heat. That was partly due to almost 2.5 million postal votes being cast, but polling stations were busiest in the morning before the heat took hold.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Vox remains the third biggest party, with the support of three million of Spain\'s 37 million voters, but not significantly ahead of Sumar and with a big drop in seat numbers. BBC</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 12:46:59', '2023-07-24 12:46:59'),
(8173, 8173, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Alex Telles left Manchester United for a reunion with former team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo at Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr on Sunday.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Telles is the latest star from a major European club to move to the Gulf state, having swapped the Premier League for the lure of the lucrative Saudi Pro League.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Brazilian left-back spent last season on loan at Sevilla and made 50 appearances for United in three years at Old Trafford.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Telles, 30, will be reunited with Portugal striker Ronaldo at Al Nassr after the Portugal forward\'s acrimonious departure from United last year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Alex Telles has completed a permanent move from Manchester United to Al-Nassr,\" a United statement said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The 30-year-old full-back has joined the Saudi Premier League outfit following 50 first-team appearances for the Reds.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We\'d like to thank Alex for his contributions to the club over the last three years and would like to wish him all the best for the future.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Telles struggled to hold down a regular place in the United after arriving from Porto in a o13.6 million deal in 2020.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, he impressed at Sevilla, where he won the Europa League with the Spanish club last season.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Telles\'s move to Al Nassr comes amid a shock exodus of top players to Saudi Arabia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">France striker Karim Benzema quit Real Madrid to join Al-Ittihad, while a host of Premier League stars have headed to the Gulf state.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chelsea\'s N\'Golo Kante linked up with compatriot Benzema at Al-Ittihad, with his former Blues team-mate Kalidou Koulibaly moving to Al-Hilal, who also signed Ruben Neves from Wolves.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Edouard Mendy was another Chelsea player to swap west London for Saudi Arabia as the Senegal keeper joined Al Ahli, where he will be joined by Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Former Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard accepted an offer to take charge of Al Ettifaq, who hope to sign Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson imminently. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bndb24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 13:04:28', '2023-07-24 13:04:28'),
(8174, 8174, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Heavy rains caused flooding and a landslide in eastern China, leaving at least five people dead and three missing while over 1,500 were evacuated, state media reported Sunday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China National Radio said the floods swept through a village in the Fuyang district of the city of Hangzhou, engulfing many houses on Saturday afternoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The rain later led to a partial mountain collapse and mudslide, affecting multiple areas in the district and more than 1,600 households lost power, CCTV said. Over 1,500 people were evacuated, Xinhua news agency reported.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Every year, seasonal flooding hits large parts of China, particularly in the semitropical south. However, some northern regions this year have reported the worst floods in 50 years.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The torrents have hit different parts of the country this month and caused casualties. Earlier this month, at least 15 people were killed by floods in the southwestern region of Chongqing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to CCTV on Sunday, torrential rain also turned many streets in Liaoning, a northeastern province, into rivers, forcing 5,590 people to be evacuated. About 30 houses and 54 hectares of crops were damaged, it added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the central province of Hubei, rainstorms trapped some residents in their vehicles and homes. By Saturday night, authorities had rescued or evacuated some 220 people in Xianning city, state media People\'s Daily reported.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China’s deadliest and most destructive floods in recent history were in 1998, when 4,150 people died, most of them along the Yangtze River.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 2021, more than 300 people died in the central province of Henan. Record rainfall inundated the provincial capital of Zhengzhou on July 20 that year, turning streets into rushing rivers and flooding at least part of a subway line. AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 14:30:25', '2023-07-24 14:30:25'),
(8175, 8175, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ten people have died and one remained trapped after the roof of a school gym collapsed in northeastern China, state media reported Monday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The gym at the No. 34 Middle School in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province collapsed just before 3 pm (0700 GMT) on Sunday, state news agency Xinhua said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As of 5:30 am Monday, 14 people had been pulled from the wreckage, state broadcaster CCTV said, \"among whom four were pulled out without vital signs, and six died after treatment failed\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Footage aired by CCTV showed the entire roof collapsed onto the gym and rescue workers picking through the debris.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"A search and rescue operation involving nearly 160 firefighters and 39 fire trucks has been launched,\" CCTV said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An initial investigation into the collapse found that construction workers had placed perlite -- a form of volcanic glass -- on the roof, Xinhua said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Heavy rain then led the perlite to expand, causing the roof to collapse, it added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Those in charge of the construction company have been taken into police custody,\" the state news agency reported.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Industrial accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards and poor enforcement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One of the worst such accidents took place in 2015 in Tianjin, where a gigantic explosion at a chemical warehouse killed at least 165 people. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 14:58:22', '2023-07-24 14:58:22'),
(8176, 8176, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Russia said it thwarted a Ukrainian \"terrorist act\" on Moscow in the early hours of Monday, with the mayor of the Russian capital saying two drones had hit non-residential buildings in the city.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The attack came a day after Kyiv vowed to \"retaliate\" for a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"A Kyiv regime attempt to carry out a terrorist act using two drones on objects on the territory of the city of Moscow was stopped,\" Russia\'s defence ministry said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Two Ukrainian drones were suppressed and crashed. There are no casualties.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The TASS news agency reported one drone crashed in Komsomolsky Prospekt, near Russia\'s defence ministry, while another hit a business centre on Likhacheva Street by one of Moscow\'s main ring roads.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the drone strikes hit \"non-residential\" buildings around 4:00 am local time (0100 GMT).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said emergency services were working at the scene and also reported no casualties.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The RIA Novosti news agency posted a video of the business centre, with some damage visible to the top of the tall building.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The road around it was closed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Moscow has been hit by several drone attacks this year, with one even hitting the Kremlin in May.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier this month, Russia said it had downed five Ukrainian drones that disrupted the functioning of Moscow\'s Vnukovo international airport. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 15:01:30', '2023-07-24 15:01:30');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(8177, 8177, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Nine people, including four soldiers, were killed Sunday evening when a civilian plane crashed in Sudan due to \"technical\" reasons, the army said, as the war in the east African country entered its 100th day.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The fighting has left millions trapped in their homes and some without water, particularly in the suburbs of the capital Khartoum where residents were calling for food donations to help them survive.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a war-devastated district of the city, Abbas Mohammed Babiker says he and his family have only been able to eat once a day. Now even that is in doubt, but on Sunday a citizens\' support group issued an urgent appeal for donations to help people like him.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We only have enough for two more days,\" Babiker said from Khartoum North, where residents said at least one person, a local musician, has already died from hunger.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Port Sudan, on the east coast largely spared by the war, the army said a child had survived the crash of an Antonov plane which killed nine others. Port Sudan airport is the only one still working in the country due to the conflict.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since April 15, battles between the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, have killed more than 3,900 people, according to the latest toll from the Armed Conflict Location &amp; Event Data Project (ACLED).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">More than 2.6 million people have been internally displaced, mostly from Khartoum, the International Organization for Migration said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thousands who remain in the capital, particularly in Khartoum North, are trapped without water since the local water station was damaged at the start of the war.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Residents say there is only intermittent electricity and food has nearly run out.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Across the country, about one-third of the population already faced hunger even before the war began, said the United Nations\' World Food Programme. Despite the security challenges, the agency says it has reached more than 1.4 million people with emergency food aid as needs intensify.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"With the fighting, there is no market any more and anyway we have no money,\" said another resident of Khartoum North, Essam Abbas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">To help them, the local \"resistance committee\", a pro-democracy neighbourhood group, issued an emergency appeal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We have to support each other, give food and money and distribute to those around us,\" the committee wrote on Facebook.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In adjacent Omdurman, Khartoum\'s other battle-scarred sister city, locally known violinist Khaled Senhouri \"died from hunger\" last week, his friends wrote on Facebook.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In his own online posts, Senhouri had said he was unable to leave home because of the fighting and had tried to hang on with the supplies that he had. It wasn\'t enough. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 15:04:38', '2023-07-24 15:04:38'),
(8178, 8178, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">President Joe Biden urged Israel in a statement Sunday not to rush increasingly \"divisive\" judicial reforms, given the other challenges facing the US ally.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a statement first published by news site Axios and later shared with AFP by the White House, Biden said, \"It doesn\'t make sense for Israeli leaders to rush this - the focus should be on pulling people together and finding consensus.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"From the perspective of Israel\'s friends in the United States, it looks like the current judicial reform proposal is becoming more divisive, not less,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to bring his controversial proposal to curb the power of judges to a vote in the Knesset as soon as Monday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The proposal triggered dueling protests over the weekend between supporters of the proposal and those who fear it will undermine Israel\'s democracy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The driving force behind the reforms, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, said the bill L put to lawmakers on Monday had undergone changes to accommodate critics, but added that the coalition was still open to \"understandings.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Netanyahu faced other challenges over the weekend, not the least of which was a trip to the hospital to have a pacemaker fitted after he was hospitalized for a reported spell of dizziness.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His government, which includes far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies, argues that the proposed reforms will prevent overreach by unelected judges and ensure a better balance of power.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Opponents accuse the 73-year-old Netanyahu, who has been fighting corruption charges in court, of a conflict of interest and some protesters have labelled him the \"crime minister.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some 20 legislators have lined up to speak against the bill, which would limit Supreme Court judges\' ability to strike down government decisions they deem \"unreasonable.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">If approved, the \"reasonability\" clause would be the first major component of the overhaul to become law. Other proposed changes include allowing the government a greater say in the appointment of judges. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 15:07:24', '2023-07-24 15:07:24'),
(8179, 8179, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Twitter owner Elon Musk and the chief executive he brought aboard just a month ago say the social media network will ditch the bird logo, rebrand the platform with the name X and move quickly into payments, banking and commerce.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Powered by AI, X will connect us in ways we\'re just beginning to imagine,\" Twitter chief executive Linda Yaccarino tweeted Sunday afternoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Late Saturday night, Musk indicated he plans to jettison Twitter\'s blue cartoon bird logo.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,\" he tweeted around midnight, implying an end to the imagery from where the very word \"tweet\" stems.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Like this but X,\" the billionaire SpaceX boss said, above a picture of the Twitter bird over a black and white marbled background.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Yaccarino, an advertising sales executive at NBCUniversal whom Musk poached last month to become Twitter\'s CEO, said the social media platform is on the cusp of broadening its scope.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"X is the future state of unlimited interactivity - centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking - creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,\" Yaccarino tweeted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"There\'s absolutely no limit to this transformation. X will be the platform that can deliver, well... everything,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October, the platform\'s advertising business has partially collapsed as marketers soured on the mass firings at the platform that gutted content moderation as well as on Musk\'s management style.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In response, the tycoon has moved toward introducing payments and commerce through the platform in a search for new revenue.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Twitter, founded in 2006 and whose name is a play on the sound of birds chattering, has used avian branding since its early days, when the company bought a stock symbol of a light blue bird for $15, according to the design website Creative Bloq.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 52-year-old Tesla founder has previously said that his rocky takeover of Twitter last year was \"an accelerant to creating X, the everything app,\" a reference to the X.com company he founded in 1999, a later version of which went on to become PayPal, a payments giant.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Such an app could still function as a social media platform, and also include messaging and mobile payments.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Musk has already named Twitter\'s parent company the X Corporation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we\'ll make (it) go live worldwide tomorrow,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Musk went on to make several other X-related comments, saying a new emblem should be \"of course, Art Deco\" style and that under the site\'s new identity a post would be called \"an X.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Twitter is thought to have around 200 million daily active users but it has suffered repeated technical failures since Musk bought the app and sacked much of its staff.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since then, many users and advertisers alike have responded adversely to the social media site\'s new charges for previously free services, changes to content moderation and the return of previously banned right-wing accounts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Musk said earlier this month that Twitter has lost roughly half of its advertising revenue since he took control in October.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Facebook parent Meta earlier this month launched its own text-based platform, called Threads, which has up to 150 million users according to some estimates.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But the amount of time users spend on the rival app has plummeted in the weeks since its launch, according to data from market analysis firm Sensor Tower. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"18\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 15:11:37', '2023-07-24 15:11:37'),
(8180, 8180, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka ranked third on the global list of cities with the worst air quality this morning.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The air in Dhaka city was classified as ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’, with an AQI score of 143 at 9:10 am.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">South Africa\'s Johannesburg and Indonesia\'s Jakarta occupied the first and second spots on the list, with AQI scores of 160 and 155, respectively.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 151 and 200 is considered \'unhealthy\', while 201–300 is \'very unhealthy\', and 301+ is \'hazardous\', posing severe health risks to residents.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The AQI in Bangladesh is based on five pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2, and ozone.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 15:14:26', '2023-07-24 15:14:26'),
(8181, 8181, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose reports establish scientific consensus on climate change, meets this week in Nairobi to elect a new chair.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">South Korean economist Hoesung Lee is stepping down after nearly eight years at the helm and the UN body set up in 1988 could now elect its first female leader.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two women are among four candidates for the post -- Brazil\'s Thelma Krug, an IPCC vice-chair and former researcher at her country\'s national space institute, and South Africa\'s Debra Roberts, a biogeographer specialising in urbanisation issues and currently co-chair of an IPCC working group investigating the effects of climate change on societies and ecosystems.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Paleoclimatologist Valerie Masson-Delmotte, who heads one of three IPCC working groups, said it was \"important\" to have female candidates on the slate -- unlike in 2015 when all six hopefuls were men.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It\'s not because they are women but because they are people of high scientific prowess who understand well the contrasting political and social stakes in the world\'s different countries,\" she told AFP, adding all four hopefuls had the vision to spearhead renewal at a time of \"many challenges\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Almost one in three contributors to the IPCC are women.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The two other candidates standing to head the body are Belgian Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, a climatologist who previously ran for the post in 2015 and Briton Jim Skea, a professor of renewable energy at Imperial College in London.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Skea is also co-chair of an IPCC working group looking at how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Whoever lands the top job will lead and oversee hundreds of experts through to the end of a crucial decade, considered to be the last for humanity to act to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to preindustrial levels.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Shock reports -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Masson-Delmotte stressed the importance of the role of chair in the functioning of the institution which encompasses 195 countries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"They oversee the plenary meetings where all the decisions are taken. They also play a supervisory role in drawing up summary reports\" while acting as an interface with the diplomatic world.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The organisation\'s mission statement is to prepare reports on \"the state of scientific, technical and socio-economic knowledge on climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for reducing the rate at which climate change is taking place\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IPCC in 2007 received the Nobel peace prize accolade jointly with former US vice-president Al Gore.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Every five to seven years it publishes a group of peer reviewed reports which synthesise the latest climate change science.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The most recent synthesis report was published last March, and showed in no uncertain terms that previous synthesis reports had somewhat underestimated the effects of global warming.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Those authoritative reports become central to global climate negotiations, telling world leaders at COP international summits how much human activities have warmed the Earth, and how to mitigate global warming.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">COP28 will be held from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lee, an economist specialising in energy issues, succeeded India\'s Rajendra Pachauri, who resigned in February 2015 amid accusations of sexual harassment by a colleague in India and who died in 2020.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Nairobi meeting will be the IPCC\'s 59th plenary assembly which will also see the election of 34 members to the body\'s bureau. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 15:43:18', '2023-07-24 15:43:18'),
(8182, 8182, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least 15 people were killed and 19 more were missing on Monday after a ferry sank off the coast of Indonesia\'s Sulawesi island, search and rescue officials said.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The boat sank with 40 people onboard just after midnight local time (1700 GMT on Sunday), the local office of Indonesia\'s search and rescue agency said in a statement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Six people were rescued and taken to hospital for treatment, and the cause of the sinking was being investigated, it said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Provisionally, there are 19 people who are still being searched for,\" Muhamad Arafah, head of the local search and rescue agency in Kendari city in Southeast Sulawesi, said in the statement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One search team will dive around the accident site, while another will search the water\'s surface using boats, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ferry was crossing from Lanto village on Buton island to Lagili village on Muna island in Southeast Sulawesi, the agency said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It shared images of rescuers mobilising for the search effort, and several dead bodies covered by sarongs laid on tarpaulin at a local hospital.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is common in Indonesia for the number of actual passengers on a boat to differ from the manifest.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Marine accidents occur frequently in the Southeast Asian archipelago nation of around 17,000 islands, where people rely on ferries and small boats to travel around despite poor safety standards.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 2018, more than 150 people drowned when a ferry sank in one of the world\'s deepest lakes on Sumatra island.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In May last year, a ferry carrying more than 800 people ran aground in shallow waters off East Nusa Tenggara province and remained stuck for two days before being dislodged.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">No one was hurt in that accident. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 17:46:55', '2023-07-24 17:46:55'),
(8183, 8183, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh Ambulance Owners Welfare Association has called for an indefinite nationwide strike to press home their six-point demand, including the withdrawal of taxes imposed by Bangladesh Road Transport Authority(BRTA).</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The strike of private ambulance owners will begin on Tuesday if the demands are not met by today, said Gulam Mostafa, President of the Bangladesh Ambulance Owners Welfare Association on Monday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Not enough fuel allocation means no ambulance service at Faridpur General Hospital for 45 days</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Other demands include formation of a national policy on ambulances and the implementation of prime minister’s announced toll-free facility for ambulances.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ambulance owners also demanded parking facilities at all hospitals in the country, the facility to fill up fuel at filling stations without having to wait in lines while transporting a patient, and uninterrupted travel on roads. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 17:51:10', '2023-07-24 17:51:10'),
(8184, 8184, '<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is joining the three-day UN Food Systems Summit+2 Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS+2) at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters commencing this afternoon.</b><br></p><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister, who arrived here on Sunday afternoon, will also address the official opening of the conference as the special guest speaker.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Around 2000 participants from over 160 countries, including over 20 heads of state and government, are attending the summit to be held on 24-26 July in Rome.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The event, convened by the United Nations Secretariat, and hosted by Italy, in collaboration with the Rome-based UN Agencies (FAO, IFAD, WFP), will be officially inaugurated&nbsp; at 02:30 local time as UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, and Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni will lead the high-level opening.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The opening segment will also have the participation of FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, and several heads of government, including the Prime Ministers of Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Samoa and Nepal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The high-level meeting aims to create a conducive space for countries to review progress of the commitments made at the first Food Systems Summit in 2021, and identify successes, end bottlenecks and establish priorities.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will have a busy day today here. After the opening ceremony, she will participate in the plenary session titled “Food Systems and Climate Action”.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the evening of the same day, she will also join the inaugural ceremony of Bangladesh-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Room in FAO headquarters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She will, as well, have bilateral meeting with her Nepalese counterpart Pushpa Kamal Dahal on the sidelines of the conference.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In addition, Italian Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, FAO Director General Qu Dongyu, Executive Director of World Food Program Cindy Hensley McCain, President of International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD) Alvaro Lario, will also pay courtesy call on the Bangladesh premier.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to FAO statement, the UNFSS+2 stocktaking meeting will be an important occasion to further strengthen political commitment and pathways for implementation at global, national and sub-national levels.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The historic task we are facing is clear: defining a holistic, coordinated and science based approach to make agrifood systems more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind,” the FAO Director-General said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The event will also be an opportunity for countries to outline the work required to address some of the challenges they face to transform their agrifood systems. These include the impacts of conflicts and climate change as well as access to finance and other resources.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Summit comes at a time when up to 783 million people are facing hunger in the world, 122 million more since 2019 due to the pandemic and repeated climate shocks and conflicts, according to the latest state of food security and nutrition in the world report.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The capacity of people to access healthy diets has also deteriorated across the globe: more than 3.1 billion people in the world – or 42 percent – were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2021.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“If we project that to the future, we will have 600 million people chronically undernourished by 2030, far from the goal of Zero Hunger,” FAO Chief Economist, Máximo Torero, warned during a recent media briefing on the UNFSS+2. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 17:57:43', '2023-07-24 17:57:43'),
(8185, 8185, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left hospital Monday after an operation to fit him with a pacemaker, the Sheba Medical Center said.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Netanyahu left \"five minutes ago,\" a spokesman for the hospital told AFP. The Israeli premier had been admitted at the hospital overnight Sunday. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 18:05:30', '2023-07-24 18:05:30'),
(8186, 8186, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Supreme Court to take up at 11.15am Gyanvapi mosque management committee\'s plea against a survey of the mosque by the ASI.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Varanasi district court order until 5 pm on July 26 allowing scientific excavation of the Gyanvapi mosque complex survey by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to ascertain whether the masjid was built over a pre-existing Hindu temple.</div><div><br></div><div>The court requested the Allahabad high court to ensure the matter is taken up on July 26. A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud ordered that no invasive work would be undertaken by the ASI to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi was built upon a temple and agreed to hear a plea moved by the mosque committee during the day.</div><div><br></div><div>The bench took note of the submissions made by senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, who appeared in the court on behalf of the mosque committee, that the matter be heard urgently.</div><div><br></div><div>The top court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was representing the Uttar Pradesh government, to inform the ASI team that there should not be any \"invasive work\" or excavation at the site. According to Hindustan Times&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 18:24:08', '2023-07-24 18:24:08'),
(8187, 8187, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Uorfi Javed, who has been having a tough time after opting for undereye fillers recently, shared a long note talking about her journey with fillers in the last few years. Taking to Instagram on Monday, Uorfi posted a series of her photos giving a glimpse of her face after she opted for fillers.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">In the first photo, one of Uorfi\'s eyes was red. In the next picture, Uorfi smiled looking at the camera. She was also seen with lip fillers in a few photos. All the pictures were clicked by Uorfi herself.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>Uorfi talks about her journey with fillers</b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Sharing the pictures, Uorfi captioned the post, \"Sharing with you all my lip filler journey. I’ve been getting lip fillers from the age of 18, I didn’t have that much money back then but I always felt my lips were too thin and I wanted bigger fuller lips. I went to dermat deni we’re ready to do it for less and these were the results at times! I had to get them dissolved and mind it it’s the most painful thing ever!!\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">She also added, \"I’m not telling people to not get them, but in fact what I’m trying to say is just be careful while getting fillers or Botox. I still very much have lip fillers just that I know what suits my face and I know now less is more. Encouraging everyone to thoroughly research before going to any doctor. I actually revvokend (recommend) fillers to everyone, if you have some insecurities about your face or body instead of hating yourself or your face it’s just better to opt for fillers or surgeries but but but from a very good doctor only.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Reacting to the post, fans thanked her for her honesty. A person wrote, \"To come out that clean and real being in this profession needs guts !!! @urfi\" A comment read, \"Thank you for being honest and real. And for people saying accept yourself for who you are. It\'s her body and if she likes it so be it. She doesn\'t recommend fillers or surgery to anyone. She\'s saying if they want to go for it, choose a good doctor. Natural is the best yes but if it doesn\'t make you happy then why not.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Sharing the post on her Instagram Stories, she wrote, “Bahot time se I was thinking to share this, padh lena guys (I was thinking of sharing this for a long time, do read guys).” She also wrote, “Botched lips (melting face emoji).”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>Uorfi on undereye fillers</b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Recently, she warned people to be careful while opting for fillers. On Instagram, she wrote, \"Will say this again, be very very careful before getting undereye fillers-my under eyes have bumps. The doctor ruined my under eyes even lips-I got my fillers dissolved so it\'s better! Now I have to get my undereye filler dissolved-the most painful thing ever-dissolving the filler.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Uorfi, last week, had posted her picture on Instagram. She wrote, \"I was trolled so much because of my dark circles, I got under eye fillers and now my face looks f***ed up!! The under eyes are uneven and weird! Now even make-up can\'t hide my weird under eyes!! Why did I do this to myself.\" HT</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"13\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 18:49:36', '2023-07-24 18:49:36'),
(8188, 8188, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>One of the most beautiful things in this world given to mankind by Allah is marriage. Having someone to confide in, grow with, learn from, cry to, and so much more is an experience that can help one get closer to Allah.</b></span></div><div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><br></span></div><div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> That being said, not all marriages end well due to many reasons. The spouses may not be compatible in lifestyle, drive, or culture. There could be uncontrolled emotions that lead to violence or abuse. Maybe the extended families do not get along whatsoever. Whatever the reason, it happens, and it is important to make dua and ask Allah to help during trying times. For this reason, Allah allows for divorce, but under his laws. There are many verses regarding the manners and actions one must take during a divorce to ensure that peace is maintained. This article will focus on being mindful of Allah during the stressful times of divorce through 5 verses from the Quran.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>1. Compensation before consummation</div><div>There is no blame if you divorce women before the marriage is consummated or the dowry is settled. But give them a ˹suitable˺ compensation—the rich according to his means and the poor according to his. A reasonable compensation is an obligation on the good-doers.</div><div><br></div><div>And if you divorce them before consummating the marriage but after deciding on a dowry, pay half of the dowry, unless the wife graciously waives it or the husband graciously pays in full. Graciousness is closer to righteousness. And do not forget kindness among yourselves. Surely Allah is All-Seeing of what you do. [2:236-237]</div><div><br></div><div>This situation refers to when two people get married but did not follow through with consummation or other parts of the marriage. In many cultures, this is seen as an unfortunate case, but it doesn’t have to be an end-all situation. One should do their best to appease both parties and make sure that there are no ill feelings. If it means paying the dowry, giving gifts to the family, connecting them to another spouse, or helping them with the after-effects. Whatever it takes to make sure everyone is happy! When Allah says “Graciousness is closer to righteousness” this is what he means. This can apply to all situations and Allah will know the intention even if the result doesn’t end up with everyone satisfied. One of the famous hadiths narrated by Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him):</div><div><br></div><div>Actions are according to intentions, and everyone will get what was intended. [Bukhari &amp; Muslim]</div><div><br></div><div>So intending and putting in the effort gives the reward, regardless of the result!</div><div><br></div><div>2. Plan for the Iddah</div><div>O Prophet! ˹Instruct the believers:˺ When you ˹intend to˺ divorce women, then divorce them with concern for their waiting period, and count it accurately. And fear Allah, your Lord. Do not force them out of their homes, nor should they leave—unless they commit blatant misconduct. These are the limits set by Allah. And whoever transgresses Allah’s limits has truly wronged his own soul. You never know, perhaps Allah will bring about a change [of heart] later. [65:1]</div><div><br></div><div>In this verse, Allah tells men to think about the Iddah (waiting period) for women before a divorce. The iddah for divorce focuses on the number of menstruations. If the woman isn’t menstruating(such as a young girl or older woman), then the waiting period is 3 months. If they menstruate, then their iddah is 3 menstruations. If the woman is pregnant, then she must wait until she gives birth. During this period women have to stay at home unless it’s for an important reason and they are not allowed to beautify themselves. There are certain exceptions regarding the housing and items one can use. Please look at the source section for a more detailed explanation. The reason for the iddah is to make sure that there is no confusion regarding the father of the child.</div><div><br></div><div>As one can see sisters go through a hard time during this period, so Allah is asking the men to make sure that they think about this before divorcing their spouse. Ensure that they will have an easy time and short as well (try not to divorce right after intercourse). Allah says not to kick them out and be mindful of him. This patience by the grace of Allah may bring forth love once again.</div><div><br></div><div>3. Maintain your divorced wife</div><div>Let them live where you live ˹during their waiting period˺, according to your means. And do not harass them to make their stay unbearable. If they are pregnant, then maintain them until they deliver. And if they nurse your child, compensate them, and consult together courteously. But if you fail to reach an agreement, then another woman will nurse ˹the child˺ for the father. [65:6]</div><div><br></div><div>This verse speaks of the duties during the iddah. Specifically how one should continue to maintain their previous spouse by housing them, feeding them, and acting with grace. As Allah has said that kindness, honor, and graciousness are part of a true believer. It is important during this period to work together so that both families are satisfied. Even providing compensation for nursing is a command from Allah. If they don’t want to stay in the house after giving birth, then respect their opinion or work it out with them. Everything should be done civilly as that is what makes Allah happy.</div><div><br></div><div>4. Separate honourably</div><div>Then when they have ˹almost˺ reached the end of their waiting period, either retain them honourably or separate from them honourably. And call two of your reliable men to witness ˹either way˺—and ˹let the witnesses˺ bear true testimony for ˹the sake of˺ Allah. This is enjoined on whoever has faith in Allah and the Last Day. And whoever is mindful of Allah, He will make a way out for them [65:2]</div><div><br></div><div>This verse is a follow-up to a previous one. When their iddah is almost over, be respectful no matter the final result (separation or getting back together). Allah also asks for witnesses in these situations, so that there is no argument afterward. What is key is that Allah says one who has faith in him and believes in the last day has to do. These are two pillars of faith and are central to Islam. This shows that following laws made by Allah are acts of worship as one is being mindful of him. This mindfulness of Allah will open up doors that one didn’t initially see.</div><div><br></div><div>5. Retain the marriage to only cause harm</div><div>When you divorce women and they have ˹almost˺ reached the end of their waiting period, either retain them honourably or let them go honourably. But do not retain them ˹only˺ to harm them ˹or˺ to take advantage ˹of them˺. Whoever does that surely wrongs his own soul. Do not take Allah’s revelations lightly. Remember Allah’s favours upon you as well as the Book and wisdom He has sent down for your guidance. Be mindful of Allah, and know that Allah has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of all things. [2:231]</div><div><br></div><div>In this verse, Allah speaks of the attitude that a man should have when he decides that he will preserve the marriage after a divorce. He should not have an ulterior motive like trying to ruin her life or trying to take advantage of her property and so forth. There should be no ill will or feelings of vengeance between the spouses if preserving the marriage has been decided on. Allah points out that one who does this is just harming himself as they are going against Allah’s commands. Thoughts and intentions are known by Allah, so there is no point in bottling up these schemes. It is understandable to be upset during these types of situations, but two wrongs do not make a right. If one knows that they still have ill feelings, then do not retain the marriage. Otherwise, if both spouses want to put in the effort to make amends, then by Allah’s will it could make the marriage stronger than it was before the divorce.</div><div><br></div><div>Conclusion</div><div>Divorces can happen and Muslims must know the proper way of going about it when it happens. Of course, the goal is to avoid divorce if it’s not necessary. When it happens, sometimes children won’t have both parents with them frequently. It also makes it easier for Shaytan to cause problems as it’s easier for him to attack when the community is divided. The smallest unit in a community is the family, so if everyone keeps strong family bonds, it will inshaAllah turn into a strong community, then to a strong city, then to a strong nation, and so forth. Be healing for one another and remember Allah! By Sancheet Hoque</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'Islamic Desk', '[\"21\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 20:01:39', '2023-07-24 20:01:39'),
(8189, 8189, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Ten people have died and one remained trapped after the roof of a school gym collapsed in northeastern China, state media reported Monday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The gym at the No. 34 Middle School in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province collapsed just before 3 pm (0700 GMT) on Sunday, state news agency Xinhua said.</div><div><br></div><div>As of 5:30 am Monday, 14 people had been pulled from the wreckage, state broadcaster CCTV said, \"among whom four were pulled out without vital signs, and six died after treatment failed\".</div><div><br></div><div>Footage aired by CCTV showed the entire roof collapsed onto the gym and rescue workers picking through the debris.</div><div><br></div><div>\"A search and rescue operation involving nearly 160 firefighters and 39 fire trucks has been launched,\" CCTV said.</div><div><br></div><div>An initial investigation into the collapse found that construction workers had placed perlite -- a form of volcanic glass -- on the roof, Xinhua said.</div><div><br></div><div>Heavy rain then led the perlite to expand, causing the roof to collapse, it added.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Those in charge of the construction company have been taken into police custody,\" the state news agency reported.</div><div><br></div><div>Industrial accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards and poor enforcement.</div><div><br></div><div>One of the worst such accidents took place in 2015 in Tianjin, where a gigantic explosion at a chemical warehouse killed at least 165 people. - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 20:58:51', '2023-07-24 20:58:51'),
(8190, 8190, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A fire engine driver collapsed with heart attack while rushing to a fire scene as the fire truck he was driving subsequently dashed a passenger bus, which killed a pedestrian when its driver lost control of his vehicle as well.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;Officials and witnesses said the firemen were called out after the fire broke out at a garments factory on the outskirts of this river port city while 50-year-old Jahangir Hossain was driving one of the fire engines.</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;The blaze of the Fakir Garments in Fatullah area was eventually doused without any casualty or major damage but the tragedy occurred as Hossain nearly reached the fire scene.</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;\"The cardiac arrest killed him almost instantly while the fire truck hit the backside of the Ananda Paribahan bus, causing to knock four pedestrians, one of them died on the spot as well,\" Narayanganj Bus-Minibus Owners Association president Didar Ahmed told reporters.</div><div><br></div><div>He said a pedestrian was also killed in the accident.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The pedestrian could not be identified immediately.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Several thousand people cordoned off the spot and movement of all sorts of vehicle was halted for several hours during noon.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Police is taking action to ease the movement of the vehicles after removing all those ruins vehicles\", said Anisur Rahman, Office in Charge (OC) of Sadar Police Station.</div><div><br></div><div>The fire eventually has come under control as a total of eight fire fighting units rushed to the spot to bring the fire under control. According to BSS reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 21:17:06', '2023-07-24 21:17:06');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(8191, 8191, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader has said that there is no possibility of conflict from the party\'s side during the rally on July 27.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“Awami League will not instigate any violence. However, the AL government will ensure the safety of people\'s lives and property if violent incidents occur,” he said while addressing the introductory meeting of the party\'s education and human resources sub-committee at its central office on Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka today.</div><div><br></div><div>“Around 70 percent of the country\'s population is eagerly waiting to vote for AL. People are our strength, and we are not afraid of anyone,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Commenting on student politics, he said, “The beauty of student politics has lost some sheen, and we need to revive its former glory,” reports UNB</div><div><br></div><div>Quader told, “There has been a quiet revolution happening in the development of Digital Bangladesh by Sajeeb Wazed. He works in silence and does not seek self-promotion.”&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 21:37:51', '2023-07-24 21:37:51'),
(8192, 8192, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A rocket launched by Elon Musk\'s SpaceX punched a temporary hole in the ionosphere surrounding our planet, according to a report in spaceweather.com.&nbsp;</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The Falcon 9 rocket was launched on July 19 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. According to the company website, it is a reusable, two-stage rocket for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond. SpaceX also said that it is the world\'s first orbital class reusable rocket. Falcon 9 has conducted 240 launches and 198 landings.</div><div><br></div><div>Photos from the July 19 launch showed a faint red glow, which was studied by space physicist Jeff Baumgardner from Boston University. After reviewed the footage of the launch, he said that the red glow indicates that a hole was made in the ionosphere.</div><div><br></div><div>\"This is a well-studied phenomenon when rockets are burning their engines 200 to 300 km above Earth\'s surface,\" Mr Baumgardner told spaceweather.com.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I reviewed footage from the July 19th launch. It shows the second stage engine burning at 286 km near the F-region peak for that time of day. So, it is quite possible that an ionospheric \'hole\' was made,\" he added.</div><div><br></div><div>The ionosphere lies on the edge of space and is filled with charged particles called ions. According to NASA, it is the reason that geomagnetic storms cause aurora, with solar plasma reacting with the ions to create the spectacular colours seen in the sky.</div><div><br></div><div>A similar event involving the same rocket happened earlier too. According to Science Times, Falcon 9 was launched from Vanderberg Space Force Base carrying FORMOSAT-5 payload on August 24, 2017.</div><div><br></div><div>Due to the low weight, the rocket launched along a vertical path rather than travelling parallel to the surface of the Earth, creating shockwaves. As a result, it ruptured a hole in the plasma of the ionosphere.</div><div><br></div><div>The same thing happened again when the Falcon 9 rocket was launched on June 19, 2022, the outlet further said. Source: NDTV</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 22:13:38', '2023-07-24 22:13:38'),
(8193, 8193, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least nine students of Chakirpasha Islamia Dakhil Madrasha were injured by lightning in Rajarhat upazila of Kurigram district on Monday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The injured are Abdur Razzaque, Nazmin Nahar, Sumaiya, Roksana, Afroza, Nirma, Ali Raz, Farzana and Sanzida.</div><div><br></div><div>Quoting Manik Mia, superintendent of the madrasha, Abdullah Hil Zaman, officer-in-charge of Rajarhat Police Station, said a streak of thunderbolt struck nine students of the madrasha while they were sitting in their tin-shed classroom in the afternoon amid rain, leaving them injured.</div><div><br></div><div>Later, they were taken to the Rajarhat Upazila Health Complex for treatment. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 22:44:52', '2023-07-24 22:44:52'),
(8194, 8194, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A se* scene in the Hollywood blockbuster \"Oppenheimer\" featuring a line from a Hindu holy scripture sparked online outrage in India on Monday, with an official calling it a \"scathing attack\".</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Critics say religious intolerance has been growing in the world\'s most populous country since the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014.</div><div><br></div><div>The biographical drama about US physicist Robert Oppenheimer -- played by actor Cillian Murphy -- opened in India on Friday to positive reviews, reportedly raking in more than $3 million at the box office in two days.</div><div><br></div><div>One scene shows Oppenheimer with his lover Jean Tatlock, played by Florence Pugh, in which she opens a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu religious text, and asks him to read from it.</div><div><br></div><div>Murphy reads the line, \"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds\", the quote which Oppenheimer reportedly recalled when the first nuclear bomb was detonated.</div><div><br></div><div>\"This is a direct assault on religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus,\" Uday Mahurkar, a senior official at the government\'s Central Information Commission, wrote to the film\'s director, Christopher Nolan.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It amounts to waging a war on the Hindu community,\" Mahurkar said in the letter, a copy of which he posted on Twitter, and urged Nolan cut the scene.</div><div><br></div><div>Hashtags such as #BoycottOppenheimer and #RespectHinduCulture have been trending on Twitter.</div><div><br></div><div>Harris Sultan, an author, said Hindus were \"left angry and perplexed at the blatant disrespect\".</div><div><br></div><div>Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a prominent right-wing Hindu organisation, said the movie was an attempt to \"launch an attack\" on Hindu society and demanded the scene be cut.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The makers should apologise to the Hindu community all over the world whose sentiments have been badly hurt,\" spokesman Vinod Bansal told AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>Hindus are the majority in India but minorities, including Muslims, form a significant part of the population. According to AFP reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div><div><br></div>', NULL, 'Entertainment', '[\"13\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 22:57:33', '2023-07-24 22:57:33'),
(8195, 8195, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least 14 people have died after their wooden boat capsized off the Senegalese capital Dakar, a district deputy mayor told AFP on Monday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>“It seems to be migrants,” Samba Kandji said after several similar tragedies in recent weeks.</div><div><br></div><div>Rescue workers were still looking for more bodies after the pirogue overturned overnight from Sunday to Monday.</div><div><br></div><div>“The navy told the vessel to draw alongside and they fled,” Kandji later added.</div><div><br></div><div>“I was told 14 (dead) but two more bodies have been found. We assume it’s 16,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Activity has increased in recent weeks along the Atlantic sea route from northwest Africa used by migrants to try to reach Europe via Spain’s Canary Islands. By Channels Television</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-24 23:37:03', '2023-07-24 23:37:03'),
(8196, 8196, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina placed a five-point proposal at the UN Food Systems Summit to ensure sustainable, safe and nutritious food system worldwide, laying emphasis on coordinated steps to lift restrictions on food and fertilizer exports.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>She also stressed the need of promotion of multilateral development banks and private entrepreneurs to invest in modern agriculture.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier made this proposals while addressing the official opening ceremony of UN Food Systems Summit+2 Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS+2) at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) headquarters here.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The summit began this evening with the theme of \"Sustainable Food Systems for People, Planet and Prosperity: Diverse Pathways in a Shared Journey\".</div><div><br></div><div>It needs to provide financial incentives and policy support at the international level to encourage multilateral development banks and private entrepreneurs to invest in modern agriculture,\" Sheikh Hasina said raising her first proposal.</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;In her second proposal, she said taking concerted actions are absolutely required to remove any trade barrier, including the lifting of restrictions on food and fertilizer exports alongside to continue effectiveness of the Black Sea Grain Deal initiated by the UN Secretary General.</div><div><br></div><div>Placing the third proposal, she said the international community should come forward to establish global and regional \"food banks\" to deal with emergency situations and also help the developing countries transform the food production systems in the situation given by climate change.</div><div><br></div><div>Nano-technology, bio-informatics and advanced agricultural technologies developed keeping the pace with the 4th industrial revolution in agricultural education and research should be made available to all, said the premier in her fourth proposal.</div><div><br></div><div>Making her final proposal, she said it needs to develop a massive social movement involving young people to prevent the waste of about one-third of the food produced worldwide every year.</div><div><br></div><div>\"If we can collectively adopt and implement the necessary action plans, we\'ll be able to achieve sustainable global food security,\" she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina also asked the international community to introduce inclusive and sustainable food management for all as two billion people still remain out of food security in the world.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Food, fertilizer, energy and financial crises induced by the ongoing Ukraine war and sanctions and counter-sanctions have intensified the problem of hunger and malnutrition around the world. However, the cost of agriculture and food products is not the only constraint to the inability to procure nutritious food. It needs the introduction of inclusive and sustainable food management for all,\" she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier said some 690 million people are still suffering from malnutrition, nearly two billion are under food security and nearly three billion are deprived of a balanced diet in the world.</div><div><br></div><div>Turing to Bangladesh\'s food sector, the premier said her government, being elected for a second term in 2009, started with a food deficit of 2.6 lakh metric tonnes and then it took various steps including providing subsidy for agricultural mechanization, opening bank account for farmers at Taka 10, ensuring a disciplined fertilizer distribution system.</div><div><br></div><div>\"As a result, we not only achieved food self-sufficiency, but also became a food surplus country by 2013,\" she said.</div><div><br></div><div>According to a report of FAO, Bangladesh is one of top-ten food producing countries in the world. The country\'s production of food grains increased to 49.4 million metric tons in 2022-23 fiscal year from 32.9 million metric tons in the 2008-09 fiscal year, she said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Now Bangladesh ranks 3rd in rice and fish production, 2nd in jute production, 3rd in vegetable production and 6th in potato production in the world,\" she said.</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;The contribution of agriculture sector to the GDP of Bangladesh is 11.66 percent. But some 40.6 percent of the country\'s workforce is engaged in agriculture. The contribution of the fisheries sector to the GDP is 2.43 percent, while that of livestock sector is 1.90 percent, she added.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Our government has attached top priority to agricultural research and innovation.... 690 improved and high-yielding crop varieties have been developed in the last 14 years. Our scientists have developed salinity-tolerant rice and they are continuing research to develop drought and waterlogging-tolerant rice,\" she continued.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina said her government enacted the Food Safety Act in 2013 and formed the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority in 2015.</div><div><br></div><div>She said now the storage capacity of food grains at the government level is about 21.59 lakh metric tons in Bangladesh. The amount of food grain stock in the country is more than 16 lakh tonnes, which was 10 lakh tonnes in 2007. Some 5 lakh family silos have been distributed in 63 upazilas under 19 disaster-prone districts of the country, she added.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier said Bangladesh has been expressing interest in leveraging its agricultural innovations and experiences in various parts of the world, including Africa.</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;Some 2,000 participants from over 160 countries, including over 20 heads of state and government are attending the UN Food Systems Summit+2 Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS+2). Source: BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 02:14:04', '2023-07-25 02:14:04'),
(8197, 8197, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The young woman stares at a charred beach umbrella lying in the sand and sighs.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"For the tourists, it was a really terrifying and bad experience, but for us, it\'s worse because we live here. Everything is burned.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Edisa, aged 19, who lives in Lindos with her parents on the south-east coast of Rhodes, was caught up in the wildfires that have ravaged the Greek island.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The family, who all work in the many hotels here, were forced to flee their home along with thousands of holidaymakers over the weekend.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">We came across them as they sheltered from the searing heat under an awning on Glystra beach. Small yellow birds tweeted noisily from their cage as Edisa talked; family pets which they had carried to safety.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Just a few days ago, tourists soaked up the sun and splashed about in the glittering blue water here. Now all that is left are the smouldering remains of what looked like a café and the burnt-out skeleton of a local tourism business.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Edisa had just been told their house had survived undamaged, but fires rage on nearby and much of the area is badly damaged. She fears for her future here.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It\'s going to take a lot of years to be repaired and I don\'t think tourists will want to come back after all this,\" she says.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Strong winds carried the pungent smell of smoke across the beach as a tanned man in reflective sunglasses came to view the wreck of his water sports hire company.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Takis Mitropoulos was resigned, but optimistic.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We lost the business. But we have good health and we hope to fix it again. If we are in good health, we can fix everything.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But then he took a phone call and rushed off. The fire was spreading again. Everyone here is on high alert, ready for the moment the wind shifts it in their direction.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is all having a terrible impact on the local community, explained Kyriakos Sarikas, the marketing manager for H Hotels collection which has six properties on Rhodes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Our footsteps echoed as we stepped across the vast cool lobby of one hotel. All the guests were evacuated over the weekend. But, he added, many local workers have had to flee their homes too. As we spoke, the authorities announced the evacuation of several other villages.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It\'s like a biblical catastrophe,\" he says.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The hotel itself was undamaged and with the fires still raging, it was still too early to fully assess the scale of destruction, but he\'s horrified by the burnt-out landscapes around the area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We need to have a plan going out of this crisis to restore the whole area. The hotel is a hotel - you can rebuild it, you can repaint it - but the nature outside is the most important thing, because all this is a result of the environmental crisis that we are facing.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As we drove back north, thick smoke obscured the wooded hillsides to the west and fire engines clustered at the roadside. People who had been evacuated from the village of Malona had gathered, one with a pair of binoculars, to watch as firefighters battled to keep the flames from destroying their homes and their livelihoods. BBC</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 12:40:02', '2023-07-25 12:40:02'),
(8198, 8198, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The number of modern slavery cases reported within the UK care industry has more than doubled in the past year.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There were 109 potential victims, exploited for personal or financial gain, between January and March - twice as many as the same period in 2022.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BBC File on 4 obtained the figures from the government-approved anti-slavery helpline, run by charity Unseen.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Investigators trying to protect workers from being exploited say the care industry is now a \"top priority\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) - whose role is to protect workers from labour exploitation across the UK - told us it had more than 300 ongoing care sector investigations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unseen says the rise in calls about the care sector in the past 12 months is because the government has made it easier for overseas social care staff to work in the UK post-Brexit - and fill thousands of job vacancies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As the supply chain gets bigger, there\'s more chance for exploitation - says the charity.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the year to March, the government had issued 102,000 skilled worker, health and care visas to foreign workers - that\'s up 171% on the previous year. In a statement, it told File on 4 that more than £17.8m had been spent policing modern slavery since 2016.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It\'s very rare to hear from a victim of modern slavery in person, but one woman who came to the UK on a work visa - and was forced to work gruelling hours as a carer - has told us her story.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Still frightened of her former employers, we\'re calling her Terri to protect her identity.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Recruited by an agency in her home country in Africa, Terri was offered work in the UK as a domiciliary carer. The agency told her it would arrange her work visa and transport.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She was interviewed in person, took an English test, and had to provide proof of her work experience. She was promised a job as a care assistant in the UK through a care company. She was told she would earn up to £29,000.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For Terri, who was in an abusive marriage, the job was the perfect opportunity to escape with her three children.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Butterflies were going through me, it was one of the best days of my life,\" she says.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Terri brought her mother with her to the UK, so she could look after Terri\'s children. Although Terri would be provided with somewhere to stay through the care company, depending on where she was asked to work, the children and their grandmother went into private rented accommodation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Terri told us she found her work hours gruelling - up to 20 hours a day - and that she often worked seven days a week. The car she had been promised to travel between clients did not materialise, so she had to walk to appointments.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When Terri eventually received her wages from the company two months later, it worked out at less than £2 an hour, which is illegal. Care workers must be paid at least the minimum wage - £10.90 across the UK (£11.95 in London) - for their time at appointments, plus travel time to and from the office.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Terri complained to the care company but it threatened to stop her work and cancel her visa.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She says other carers she got to know also warned her that the firm\'s owner had political links in her home country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"That makes him very dangerous where we come from - you don\'t want to go against someone like that,\" she told us.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Her low pay meant she was unable to continue paying rent for her mum and children - and they were forced to leave their accommodation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Terri was on a night shift while her mother and children spent the night on the streets. They were spotted by a member of the public and Terri was reported to social services.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When they asked to see her rota they were shocked. \"This is too much, this is insane,\" she says they told her.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Social services helped Terri get placed in the National Referral Mechanism, the government system set up to identify and support victims of modern slavery.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She and her family are now in accommodation provided by social services. Terri is now seeking asylum in the UK - and until a decision is made she isn\'t allowed to work.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Home Office has told her she has \"reasonable grounds\" to prove she was a victim of modern slavery. BBC</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 12:44:27', '2023-07-25 12:44:27'),
(8199, 8199, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The ‘Bangladesh-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Room’ was inaugurated at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) headquarters here.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened the room in a ceremony in presence of FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu on Monday evening.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The establishment of the room marks the celebration of the 100th birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had a dream of building a nation free from hunger and poverty and initiated the “Green Revolution” in the agriculture sector of Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that her country is delighted to have a little piece of Bangladesh inside the FAO headquarters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In this regard, she expressed her gratitude to the FAO director general and his team for their whole-hearted support in making it possible.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said Bangladesh became a member of FAO in 1973 under the guidance of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mentioning that Bangabandhu’s life-long mission was to free Bangladesh’s people from oppression, poverty and hunger, she said, “I pay my profound homage to his memory as we officially open this room that bears his name.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This room also stands for the fifty years of excellent partnership between Bangladesh and FAO, she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh has made significant progress in combating hunger and malnutrition. “It is my life’s purpose to ensure a zero-hunger and zero-poverty future for all people, and we are almost at the last miles of our struggle.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;“I hope the international delegates gathering in this room will take a moment to reflect on our achievements,” she said, adding, “I hope they will draw inspiration from our example to promote food security and sustainability all over the world.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;The newly furnished room shows an image of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, depicted in a paddy field by one of Bangladesh’s farmers. This artistic work was done during the “Mujib Year” - Bangabandhu’s birth centenary observed in 2020-21. It has earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. It bears testimony to Bangabandhu’s place in the hearts and minds of Bangladesh’s common people.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;Sheikh Hasina said that there is also an image of the Ceres Award given to her in 1999 in recognition of their work against hunger and malnutrition. “This was a fitting tribute to the hard work of our farmers and farm labourers,” she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;Referring to her last month’s visit to Geneva where she spoke for Bangladesh’s workers and toiling masses, she said, “This time, I have come here to talk about our farmers’ contributions to produce food for our 168 million people.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She extended her gratitude to the entire UN Food System for standing by their side over the years.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;“I hope the ‘Bangladesh-Bangabadhu Sheikh Mujib Room’ will make all its visitors feel welcome and provide them enough comfort and motivation,” she added. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bndb24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 14:37:46', '2023-07-25 14:37:46'),
(8200, 8200, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The UN\'s atomic watchdog said it saw anti-personnel mines at the site of Ukraine\'s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is occupied by Russian forces.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Europe\'s largest nuclear facility fell to Russian forces shortly after the invasion of Ukraine in February last year and Kyiv and Moscow have since accused each other of planning an incident at the site.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On July 23 International Atomic Energy Agency experts \"saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site\'s internal and external perimeter barriers,\" agency chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement on Monday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The statement did not say how many mines the team had seen.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The devices were in \"restricted areas\" that operating plant personnel cannot access, Grossi said, adding the IAEA\'s initial assessment was that any detonation \"should not affect the site\'s nuclear safety and security systems\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Laying explosives at the site was \"inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance\" and created additional psychological pressure on staff, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last week the IAEA said its experts had carried out inspections at the plant, without \"observing\" the presence of any mines, although they had not been given access to the rooftops of the reactor buildings.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IAEA had still not been given access to the roofs of the reactor buildings and their turbine halls, its latest statement said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After falling into Russian hands, Europe\'s biggest power plant was targeted by gunfire and has been severed from the grid several times, raising fears of a major nuclear accident.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The six reactor units, which before the war produced around a fifth of Ukraine\'s electricity, have been shut down for months. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 14:41:02', '2023-07-25 14:41:02'),
(8201, 8201, '<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The OECD has failed in its efforts to reform the international tax system despite several deals in recent years, the Tax Justice Network said Tuesday, calling for the United Nations to take over responsibility.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a club dominated by rich nations, has helped set global tax rules for decades and has been working to reform them given rampant abuse by multinational firms.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 2021, in talks led by the OECD, agreement was reached on a minimum tax rate of 15 percent on multinationals and to develop rules on how to tax multinationals so countries do not lose out by profit shifting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But implementation of the minimum rate and development of the tax rules have been slow.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"No significant reductions have been made in the amount of tax countries lose to global tax abuse since the start of the OECD\'s efforts to reform global tax 10 years ago,\" said the Tax Justice Network.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Britain-based NGO said that several studies, including one by the IMF, conclude that the OECD\'s draft proposals will make little to no impact on the scale of tax losses.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Tax Justice Network estimated that if countries follow the course they have for the past decade, they will lose $4.7 trillion over the next 10 years.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For comparison, the NGO says the 2007-2009 Great Recession was estimated to have led to a loss of $2 trillion in global economic growth.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Tax Justice Network said many of the OECD\'s proposals are serious and in line with its own.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Time for the UN -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"However, in all cases these policies have been rendered largely toothless under the pervasive influence of some OECD members who are also among the world\'s biggest tax havens,\" it said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The NGO estimated that OECD nations are responsible for 77 percent of the $472 billion in tax losses countries suffer each year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Higher income countries suffer most of the losses, but the figure is less than a tenth of their public health budgets, while for lower income nations it represents 56 percent.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That is one of the reasons why the Tax Justice Network believes the United Nations would be a better forum to reform global tax rules.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The Tax Justice Network is urging countries to support moving leadership on global tax from the OECD to the UN, where global membership, public transparency and the UN\'s human rights legal frameworks and technical expertise can provide a more viable forum for securing effective tax solutions,\" it said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nations opened the door last year to negotiations on a UN tax convention and the secretary general is expected to present a report at the general assembly in September about options to move forward.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Tax Justice Network\'s chief executive Alex Cobham said experience has shown that a handful of countries and lobbyists have been able to undermine tax reform via the OECD.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We now have a real shot at bringing this process into the daylight of democracy at the UN, where all countries will finally get a real say, and where governments will finally have to answer to their people on tax policy,\" Cobham said. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 14:43:22', '2023-07-25 14:43:22'),
(8202, 8202, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh\'s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has offered to Nepal the use of its newly constructed Payra port during a meeting with her Nepalese counterpart Pushpa Kamal Dahal.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The two visiting ministers met at newly opened Bangladesh-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Room in the FAO Headquarters on the sideline of the UN Food Systems Summit. Both leaders are in Rome to attend the summit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the meeting, PM Hasina offered Nepal the use of theu Payra port, said Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen while briefing reporters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Bangladesh has already opened the Chalna and Chittagong ports for Nepal. Nepal can use the newly constructed Payra port as well,” Momen&nbsp; quoted her as telling Dahal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">PM Hasina said Bangladesh is developing its Sayedpur airport as a regional hub to extend the connectivity in the region.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Nepalese premier&nbsp; commended the development of Bangladesh under the successful leadership of PM Hasina, said Momen.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“You are a leader of our region,” Momen quoted him as saying.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said there is a huge scope of hydroelectricity generation in Nepal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In this context, Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh will take steps to import renewable energy particularly hydroelectricity after the first trilateral power trade from Nepal to Bangladesh through India for 40MW of power starts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dahal mentioned that a good number of Nepalese students are pursuing their studies in Bangladesh. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 15:43:48', '2023-07-25 15:43:48'),
(8203, 8203, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought assistance from the International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD) to boost the production of wheat and edible oil in Bangladesh&nbsp; to reduce its export dependency for the two items.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The assistance was sought when IFAD President Alvaro Lario met her at the FAO headquarters,&nbsp; Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told reporters after the meeting on Monday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hasina also asked the IFAD to help Bangladeshi small agro-enterprises in marketing their goods and help the country build an efficient food storage system.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also on Monday the prime minister asked the World Food Programme (WFP) to raise funds for Bangladesh particularly displaced Rohingyas who took shelter in Bangladesh as per capita fund for Rohingya declined to US$ 8 from US$ 12.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She made the call when WFP Executive Director Cindy Hensley McCain met her at the FAO Headquarters on Monday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hasina said Bangladesh has successfully raised food production thanks to her government\'s taking various steps in this field.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh is in a good position in producing not only crops but also fish and other foods, she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Cindy Hensley McCain is the wife of former US presidential candidate John McCain who adopted a three-month Bangladeshi girl in the early 1990s.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, the prime minister along with other heads of government and states attended a reception hosted by Director General of Food and Agriculture Organization Qu Dongyu at the FAO headquarters. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 16:24:23', '2023-07-25 16:24:23'),
(8204, 8204, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ashraful Alam, better known as “Hero Alam”, registered a general diary (GD) last night (July 24, 2023) after he allegedly received a death threat on the phone.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hero Alam filed the GD with Hatirjheel police station around 11:30 pm, said Abdul Quadir, sub-inspector of the police station.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the GD, “Hero Alam received three calls from an unknown number, threatening to kill him. He received the first call at 9:43 pm on Monday night.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The caller threatened that he would teach him (Hero Alam) a lesson and dump his body in the Buriganga river within seven days,” reads the GD.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hero Alam, an independent contestant of the recently concluded Dhaka-17 by-polls, was physically assaulted while leaving a polling centre in Dhaka’s Banani area on July 17.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Following the assault, Hero Alam\'s personal assistant filed a case at Banani police station accusing 15 to 20 unidentified individuals.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police have arrested several people in a case filed over the assault on Hero Alam. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 16:29:03', '2023-07-25 16:29:03'),
(8205, 8205, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The United States has reiterated that they support everyone’s right to freely exercise their role in a democratic society.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We oppose any restrictions on human rights,\" US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters during a regular media briefing on July 24.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said visa restrictions would apply to anyone who undermines the democratic election process in Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Actions that constitute undermining the democratic election process include vote rigging, voter intimidation, the use of violence to prevent people from exercising their rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly, and the use of measures designed to prevent political parties, voters, civil society, or the media from disseminating their views,\" said the spokesperson.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Responding to another question, he said they do not take a position with respect to any political party in Bangladesh or in other countries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"But we believe that Bangladesh and all countries throughout the world should have free and fair elections,\" US Department of State Spokesperson Miller said. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 16:33:42', '2023-07-25 16:33:42'),
(8206, 8206, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The United States has reiterated that they support everyone’s right to freely exercise their role in a democratic society.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We oppose any restrictions on human rights,\" US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters during a regular media briefing on July 24.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said visa restrictions would apply to anyone who undermines the democratic election process in Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Actions that constitute undermining the democratic election process include vote rigging, voter intimidation, the use of violence to prevent people from exercising their rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly, and the use of measures designed to prevent political parties, voters, civil society, or the media from disseminating their views,\" said the spokesperson.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Responding to another question, he said they do not take a position with respect to any political party in Bangladesh or in other countries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"But we believe that Bangladesh and all countries throughout the world should have free and fair elections,\" US Department of State Spokesperson Miller said. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 16:33:43', '2023-07-25 16:33:43'),
(8207, 8207, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Blistering heat that has baked swathes of North America and Europe this month would have been \"virtually impossible\" without human-caused climate change, researchers said Tuesday, as the intense temperatures affecting millions cause health fears and stoke ferocious wildfires.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The new rapid analysis by scientists from the World Weather Attribution group also found climate change made the stifling heat experienced in China 50 times more likely and warned that worse is to come unless we reduce planet-heating emissions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The world hasn\'t stopped burning fossil fuels, the climate continues to warm and heatwaves continue to become more extreme. It is that simple,\" said climate scientist Friederike Otto. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 18:37:01', '2023-07-25 18:37:01');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(8208, 8208, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Alia Bhatt recently visited Kolkata along with Ranveer Singh for the promotion of their film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. Alia has now shared a video and several behind-the-scene pictures from the event, where she greeted fans in Bangla. She is seen dedicatedly rehearsing her Bangla lines before the event. However, she had forgetton the lines on stage, but after a few attempts and some support from Ranveer, she was finally able to greet fans in Bangla.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sharing the videos and pictures on Instagram, Alia Bhatt wrote, \"Rocky Aur Rani kii Kolkata kii kahaani (Rocky and Rani\'s Kolkata story). See you in 3 days!! Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani in cinemas this Friday.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Alia looked pretty in a pink and red saree paired with statement earrings. Ranveer was in an informal white shirt and black pants. The first video shows Alia sitting on a sofa and rehearsing her lines with the help of a tablet. It then shows a glimpse of the event, where Alia started speaking in Bangla, but stopped midway and said, “I forgot my lines, maine rehearse kiya tha (I had rehearsed).”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Making fun of her, Ranveer Singh said, \"So cute yaar, tu homework karke aayi thi, exam ke time pe bhool gai (You had done your homework before coming, still you forgot your lines).\" The video is followed by her stunning pictures, one of which shows her making a face.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Commenting on her post, a fan wrote, “Soooo cuteeee.” Impressed by her Bangla speaking skills, another said, “Wow !!! Rani…(diamond emoji).” One more said, “You tried @aliaabhatt so cuteee.” A fan page of the actor wrote, “Respect button for Alia Bhatt.” A comment also read: “Her Bengali accent (smiley with three hearts and kiss emoji).”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Alia on why she forgot her lines</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A video from the Kolkata event surfaced online and showed Alia forgetting her lines after the first few words of her Bangla speech. I am sorry. Main kal subah se I have been learning these lines aur yaha aake, aapka sara chehra dekh ke, laal rang dekh ke main bhool gai (I have been rehearsing these lines since yesterday morning but after seeing you all in red, I forgot everything) but I had been wanting you to greet you in Bengali so I have done it.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Alia and Ranveer flew to Kolkata on Monday when their new dance number Dhindora Baje Re was also unveiled. The song shows them in red, dancing their hearts out during Durga Puja celebrations. It is choreographed by Vaibhavi Merchant and sung by Darshan Raval and Bhoomi Trivedi. HT</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"13\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 18:43:01', '2023-07-25 18:43:01'),
(8209, 8209, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader today said that BNP is “preparing to foil the election through violence.”</span><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We will not leave the country in the hands of Pakistan’s friends. The country, democracy, development, nothing is safe with them,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The road, transport and bridges minister made the remarks while addressing a views-exchange meeting at the party’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also urged party leaders and activists to fight for the country till the end. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 19:05:09', '2023-07-25 19:05:09'),
(8210, 8210, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Greece braced for a new wave of soaring temperatures Tuesday, as wildfires raged on two popular tourist islands.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the capital city of Athens the mercury is expected to soar to 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit), and reach up to 44C in central Greece, according to the national weather forecaster EMY.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The very hot weather comes after a weekend of intense heat and after thousands of locals and tourists fled forest fires in Rhodes and Corfu, with the prime minister warning the heat-battered nation is \"at war\" with the flames.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The mercury hit 46.4C in Gythio, in the southern Peloponnese peninsula on Sunday, though failed to reach the hottest temperature nationally on record of 48C.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Authorities evacuated nearly 2,500 people from the Greek island of Corfu on Monday, after tens of thousands of people had already fled blazes on the island of Rhodes, with many frightened tourists scrambling to get home on evacuation flights.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">More than 260 firefighters were still battling flames for an eighth consecutive day on Rhodes, supported by two helicopters and two planes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fires were also raging on Greece\'s second largest island of Evia, where Greek civil protection authorities issued an overnight evacuation order in one northern locality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are at war and are exclusively geared towards the fire front,\" Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament on Monday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He warned that the country faced \"another three difficult days ahead\" before high temperatures are forecast to ease.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Vassilis Kikilias, Greece\'s civil protection minister, said crews had battled over 500 fires around the country for 12 straight days.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many regions of the country were on \"red alert\" Tuesday, meaning there is an extreme risk of forest fires, exacerbated by strong winds. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 19:18:39', '2023-07-25 19:18:39'),
(8211, 8211, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh has signed an agreement with the World Food Programme (WFP) for expanding and improving school feeding programme for the country\'s primary school students.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The agreement was inked in an event attended by Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh government introduced a school feeding programme in 2010 and now some 23 lakh students of 15,000 primary schools in 104 upazilas are getting free meals.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under the new agreement, the school feeding programme will be expanded to more than 150 upazilas, raising the number of beneficiaries to 37 lakh students. Besides, fruits, milk, bread, eggs and other nutritious foods will be served instead of fortified biscuits.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thanks to the feeding programme, the dropout rate has declined by 7.5 percent and the enrolment rate has increased by 14 percent in the primary schools, said Momen.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Moreover, Bangladesh has become the 85th member of the School Meals Coalition at an event here on Monday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh Ambassador to Italy Md Shameem Ahsan and PM’s speechwriter Md Nazrul Islam were present. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 19:25:40', '2023-07-25 19:25:40'),
(8212, 8212, '<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A low pressure area has formed over Westcentral Bay and&nbsp; adjoining Northwest Bay,&nbsp; Bangladesh Meteorological Department(BMD) has said.</b><br></p><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Light to moderate rain or thunder showers may drench different parts of the country, said a BMD bulletin on Tuesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It predicted rain or thundershowers at many places over Sylhet &amp; Mymensingh divisions; at a few places over Rangpur &amp; Chattogram divisions and at one or two places over Rajshahi, Dhaka, Khulna &amp; Barishal divisions with moderately heavy falls at places over Rangpur, Mymensingh, Chattogram &amp; Sylhet divisions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, mild heat wave is sweeping Dhaka, Rajshahi, Pabna, Feni &amp; Chuadanga and it may continue.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Day and night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 20:29:42', '2023-07-25 20:29:42'),
(8213, 8213, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A special court discharged former superintendent of police (SP) Babul Akter and his father Md Abdul Wadud in a case filed by Police Bureau of Investigation chief Banaj Kumar Majumder under the Digital Security Act (DSA).</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge Julfikar Hayat passed the order after taking the charge-sheet filed in the case into cognizance against the two other accused. The court also issued arrest warrant against expatriate YouTuber Elias Hossain.</div><div><br></div><div>Investigation officer and Dhanmandi Police Station inspector (operations) Md Robiul Islam filed the charge-sheet against Babul Akter, Babul\'s father Md Abdul Wadud, 72, brother Md Habibur Rahman Labu, 45, and expatriate YouTuber Elias Hossain, on April 9.</div><div><br></div><div>PBI Chief Banaj Kumar Majumder filed the case under digital security act and special powers act with capital\'s Dhanmandi Police Station on September 27, 2022. The PBI Chief in his case brought allegations of spreading false and untrue information to tarnish his and the police unit\'s image against the four. According to BSS reports</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/s</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 20:52:21', '2023-07-25 20:54:24'),
(8214, 8214, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>An endangered Lojjaboti monkey (Bengal slow loris), which was rescued from an abandoned area adjacent to Bhedbhedi Ansar camp in Rangamati sadar upazila on Monday night, has been released in Kaptai National Park.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Ansar members found the Lojjaboti monkey around 6 pm and informed the matter to the local forest office.</div><div><br></div><div>Later, the authorities concerned of Chattogram Forest Division (South), rescued the monkey and released it in Kaptai National Park, said Saleh Md Shoaib Khan, Divisional Forest Officer of Chattogram Forest Division.</div><div><br></div><div>The specie of money cannot see in the daylight and moves in the night, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>With this, a total of three Lojjaboti monkey have been released in Kaptai National Park this year. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 21:09:29', '2023-07-25 21:09:29'),
(8215, 8215, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Astronomers have made a first-of-its-kind discovery — a white dwarf star with two completely different faces.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>White dwarfs are burnt remains of dead stars. Our sun will become a white dwarf in about 5 billion years after it swells into a red giant star, blows out its outer material and, with only the core left, shrinks back into a blinding white-hot remnant.</div><div><br></div><div>The newly discovered white dwarf has two sides, one made of hydrogen and the other made of helium. Researchers have nicknamed the star Janus, for the Roman god of transition, which has two faces. A study detailing the findings was published July 19 in the journal Nature.</div><div><br></div><div>“The surface of the white dwarf completely changes from one side to the other,” said lead study author Ilaria Caiazzo, a postdoctoral scholar research associate in astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, in a statement. “When I show the observations to people, they are blown away.”</div><div><br></div><div>White dwarfs are incredibly dense, compressing a mass comparable to our sun’s into something equivalent to an Earth-size planet.</div><div><br></div><div>The strong gravitational influence at play during the death of a star means that the remaining heavy elements move toward the center while lighter elements like hydrogen or helium rise to the upper layer. Given the blazing temperatures of white dwarfs, the hottest ones have hydrogen atmospheres. As the stars cool over time, they tend to have helium atmospheres.</div><div><br></div><div>But typical white dwarfs don’t have one side of the star devoted to one element, and the other dominated by another.</div><div><br></div><div>The unusual stellar remnant was first detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility, located at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory. Caiazzo used the instrument, which scans the skies each night, for a recent survey of highly magnetized white dwarfs when an object appeared that rapidly changed in brightness.</div><div><br></div><div>Follow-up observations were conducted by Caiazzo and her team using Palomar’s CHIMERA instrument, the HiPERCAM located on the Gran Telescopio Canarias in Spain’s Canary Islands and W.M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawaii.</div><div><br></div><div>The three observatories showed that Janus was rotating on its axis every 15 minutes — and showcased the star’s double-faced nature and composition. Astronomers used a spectrometer to separate the light of the white dwarf into different wavelengths, which revealed the chemical signature of hydrogen on one side and helium on the other.</div><div><br></div><div>The star has a scorching temperature of 62,540 degrees Fahrenheit (34,726 degrees Celsius), which researchers determined with help from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.</div><div><br></div><div>How Janus formed two faces</div><div>The researchers aren’t quite sure why the star has two completely different sides. It’s possible that Janus is experiencing a rare form of evolution.</div><div><br></div><div>“Not all, but some white dwarfs transition from being hydrogen- to helium-dominated on their surface,” Caiazzo said. “We might have possibly caught one such white dwarf in the act.”</div><div><br></div><div>As the white dwarf cools over time, the heavier and lighter materials may mix together. During this transition, it’s possible for hydrogen to become diluted within the interior, allowing helium to become the dominant element.</div><div><br></div><div>If this is occurring on Janus, one side of the star is evolving before the other side.</div><div><br></div><div>“Magnetic fields around cosmic bodies tend to be asymmetric, or stronger on one side,” Caiazzo said. “Magnetic fields can prevent the mixing of materials. So, if the magnetic field is stronger on one side, then that side would have less mixing and thus more hydrogen.”</div><div><br></div><div>Another possibility is that the magnetic fields are shifting the pressure and density of these atmospheric gases on Janus.</div><div><br></div><div>“The magnetic fields may lead to lower gas pressures in the atmosphere, and this may allow a hydrogen ‘ocean’ to form where the magnetic fields are strongest,” said study coauthor James Fuller, professor of theoretical astrophysics at Caltech, in a statement. “We don’t know which of these theories are correct, but we can’t think of any other way to explain the asymmetric sides without magnetic fields.”</div><div><br></div><div>The team will continue the search for more white dwarfs like Janus using the Zwicky Transient Facility because the instrument is “very good at finding strange objects,” Caiazzo said. - CNN</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', '<p>white dwarf star<br></p>', 'News Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 21:15:15', '2023-07-25 21:15:15'),
(8216, 8216, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Asia-Pacific region faces a critical window to fortify its defenses against climate-induced disasters, a UN report warned on Tuesday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>According to the latest report released by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the region witnessed over 140 disasters resulting in 7,500 fatalities and 57 billion U.S. dollars in economic damage in 2022.</div><div><br></div><div>The Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2023 projected that under a 2-degree- centigrade warming scenario, the region could incur annual losses nearing 1 trillion U.S. dollars or 3 percent of its GDP. Immediate action is crucial to averting this catastrophe and safeguard hard-won development gains as disaster risk threatens to surpass adaptive capacities.</div><div><br></div><div>As temperatures continue to rise, new disaster hotspots are emerging, and existing ones are intensifying, said Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP.</div><div><br></div><div>\"A disaster emergency is underway, and we must fundamentally transform our approach to building resilience,\" she added.</div><div><br></div><div>ESCAP highlighted the need for increased investments in multi-hazard early warning systems, which have the potential to reduce disaster losses by up to 60 percent.</div><div><br></div><div>It also urged the region to unite and endorse targeted transformative adaptation measures along with a regional strategy to achieve early warning for all by 2027.</div><div><br></div><div>The World Meteorological Organization\'s early July prediction warns of a 90-percent chance of El Nino continuing in the second half of 2023, potentially breaking temperature records and triggering extreme heat in many parts of the world, including oceans. ‍Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 22:37:33', '2023-07-25 22:37:33'),
(8217, 8217, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>There is a “gravity hole” in the Indian Ocean — a spot where Earth’s gravitational pull is weaker, its mass is lower than normal, and the sea level dips by over 328 feet (100 meters).</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>This anomaly has puzzled geologists for a long time, but now researchers from the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, India, have found what they believe is a credible explanation for its formation: plumes of magma coming from deep inside the planet, much like those that lead to the creation of volcanoes.</div><div><br></div><div>To come to this hypothesis, the team used supercomputers to simulate how the area could have formed, going as far back as 140 million years. The findings, detailed in a study published recently in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, center around an ancient ocean that no longer exists.</div><div>A disappearing ocean</div><div><br></div><div>Humans are used to thinking about Earth as a perfect sphere, but that’s far from the truth.</div><div><br></div><div>“The Earth is basically a lumpy potato,” said study coauthor Attreyee Ghosh, a geophysicist and associate professor at the Centre for Earth Sciences of the Indian Institute of Science. “So technically it’s not a sphere, but what we call an ellipsoid, because as the planet rotates the middle part bulges outward.”</div><div><br></div><div>Our planet is not homogeneous in its density and its properties, with some areas being more dense than others — that affects Earth’s surface and its gravity, Ghosh added. “If you pour water on the surface of the Earth, the level that the water takes is called a geoid — and that is controlled by these density differences in the material inside the planet, because they attract the surface in very different ways depending on how much mass there is underneath,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The “gravity hole” in the Indian Ocean — officially called the Indian Ocean geoid low — is the lowest point in that geoid and its biggest gravitational anomaly, forming a circular depression that starts just off India’s southern tip and covers about 1.2 million square miles (3 million square kilometers). The anomaly was discovered by Dutch geophysicist Felix Andries Vening Meinesz in 1948, during a gravity survey from a ship, and has remained a mystery.</div><div><br></div><div>“It is by far the biggest low in the geoid, and it hasn’t been explained properly,” Ghosh said.</div><div><br></div><div>To find a potential answer, Ghosh and her colleagues used computer models to set the clock back 140 million years in order to see the big picture, geologically. “We have some information and some confidence about what the Earth looked like back then,” she said. “The continents and the oceans were in very different places, and the density structure was also very different.”</div><div><br></div><div>From that starting point, the team ran 19 simulations up to the present day, recreating the shifting of tectonic plates and the behavior of magma, or molten rock, inside the mantle — the thick layer of Earth’s interior that lies between the core and the crust. In six of the scenarios, a geoid low similar to the one in the Indian Ocean formed.</div><div><br></div><div>The distinguishing factor in all six of these models was the presence of plumes of magma around the geoid low, which along with mantle structure in the vicinity are believed to be responsible for the formation of the “gravity hole,” Ghosh explained. The simulations were run with different parameters of density for the magma, and in those in which the plumes were not present, the low did not form.</div><div><br></div><div>The plumes themselves originated from the disappearance of an ancient ocean as India’s landmass drifted and eventually collided with Asia tens of millions of years ago, Ghosh said.</div><div><br></div><div>“India was in a very different place 140 million years ago, and there was an ocean between the Indian plate and Asia. India started moving north and as it did, the ocean disappeared and the gap with Asia closed,” she explained. As the oceanic plate went down inside the mantle, it could have spurred the formation of the plumes, bringing low-density material closer to Earth’s surface.</div><div><br></div><div>The future of the geoid low</div><div><br></div><div>The geoid low formed around 20 million years ago, according to the team’s calculation. It’s hard to say whether it will ever disappear or shift away.</div><div><br></div><div>“That all depends on how these mass anomalies in the Earth move around,” Ghosh said. “It could be that it persists for a very long time. But it could also be that the plate movements will act in such a way to make it disappear — a few hundreds of millions of years in the future.”</div><div><br></div><div>Huw Davies, a professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Cardiff University in the UK, said the research is “certainly interesting, and describes interesting hypotheses, which should encourage further work on this topic.” Davies was not involved with the study.</div><div><br></div><div>Dr. Alessandro Forte, a professor of geology at the University of Florida in Gainesville who was also not involved with the study, believes there is good reason to carry out computer simulations to determine the origin of the Indian Ocean geoid low, and that this study is an improvement over earlier ones. Past research only simulated the descent of cold material across the mantle, rather than including hot rising mantle plumes as well.</div><div><br></div><div>However, Forte said he found a couple flaws in the study’s execution.</div><div><br></div><div>“The most outstanding problem with the modeling strategy adopted by the authors is that it completely fails to reproduce the powerful mantle dynamic plume that erupted 65 million years ago under the present-day location of Réunion Island,” he said.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“The eruption of lava flows that covered half of the Indian subcontinent at this time — producing the celebrated Deccan Traps, one of the largest volcanic features on Earth — have long been attributed to a powerful mantle plume that is completely absent from the model simulation.”</div><div><br></div><div>Another issue, Forte added, is the difference between the geoid, or surface shape, predicted by the computer simulation and the actual one: “These differences are especially noticeable in the Pacific Ocean, Africa and Eurasia. The authors mention that there is a moderate correlation, around 80%, between the predicted and observed geoids, but they don’t provide a more precise measure of how well they match numerically (in the study). This mismatch suggests that there may be some deficiencies in the computer simulation.”</div><div><br></div><div>Ghosh said that not every possible factor can be accounted for in the simulations.</div><div><br></div><div>“That’s because we do not know with absolute precision what the Earth looked like in the past. The farther back in time you go, the less confidence there is in the models. We cannot take into account each and every possible scenario and we also have to accept the fact that there may be some discrepancies on how the plates moved over time,” she said. “But we believe the overall reason for this low is quite clear.” Source: CNN</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 23:09:30', '2023-07-25 23:09:30'),
(8218, 8218, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A 9-day photo exhibition titled \"Ten Years After Rana Plaza\" is underway at Drik Gallery in the capital.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The exhibition began on July 21 showcasing the photos of those who survived the collapse of Rana Plaza building and their families.</div><div><br></div><div>Ismail Ferdous , a photojournalist and filmmaker, organised the show to commemorate tragic incident.</div><div><br></div><div>The exhibition is mainly supported by the 21st Century International Women\'s Garment Workers Union Heritage Fund and Bangladesh Centre for Workers\' Solidarity.</div><div><br></div><div>Through pictures, videos, narratives, and posters, the exhibition seeks to make sure that the memories of the Rana Plaza disaster remain alive in people’s mind and protect Bangladeshi garment workers\' labour rights.</div><div><br></div><div>Ismail captured the untold stories of the survivors and families of the victims in his picture titled \"After Rana Plaza\" and the documentary film \"The Cost of Fashion\".</div><div><br></div><div>The exhibition will remain open from 3pm to 8 pm until July 29. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-25 23:33:29', '2023-07-25 23:33:29'),
(8219, 8219, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha faced a bitter experience with an Australian airlines as he had to wait an entire day after his flight was cancelled and also he ended up losing his bag.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Hathurusingha left Bangladesh after Tigers\' series against Afghanistan to have a holiday with his family who live in Australia. The Sri Lanka born coach will return to Bangladesh before the training camp for the Asia Cup starts on July 30.</div><div><br></div><div>However, the vacation in Australia couldn\'t have worse for him.</div><div><br></div><div>His trouble began when Virgin Australia Airlines flight, which he booked to travel a city of Australia was cancelled a few hours before the scheduled flight and there apparently was not any alternate flight either, leaving him stranded for a day.</div><div><br></div><div>Hathurusingha relayed his ordeal on a Twitter post, which read: \"I had the worst experience with #virginaustralia, cancelled the flights a few hours before take-off, didn\'t offer an alternative flight the same day, finally got on to the flight the next day then it was delayed, and ended up lost bag too.\" According to BSS reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'Sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 02:52:14', '2023-07-26 02:52:14'),
(8220, 8220, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday asked the Bangladeshi diplomats posted abroad to work against anti-state propaganda so that the international community won’t be misled due to the falsehood.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“I would like to tell the Foreign Ministry that you should inform our envoys about propaganda. If so, confusion can’t be created. We should be more active particularly in the places of international organisations,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister gave the directive, while addressing the Conference of Bangladesh Envoys in Europe, held her place of residence here in Rome, the capital city of Italy.</div><div><br></div><div>Some 15 Bangladeshi envoys stationed in European countries participated in the event.</div><div><br></div><div>She said some people are carrying out propaganda against the country, taking shelter in foreign lands after committing crimes in the country.</div><div><br></div><div>She said there are some people who could never take the country to a dignified position. Some people are there, who took shelter abroad fleeing the country after committing crimes. Some of them are convicted or criminals, she added.</div><div><br></div><div>The PM said they are spreading misinformation against the country continuously staying abroad. “Everyone should be vigilant against them,” she added.</div><div><br></div><div>Criticising BNP, she said they siphoned huge money off the country and so they are capable of spending thousands crore of money against the country. “How much they have! They are leading lavish life, carrying out false propaganda and misleading the people,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Mentioning that the foreigners often get confused by misinformation, she said there are one or two countries that are busy with how to remove the Awami League before every election.</div><div><br></div><div>“In addition, we have to hear about human rights from those who shelter the murderers as well as the people involved in arson attacks, terrorism, militancy,” she added.</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister said that they are busy with the protection of human rights of those accused of arson terrorists, but don\'t care about the victims, relatives or those who were burnt.</div><div><br></div><div>Regarding the sanctions against RAB, the PM said \"unfortunately, sanctions are imposed on those who worked in curbing terrorism and militancy. Due to this, they lose their confidence.\"</div><div><br></div><div>She went on saying that they are raising voice for human rights protection on the one hand, and advocating for the human right violators on the other hands. The double standards continue worldwide.</div><div><br></div><div>PM Hasina also mentioned her government\'s stance regarding zero tolerance against terrorism and militancy.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that if human rights are preserved, it is done by the Awami League, and those who speak about human rights, they kill people.</div><div><br></div><div>Without mentioning the name of the country, Hasina said the murderers who shot and killed her parents, brothers, relatives and family members are still at large in that country.</div><div><br></div><div>Despite repeated requests, she said, they didn’t send back the killers to Bangladesh. “Giving protection to the violators of human rights, and going against those who preserve human rights, I see it as a game.”</div><div><br></div><div>Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and PM’s Private Industry and Investment adviser Salman Fazlur Rahman were present in the conference.</div><div><br></div><div>The PM is now in Rome to attend a UN food summit. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 03:02:12', '2023-07-26 03:02:12'),
(8221, 8221, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The spectre of superstar striker Kylian Mbappe loomed over Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday as they played out a 0-0 draw with Cristiano Ronaldo\'s Al Nassr in Osaka.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Mbappe was sensationally left out of the squad on the eve of PSG\'s departure for their Asian tour, casting doubt on his future at the French champions.</div><div><br></div><div>The club has received a world record bid of 300 million euros ($333 million) from Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal, a source close to the negotiations told AFP on Monday.</div><div><br></div><div>Such a transfer could only be made with the agreement of Mbappe, who has never expressed an interest in moving to the fast-growing Saudi league.</div><div><br></div><div>Among other clubs to have expressed an interest in the most potent forward in world football are Real Madrid, the source said.</div><div><br></div><div>Former PSG and Cameroon striker Patrick M\'Boma, who now works with PSG\'s academies in Japan, expressed his disappointment at the ongoing impasse and said he hoped \"a solution will be found quickly because he\'s a player we want to watch\".</div><div><br></div><div>Japanese fans had flocked to stadiums to see Lionel Messi, Mbappe and Neymar strut their stuff in a series of friendlies for PSG last year, but with none of that trio on show this time, interest has waned.</div><div><br></div><div>Messi has departed for Major League Soccer side Inter Miami and Neymar has been out with a knee injury since February and only just returned to full training.</div><div><br></div><div>The impact of that change in circumstances was evident in the relatively modest crowd of 25,432 in Osaka, and they didn\'t have much to cheer as PSG and Al Nassr played out a goalless 90 minutes.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Kylian Mbappe is a great player and he\'s not here,\" PSG defender Danilo Pereira said after the game.</div><div><br></div><div>\"That\'s a decision of the club, I can\'t comment.\"</div><div><br></div><div>The closest either side came to scoring was in just the second minute as Carlos Soler tried an ambitious free-kick from distance, but Al Nassr goalkeeper Nawaf Alaqidi was equal to the attempt.</div><div><br></div><div>Ronaldo also drew cries from the spectators on a couple of occasions.</div><div><br></div><div>First he was denied from six yards by Gianluigi Donnarumma, before an acrobatic overhead kick went wide of the target -- although it wouldn\'t have counted because he was offside.</div><div><br></div><div>Ultimately, Mbappe\'s absence was again the major talking point though.</div><div><br></div><div>There have been suggestions that he would not be selected for an entire year if he fails to find a solution with PSG.</div><div><br></div><div>The 24-year-old has one year left on his contract with the club, who want him to leave now rather than for nothing next summer.</div><div><br></div><div>PSG will next play Cerezo Osaka on Friday, before travelling to Tokyo to take on Inter Milan. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'Sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 03:44:58', '2023-07-26 03:44:58'),
(8222, 8222, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Bangladesh\'s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has alleged that the BNP doesn’t want election, rather the opposition party seeks to create an abnormal situation in the country.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The election will definitely be held as per the constitution. BNP knows that the people will not vote for them. Why would the people go to vote for those who were driven out due to vote-rigging? They want to destabilize the country,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier said this on Tuesday (July 25, 2023) while addressing a community event held at her place of residence here in Rome, the capital of Italy. She was in Rome to attend the UN food summit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She questioned how the BNP can seek votes after killing people through arson violence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“They don’t want election. They lick the legs of some of their foreign lords and they want to make the people of the country suffer by them (the foreign lords). They want to hamper the ongoing development trend of the country and its people,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hasina said the BNP never wants the welfare of the people of this country. All will have to keep it in mind.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Their purpose is to catch fish in troubled water. So, their aim is to hamper this progress of Bangladesh,” she told the gathering.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The PM asked all to stay united and protect Bangladesh from this evil force (BNP). “They want to push Bangladesh into an unstable situation again. So, all will have to remain alert in this regard,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Stressing that Bangladesh Awami League (AL) will have to come to power to build the country as Smart Bangladesh, the AL president sought votes for her party electoral symbol ‘boat’ again in the next general election.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Referring to imposition of sanction on Rab officials and visa sanction by the USA, the Prime Minister said, “By whom we\'ve curbed terrorism and militancy, sanction is imposed on them. We can’t understand its mystery.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">“Those who had not supported our liberation war want to play games with our country in various ways now. The players can’t be allowed to play. The people of the country will have to remain united,” she went on.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The premier asked expatriate Bangladeshis to send remittance through legal channels, search foreign partners to make investment in Bangladesh particularly in ICT, food processing and small industries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also urged the expatriates to abide by the laws of their host countries and discouraged the overseas jobseekers to migrate to the foreign countries through illegal channels.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hasina asked the expatriates to inspire their families and relatives in Bangladesh not to leave an inch of land uncultivated in order to boost food production amid the current global situation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said her government has taken steps to improve the food storage system.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The PM focused on her government\'s successes in different sectors and the progress the country has attained since 2009. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 16:25:20', '2023-07-26 16:25:20'),
(8223, 8223, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A radical change will take place in the power system of Dhaka city and its adjacent Narayanganj after the full implementation of the project titled \"Expansion and Strengthening of Power System Network\" which will be the main foundation of digital Dhaka city, says a senior Chinese official.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Over 70 percent work of the project has so far been completed,\" Director, International Market Management of TBEA\'s Ma told UNB.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said the whole project will be completed and delivered to Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) by the end of 2024.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Director Ma said TBEA is working under a US$1.65 billion project under which several subprojects are being implemented.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The project is the largest power cooperation project between the two governments of Bangladesh and China since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The implementation of the project will enable the power grid system to be of better quality and serve the government departments and people of Bangladesh, and better promote the social and economic development of Bangladesh, said the Chinese side.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">TBEA, an international service provider of system solutions for global energy industry, dedicated to green and low-carbon development, with more than 24,000 employees from 24 countries, sees this project under the \"Belt and Road Initiative\" cooperation and development between China and Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under the project, a total of 44 substations are being set up, Director Ma said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Overhead cables of Hatirjheel Lake and Dhanmondi residential area will be laid underground.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh termed the project as a historic one for Dhaka as funding for this project was signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to China which was witnessed by Chinese President Xi Jinping.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The government of Bangladesh thinks the project will play a vital role to modernise and digitise the power distribution network of Dhaka city as some substation will be constructed underground saving the land.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While briefing a visiting Bangladesh media delegation at TBEA Co, Ltd, its Director Ma said in 2022 the company had assets worth 198 billion yan and made profits worth 28.6 billion yan which is 122 percent higher compared to previous year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The media delegation members are Daily Jugantor Chief Reporter Masud Karim, The Business Standard Deputy Editor Titu Das Gupta, The Financial Express Special Correspondent Mir Mostafizur Rahaman, The Daily Star Diplomatic Correspondent Porimol Palma, UNB Special Correspondent AKM Moinuddin, Independent TV Special Correspondent Nafiza Dawla, ATN News Chief Reporter Ashiqur Rahman Apu, Daily Samokal Diplomatic Correspondent Tasnim Mohsin Mishu, Jamuna TV Senior Reporter Ahmed Reza and Somoy TV Diplomatic Correspondent Tajwar Mahmid. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 16:30:44', '2023-07-26 16:30:44');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(8224, 8224, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A Greek air force water-dropping plane crashed while diving into a wildfire in southern Greece on Tuesday, killing both pilots, as authorities battled blazes that have been raging for days across the country amid a return of heat wave temperatures.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Summer wildfires blamed on climate change have also struck other Mediterranean countries, leaving at least 34 people dead in Algeria in recent days and two people dead in southern Italy on Tuesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A state ERT TV video showed the bright yellow CL-215 aircraft releasing its load of water on the island of Evia before its wingtip apparently snagged in a tree branch. Moments later it disappeared into a deep fold in the ground from which a fireball erupted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The air force said the pilots, aged 34 and 27, both died in the crash.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cancelled a planned visit to Cyprus for Wednesday, and Greece’s armed forces declared three days of mourning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Six killed when small plane crashes, bursts into flames in field near Southern California airport</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“They offered their lives to save lives,” Mitsotakis said of the pilots. “They proved how hazardous their daily missions in extinguishing fires are ... In their memory, we continue the war against the destructive forces of nature.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A third successive heat wave in Greece pushed temperatures back above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) Tuesday amid a string of evacuations from fires that have raged for days, whipped on by strong winds.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It\'s still unclear how they started, although tinder-dry conditions and the summer heat mean the slightest spark can ignite a blaze that will spread fast if not quickly quenched. Several people have been arrested or fined across Greece in recent days for accidentally starting fires.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Philippine plane crash kills 2, another carrying 6 missing</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">EU officials have blamed climate change for the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires across the European continent, noting that 2022 was the second-worst year for wildfire damage on record after 2017.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Greek police said a burned body believed to belong to a sheep farmer who had been missing since Sunday in southern Evia — a day before the fire broke out there — was found on Tuesday. It was unclear whether he had been killed by the fire or had died of other causes beforehand.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A fire service spokesman said the worst blazes on Tuesday were on the southeastern island of Rhodes and the northwestern island of Corfu — both popular tourist destinations. “On the other fronts, we have to deal with many cases of the fire flaring up again,” Ioannis Artopios said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Four villages on Rhodes were ordered evacuated on Tuesday as a fire burning for eight days continued to move inland, torching mountainous forest areas, including a part of a nature reserve.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another five evacuations were ordered on Corfu, and one overnight on Evia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Rhodes, desperate residents, many with wet towels around their necks to stave off the scorching heat, used shovels to beat back flames approaching their homes, while firefighting planes and helicopters resumed water drops at first light.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“For the twelfth day, under extreme conditions of heat and strong winds, we are fighting nonstop on dozens of forest fire fronts. ... The Greek Fire Service has battled more than 500 fires — more than 50 a day,” said Vassilis Kikilias, the minister for climate crisis and civil protection.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Authorities said more than 20,000 people have been involved in successive evacuations on the island, mostly tourists over the weekend when fires swept through two coastal areas in the southeast of Rhodes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Among them was Serbian basketball star Philip Petrusev, a player for the Philadelphia 76ers who was vacationing on Rhodes with his partner Tiana Sumakovic.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a series of online posts, Sumakovic described frantic scenes as she and Petrusev escaped the fire.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The fire got got very close and we had to run,” Sumakovic wrote, captioning videos of the fire. “We were choking on the smoke and ran as far as we could ... we eventually made it to safety.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rhodes is highly popular with Nordic tourists, who are expected to continue heading for the island this week.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two full charter flights were scheduled to depart from Sweden on Wednesday, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet said. Tour operators said holidaymakers would be heading to resorts in the so-far unaffected northern part of Rhodes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Athens, authorities resumed afternoon closing hours at the ancient Acropolis, as part of broader measures to cope with the high heat.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The European Union has sent 500 firefighters, 100 vehicles and seven planes from 10 member states, while Turkey, Israel, Egypt and other countries have also sent help.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Contributing nations included Italy, which has its own fires and extreme weather too.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the island of Sicily, two people were found dead Tuesday in a home burned by a wildfire that temporarily shut down Palermo\'s international airport, according to Italian news reports. Regional officials said 55 fires were active on Sicily, amid temperatures in the 40s Celsius. In Puglia, further north, some 2,000 tourists were evacuated from three hotels in Vieste as flames got perilously close.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But in Italy\'s northern Lombardy region, a powerful storm accompanied by heavy hail caused flooding and power outages and was blamed for the death of a 16-year-old girl at a scouts\' camp.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In southeastern France, fire crews fought scattered wildfires, including one near Arles in Provence involving 300 firefighters and a water-dropping helicopter. Authorities banned access to several forested areas along the French Riviera and in Corsica.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Turkey, authorities evacuated a dozen homes and a hospital as a precaution on Tuesday after a wildfire raged through a rugged forest area near the Mediterranean resort of Kemer, in Antalya province.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another wildfire in the western province of Manisa, was brought under control a day after it burnt at least 14 homes. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 16:53:21', '2023-07-26 16:53:21'),
(8225, 8225, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka\'s air quality continued to be in the ‘moderate’ zone this morning.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 78 at 9:06 am, Dhaka today ranked 17th on the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 50 and 100 is considered ‘moderate’ with an acceptable air quality. However, there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Uganda’s Kampala, Indonesia’s Jakarta and USA’s Chicago occupied the first three spots on the list, with AQI scores of 157, 154 and 131, respectively.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’, particularly for sensitive groups.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be ‘poor’, while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered ‘hazardous’, posing serious health risks to residents.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants – Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 16:56:34', '2023-07-26 16:56:34'),
(8226, 8226, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The 52nd birth anniversary of Bangabandhu\'s grandson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina\'s ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy will be observed tomorrow in a befitting manner.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Joy, son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and eminent nuclear scientist Dr MA Wazed Miah, played the pivotal role in setting the country\'s crucial course being the beacon of \'Digital Bangladesh\'.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Despite being born to a leading political family, Joy so far preferred a distinct course of action unlike any conventional politician, to materialize the electoral pledge of the party he belongs to and his mother Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leads to build a Digital Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Joy was a key figure in formulating the Awami League\'s Vision 2021 manifesto, based-on what the party was elected thrice to power at a stretch since 2008, according to media reports.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Being a member of Bangladesh\'s most illustrious political family, Joy\'s character largely reflects the qualities of his grandfather Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the architect of independent Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A graduate in computer engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in the United States, Joy was born in 1971, coinciding with the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His father Dr MA Wazed Miah was an internationally reputed nuclear scientist.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In August 1975, his grandparents including Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, uncles and aunts were assassinated by a group of disgruntled army men in Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the time, he and his mother, father and aunt survived as they were visiting West Germany.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The family was barred by the military regime from entering the country until 1981. After returning to Bangladesh in 1981, his mother assumed the presidency of the Awami League and spearheaded the campaign for the restoration of democracy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sajeeb Wazed attended boarding school in India, including St. Joseph\'s College in Nainital and Kodaikanal International School in Palani Hills, Tamil Nadu, according to wikipedia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He studied computer science at the University of Bangalore. Then, transferred to The University of Texas at Arlington in the United States where he graduated with a BSc in computer engineering.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Subsequently, Wazed attended the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University where he completed his Masters in Public Administration.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the black chapter of caretaker government, when his mother Awami League President Sheikh Hasina was arrested on non-existent charges which was subsequently found to be unsubstantiated, Sajeeb Wazed took charge of bringing the world\'s attention not only to the plight of his mother Sheikh Hasina but also the restoration of democracy in his motherland by launching several campaigns in the United States and Europe.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His efforts brought fruition, and the military-backed extra constitutional government was compelled to release Sheikh Hasina from prison, following which she has led three consecutive governments having won the national elections in 2008, 2014 and 2018 respectively. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 17:09:03', '2023-07-26 17:09:03'),
(8227, 8227, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina\'s ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy today said BNP-Jamaat tried to seize power by creating fake voter list in 2006.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"From 2001 to 2006, the BNP-Jamaat alliance made people\'s lives miserable by carrying out indescribable torture, rape, murder, arson on people all spheres and making corruption,\" he wrote in a facebook post on Monday accompanied by a visual report.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He wrote even during their five-year rule, Bangladesh became the world champion in corruption five times.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As a result, a strong feeling of hatred towards the forces of Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman was created in the public mind, he mentioned.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The narrator of the visual report mentioned that BNP-Jamaat leaders became afraid of holding polls in democratic process again.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With their evil efforts, they prepared a list of 1.23 crore fake voters and appointed own party \'cadres\' as election officer in every upazila, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Khaleda Zia\'s government stigmatized the Public Service Commission and recruitment system in government job by making this recruitment directly through preparing a list only without any examination, the narrator said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Recruitment of 300 cadres of Chhatra Dal as election officers by ruining the constitutional body had huge repercussions across the country,\" he said. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 17:18:02', '2023-07-26 17:18:02'),
(8228, 8228, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the driver of the bus “responsible for the deaths of 17 people” in Jhalakathi, from Ashulia in Savar early today.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The arrestee was identified as Mohon Khan, 40.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Based on information, a team of RAB-8 conducted a drive in Ashulia and arrested Mohon at the dead of night, said RAB’s Legal and Media Wing Director Khandaker Al Moin this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Moin said that Mohon used to drive heavy vehicles despite being issued a license for driving light vehicles.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier on Monday, police arrested Md Foysal, supervisor of the bus, from Rajapur area of Jhalakathi district.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On July 22, 17 people died and 35 were injured when a bus of ‘Smriti Paribahan’ plunged into a roadside pond at Chhatrakanda in Sadar upazila of Jhalakathi district while heading towards Barishal from Pirojpur district.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sub-inspector of Jhalakathi Police Station Sushankar filed a case against three people including the driver, supervisor and helper of the bus driver. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 19:51:54', '2023-07-26 19:51:54'),
(8229, 8229, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">DMP Commissioner Khandaker Golam Faruk on Wednesday urged the political parties to hold their programmes without causing public suffering as they may be forced to ban political rallies in future if those&nbsp; become reasons of people’s woes.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of nine political parties including Awami League and BNP have sent letters to Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) seeking permission to hold rallies in the capital on July 27 but few parties will be allowed, said the DMP chief.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“To hold political rallies is a democratic right of the political parties but it is the responsibility of the DMP to ensure the security of the people,” he said while talking to reporters after inspecting the overall security measures on the occasion of Holy Ashura over the Tajia procession.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also urged the political parties to plan their programmes on weekly holidays in future instead of working days considering the public suffering.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, carrying of sticks and bags in the rallies will be prohibited, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Referring to the Tajia procession, the DMP chief said police have been giving importance to security during Tajia procession since the 2015 explosion at a Tajia procession.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Imambara Hoseni Dalan area will be brought under CCTV surveillance and alongside the law enforcement agencies, plainclothes police will be deployed in the area to ensure foolproof security.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, dog squad will be active in the area so that no untoward incident can happen, he said. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 19:56:04', '2023-07-26 19:56:04'),
(8230, 8230, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Newly appointed Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral M Nazmul Hassan today paid a courtesy call on President Mohammed Shahabuddin at Bangabhaban here today.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"During the meeting, the navy chief apprised the President of the various activities undertaken by the naval force to ensure the security of the maritime area,\" President\'s press secretary Md Joynal Abedin told BSS after the meeting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Welcoming the navy chief, the President said apart from protecting the sovereignty of the vast marine area, the role of the Bangladesh Navy in extracting and preserving the marine resources of the region is very important.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Shahabuddin, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, expressed his satisfaction over the performance of the Navy and their professional duties in protecting the country\'s maritime borders.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Referring to the potentials of the blue economy, the Head of State said, \"There is no alternative to ensuring the maritime security to utilize these potentials for the socio-economic development of the country.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The President said the government is implementing the Forces Goal-2030 for the development of the Armed Forces.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As a result, he said, Bangladesh Navy has turned into a three-dimensional, efficient and smart force at present.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh Navy would become a more modern and technologically powerful force under the leadership of the new navy chief, the President hoped.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President assured him of continued cooperation when the navy chief sought the President\'s guidance and support in carrying out its assignments.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President\'s Office Secretary Sampad Barua, Press Secretary Md Joynal Abedin and Secretary (Attachment) Md Wahidul Islam Khan were present. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 20:26:19', '2023-07-26 20:26:19'),
(8231, 8231, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in a meeting today approved the draft ‘Bangladesh Offshore Model Production Sharing Contract (PSC) 2023’ in order to invite international bidding for hydrocarbon exploration in offshore areas of the country.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over the meeting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, Additional Secretary of the Cabinet Division, Sayed Mahbub Khan, who briefed about the outcomes, did not give further details of the Model PSC.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"This is the final approval to the draft Model PSC 2023,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to official sources, the new Model PSC was prepared as part of the plan to invite international bidding within the current year for offshore deep and shallow water gas blocks by making Bangladesh more attractive to international oil companies and draw investment in hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under the initiative, the gas price was tagged with the price of Brent Crude in the international market so that the gas price will be flexible.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Under the plan, we’re going to offer the price of gas at 10 percent of Brent Crude,” a top official of Petrobangla, the state-owned national gas company, told UNB.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The official, preferring anonymity, said if Brent oil is traded at $75 per barrel, the gas price would be $7.5 per thousand cubic feet (MCF). The gas price will always remain linked with the international oil price, he said, referring to the new provision of the \'Model PSC 2023\'.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But there will be no difference between the price of gas in shallow and deep water blocks, he said, describing other characteristics of the \'Model PSC 2023\'.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“If the oil price goes down or up, the gas price will follow it rationally and Bangladesh will purchase the explored gas from the international oil companies at this rate,” said the official.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under a Model PSC, normally, if any international oil company (IOC) discovers gas, it gets a 40 percent stake while the government obtains the remaining 60 percent.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The government also buys the IOC\'s gas at a certain price. So if the gas price is raised, IOCs feel encouraged to invest in exploration work.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Official sources said the country has a total of 48 blocks, of which 26 are located offshore. Of the 26 offshore blocks, 11 are located in shallow sea (SS) water while 15 are located in deep sea (DS) water areas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of these, 24 offshore gas blocks remain open for IOCs while two blocks—SS-04 and SS-09–are under contract with a joint venture of ONGC Videsh Ltd and Oil India Ltd where drilling works have recently started.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh\'s offshore area remains unexplored despite the settlement of its dispute with neighbouring Myanmar and India over maritime boundary almost nine years ago.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Currently, about 2300 mmcfd gas is being produced from 22 gas fields in the country, while about 700 mmcfd gas is being imported from abroad to meet the demand of about 4000 mmcfd, leaving a deficit of about 1000 mmcfd.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The government had last amended the Model PSC in mid-2019, whereby the price of gas for any participating IOC, that is, the price at which they would sell the gas to the government, was raised to $5.5 per MCF for shallow water blocks, and $7.25 per MCF for gas extracted from its deep sea blocks.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The source also informed that the new proposal has been prepared as per the recommendations of a Scottish consultancy firm, Wood Mackenzie, which was appointed last year to work out the new plan for Petrobangla to attract international bidding from IOCs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Talking to reporters, Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker recently said the organisation has forwarded its proposal along with the Scottish consultancy firm’s recommendation to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, seeking its approval for the plan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another senior official of Petrobangla also said that as soon as the Cabinet body approves the proposal, the organisation will invite international bidding within two months. “In this case, we hope we can go for bidding within this year,” he told UNB preferring anonymity.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said previously many IOCs were reluctant to participate in bidding for exploration due to the price offered by Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Now we hope it will be a lucrative offer for the IOCs to invest in the offshore areas of Bangladesh for gas exploration,” he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Official sources said the recent excessive hike in fuel prices, especially that of liquefied natural gas (LNG), has prompted the government to go for further amending the existing PSC so that the IOCs get interested to invest here.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There was a target to invite international bidding in March 2020 for exploration in offshore areas, but that got postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic that emerged at exactly the same time.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The recent upward trend in oil and gas prices has pushed the policymakers to further raise the gas price by introducing much more flexibility and incentives including keeping the export option open in the PSC,\" said another Petrobangla official.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He mentioned that the government had to import LNG at $36 per MMBtu while it was just below $10 early last year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Russian invasion of Ukraine has further deepened the global market volatility pushing up petroleum price over $100 per barrel, the highest in the last 7 years.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Now, again oil and gas prices are on a downward trend and Brent crude oil is traded at $75 per barrel while LNG price is at below $14 per MMBtu. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 21:26:36', '2023-07-26 21:26:36'),
(8232, 8232, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Russian President Vladimir Putin will begin a series of international meetings with guests of the upcoming Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later in the day, he is expected to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and BRICS New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov told reporters on Tuesday that Putin\'s talks with the premier of Ethiopia, who is paying an official visit to Russia, will be held with the participation of delegations. After that, the president and the premier will have a joint breakfast.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The previous meeting of Putin and Ahmed took place on the sidelines of the first Russia-Africa summit in Sochi in 2019. The two leaders discussed the history of bilateral relations and their progressive development.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Back then, Putin praised partnership relations between Russia and Ethiopia on the international arena, including in ensuring stable development of peace on the African continent. Ahmed, in turn, said Ethiopia viewed Russia as a key partner for the country\'s development.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Putin\'s talks with his Egyptian counterpart are scheduled for Wednesday evening. They will talk to the journalists together in the beginning of the meeting, and then their conversation will continue as a lunch, Ushakov said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Their previous meeting also took place during the first Russia-Africa summit in 2019. El-Sisi told his Russian counterpart that Egypt \"views the Russian side as a reliable partner of the African continent.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"He also expressed hope that Russia \"will work in Africa in all spheres and sectors, particularly in the sphere of development.\" The latest phone conversation of the two leaders took place in March 2023.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also, Putin will meet with Dilma Rousseff, who is the president of the BRICS New Development Bank. Rousseff, who served as the president of Brazil in 2011-2016, was elected to head the organization on March 24, 2023, in Shanghai. Her previous meeting with Putin took place during the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Ufa in 2015.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin was actively preparing for the summit, due to take place in St. Petersburg later this week.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In turn, Ushakov said the Russian president planned to hold separate meetings with each attending African leader. The aide said Putin was set to meet with the leaders of Egypt, Mozambique, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Eritrea, Central African Republic, Libya, Cameroon, Senegal, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Mali and Congo.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ushakov said these bilateral meetings will be held in St. Petersburg over four days from July 26 to 29.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Moreover, after the summit is over on July 28, Putin will have a working lunch with the leaders of African countries participating in the Ukrainian peace initiative. It will be attended by official delegations from South Africa, the Comoros, Congo, Egypt, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some of the African leaders are expected to attend the Main Navy Parade on Sunday, July 30.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Multipolar world and Russian-African relations</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Ushakov\'s words, the Russian president is expected to deliver a major speech at the summit, assessing the current state of the system of international relations, including the process of transition to the new world order based on the concept of multipolarity and equality of all independent states.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Putin published an article, headlined \'Russia and Africa: Joining Efforts for Peace, Progress and a Successful Future,\' in the run-up to the forum. The president said he was looking forward to meet with African leaders and stood committed to a fruitful constructive dialogue.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also expressed hope that he decisions adopted at the summit and forum, coupled with continuous diversified joint work will contribute to further development of Russian-African strategic partnership for the benefit of countries and peoples.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The second Russia-Africa summit, as well as an economic forum organized by the Roscongress Foundation, are scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg from July 27 through 28.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The first such summit was held in Sochi from October 22-24, 2019 under the motto \"For Peace, Security, and Development.\" TASS is the event\'s photo hosting agency and information partner. TASS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 21:31:41', '2023-07-26 21:31:41'),
(8233, 8233, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh has conveyed its dismay to 13 envoys in Dhaka over their “undiplomatic behavior” by issuing a joint statement recently, “violating diplomatic norms.”</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We expressed our dissatisfaction. I hope that after our discussion today, they will realize that their joint statement has been presented prematurely, out of step with the flow of events, and they will refrain from such undiplomatic behavior in the future,\" State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam told reporters at Foreign Service Academy on Wednesday afternoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said they advised the diplomats to be constructive, reminding them of the Vienna Convention.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The diplomats have also been warned that bypassing the government and behaving “devoid of objectivity, neutrality and impartiality” will only create a crisis of mutual trust, Shahriar Alam said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said there were some fundamental flaws that Bangladesh pointed out and called for no such repetition.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the ambassadors or high commissioners of the 13 foreign missions that issued a joint statement recently after a candidate was assaulted during a by-election to the Dhaka-17 constituency.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The statement called for a full investigation and accountability for the perpetrators of the assault on independent candidate Ashraful Alom, better known as Hero Alom.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the joint statement, the foreign missions had said, “We condemn the July 17 attack on Dhaka-17 constituency candidate Ashraful Alom, popularly known as Hero Alam. Violence has no place in the democratic process.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Everyone involved in the upcoming elections should ensure that they are free, fair, and peaceful,” said the diplomatic missions in Dhaka.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The joint statement was signed by the embassies/high commissions of Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and the delegation of the European Union.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shahriar Alam said they have conveyed to the diplomats that this is an isolated incident that cannot be used to judge peaceful, fair and free elections.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Other candidates did not complain of any violence or any other irregularities, he observed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"So only a last-minute isolated incident at a center presented by a handful of diplomats never reflects a day-long peaceful election. In giving a quick response, they did not give due importance to the objectivity of their assessment,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As soon as the incident came to light, the Election Commission and the government took prompt and legal action, said the State Minister.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Two persons were arrested long before the diplomats\' statement. However, after taking legal measures, these diplomats were calling for legal measures which is unnecessary,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“To be honest,” Shahriar Alam said, “with the speed and importance with which they criticized the isolated incident, they did not appreciate the immediate and speedy legal action taken by the government.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Therefore, the objectivity and purpose of the joint statement is open to speculation, the state minister for foreign affairs said. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 23:06:22', '2023-07-26 23:06:22'),
(8234, 8234, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Considering the public suffering police have advised BNP to hold their planned rally at Golapbagh ground or any other filed instead of Nayapaltan or Suhrawardy Udyan, DMP Commissioner Khandaker Golam Faruk said on Wednesday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Police have not yet allowed BNP to hold rally at&nbsp; Nayapaltan or Suhrawardy Udyan .We have suggested them to go to any Golapbagh ground or any other field as Thursday is a working day,” he told UNB.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier on Monday, BNP sent a letter to Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) expressing its interest to hold a rally at Nayapaltan or Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier Khandaker Golam Faruk urged the political parties to hold their programmes without causing public suffering as they may be forced to ban political rallies in future if those&nbsp; become reasons of people’s woes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of nine political parties including Awami League and BNP have sent letters to DMP seeking permission to hold rallies in the capital on July 27 but few parties will be allowed, said the DMP chief.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;“To hold political rallies is a democratic right of the political parties but it is the responsibility of the DMP to ensure the security of the people,” he said while talking to reporters after inspecting the overall security measures on the occasion of Holy Ashura over the Tajia procession.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Saturday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the programme to press home their one-point demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to pave the way for holding the next national election under a neutral government.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said the rally will be held in the capital at 2pm as part of their simultaneous movement. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 23:10:40', '2023-07-26 23:10:40'),
(8235, 8235, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader has warned that BNP will have to shoulder responsibility for any kind of terrorism and violence in the name of movement.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"If BNP creates any kind of terrorism and violence in the name of movement, Awami League will deal with it along with people. If the peaceful environment is hampered in any way and public safety is disturbed, the BNP will have to take responsibility for it, “he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said this in a statement sent to the media on Wednesday, condemning the ‘misleading’ and ‘motivated’ political statements of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the statement, Quader said history says that terrorism and lies are the main tools of BNP\'s politics.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP and its allies have repeatedly disrupted the democratic progress of this country and BNP’s main aim is to grab power by any means by holding the people hostage by creating fear in the mind of people, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Awami League general secretary said BNP leaders who destroyed democracy in Bangladesh are standing in front of people wearing the mask of democracy. People know the faces behind the masks well and so they have not responded to any call of BNP and they will not get any support of people in future, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He urged BNP to come back from the path of conspiracy and face the people through elections. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-26 23:13:36', '2023-07-26 23:13:36');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(8236, 8236, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The first unit of Matarbari coal-fired power plant in Maheshkhali of Cox\'s Bazar district is likely to go into production by this December, adding 600 MW of electricity to the national grid.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the plant, project officials told reporters this week.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A ship carrying 64,300 mts of coal for the Matarbari plant had arrived from Indonesia on June 23.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 1200 MW power plant has been built on 1,414 acres of land in Matarbari and Dhalghata unions of Maheshkhali upazila of Cox\'s Bazar district.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Along with the construction of this power plant with Japanese funding on the coast of Cox\'s Bazar seven years ago, work has also started on the construction of port infrastructure and jetty for coal offloading from ships.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While visiting the area recently, it was seen that the project implementing company, Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCL), is going ahead with the work of this mega project.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The work of the jetty for the coal discharge with the power plant is almost finished. Vessels have also started sailing at the jetty.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The project has changed the entire landscape of the area, said officials.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some 13,104 tons of coal will be required daily to generate electricity at full scale. Coal discharge jetties and silos have been constructed for this.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Coal required for 60 days has been kept in the huge silos. Up to 80,000 ton capacity mother vessels can directly enter the coal jetty. And it will take one and a half to two days to unload the coal from the mother vessel.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two separate ashponds are kept to store ash for a lifetime of 25 years of the power plant. One has an area of 90 acres, another spread over 600 acres. Coal yard has been prepared on 80 acres of land for coal storage.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A loan agreement on the project was signed between the Government of Bangladesh and JICA on June 16, 2014. The project cost has been estimated at Tk 51,800 crores.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of this, Tk 43,921 crore will be given as project support by JICA and the remaining Tk 7,933 crore will be provided from the own funds of Bangladesh Government and CPGCBL.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to project sources, 95 percent of the jetty and physical infrastructure work has already been completed and 90 percent of the overall physical infrastructure work has been done.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Executive Director Nazmul Huq, Matarbari coal-fired plant project said that PM Hasina will inaugurate the power plant in December.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“But we want to add 600 MW power from here before inauguration and that will happen. The first unit of the Matarbari coal-fired power plant is scheduled to be commissioned in January 2024, but we expect to be fully operational by this December,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He mentioned that the second unit will be commissioned in next July.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, he said, electricity from both the units will be connected to the national grid.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The executive director mentioned that the project is being worked on by ensuring all necessary measures to prevent environmental pollution.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The coal will be seen only once when the coal is unloaded from the ship. Then the coal will go directly from the jetty to the plant. It will not pollute the environment,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Highlighting the overall status of the project, the executive director said, we have two parts of this project, one of which is the power plant, the other is the port.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Cox\'s Bazar Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Shaheen Imran told reporters that the Matarbari Coal Power Project is a priority project of the prime minister. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 16:31:32', '2023-07-27 16:31:32'),
(8237, 8237, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The United States has reiterated that political violence has no place in a democracy and that it favors no political party in Bangladesh.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We support Bangladesh’s goal of holding a free, fair, and peaceful election,\" Principal Deputy Spokesperson at the US Department of State, Vedant Patel, said during a regular media briefing in Washington on July 26.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said they have always emphasized the importance of the United States and Bangladesh working together to achieve the latter’s goal of free and fair elections.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">US State Department ‘deeply concerned over use of Digital Security Act’</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It’s an important aspect of our bilateral relationship. And we believe that free and fair elections are a shared priority, and many Bangladeshi government officials, including the Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina), have themselves said that it is their goal,\" Patel said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Wednesday, Bangladesh conveyed its dismay to 13 envoys in Dhaka over their “undiplomatic behavior”.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We expressed our dissatisfaction. I hope that after our discussion today, they will realize that their joint statement has been presented prematurely, out of step with the flow of events, and they will refrain from such undiplomatic behavior in the future,\" State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam told reporters at Foreign Service Academy on Wednesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said they advised the diplomats to be constructive, reminding them of the Vienna Convention.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The diplomats have also been warned that bypassing the government and behaving “devoid of objectivity, neutrality and impartiality” will only create a crisis of mutual trust, Shahriar Alam said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the ambassadors or high commissioners of the 13 foreign missions that issued a joint statement recently after a candidate was assaulted during a by-election to the Dhaka-17 constituency.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The statement called for a full investigation and accountability for the perpetrators of the assault on independent candidate Ashraful Alom, better known as Hero Alom.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the joint statement, the foreign missions had said, “We condemn the July 17 attack on Dhaka-17 constituency candidate Ashraful Alom, popularly known as Hero Alam. Violence has no place in the democratic process.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Everyone involved in the upcoming elections should ensure that they are free, fair, and peaceful,” said the diplomatic missions in Dhaka.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The joint statement was signed by the embassies/high commissions of Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and the delegation of the European Union.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shahriar Alam said they have conveyed to the diplomats that this is an isolated incident that cannot be used to judge peaceful, fair and free elections.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"So only a last-minute isolated incident at a center presented by a handful of diplomats never reflects a day-long peaceful election. In giving a quick response, they did not give due importance to the objectivity of their assessment,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As soon as the incident came to light, the Election Commission and the government took prompt and legal action, said the State Minister.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Two persons were arrested long before the diplomats\' statement. However, after taking legal measures, these diplomats were calling for legal measures which is unnecessary,” he said. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 16:34:05', '2023-07-27 16:34:05'),
(8238, 8238, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned home from Italy early hours of today after attending the UN Food Systems Summit+2 Stocktaking Moment.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A regular flight of Qatar Airways, carrying the premier and her entourage members, landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 01:50 am after making over one hour stopover at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, the flight departed from Rome Fiumicino Airport at 09:45am local time (01:45pm BST).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina went to Rome, Italy on July 23 on a three-day official visit to join the UNFSS+2 conference at the invitation of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The UNFSS+2 conference was held at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) headquarters on July 24-26 with the theme \"Sustainable Food Systems for People, Planet and Prosperity: Diverse Pathways in a Shared Journey\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier addressed the official opening of the conference at the FAO Headquarters as the special guest speaker on July 24.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Around 2000 participants from over 160 countries, including over 20 heads of state and government, attended the UNFSS+2.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina also participated in the plenary session titled \"Food Systems and Climate Action\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the evening of the same day, she also joined the inaugural ceremony of Bangladesh-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Room in FAO headquarters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also had a bilateral meeting with her Nepalese counterpart Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the newly opened Bangladesh-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Room in the FAO headquarters on the sidelines of the UN Food Systems Summit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Three Italian ministers -Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and Justice Minister Carlo Nordio - also paid a courtesy call on her at the FAO headquarters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">FAO Director General Qu Dongyu, President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Alvaro Lario and World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy Hensley McCain paid courtesy call on the prime minister.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On July 25, the premier attended the \"Regional Envoys Conference\" organised with Bangladesh ambassadors stationed in 15 European countries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina also had a bilateral meeting with her Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the meeting, two Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs)- \"Cooperation in the Field of Energy\" and \"Cultural Exchange Programme\" - were exchanged in presence of the two prime ministers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier also joined a community reception accorded to her hosted by the expatriate Bangladeshis in Italy. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 17:12:39', '2023-07-27 17:12:39'),
(8239, 8239, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Walking past huge intercontinental ballistic missiles and previously unseen military drones, Kim Jong Un gave Russia\'s defence minister a tour of North Korea\'s newest and most advanced weaponry Thursday, state media reported.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After Washington earlier this year accused Pyongyang of supplying Moscow with weapons for its war in Ukraine, photographs in state media showed Kim walking Moscow\'s Sergei Shoigu through a vast defence exhibition showcasing the North\'s nuclear missiles and what Seoul-based specialist site NK News said were new unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shoigu and a high-ranking Chinese delegation are in Pyongyang as Kim\'s first known foreign guests since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, as the country marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of the July 27, 1953, Korean War armistice, which ended open hostilities and is celebrated as Victory Day.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kim and Shoigu visited the \"Weapons and Equipment Exhibition 2023\", the official Korean Central News Agency said, showing photos that featured North Korea\'s largest intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Hwasong-17, and the Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia, a historic ally of North Korea, is one of a handful of nations with which Pyongyang maintains friendly relations. Kim and Shoigu had earlier discussed \"matters of mutual concern in the field of national defence and security and on the regional and international security environment,\" KCNA said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The North Korean leader has been steadfast in his support for Moscow\'s invasion of Ukraine, including, Washington says, supplying rockets and missiles -- a charge Pyongyang has angrily denied.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the visit, Kim told Shoigu \"about the weapons and equipment which were invented and produced\" under North Korea\'s national defence plan and \"repeatedly expressed belief that the Russian army and people would achieve big successes\", KCNA added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shoigu\'s visit is noteworthy given that Russian defence ministers have not regularly visited Pyongyang since before the collapse of the USSR, experts told AFP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Russia may need the potential of North Korean military industry in the realm of conventional weapons, while North Korea may be interested in missile technology transfers from Russia,\" Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, told AFP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But despite the high-profile coverage of Shoigu\'s visit, North Korea is likely to be \"very careful\" about providing Moscow with weapons for its war in Ukraine, Park Won-gon, professor at Ewha University, told AFP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"If it is confirmed publicly, European countries would also turn adversarial,\" Park said, adding that North Korea would prefer not to face additional sanctions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"So it will be careful, but it\'s possible that Russia will seek more help in secret.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- First foreigners -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Satellite imagery indicates North Korea has been preparing for a large-scale military parade for the Thursday anniversary.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The inclusion of foreign guests at this year\'s celebrations is a post-pandemic first and hints at new flexibility towards enforcing border controls.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Russian and Chinese delegations are Pyongyang\'s first known foreign visitors since its 2020 pandemic closure.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">North Korea has been under a rigid, self-imposed blockade since early 2020 to protect itself from Covid-19, preventing even its own nationals from entering the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Beijing is North Korea\'s most important ally and economic benefactor, their relationship forged in the bloodshed of the Korean War in the 1950s.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kim Jong Un also met a Chinese delegation led by politburo member Li Hongzhong and told him \"the Korean people will never forget the fact that the brave soldiers of the Chinese People\'s Volunteers shed blood to bring about the war victory,\" KCNA said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The meetings show that Kim is more interested in political theater than he is concerned about Covid,\" Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, told AFP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Park Won-gon, another professor at Ewha University, said it was unlikely the visits would lead to a reopening of North Korea\'s borders. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">bnbd24/kh</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Covid-19 is a very serious challenge for North Korea and they are not ready to open their borders yet,\" he said, noting the country\'s \"broken\" medical system and that its people had not been vaccinated.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">North Korea only resumed some trade with China last year and allowed new Beijing envoy Wang Yajun to take up his position this year. He is the first known senior diplomat to cross into North Korea since the border closure in January 2020.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia\'s ambassador to Pyongyang, Alexander Matsegora, is known to have remained in the North Korean capital throughout the pandemic, even as staff numbers at his embassy dwindled and other foreign missions closed their doors. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 17:59:41', '2023-07-27 17:59:41'),
(8240, 8240, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Early preparedness is crucial for extending humanitarian response and medical assistance to pregnant mothers, babies, adolescents and women for ensuring their health safety during natural disasters.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The opinion came at an orientation meeting on \'Pre-disaster Preparedness and Humanitarian Response\' organised by the Civil Surgeon\'s Office at its conference room in Kurigram district town on Wednesday, said a press release.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Director General of Health Services, UNFPA Bangladesh and LAMB Elimination of Genital Fistula by Capturing, Treating, Rehabilitating and Reintegrating in Bangladesh (FRRei) Project under LAMB-UNFPA partnership program extended technical support in arranging the event.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kurigram Civil Surgeon Dr Manjur-E-Murshed presided over the meeting and delivered an inaugural speech.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Upazila Health and Family Planning Officers and Medical Officers from all nine upazilas in Kurigram, Midwives, Senior Staff Nurses, officials and experts of UNFPA Bangladesh and LAMB-UNFPA Fistula Elimination Project participated in the event.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Technical Officer of UNFPA Bangladesh Dr. Animesh Biswas, Project Manager of LAMB FRRei Project Mahatab Liton, its Deputy Project Manager Dr. Tahmina Khatun Soniya and District Officer of Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Services for Kurigram Dr. Anindita Barma facilitated different sessions as resource persons.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The resource persons discussed anomalous situations created during natural disasters and ways for working inclusively to ensure services and health safety of pregnant mothers, babies, children and women during natural disasters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They narrated issues related to ensuring health safety of adolescents and pregnant mothers during pregnancy and gender-based violence against women during natural disasters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dr Anindita Barma discussed health risks of pregnant mothers, children and adolescents and ways to ensure health services to them during disasters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dr Tahmina Khatun Soniya discussed reasons behind increasing frequency of gender-based violence against women, children and adolescents during natural disasters like floods.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She narrated health risks of pregnant women and sexually assaulted women during natural disasters and modality of providing health services to them round the clock.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dr. Animesh Biswas said Kurigram is facing risks of natural disasters due its topographical location and stressed on ensuring health services to pregnant and lactating mothers, children and adolescents during disasters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Early preparedness, better coordination and arranging necessary materials are crucial to ensure reaching humanitarian assistance and health services to women and children during disasters,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The civil surgeon called for adopting adequate early preparedness to extend humanitarian assistance and health services to women and children in disaster-prone areas of Kurigram during disasters. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 18:05:43', '2023-07-27 18:05:43'),
(8241, 8241, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi today (July 27, 2023) condemned the arrests of leaders and activists of BNP ahead of their grand rally tomorrow and demanded their immediate release.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to a press release issued today, police arrested Mir Ashraf Ali, former commissioner of Ward 26 of Dhaka City Corporation and his son, Barrister Muntaha Ali, from their house on Wednesday night.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Ashraf Ali was seriously injured during the arrest, and his legs were broken,\" the press release says.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He is now undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital in police custody, the release adds.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Law enforcers are being used to secure ruling party’s interests: Rizvi</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, at least 200 leaders and activists of BNP, including Shafiqul Haque Milan, a lawyer and the Relief and Rehabilitation Affairs Secretary of BNP central committee; Abdul Quddus Akon, Assistant Organizing Secretary of BNP; and Anwar Hossain Ujjal, former General Secretary of Rajshahi Metropolitan BNP, who came to Dhaka to attend tomorrow\'s rally, were arrested from different parts of the capital on Wednesday night, the press release says.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police also raided the Midway Hotel and Victoria Hotel next to BNP\'s central office in Naya Paltan and arrested more than 300 leaders and activists who boarded there to attend the rally, the press release from the party says. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 18:23:41', '2023-07-27 18:23:41'),
(8242, 8242, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Tomorrow\'s rally of Awami League\'s associate organisations -- Chhatra League, Jubo League and Swechchasebak League -- will be held at the south gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, instead of the old trade fair ground in Agargaon, said Afzalur Rahman Babu, general secretary of Swechchasebak League.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The rally cannot be held at the old trade fair ground as there is a scheduled programme of the president at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) next to the ground,\" he told reporters in Dhaka\'s Agargaon today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A press conference regarding the rally will be held at the Chhatra League office on Bangabandhu Avenue at 5 pm today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Yesterday, the three associate organisations of AL announced that their youth rally, that was scheduled for today, will be held on Friday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The decision came after BNP decided to hold its rally on Friday, instead of Thursday. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 18:28:57', '2023-07-27 18:28:57'),
(8243, 8243, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The number of Bangladeshi hajj pilgrims who died in Saudi Arabia this year has reached 117 till July 27, according to the Ministry of Religious Affairs.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Among the deceased, 91 were men and 26 women.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the ministry’s latest hajj bulletin, 95 hajj pilgrims died in Mecca, eight in Medina, nine in Mina, two in Arafat, and two in Jeddah and one in Muzdalifah.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As of Thursday, a total of 98,746 hajj pilgrims returned to the country on 260 flights after completing hajj.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">These flights were operated by three airlines, with Biman Bangladesh Airlines conducting 123flights, Saudi Airlines conducting 97 flights, and Flynas operating 40 flights.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This year, some 122,884 Muslims embarked on 325 flights to perform hajj.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The first return flight arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on July 2. The last return flight is scheduled to arrive on August 2. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"7\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 19:17:39', '2023-07-27 19:17:39'),
(8244, 8244, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq on Thursday said they would give permission to BNP and Awami League to hold rallies in the capital if there are enough force members after ensuring security to the programme of upcoming Ashura and VIP movements.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mentionable that the ruling Awami League\'s three associate bodies have sought permission to hold rally in the south gate of Baitul Mukarram mosque while BNP in Nayapaltan onFriday.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 19:23:48', '2023-07-27 19:23:48'),
(8245, 8245, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The first unit of the coal-fired Matarbari Power Plant here is to go on trial run on July 29 with its 600 MW generation capacity while officials expect its commissioning in December.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The first of the two units (of Matarbari Power Plant) starts its trial run on July 29,\" project director Abul Kalam Azad told BSS adding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was expected commission the unit in December this year launching its regular production.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He added that the combined generation capacity of the plant was 12 MW while the entire plant was set to go on full scale operation in March or April next year, instead of July 2024 as planned earlier.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Matarbari Power Plant is one of the government’s mega projects with Japanese assistance to be built at an estimated cost of Tk 51,800 crores while it is also one of premier’s priority projects as well.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to officials concerned the entire plant would require 10,000 tonnes of coal everyday, each unit requiring 5,000 tonnes, while 2 lakh tonnes of coals were stored by now and 65,000 tonnes would reach the production site on August 7 next.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Four tanks having storage capacity of 1.7 million tonnes have already been built alongside two jetties at the project site to unload the coal to the tanks directly from the ships, the project director said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The tanks have the capacity of storing coal for 60 days. It will require one and a half day or two days to unload coal from a ship.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unloading of the coal will be environment friendly as the coal will be offloaded to the tanks directly from the jetties, said officials familiar with the process.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 1200 megawatts Matarbari power plant is being established on 1,608 acres of land in Matarbari and Dhalghata unions of Maheshkhali upazila of Cox\'s Bazar district at a cost of Taka 52,000 crore.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCL) has been implementing the project.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the visit to the Matarbari power plant projects site, the BSS correspondent found that the construction of the project has almost been completed with building two jetties to offload coal and four tanks to store the coal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Matarbari Deep Seaport and LNG and LPG terminal are being constructed near the Matarbari Power Plant site.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two separate ash ponds are kept to store ash for a lifetime of 25 years of the power plant. One has an area of 90 acres while another spread over 600 acres. Coal yard has been prepared on 80 acres of land for coal storage.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A loan agreement was signed between the Bangladesh government and JICA on June 16, 2014.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of the estimated TK 51,800 crores project cost, Tk 43,921 crore will be given as project support by JICA and the remaining Tk 7,933 crore will be provided from the own funds of Bangladesh government and CPGCBL.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The project has two parts, one of which is the power plant and the other is the port. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 20:42:16', '2023-07-27 20:42:16'),
(8246, 8246, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today expressed profound shock and sorrow at the demise of veteran journalist, valiant freedom fighter and former Secretary General of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) M Shahjahan Miah.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a condolence message, the prime minister said, \"M Shahjahan was a professional journalist. He contributed to changing the society by publishing reports and information in the mass media.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The head of the government also said being a leader of the journalists; he (Shahjahan Miah) had played a significant role in the welfare of the journalists alongside enhancing their professional excellence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The country\'s mass media has lost a valiant journalist with his demise,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier also prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shahjahan Mia, also former Chief News Editor of National News Agency- Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), died of old-age complications at his city\'s Rampura residence last night. He was 82. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 20:44:59', '2023-07-27 20:44:59'),
(8247, 8247, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal today said the government will not allow rallies on roads creating public sufferings.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Large political parties have been requested to avoid rallies on roads along with violence and vandalism centering the meetings. If such a situation arises, the law enforcement agencies will take necessary measures,” he told journalists at a press briefing at his ministry’s conference room here.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The press conference was organized on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The day will be observed in the country on July 30 instead of June 26.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By resolution 42/112 of 7 December 1987, the General Assembly decided to observe 26 June as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The theme of the day this year is ‘People first: stop stigma and discrimination, strengthen prevention.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The home minister, also a veteran freedom fighter, said that so far no party has been given permission to hold a rally. “But even after permission, the same instructions will be given to both the parties and the conditions will be the same.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Replying to a question about both party’s rallies on same day, he said that political party leaders can say this, adding, “As the home minister, my job is to maintain the law and order situation.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kamal also said that there is no barrier to holding gatherings of political parties. “But they should not indulge in destructive activities, create public sufferings, damage and vandalise properties, raze peace. If they do these, the security forces will take necessary measures.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, the home minister emphasised on reducing drug demand and its supply, saying, “We are working as per a comprehensive action plan. Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared zero tolerance against drugs and our motto is that.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He urged all including public representatives, civil society, media and imamas of mosques to build awareness against drug abuse and its destructive impact on the young generation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“All our plans will fail if we could not save our young people from the drugs. Yaba and ice drugs usually come from Myanmar and Phensidyle from India. We are working with India to stop it,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kamal said, “We have also started working with Myanmar but they are not cooperating in that way. That\'s why I am mobilising Coast Guard and BGB to prevent drugs smuggling into our country.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mentioning that BGB, Coast Guard and police seize and destroy huge amount of drugs every year, he said the government has been working to bring drug addicts back to normal life.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We have established a number of specialized hospitals and appointed physicians to treat drug addicts. Narcotics Control Directorate is also working on it,” the home minister said. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 22:07:55', '2023-07-27 22:07:55'),
(8248, 8248, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Three associate bodies of Awami League and BNP have been given conditional permission to hold their rallies in the city tomorrow, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner Khandaker Golam Faruq.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Awami Jubo League, Sechchhasebak League and Chhatra League have received permission to hold its rally at the South gate of Baitul Mokarram National Mosque while BNP has given permission to hold its rally in front of its Nayapaltan central office, the DMP commissioner said at a press conference this afternoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said three associate bodies of Awami League and BNP have been given 23-condition for holding the rallies. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-27 22:17:45', '2023-07-27 22:17:45'),
(8249, 8249, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">BNP and Awami League’s three associate bodies have been given permissions to hold their rallies at Nayapaltan and Baitul Mukarram respectively on 23 conditions on Friday.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Khandaker Golam Faruk announced this while briefing journalists about the permission to the parties at DMP Headquarters on Thursday afternoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thanking the both political parties, the DMP commissioner said they (AL and BNP) deferred their rallies to Friday from Thursday considering public suffering.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said BNP was given permission to hold their rally in front of the party office at Nayapaltan while the AL associate bodies at south gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP was asked to limit their rally from Kakrail’s Nightingale crossing to Rajarbagh Police Hospital and the AL bodies were asked to restrict their rally from Mahanagar Natya Manch to Muktangan, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Urging the supporters of both parties not to carry any stick, bamboo and bag in the rallies, he said anti-state speech will be restricted.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier on Wednesday night, BNP decided to defer its grand rally, scheduled for Thursday, to Friday. The party said it will hold the grand rally in Dhaka’s Nayapaltan area as it is unwilling to hold the programme at Golapbagh ground as suggested by the police authorities.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After a marathon meeting of the BNP standing committee members, party’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir came up with the announcement at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Following BNP’s move, Awami League\'s three associate organisations—Chhatra League, Jubo League and Swechchasebak League—also announced to hold their rally at the old trade fair ground in Dhaka’s Agargaon on Friday, instead of Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier in the day, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Khandaker Golam Faruk said police did not allow BNP to hold their rally at Nayapaltan or Suhrawardy Udyan. “We have suggested them go for Golapbagh ground or any other field as Thursday is a workday.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The DMP also suggested three fronts of the ruling Awami League—Jubo League, Swechchasebak League and Chhatra League—hold their scheduled rally either at Dhaka University or at Mohanagar Natya Mancha instead of the south gate of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last Saturday, Fakhrul announced the grand rally on Thursday to press home their one-point demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to “pave the way for holding the next national election under a neutral government.” UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 00:37:36', '2023-07-28 00:37:36');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(8250, 8250, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A Dhaka court on Thursday set August 2 for delivering its judgment in a graft case filed against BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Asaduzzaman fixed the date after completing all legal procedures in the case.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Advocate Mosharraf Hossain Kajal took part in arguments on behalf of the&nbsp; Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) during the hearing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, no counsel stood for the accused as they are now absconding.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">examining 43 out of 56 witnesses, the court completed recording testimonies on July 24.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The court began trial against the accused on April 13 after framing charges against them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier on November 1, 2022, the court issued arrest warrants for Tarique Rahman and Zubaida in the case.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On June 26, the High court ordered the judicial court to dispose of the case as soon as possible.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The HC also rejected the couple’s writ petitions, challenging the corruption case against them for acquiring wealth beyond their known sources of income and concealing information in their affidavits.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As both of them remain fugitives, the court rejected the writ petitions – saying these are not acceptable.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The court also withdrew the stay order on the trial proceedings of the case filed against them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On September 26, 2007, ACC lodged a complaint with Kafrul police against Tarique Rahman, Zubaida and her mother Iqbal Mand Banu for amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 4.81 crore and concealing the information.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the same year, the High Court issued a rule suspending the trial proceedings in the case after hearing a petition filed by Zubaida.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The HC rejected the rule in 2017 and asked her to surrender before the court within eight weeks. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 00:47:50', '2023-07-28 00:47:50'),
(8251, 8251, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The result statistics of this year’s Secondary School Certificate and equivalent examinations across Bangladesh were handed over to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday morning.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Education Minister Dipu Moni handed over the combined result statistics of the SSC and equivalent examinations to the PM at the latter’s official residence Ganabhaban.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, the chairmen of 11 education boards—nine general, one madrasa and one technical—handed over the result statistics of their respective boards to the premier.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister published the result of SSC and its equivalent examination-2023, which will be available at the respective educational institutions and online from 10:30am.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Students can see their results on www.educationboardresults.gov.bd by entering their roll and registration number.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, they can also get the results by sending an SMS to 16222. In that case they will have to type SSC&lt;&gt;first three letters of the name of the education board&lt;&gt;roll number&lt;&gt;exam year in the message option of the mobile phone and send that to 16222. For example, a student will have to write SSC&lt;&gt;DHA&lt;&gt;ROLL&lt;&gt;YEAR. The results will be sent in answer to the message.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some 20, 78,216 students—10,24,980 boys and 10,53,246 girls—under the 11 education boards appeared for the SSC and equivalent examinations in 2023. The theoretical exams were held on April 30-May 23, 2023.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Education Minister Dipu Moni and Deputy Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury spoke at the function moderated by Secondary and Higher Education Secretary Suleman Khan. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 15:53:43', '2023-07-28 15:53:43'),
(8252, 8252, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka\'s air quality continued to be in the ‘moderate’ zone on Friday.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 66 at 9:06 am, Dhaka today ranked 25th on the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 50 and 100 is considered ‘moderate’ with an acceptable air quality. However, there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Indonesia’s Jakarta, Pakistan’s Lahore and Chile’s Santiago occupied the first three spots on the list, with AQI scores of 158, 156 and 153, respectively.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’, particularly for sensitive groups.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be ‘poor’, while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered ‘hazardous’, posing serious health risks to residents.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants – Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 15:58:09', '2023-07-28 15:58:09'),
(8253, 8253, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A small Philippine ferry turned upside down when passengers suddenly crowded to one side in panic as fierce winds pummeled the wooden vessel, leaving at least 26 people dead while 40 others were rescued, officials said Friday.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Coast guard and police said search and rescue efforts had resumed after a pause Thursday night. Officials said it remained unclear how many people were aboard the M/B Princess Aya, which capsized Thursday in Laguna de Bay in Rizal province east of Manila.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When people rushed to one side of the vessel amid severe winds, the boat tilted and its outrigger broke, then the boat capsized shortly after leaving a wharf in the town of Binangonan for nearby Talim island, police and the coast guard said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The accident happened only about 46 meters (150 feet) from shore, officials said at a news conference.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Rizal provincial police said that they immediately launched a rescue operation with the help of the coast guard and other local authorities, but that at least 26 people drowned. Forty others were saved.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"This is really a tragic event that has to be investigated,\" coast guard Rear Adm. Hostillo Arturo Cornelio told reporters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ferry was supposed to carry a maximum of 42 passengers and crewmembers but was overloaded, Cornelio said. He said investigators would also look into reports that the passengers were not wearing life vests as required by safety regulations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Asked how many people were on the boat, Cornelio said it was unclear if there were more than the 66 who died or were save. \"We assume there could be more,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The search was continuing Friday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A video released by the coast guard showed rescuers on a local government boat pulling a body out of the lake. Another video showed local fishermen aboard vessels approaching the overturned boat.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Typhoon Doksuri blew away Thursday after battering the northern Philippines and whipping up seasonal monsoon rains in a large swath of the archipelago.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The capsizing brought the death toll from a week of stormy weather across the main island of Luzon to 39. At least 13 people were reported killed earlier due to Doksuri\'s onslaught, mostly due to landslides, flooding and toppled trees and thousands were displaced, disaster response officials said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sea travel was suspended in many ports during Doksuri\'s onslaught from Tuesday to Wednesday, stranding thousands of passengers and cargo trucks. The no-sail orders were gradually lifted Thursday as weather improved in many areas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Coast guard Rear Adm. Armand Balilo said the boat that capsized had set out after a no-sail order was lifted for Binangonan town. Only 22 passengers were listed on the ferry\'s manifest and criminal complaints may be filed against the vessel\'s owner, skipper and two crewmen, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Sea accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of frequent storms, badly maintained boats, overcrowding and weak enforcement of safety regulations. In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,300 people in the world\'s worst peacetime maritime disaster. AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24kh&nbsp;</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 16:35:18', '2023-07-28 16:35:18'),
(8254, 8254, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Khulna Civil Surgeon made OSD after name appeared in ACC charge sheet over embezzlement&nbsp;</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The civil surgeon of Khulna has been made OSD after his name appeared in a Tk 2.61 crore embezzlement case.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Khandaker Kamruzzaman, deputy assistant director of Anti-Corruption Commission\'s Khulna divisional office, has filed a charge sheet against six people, including Civil Surgeon Dr Sujat Ahmed and former civil surgeon Dr Niaz Mohammad on Thursday.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The other accused in the case are Khulna General Hospital Resident Medical Officer Dr SM Murad Hossain, suspended medical technologist (lab) Prakash Kumar Das, medical technologist (lab) Md Rawshan Ali and cashier Tapati Sarkar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, Satkhira Civil Surgeon Dr. Md. Sabizur Rahman has been appointed as the new civil surgeon of Khulna, according to&nbsp; a letter signed by Senior Assistant Secretary Md Alamgir Kabir.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On November 18, 2021, ACC Deputy Assistant Director Khandaker Kamruzzaman filed a case against Prakash Kumar Das for embezzling money from Covid-19 tests.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He was the only accused in the case. Later, investigation into the case revealed the involvement of five more people.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The six, in connivance with each other, collected samples of overseas-bound passengers and general Covid-19 patients using duplicate receipt books in the hospital booths outside the government receipt books and sent them to the RT-PCR lab of the Microbiology Department of Khulna Medical College for testing.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, the accused hid the actual number of sample collection and deposited Tk 1,68,46,700 instead of depositing the actual user fee totalling Tk 4,29,91,100 collected from outgoing passengers and general Covid-19 patients into the government treasury. They embezzled the remaining amount without depositing it, according to ACC officials. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 17:03:56', '2023-07-28 17:03:56'),
(8255, 8255, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">This year\'s Emmy Awards will be postponed due to the ongoing Hollywood strikes, US media reported Thursday.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Television\'s equivalent of the Oscars was scheduled to take place in September, but could be pushed as far back as January, the Los Angeles Times reported.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Trade publication Variety said \"vendors, producers and others involved with the event\" have already been informed of the delay, which has not yet been officially announced.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A source familiar with the plans told AFP that a new date for the show has not yet been set.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hollywood\'s actors and writers are both currently on strike, in the first industry-wide walkout for 63 years.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Stars would not be able to attend the Emmys if the actors\' strike was still in effect at the time of the ceremony -- a development that would be disastrous for television ratings.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Writers would also not be allowed to script a monologue or jokes for the telecast\'s host and presenters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to reports, Fox -- this year\'s Emmy Awards broadcaster in the United States -- has been pushing to delay until January, giving the strikes longer to be resolved.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Television Academy, who vote for and host the awards, preferred a shorter postponement, as January lands the Emmys right in the middle of Hollywood\'s packed film award season.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Neither Fox nor the Television Academy has commented.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The last time the Emmys were delayed was in 2001, when the ceremony was postponed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Hollywood strikes have essentially shut down all US movie and television productions, with limited exceptions such as reality and game shows.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are barred from promoting their movies and series.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The unions\' demands have focused on dwindling pay in the streaming era, and the threat posed to their careers and future livelihoods by artificial intelligence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nominations for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards were announced earlier this month, just hours before talks between studios and SAG-AFTRA collapsed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Succession,\" the HBO drama about an ultra-wealthy family fighting for control of a sinister media empire, led the nominations with a whopping 27 nods, including best drama.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The Last of Us\" became the first live-action video game adaptation to earn major nominations, with 24, while satire \"The White Lotus\" earned 23 nods. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"13\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 17:21:25', '2023-07-28 17:21:25'),
(8256, 8256, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Thousands of leaders and activists of BNP have started gathering in front of the party’s Nayapaltan central office since Friday morning to attend their grand rally.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Defying senior leaders’ instructions, several thousand activists thronged Dhaka’s Nayapaltan area on Thursday night and stayed there overnight.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Visiting the rally venue around 10:30 am on Friday, the UNB correspondent saw thousands of party leaders and followers from different parts of the city arriving in processions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Carrying banners, festoons, placards and portraits of the party’s top leaders, they were shouting anti-government slogans.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Roads and alleys stretching from Bijoynagar to Nayapaltan were crowded with BNP activists, halting traffic in the area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many leaders and activists of the party alleged that they had to face checking by law enforcement agencies at the entry points of the capital.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The party has already set up a big stage on nine trucks, rolled out red carpets, and installed loudspeakers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two separate stages have also been erected for the cultural activists and journalists.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Artistes from the BNP\'s cultural body are performing patriotic songs to keep the crowds invigorated under the scorching sun and they will continue till 12 pm.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP’s Dhaka south and north city units are organizing the rally to press home the opposition’s one-point demand for holding the upcoming national election under a non-party government.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The rally is scheduled to formally begin at 2 pm after Juma prayers.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will address the programme as the chief guest and announce their next course of action to mount pressure on the current government to accept their one-point demand.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Apart from BNP, 37 like-minded political parties and alliances are also going to arrange separate rallies in different city areas to press home the one-point demand that includes the resignation of the Awami League government and holding the next election under a neutral government.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, three associate bodies of the ruling Awami League—Jubo League, Swechchasebak League and Chhatra League—are also scheduled to hold a rally in front of the south gate of Baitul Mukarram mosque which is 1.7 km away from the BNP’s rally at Nayapaltan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The rallies of the ruling and opposition parties were scheduled to be held on Thursday, but they rescheduled their programmes for Friday as Dhaka Metropolitan Police authorities did not allow them to use their chosen venues on a workday for the sake of avoiding public suffering.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Political analysts think it will be a daunting task for the law enforcers to maintain peace and fend off any untoward incident as both the opposition and the ruling parties will hold their programmes at short distances and at the same time.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">All eyes are on the BNP rally as there are speculations that the party may announce non-stop action programmes to force the Awami League government to step down.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Thursday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police gave BNP and Awami League’s three associate bodies permission to hold their rallies at Nayapaltan and Baitul Mukarram respectively on 23 conditions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The police authorities asked BNP to limit their rally from Kakrail’s Nightingale crossing to Rajarbagh Police Hospital, while the AL associate bodies have to restrict their rally from Mahanagar Natya Mancha to Muktangan. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 17:35:44', '2023-07-28 17:35:44'),
(8257, 8257, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ahead of political rallies of the ruling and opposition parties in Dhaka, the United States has reiterated that political violence has no place in a democracy and that the US favors no political party in Bangladesh.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I will reiterate that political violence has no place in a democracy, and in the United States, we favor no political party,\" Principal Deputy Spokesperson at the US Department of State Vedant Patel said in a regular media briefing in Washington on July 27.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said they support Bangladesh’s goal of holding free, fair, and peaceful elections.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Patel said they have also emphasized the importance of the United States and Bangladesh working together to achieve this goal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We certainly continue to believe that this endeavor has no space or room for political violence,\" he said. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 17:40:43', '2023-07-28 17:40:43'),
(8258, 8258, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina this morning unveiled the results of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations-2023.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier released the results after receiving the combined result statistics of the SSC and equivalent examinations from Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni at a ceremony at her official residence Ganabhaban here.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The chairmen of 11 education boards - nine general, one madrasa and one technical - also handed over the result statistics of their respective boards to the premier.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Now, students can get their results by visiting the website www.educationboardresults.gov.bd and entering their roll and registration numbers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, they can also get the results by sending an SMS to 16222.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In that case, they will have to type SSC&lt;&gt;first three letters of the name of education board&lt;&gt;roll number&lt;&gt;exam year in the message option of the mobile phone and send that to 16222.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For example, a student will have to write SSC&lt;&gt;DHA&lt;&gt;ROLL&lt;&gt;YEAR. The results will be sent in answer to the message.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some 20, 78,216 students – 10,24,980 boys and 10,53,246 girls-- under the 11 education boards sat for the SSC and equivalent examinations-2023. The theoretical exams were held from April 30 to May 23, 2023.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Education Minister Dipu Moni and Deputy Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury spoke at the function moderated by Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Secretary Suleman Khan. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 18:35:48', '2023-07-28 18:35:48'),
(8259, 8259, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ukraine\'s military says it has had success on one of the front lines in southeast Ukraine, as Western officials talk of a major thrust taking place.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a video published by President Zelensky, Ukrainian troops said they had taken the village of Staromaiorske.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, Ukraine\'s military said it was \"solidifying positions\" it had reached in the same area, east of the city of Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine has not confirmed that it has beefed up its counter-offensive.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine\'s attacks had \"significantly\" intensified.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He told reporters in St Petersburg they had had no success: \"All counter-offensive attempts were stopped, and the enemy was pushed back with high casualties.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russian-backed militia leader Aleksandr Khodakovsky contradicted Mr Putin, saying Ukraine had methodically shelled Staromaiorske for several days and made gains, holding on to the outskirts and pushing on.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russian military blogger WarGonzo said the news was disturbing as Staromaiorske was a key Russian outpost on the front line in the south-eastern region of Zaporizhzhia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia\'s war bloggers are considered an alternative source of information from the front line in the absence of official accounts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine\'s counter-offensive began on a number of fronts last month but has seen very few clear gains so far. Kyiv\'s generals have warned that fast results are almost impossible because of Russia\'s fortified defensive lines and rows of minefields.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The man in charge of operations in the south, Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, has told the BBC that \"any defence can be broken but you need patience, time and skilful action\". BBC</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 18:41:04', '2023-07-28 18:41:04'),
(8260, 8260, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Saudi Arabia summoned a Danish diplomat to protest desecration of the Koran by an extreme-right group in Copenhagen, state media reported early Friday.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the meeting on Thursday with the Danish charge d\'affaires, foreign ministry officials delivered a protest note urging an end to \"these disgraceful acts, which violate all religious teachings (and) international laws and norms\" and can \"fuel hatred between religions\", the official Saudi Press Agency said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The far-right group Danske Patrioter on Monday posted a video in which a man is seen desecrating and burning what appeared to be the Muslim holy book.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was just the latest such incident to stir anger in the Muslim world.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Saudi Arabia, home to the holy cities Mecca and Medina, has also denounced protests by a Sweden-based Iraqi refugee who last month burned pages of the Koran outside Stockholm\'s main mosque.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a separate protest last week, the refugee, Salwan Momika, stepped on the Koran but did not burn it, prompting Riyadh to hand a protest note to the Swedish charge d\'affaires.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Saudi Arabia and Iraq have called for an extraordinary meeting, expected to be held on Monday, of the Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to address Koran desecration in both Sweden and Denmark.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Thursday, the 57-member body\'s secretary general, Hissein Brahim Taha, received a phone call from Sweden\'s foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, who said Stockholm rejects acts that insult the Koran and wants to maintain good relations with OIC members, the OIC said in a statement. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"7\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 18:53:37', '2023-07-28 18:53:37'),
(8261, 8261, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Braving rain, thousands of leaders and activists from the three associate bodies of Awami league from across the country have been streaming into the venue for their peace rally — set to start at 3 pm today at the South Gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a show of solidarity, activists and leaders from the three AL wings —&nbsp; Chhatra League, Jubo League and Swechchasebak League — have already reached the capital, carrying banners festoons and placards with a vow to foil “any kind of anarchy” caused by the opposition led by BNP.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also read: Ground for grand rally of Awami League\'s associate organisations is being ready</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While reaching the venue, they were shouting slogans “won’t let arson attacks from BNP-Jamaat like 2013, 2014”, “terrorism won’t be allowed to stop the country’s progress”, and “Bangladesh doesn’t deserve a fugitive and convicted criminal like Tarique Rahman”.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Video posted on AL’s verified Facebook page shows a procession of hundreds of supporters marching towards the venue under the banner “Peace rally to prevent BNP’s chaos and anarchy”. A number of photos of activists standing before the stage were also shared.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also read: Thousands of BNP leaders, activists gathering at Dhaka’s Nayapaltan to join grand rally</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Brimming with activists, the adjoining areas of the venue were reverberating with calls from the rally attendees to thwart any attempt of violence and continue the legacy of what they called “a decade of development that changed the course of national progress.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also read: BNP gears up for Friday\'s anti-govt rally amid fear, speculations</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader is scheduled to address the rally, organized by the party’s three associate bodies — Jubo League, Swechchasebak League and Chhatra League — in front of the south gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque mosque, 1.7 km away from BNP’s rally at Nayapaltan. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 20:15:09', '2023-07-28 20:15:09'),
(8262, 8262, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday said her government has taken steps to build a smart judiciary system in the country in line with the 2041 vision of turning the country into Smart Bangladesh.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We’ve made Digital Bangladesh. Now our vision is to build Smart Bangladesh by 2041. We’ve taken steps to make a smart judiciary as well,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier was addressing the inauguration ceremony of the ‘Smriti Chironjib’ monument at Bangladesh Supreme Court.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Read: Judiciary to be fully digitized within 2 years: Palak</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She opened the monument constructed marking the golden jubilee of Bangladesh Supreme Court and laid the foundation stone of the 14-storey Record Bhaban of the Supreme Court.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hasina said there would be a smart population, smart government, smart economy and smart society in the Smart Bangladesh. So, a smart judiciary is absolutely necessary in that case. You’ve already come a long way in this direction,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury was present at the function presided over by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Read: Judiciary is independent, says Quader after Rozina’s bail</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Law Minister Anisul Huq, Attorney General Abu Mohammad Amin Uddin and President of Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Association Md. Momtazuddin Fakir spoke on the occasion, while SC Appellate Division’s Justice Obaidul Hassan delivered the welcome speech.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Read more: Judiciary awaits a big boost; Law University, Judicial Academy planned</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister said the government will establish a law university in the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Talking about the introduction of the virtual court system in the wake of the backlog of cases intensified due to the Covid-19 pandemic, she said the backlog of cases has eased today due to the virtual court system.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Today the cases are being disposed of and the people are getting justice quickly (due to virtual court),” she said, adding that the people are enjoying the benefits of Digital Bangladesh made by her government.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier thanked the judges for reducing the backlog of cases by accepting it (the virtual court system).&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said now the cause list is available online and the people can see it staying in their houses. The virtual courts are run and the system has been introduced to deliver judgement in Bengali. The information regarding the disposal of the court’s judgement is given online. Everyone can know the update of their cases, she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“I think these measures are making it very easy for the people of this country to get justice. So, the assurance and confidence of getting justice has returned among the people,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said justice, democratic rights, socio-economic rights, cultural rights of the people should remain guaranteed. “Bangladesh will move fast with its own course,” she said. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 20:19:52', '2023-07-28 20:19:52'),
(8263, 8263, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The World Bank has approved $300 million to help Bangladesh improve the efficiency of gas distribution and end-use through pre-paid metering systems for residential and industrial consumers and reduce methane emissions along the natural gas value chain.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Gas Sector Efficiency Improvement and Carbon Abatement Project will address natural gas leakage and losses along the gas transmission and distribution network, reduce wastage in use by residential and industrial users, and strengthen network monitoring capabilities.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">It will install more than 1.2 million prepaid gas meters in Dhaka and Rajshahi Division, said the global lending agency on Friday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Among these, 1.1 million prepaid meters will be deployed in Greater Dhaka covering 54 percent of residential customers of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, and 128,000 prepaid meters in Rajshahi division, covering the entire residential customer base of Pashchimanchal Gas Company Limited (PGCL).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;It will also pilot rolling out about 50 smart meters to larger industrial users to demonstrate the viability of smart meters to better monitor and manage gas use in the industrial sector.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The project will install a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Geographic Information System on PGCL’s network to improve gas flow monitoring and help reduce methane leaks.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They will contribute to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with better monitoring in the gas network for identifying and repairing methane leaks.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Improving energy efficiency will be important for Bangladesh to achieve its 2021 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) commitment of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030,” said Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The project will help cut down natural gas wastage in households and industries and reduce fugitive methane emissions in gas pipelines, which are often caused by leaks from gas production, processing, transmission, and distribution.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Natural gas accounted for 68 percent of the country’s primary energy consumption in 2021.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Methane leakages in the oil and gas value chain – which are 25 times more potent than CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere – amounts to an estimated 257 kilotons, which is roughly equivalent to 7.7 million tons of CO2.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Bangladesh’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emission comes from the oil and gas sector,” said Sameh I. Mobarek, World Bank Senior Energy Specialist and Team Leader for the Project.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Prepaid gas meters and advanced monitoring systems will help optimize natural gas end-use, mitigate methane leakages and lead to lower gas bills for the households and industrial users.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The project will finance technical assistance to detect CO2 and methane emission sources along the natural gas value chain and identify and prioritize opportunities to abate emissions in existing facilities and infrastructure. It will also help develop emissions monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) protocols and regulatory frameworks for sustained carbon abatement in the energy value chain that can then be implemented through investment with public and private climate financing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh. In its 50-year partnership with Bangladesh, the World Bank has committed over $40 billion in grants, interest-free and concessional credits to the country. Currently, Bangladesh has the largest IDA program in the world with a total of $15.6 billion of commitments to 53 ongoing projects. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 20:26:22', '2023-07-28 20:26:22'),
(8264, 8264, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A total of 1,83,578 students got the highest Grade Point Average (GPA-5) in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations-2023 under 11 education boards across the country&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">this year.</span></b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Among the GPA-5 holders, 84,964 are male while 98,614 are female students, according to the results published here today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">According to the results, a total of 1,59,220 students achieved GPA-5 under General Education Boards while 6,213 Dhakil students obtained the grade under&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">the Madrasah Education Board and the number of vocational GPA-5 achievers under the Technical Board stands 18,145.</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 2022, the number of students who got GPA-5 in the SSC exams was 2,69,602 while it was 1,83,578 in this year, 86,024 students less than the previous year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Even this year, female students have outnumbered the male students in terms of achieving GPA 5 in the SSC and equivalent examinations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This year, around 80.39 percent students have passed the SSC and equivalents exams while the pass rate was around 87.44 percent -- 7.05 percent more than the present year-- in 2022. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 20:36:23', '2023-07-28 20:36:23');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(8265, 8265, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The grand rally of BNP has begun in front of its Nayapaltan central office in Dhaka with the participation of thousands of leaders and activists of the party and its associate bodies to press home their one-point demand for holding the upcoming national election under a non-party government.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The rally arranged by BNP’s Dhaka south and north city units formally began around 2:15 pm on Friday with recitation from the holy Quran.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will address the programme as the chief guest and announce their next course of action to mount pressure on the current government to accept their one-point demand.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP leaders and activists in thousands started gathering in front of the Nayapaltan central office on Friday morning to attend the rally. They even stayed at the rally venue braving the rain around 1:30 pm.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Carrying banners, festoons, placards and portraits of the party’s top leaders, the opposition activists from across the country took part in the programme.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The roads and alleys stretching from Fakirapul to Kakrail Mosque were crowded with BNP activists, halting traffic in the area. The expanding rally crowd spilled over onto nearby roads and streets and spaces up to Shantinagar.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many leaders and activists of the party alleged that they had to face checking by law enforcement agencies at the entry points of the capital.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The party set up a big stage on nine trucks and rolled out the red carpets and installed loudspeakers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two separate stages have also been erected for the cultural activists and journalists.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Artistes from the BNP\'s cultural body performed patriotic songs to keep the crowds invigorated.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Apart from BNP, 37 like-minded political parties and alliances are also arranging separate rallies in different city areas to press home the one-point demand that includes the resignation of the Awami League government and holding the next election under a neutral government. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 21:00:54', '2023-07-28 21:00:54'),
(8266, 8266, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The grand rally of BNP has begun in front of its Nayapaltan central office in Dhaka with the participation of thousands of leaders and activists of the party and its associate bodies to press home their one-point demand for holding the upcoming national election under a non-party government.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The rally arranged by BNP’s Dhaka south and north city units formally began around 2:15 pm on Friday with recitation from the holy Quran.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will address the programme as the chief guest and announce their next course of action to mount pressure on the current government to accept their one-point demand.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP leaders and activists in thousands started gathering in front of the Nayapaltan central office on Friday morning to attend the rally. They even stayed at the rally venue braving the rain around 1:30 pm.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Carrying banners, festoons, placards and portraits of the party’s top leaders, the opposition activists from across the country took part in the programme.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The roads and alleys stretching from Fakirapul to Kakrail Mosque were crowded with BNP activists, halting traffic in the area. The expanding rally crowd spilled over onto nearby roads and streets and spaces up to Shantinagar.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many leaders and activists of the party alleged that they had to face checking by law enforcement agencies at the entry points of the capital.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The party set up a big stage on nine trucks and rolled out the red carpets and installed loudspeakers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two separate stages have also been erected for the cultural activists and journalists.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Artistes from the BNP\'s cultural body performed patriotic songs to keep the crowds invigorated.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Apart from BNP, 37 like-minded political parties and alliances are also arranging separate rallies in different city areas to press home the one-point demand that includes the resignation of the Awami League government and holding the next election under a neutral government. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 22:54:56', '2023-07-28 22:54:56'),
(8267, 8267, '<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A group of Jamaat e Islami men vandalised a police vehicle in Chattogram city on Friday.</span><br></p><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jasim Uddin, deputy-commissioner of Chattogram City West Zone, said a group of Jamaat Shibir activists gathered in front of Akhtaruzzaman Shopping Complex with a banner and brought out a sudden procession.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Later, they vandalised a police van and tried to flee. But police chased and detained 21 of them,\" the officer said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Legal action will be taken in this regard,\" added the commissioner .</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, Jamaat-e-Islami sought permission from Chattogram Metropolitan Police to hold a rally in the port city\'s Laldighi ground on July 22.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jamaat leaders have reportedly lent support to BNP’s grand rally and vociferously echoed BNP’s demand of removal of the government and installation of the caretaker system as precondition for any polls.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the 2014 national elections, BNP-Jamaat combine reportedly carried out attacks on polling stations, coupled with attacks on minorities and law enforcers. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-28 22:57:35', '2023-07-28 22:57:35'),
(8268, 8268, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A Russian missile struck an apartment block in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday, Kyiv officials said, injuring at least nine people including two children.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Dnipro. Another terrorist attack,\" said Sergiy Kruk, head of the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, on Telegram.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Currently, we know of 9 injured, including two children. Work continues.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Internal Affairs Minister Igor Klymenko earlier reported \"a Russian strike on a multistorey building in Dnipro\", saying five people had been injured.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Videos posted on social media showed smoke billowing from the top floors of a residential building that had been badly damaged.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Volodymyr Zelensky said: \"Dnipro. Friday evening. A high-rise building and the Security Service of Ukraine\'s building were hit. Russian missile terror again\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"All necessary services are on site... We keep the situation under control. We will do everything to bring Russia to full punishment for aggression and terror against our people.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia said on Friday it intercepted two Ukrainian missiles over its southern Rostov region, bordering Ukraine. It said at least a dozen people were wounded by debris falling on the city of Taganrog.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russian regions bordering Ukraine have seen regular drone strikes and shelling since Moscow launched its military campaign in February last year but have hardly ever been targeted by missiles. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 17:33:36', '2023-07-29 17:33:36'),
(8269, 8269, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">lashes broke out between police and BNP leaders and activists on Saturday when the latter gathered at several entrances of the capital to observe their five-hour sit-in programme.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The clashes broke out at Sonir Akhra, Uttara,Matuail and Gabtoli around 11am when the opposition activists took position there. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police picked up several BNP leaders including BNP senior leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Amanullah Aman  during the clashes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP leader AmanUllah Aman fell sick during chase and counter-chase with police when he went to Gabtoli to join the sit-ins programme.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police picked him up while he was lying on the road.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, a large number of law enforcers have been deployed at the key entry points of Dhaka centring BNP’s sit-ins as Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Friday night said it will not allow the party to hold their programme.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Clashes break out between BNP men and police at several entry points of Dhaka </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Large number of law enforcement officials have been deployed in Dhaka\'s various entry points ahead of BNP\'s sit-in program. Photo: Collected</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Visiting Uttara BNS Centre, Gabtoli\'s SA Khalek Bus Station, Nayabaza and Jatrabari it was seen that several hundred members of police and Ansars took position there since morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some BNP men tried to converge on Gabtoli around 10:50pm, but police obstructed them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier on Friday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced from their mammoth grand rally at Nayapaltan that they will stage a five-hour sit-in programme at all the important entry points of the capital on Saturday to press home their one-point demand.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Our programme will be completely peaceful. Observing this programme is our constitutional right,” the BNP leader told the rally.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As per the party’s plan, Dhaka north city unit of BNP is supposed stage sit-ins in front of Uttara BNS Centre and Gabtoli\'s SA Khalek Bus Station while Dhaka south city unit in front of Nayabazar BNP office and in front of Dania College on Chattogram Road at Jatrabari.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, Awami League and its youth wing, Jubo League, announced to hold peace rallies at Abdullahpur, Tongi, Gabtoli, Aminbazar, Babuh Bazar, Signboard, Kanchpur, Jatrabari and other entry points of the city from 10am to 5pm.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Amid the growing fear of violence and confrontation, Dhaka Metropolitan Police said it will not allow BNP and Awami League to hold such programmes at the entry points of the capital considering the intelligence reports of deteriorating law and order and public suffering.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Following the DMP’s moves, the ruling party backed off from its decision to hold rallies, but they will remain alert on the streets. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 18:09:23', '2023-07-29 21:04:00'),
(8270, 8270, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Awami League’s Dhaka South unit has postponed its sit-in program as it failed to acquire permission from Dhaka Metropolitan Police.&nbsp;</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">However, party leaders and activists are on high alert and will take position in front of the party’s thana and ward-level offices.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dhaka City South Awami League Office Secretary Riaz Uddin Riaz said, \"Our previously announced sit-in program has been withdrawn as a mark of respect to the law enforcement agencies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Yesterday, leaders and activists of Dhaka City South Awami League and its associate organizations announced programs at Demra, Jatrabari, Babu Bazar, Shyampur, Kamalapur at the entry points of Dhaka from Saturday morning in response to BNP\'s sit-in program. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 18:23:17', '2023-07-29 18:23:17'),
(8271, 8271, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The U.S. on Friday announced $345 million in military aid for Taiwan, in what is the Biden administration\'s first major package drawing on America\'s own stockpiles to help Taiwan counter China.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The White House\'s announcement said the package would include defense, education and training for the Taiwanese. Washington will send man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters ahead of the announcement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">U.S. lawmakers have been pressuring the Pentagon and White House to speed weapons to Taiwan. The goals are to help it counter China and to deter China from considering attacking, by providing Taipei enough weaponry that it would make the price of invasion too high.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While Chinese diplomats protested the move, Taiwan\'s trade office in Washington said the U.S. decision to pull arms and other materiel from its stores provided \"an important tool to support Taiwan\'s self-defense.\" In a statement, it pledged to work with the United States to maintain \"peace, stability and the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Taiwan\'s Ministry of National Defense also expressed its appreciation in a statement Saturday morning that thanked \"the U.S. for its firm commitment to Taiwan\'s security.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The package is in addition to nearly $19 billion in military sales of F-16s and other major weapons systems that the U.S. has approved for Taiwan. Delivery of those weapons has been hampered by supply chain issues that started during the COVID-19 pandemic and have been exacerbated by the global defense industrial base pressures created by Russia\'s invasion of Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The difference is that this aid is part of a presidential authority approved by Congress last year to draw weapons from current U.S. military stockpiles — so Taiwan will not have to wait for military production and sales. This gets weapons delivered faster than providing funding for new weapons.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Pentagon has used a similar authority to get billions of dollars worth of munitions to Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Taiwan split from China in 1949 amid civil war. Chinese President Xi Jinping maintains China\'s right to take over the now self-ruled island, by force if necessary. China has accused the U.S. of turning Taiwan into a \"powder keg\" through the billions of dollars in weapons sales it has pledged.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The U.S. maintains a \"One China\" policy under which it does not recognize Taiwan\'s as an independent country and has no formal diplomatic relations with the island in deference to Beijing. However, U.S. law requires a credible defense for Taiwan and for the U.S. to treat all threats to the island as matters of \"grave concern.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Getting stockpiles of weapons to Taiwan now, before an attack begins, is one of the lessons the U.S. has learned from Russia\'s invasion of Ukraine, Pentagon deputy defense secretary Kathleen Hicks told The Associated Press earlier this year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine \"was more of a cold-start approach than the planned approach we have been working on for Taiwan, and we will apply those lessons,\" Hicks said. Efforts to resupply Taiwan after a conflict erupted would be complicated because it is an island, she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China regularly sends warships and planes across the center line in the Taiwan Strait that provides a buffer between the sides, as well as into Taiwan\'s air defense identification zone, in an effort to intimidate the island\'s 23 million people and wear down its military capabilities.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China\'s embassy in Washington, said in a statement Friday that Beijing was \"firmly opposed\" to U.S. military ties with Taiwan. The U.S. should \"stop selling arms to Taiwan\" and \"stop creating new factors that could lead to tensions in the Taiwan Strait,\" Liu said. AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 18:31:21', '2023-07-29 18:31:21'),
(8272, 8272, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka Metropolitan Police has denied BNP and Awami League permission to hold programmes at all entry points of the capital on Saturday considering the intelligence reports of deteriorating law and order and public suffering, the DMP commissioner said today.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The DMP commissioner announced the decision in a statement to the media on Friday night.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The statement said, \"BNP and Awami League have announced a sit-in programme from 11 am to 4 pm at all entry points of the capital on Saturday. The political parties did not take any permission from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police to hold the programme. Considering the intelligence reports of deteriorating law and order and public suffering, the DMP did not allow all the political parties to observe the position of tomorrow.\" UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 18:33:17', '2023-07-29 18:33:17'),
(8273, 8273, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Police detained several BNP leaders and activists, including its standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Dhaka north city unit convener Amanullah Aman, as they took to the streets to observe their sit-in program at the entry points of Dhaka.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Despite the heavy presence of law enforcers, BNP leaders and activists gathered at several entry points of the capital to observe their five-hour sit-in program, fueling the fear of clashes and violence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The opposition activists took position at Shonir Akhra, Dholaikhal, Rayerbagh, Jatrabari and Nayabazar and some areas of Uttara and Gabtoli around 11 am, but law enforcers obstructed them in all areas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP leaders and activists engaged in a clash at Dholaikhal intersection around 11:30 am.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At one stage, police lobbed teargas shells on the opposition activists who also retaliated with brickbats.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, police dispersed BNP followers and detained Gayeshwar from the spot.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police detained Aman from Gabtoli Bus Station around 12 pm as he along with BNP activists tried to stage a sit-in there.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Aman, together with the opposition activists, gathered in front of Khalek Paribahan bus counter around 11 am while the ruling party activists took position at a close distance.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At one stage, police asked Aman and the BNP men to leave the area.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As Aman declined, a clash broke out between the opposition activists and police.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At one point, Aman laid down on the road in front of Nabil Paribahan on Mazar Road, but law enforcers put him in a police van.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They also arrested five other BNP activists from the spot.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police dispersed the BNP leaders and activists from all other areas, including Uttra and Jatrabari as of 12:30 pm. They also arrested an unspecified number of opposition leaders and workers from different areas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, a huge number of law enforcers have been deployed at the key entry points of Dhaka centring BNP’s sit-ins as Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Friday night said it would not allow the party to hold their programme.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier on Friday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced, from their grand rally at Nayapaltan, that they will stage a five-hour sit-in program at all important entry points of the capital on Saturday to press home their one-point demand.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As per the party’s plan, Dhaka north city unit of BNP was supposed to stage sit-ins in front of Uttara BNS Centre and Gabtoli\'s SA Khalek Bus Station while the Dhaka south city unit was to be in front of Nayabazar BNP office and in front of Dania College on Chattogram Road at Jatrabari.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, Awami League and its youth wing, Jubo League, announced peace rallies at Abdullahpur, Tongi, Gabtoli, Aminbazar, Babuh Bazar, Signboard, Kanchpur, Jatrabari and other entry points of the city from 10 am to 5 pm.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Amid the growing fear of violence and confrontation, Dhaka Metropolitan Police said it will not allow BNP and Awami League to hold such programmes at the entry points of the capital considering the intelligence reports of deteriorating law and order and public suffering. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 18:35:53', '2023-07-29 18:35:53'),
(8274, 8274, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Two buses were set on fire during a clash between BNP leaders, activists and police at Matuail area of Dhaka’s Jatrabari.&nbsp;</span><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Confirming the development, Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters Control Room Duty Officer Lima Khanam said that two units of fire service reached the spot and doused the fire.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">No one was injured in the incidents.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Clashes broke out between BNP leaders, activists and police on Saturday when the former gathered at several entry points of the capital to observe their five-hour sit-in programme.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Clashes were reported in Dhaka’s Shonir Akhra, Uttara, Matuail and Gabtoli around 11 am when the opposition activists took position there. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 19:20:15', '2023-07-29 19:20:15'),
(8275, 8275, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Two buses were set on fire during a clash between BNP leaders, activists and police at Matuail area of Dhaka’s Jatrabari.&nbsp;</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Confirming the development, Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters Control Room Duty Officer Lima Khanam said that two units of fire service reached the spot and doused the fire.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">No one was injured in the incidents.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Clashes broke out between BNP leaders, activists and police on Saturday when the former gathered at several entry points of the capital to observe their five-hour sit-in programme.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Clashes were reported in Dhaka’s Shonir Akhra, Uttara, Matuail and Gabtoli around 11 am when the opposition activists took position there. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 19:23:14', '2023-07-29 19:23:14'),
(8276, 8276, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said that the country\'s young generation would be the key-force in building Smart Bangladesh.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Our young generation would be the most skilled manpower in each field in building the Smart Bangladesh,\" she said while inaugurating the first ever two-day Bangladesh Startup Summit-2023 in city\'s Hotel InterContinental as the chief guest.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mentioning that Bangladesh will be a smart country by 2041, the premier said the young generation is meritorious and they have the ability to implement their new innovations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Referring to her government\'s different initiatives to develop skilled Human Resources to face the challenges of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), she said they are setting up vocational and technical educational institutions in each upazila and arranging training facilities for future.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"To meet the challenges of 4IR, skilled human resources have to be created in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, block chain, robotics, big data, medical scribes, cyber security,\" she noted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina said that her government\'s goal is to help create five unicorns (startup company with at least US$ 1 billion is called unicorn) by 2025 and 50 unicorn startups by 2041 where each unicorn startup will create employment opportunities for millions of people.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I urge domestic and foreign investors to invest more in startups,\" she said, adding, \"We\'ve formulated necessary policies to protect your investment.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak made a keynote presentation in the event.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">ICT Division Secretary Shamsul Arefin and Managing Director of Startup Bangladesh Sami Ahmed also spoke.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the function, the Prime Minister also inaugurated \"Smart Bangladesh accelerator\" alongside \"India-Bangladesh Startup Bridge\" networking platform and \"Smart Bangladesh Startup Fund\" at the function.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Three audio-visual documentaries on Bangladesh Startup Summit, Bangabandhu Innovation Grant and Smart Bangladesh were screened at the ceremony.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, eight startups were given startup award in eight different categories for their outstanding performance and they were Shopup, Pathao, bkash, 10 minute school, UNDP Youthco lab, Nagad, SBK Tech Venture and funded next.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nagad managing director Tanvir A Mishuk and SBK Tech Venture managing director Sonia Bashir Kabir expressed their feelings on behalf of the award recipients.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In addition, grant was also given from the Bangabandhu Innovation grant among two entrepreneurs. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 20:53:26', '2023-07-29 20:53:26'),
(8277, 8277, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At the instruction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Assistant Private Secretary-2 Gazi Hafizur Rahman (Liku) on Saturday visited BNP leader Amanullah Aman, who is undergoing treatment at the National Heart Institute Hospital in the capital.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gazi Hafizur Rahman handed over lunch, a bouquet of various seasonal fruits and juices sent by the PM to the BNP leader, according to a press release from Press Wing of Prime Minister\'s Office.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gazi Hafizur Rahman told Amanullah Aman that Prime Minister has sent the food, fruits and juices and inquired about his health.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“She wished you a speedy recovery,” Gazi Hafizur Rahman said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also said that if Amanullah Aman wants to go to any other hospital in the country for treatment, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will also make arrangements for that.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP leader Amanullah accepted these gifts and thanked the Prime Minister for his humanity and political etiquette, he added. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 21:02:25', '2023-07-29 21:02:25'),
(8278, 8278, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A number of BNP leaders have presented different figures of what they called “arrested party activists” who came to Dhaka to join the party’s July 28 grand rally, claimed a post from Awami League’s verified Facebook page.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While a BNP press release said 200 activists were arrested, BNP’s Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi put the figure at 500. Such a discrepancy raises questions over the veracity and legitimacy of the claims, said the post on the AL Facebook page. It also said, “Despite such claims, none of the leaders presented any list containing names and details of those arrested.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“It seems no evidence is required to take a dig at the government. Slapping wholesale assertions has become a part of BNP’s politics,” said the post.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The post also cited a media report, published on February 5, 2006, which stated that as many as 8,000 activists were rounded up in the capital by police during the BNP-Jamaat regime, ahead of the scheduled long march arranged by then opposition Awami League.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Ahead of the long march, over 8,000 leaders were arrested, even innocent public not spared,” reads the report revealing the agonizing wait of a woman with a 10-month-old, as police picked up her husband who came to Dhaka to attend a wedding a day before the scheduled rally.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“But back then there was no scope to raise voice against such wholesale arrests without any warrant,” added the post.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Putting AL leaders and activists in prison had been a tool for the BNP-Jamaat led government that ruled the country between 2001 and 2006,” it said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The post also cited a media statement by Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq who rejected the BNP leaders’ claims and clarified that the recent arrestees have warrants against them, and the drive is part of routine work to bring fugitives to justice. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 21:51:18', '2023-07-29 21:51:18'),
(8279, 8279, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh remains a major hub for the poaching of endangered tigers despite government claims of a successful crackdown on pirate groups involved in the trade, according to research published Friday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The vast Sundarbans mangrove forest straddling India and Bangladesh hosts one of the world\'s largest populations of Bengal tigers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Their pelts, bones and flesh are bought by black marketeers as part of a broader illegal wildlife trade valued at an estimated $20 billion globally each year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Research from big cat conservation group Panthera and the Chinese Academy of Sciences said tiger parts harvested in the Sundarbans have been exported to 15 countries, with India and China being the most common destinations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Bangladesh plays a much more significant role in the illicit tiger trade than we previously realized,\" study co-author Rob Pickles said in a statement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pirate groups operating in the Sundarbans found a lucrative trade in tiger poaching before a government crackdown starting in 2016.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At least 117 pirates were shot dead and hundreds more were detained, according to official figures, while many others surrendered as part of a government amnesty.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But Panthera\'s research, published in the Conservation Science and Practice journal, said that the vacuum created by the crackdown had been filled by more than 30 specialist tiger poaching syndicates and opportunistic poachers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Traders operated through their own logistics companies and in some cases concealed their activities through licenses for legal wildlife trade, the study added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The research, based partly on interviews with those involved in the wildlife trade, also found that domestic consumption of tiger parts had increased since the crackdown, owing to Bangladesh\'s burgeoning economy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Wealthy local buyers were purchasing medicines using tiger parts \"as well as large ornamental items for display such as skulls and skins\", the study said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The findings were disputed by Bangladesh\'s official Sundarbans conservator Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain, who said the crackdown had brought the illicit trade to a standstill.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We have taken measures to conserve the Bengal tiger population in the Sundarbans,\" he told AFP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"No tiger has died from... tiger-human conflict in the past five years. Tiger sightings have increased.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Just 114 Bengal tigers live in Bangladesh\'s portion of the Sundarbans, according to an official census published in 2019 -- up slightly since a record low four years prior.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An updated population count is due to be published next year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Poaching is the number one threat to tigers globally, and China is the biggest overall driver of demand, largely for use of their body parts in traditional medicine, according to Panthera. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 22:20:19', '2023-07-29 22:20:19'),
(8280, 8280, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least 20 policemen were injured as they were allegedly attacked by BNP leaders and activists during a sit-in programme held without permission from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) at the different entry points of the capital on Saturday.&nbsp;</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police arrested at least 90 opposition activists during Saturday’s hours-long protest announced by BNP’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir from a rally at Naya Paltan on Friday. The BNP has been demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to allow the installation of a caretaker government to oversee next general elections.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Saturday, the protesters set buses on fire and exploded cocktails, said Faruk Hossain, DMP deputy commissioner for media.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Among the injured, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic-South) SM Mehedi Hasan and Sub-Inspector (SI) Nahid of Sutrapur Police Station were undergoing treatment for serious injuries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Faruk said that BNP leaders and activists armed with sticks started gathering at Gabtoli, Abdullahpur, Dholaikhal, Uttara and Matuail points from 11am on Saturday. At one point, the party leaders and activists blocked all the important roads. When the police tried to remove them to ease traffic movement and public suffering, they started throwing stones at the police and their vehicles.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"They detonated cocktails in different parts of the capital. In many places, cars were vandalised and vehicles set on fire. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to bring the situation under control. At least 90 people were arrested from the illegal rally,\" the deputy commissioner added. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 23:17:33', '2023-07-29 23:17:33'),
(8281, 8281, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh pacer Shoriful Islam believes his stint with the Lankan Premier League (LPL) will be beneficial for him for the upcoming Asia Cup, a tournament that is seen as the preparation platform for the ICC Cricket World Cup.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The LPL, a domestic T20 tournament of Sri Lanka which is also the joint-host of Asia Cup, is the first ever franchise league for the left-arm pacer Shoriful.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The first of anything is exciting for everyone. I am no exception. I am really excited to play my first ever franchise league and no doubt I want to make it memorable one for me,\" Shoriful, an integral part of Bangladesh\'s pace bowling unit, said here before boarding the flight today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The young pacer who was the vital cog of Bangladesh\'s Under-19 World Cup winning campaign will be playing for Colombo Strikers in the LPL.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We\'ll play a match of Asia Cup in Kandy, so I hope the stint with Sri Lankan league will benefit me. I will get a clear picture of Sri Lankan condition and wicket,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shoriful, who always looks aggressive in the ground but a down to the earth guy in his personal life, said he would try to give his best if he gets the chance to play matches in the LPL.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Whenever the opportunity comes, I will try to my best. Most of the cricketers play franchise league to enhance their experience. There is an opportunity to share the dressing room with many great cricketers. I will also try to share the thoughts and try to learn from the great cricketers there,\" Shoriful remarked.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shoriful\'s Under-19 teammate Towhid Hridoy had already left the country to play the LPL. Hridoy will be playing for defending Champions Jaffna Kings. Test and T20 skipper Shakib Al Hasan and national discard Mohammad Mithun are the two other players from Bangladesh who would play the LPL. Both are the part of Galle Titans.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pace bowler Taskin Ahmed was approached by LPL franchise Dambulla Aura but considering his workload ahead of two major tournaments, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) didn\'t give him the clearance. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 23:26:49', '2023-07-29 23:26:49');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(8282, 8282, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq today urged all to be aware of anti-liberation forces so that they cannot raise their heads in the country.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Everyone should always be alert and aware, so that the ghosts of the anti-liberation evil forces of Ghulam Azam-Nizami-Muzahidi cannot rise again,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The minister said this while addressing a seminar on \'Buddhist Family Law: Our Expectations\' organized by the Buddhist Religious Welfare Trust at the International Mother Language Institute\'s auditorium in the capital, a press release said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President\'s Office Secretary Wahad Barua presented the keynote paper in the seminar, the release added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said that Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman worked tirelessly throughout his life with the goal of building a happy-prosperous non-socialist Sonar Bangla.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under the charismatic leadership of his illustrious daughter, pro-people leader and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh is now globally recognized and respected as a model country of communal harmony.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said that the anti-independence forces carried out various conspiracies and activities in the past to destroy the communal harmony of Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But with the bold and visionary steps of the people\'s leader Sheikh Hasina and the cooperation of people of all religions, castes and classes, it has been possible to tackle it strictly, he continued.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Noting that, Muslim family law for people of Islamic religion, Hindu family law for people of Hindu religion and Christian religious law for people of Christian religion are prevalent in Bangladesh, Anisul said but it is a matter of concern that there is no family law for people of \'Somotolio Buddhism\' in Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The minister assured of providing all kinds of cooperation in the formulation of Buddhist family law. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 23:38:16', '2023-07-29 23:38:16'),
(8283, 8283, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The first unit of the coal-fired Matarbari Power Plant was commissioned today initially adding 150 MW electricity to the national grid.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"After successful synchronization with the national grid, 150 MW power was supplied to the national grid from 11:58 am,\" said Deputy Principal Information Officer Mir Aslam Uddin.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said electricity generation and supply will also be increased gradually. With this the first of the two units of the ultra supercritical coal-fired thermal power plant at Matarbari in Moheshkhali starts its trial run from today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, project director of Matarbari Ultra Super Critical Coal Fired Power Project Abul Kalam Azad told BSS that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to commission the unit in December this year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said that the combined generation capacity of the plant was 1200 MW while the entire plant was set to go on full scale operation in March or April next year, instead of July 2024 as planned earlier.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Matarbari Power Plant is one of the government\'s mega projects with Japanese assistance to be built at an estimated cost of Tk 51,800 crore while it is also one of Premier\'s priority projects as well.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to officials concerned the entire plant would require 10,000 tonnes of coal per day, each unit requiring 5,000 tonnes, while 2 lakh tonnes of coals were stored by now and 65,000 tonnes would reach the production site on August 7 next.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Four tanks having storage capacity of 1.7 million tonnes have already been built alongside two jetties at the project site to unload the coal to the tanks directly from the ships, the project director said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The tanks have the capacity of storing coal for 60 days. It will require one and a half day or two days to unload coal from a ship.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unloading of the coal will be environment friendly as the coal will be offloaded to the tanks directly from the jetties, said officials familiar with the process.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 1200 megawatts Matarbari power plant is being established on 1,608 acres of land in Matarbari and Dhalghata unions of Maheshkhali upazila of Cox\'s Bazar district at a cost of Taka 52,000 crore.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCL) has been implementing the project.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the visit to the Matarbari power plant projects site, the BSS correspondent found that the construction of the project has almost been completed with building two jetties to offload coal and four tanks to store the coal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Matarbari Deep Seaport and LNG and LPG terminal are being constructed near the Matarbari Power Plant site.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two separate ash ponds are kept to store ash for a lifetime of 25 years of the power plant. One has an area of 90 acres while another spread over 600 acres. Coal yard has been prepared on 80 acres of land for coal storage.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A loan agreement was signed between the Bangladesh government and JICA on June 16, 2014.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of the estimated Taka 51,800 crore project cost, Taka 43,921 crore will be given as project support by JICA and the remaining Taka 7,933 crore will be provided from the own funds of Bangladesh government and CPGCBL. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-29 23:41:04', '2023-07-29 23:41:04'),
(8284, 8284, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">In a rare instance, BNP leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy was seen having lunch with Chief of Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Mohammad Harun-Or-Rashid in a video shared on Saturday.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police on Saturday, picked up several BNP leaders, including senior leaders Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Amanullah Aman, as they tried to observe BNP’s sit-in program in different areas. Later, they were released.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier in the day, Aman was admitted to National Heart Institute Hospital in Dhaka after he fell ill when police picked him up.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, at the instruction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her Assistant Private Secretary-2 Gazi Hafizur Rahman visited BNP leader Aman at the hospital.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also read: Gayeshwar, Aman among BNP leaders and activists detained by police after clashes</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the time, Hafizur offered lunch, a basket of fruits and juices sent by the PM to the BNP leader, according to a press release from the Press Wing of the Prime Minister\'s Office.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also said that if Aman wanted to go to any other hospital in the country for treatment, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would also make arrangements for that.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The BNP leader accepted the gifts and thanked the PM for her kind gesture and political etiquette, Hafizur added. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-30 00:20:33', '2023-07-30 00:20:33'),
(8285, 8285, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Saudi Arabia will host a Ukrainian-organized peace summit in early August seeking to find a way to start negotiations over Russia\'s war on the country, an official said Saturday night. The kingdom and Kyiv did not immediately acknowledge the planned talks.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The summit will be held in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as no authorization had been given to publicly discuss the summit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Those taking part in the summit will include Ukraine, as well as Brazil, India, South Africa and several other countries, the official said. A high-level official from U.S. President Joe Biden\'s administration also is expected to attend, the official said. Planning for the event is being overseen by Kyiv and Russia is not invited, the official said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Details regarding the summit, however, remain in flux and the official did not offer dates for the talks. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the summit, said the talks would take place Aug. 5 and 6 with some 30 countries attending, citing “diplomats involved in the discussion.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Saudi officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press, nor did Ukraine\'s Embassy in Riyadh. News of the summit comes after U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan visited the kingdom on Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The official who spoke to the AP said the summit would be the next step after talks that took place in Copenhagen in June.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Saudi Arabia\'s hosting of the talks come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in May attended an Arab League summit in Jeddah to press those nations to back Kyiv. Arab nations largely have remained neutral since Russia launched the war on Ukraine in February 2022, in part over their military and economic ties to Moscow.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Saudi Arabia also has maintained a close relationship with Russia as part of the OPEC+ group. The organization’s oil production cuts, even as Moscow’s war on Ukraine boosted energy prices, have angered Biden and American lawmakers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But hosting such talks also help raise the profile of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has sought to reach a détente with Iran and push for a peace in the kingdom\'s yearslong war in Yemen. However, ties also remain strained between Riyadh and the West over the 2018 killing and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, which U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Prince Mohammed ordered. AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-30 16:24:23', '2023-07-30 16:24:23'),
(8286, 8286, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">China accused the United States of turning Taiwan into an “ammunition depot” after the White House announced a $345 million military aid package for Taipei, and the self-ruled island said Sunday it tracked six Chinese navy ships in waters off its shores.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China\'s Taiwan Affairs Office issued a statement late Saturday opposing the military aid to Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“No matter how much of the ordinary people\'s taxpayer money the ... Taiwanese separatist forces spend, no matter how many U.S. weapons, it will not shake our resolve to solve the Taiwan problem. Or shake our firm will to realize the reunification of our motherland,” said Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Their actions are turning Taiwan into a powder keg and ammunition depot, aggravating the threat of war in the Taiwan Strait,\" the statement said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China’s People’s Liberation Army has increased its military maneuvers in recent years aimed at Taiwan, sending fighter jets and warships to circle the island.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Sunday, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said it tracked six Chinese navy ships near the island.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Taiwan\'s ruling administration, led by the Democratic Progressive Party, has stepped up its weapons purchases from the U.S. as part of a deterrence strategy against a Chinese invasion.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, and Taiwan has never been governed by China’s ruling Communist Party.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unlike previous military purchases, the latest batch of aid is part of a presidential authority approved by the U.S. Congress last year to draw weapons from current U.S. military stockpiles — so Taiwan will not have to wait for military production and sales.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While Taiwan has purchased $19 billion worth of weaponry, much of it has yet to be delivered to Taiwan. Washington will send man-portable air defense systems, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles to Taiwan. AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-30 16:26:51', '2023-07-30 16:26:51'),
(8287, 8287, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday opened 50 more newly constructed model mosques and Islamic cultural centres across the country in the fifth phase.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With the new ones 250 mosques have so far been&nbsp; built as part of the government’s move to construct 564 district and upazila-level model mosques at a cost of Tk 9,435 crore throughout the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier opened the 50 mosques through a virtual inaugural ceremony from her official residence Ganabhaban.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, she unveiled 50 mosques each in the first phase on June 10, 2021, in the second phase on January 16 this year, the third phase on March 16 and the fourth phase on April 17.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The construction of the remaining mosques and Islamic cultural centres is scheduled to be completed by June, 2024.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The model mosques and Islamic cultural centres include separate places for ablution and namaj along with air-conditioning system.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, there will be registration and training arrangements for hajj pilgrims, Imam training centre, research centre and Islamic library, autism corner, ritual system before burial, car parking facility, hifzakhana, pre-primary education and Quran learning arrangement, conference room for Islamic cultural activities and Islamic dawat, Islamic books sale centre, boarding facility for local and foreign guests along with the mosques.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Being imbued with the spirit of Islam and following the footsteps of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the prime minister has come up with the idea of constructing 564 model mosques across the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The purpose of the project is to publicise Islamic culture and values as well as disseminate the essence of Islam against extremism and militancy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under category A, some 69 four-storey mosques having the elevator facility and a floor space of 2,360.09 square metres each are being constructed in 64 districts and city corporation areas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under category B, 475 mosques are being built with a floor space of 1680.14 square metres each, while 16 mosques under C category in coastal areas will have a floor space of 2,052.12 square metres each. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-30 16:29:17', '2023-07-30 16:29:17'),
(8288, 8288, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Voting in the Chattogram-10 by-polls is underway today.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The turnout of voters was low in the morning, and no untoward incident has been reported in the election as of filing this report at 9:30 am.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Election Commission (EC) is observing the Chattogram-10 by-polls through CCTV cameras from the control room in Dhaka.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Election Commission has set up 1,563 CCTV cameras at 156 centres to monitor the elections, said EC sources.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Farhad Ahmad Khan, joint secretary at the election management section of the EC, said voting is underway using electronic voting machines (EVMs).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Election monitoring is being done by installing two CCTV cameras in each polling station.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Voting in the Chattogram-10 constituency started at 8 am, and will continue until 4 pm without any break.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the Chattogram-10 constituency, six candidates are contesting. The seat comprising Double Mooring, Pahartali and Halishahar fell vacant following the death of MP Dr Afsarul Amin on June 2 this year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Awami League-backed candidate Md Mohiuddin Bachhu is contesting with the symbol ‘boat’, Jatiya Party’s Md Samsul Alam with ‘plough’, Trinaomool BNP’s Dipak Kumar Palit with ‘golden fibre’, Bangladesh Sanskritik Muktijot’s Rashid Miah with stick, and independent candidates Md Arman Ali with balloon and Manjurul Islam Bhuiyan with rocket.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At each polling station, three members of the police, two members of the Ansar will remain deployed during the election. Moreover, 10 ansar members and a village police will also perform duty.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At vulnerable stations, one more police member and two village police personnel will remain deployed compared to the non-vulnerable ones.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Eight mobile teams and four mobile striking teams from the police, four teams from Rapid Action Battalion, and four platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) will remain on-duty in the election.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two judicial magistrates will remain deployed to conduct mobile court along with 12 other executive magistrates.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 4,88,633 voters are expected to cast their votes in the by-polls. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-30 16:31:49', '2023-07-30 16:31:49'),
(8289, 8289, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">West Indies captain Shai Hope played the sheet anchor role to perfection in taking his team to a series-levelling six-wicket victory over India in the second One-Day International of a three-match series at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Saturday.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After his bowlers capitalised on a helpful pitch and an unconvincing India batting effort to dismiss their opponents for 181 off 40.5 overs, Hope\'s unbeaten 63 and the support of Keacy Carty (48 not out) in an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 91 ended a nine-match run of defeats to India in ODIs spanning four years.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was also a swift comeback in the wake of the Caribbean side\'s dispiriting five-wicket loss in the opening match at the same venue on Thursday and sets the stage for the series decider on Tuesday at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hope was joined by Carty when Kuldeep Yadav bowled Shimron Hetmyer to leave the home side at 91 for four in the 17th over.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That strike came after Shardul Thakur\'s three-wicket burst which brought India back into the match following a 53-run opening stand between Kyle Mayers and Brandon King.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Once I can contribute to team wins I am happy. Whether I get a 50, whether I get a hundred, whether I get a double-hundred, as long as we win I am happy,\" said a delighted Hope.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of his partnership with Carty, he added: \"Against such a good bowling attack, we had to push hard for ones and twos and that kept us on course.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie and seamer Romario Shepherd claimed three wickets each as India, who rested regular captain Rohit Sharma and premier batsman Virat Kohli, tumbled after an opening stand of 90 between Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With their innings also interrupted twice by seasonal showers, the visitors laboured to gain any middle or lower-order momentum.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Motie separated the opening pair when Gill, on 34, was held at long-off and Kishan slashed a short ball from Shepherd four balls later to be well held by Alick Athanaze diving at backward-point.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kishan\'s 55, his second consecutive half-century, came off 55 balls with six four and one six.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Suryakumar Yadav (24) was the only other player in the line-up to last any length of time in the middle as the pace of Alzarri Joseph (2 for 35) also proved unsettling for the visitors.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"This will now get the character out of everyone going to a decider rather than a dead match,\" said stand-in captain Hardik Pandya in putting a positive spin on the loss.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Things didn\'t go our way today but we still had some good performances so we are all looking forward to the final match.\" AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-30 16:41:45', '2023-07-30 16:41:45'),
(8290, 8290, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he does not reject the idea of peace talks on Ukraine.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg, he said an African peace initiative as well as a Chinese one could serve as a basis for this.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Putin also said it was hard to implement a ceasefire when the Ukrainian army was on the offensive.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine and Russia have previously said they will not come to the negotiating table without certain preconditions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine wants its borders as they were in 1991 to be reinstated, something the Kremlin is deeply opposed to.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Moscow argues instead that for negotiations to take place, Kyiv would have to accept its country\'s \"new territorial reality\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Putin told the late-night press conference on Saturday that there were no plans to intensify actions on the Ukrainian front for now.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also defended the Kremlin\'s arrest of critical voices, claiming some people were harming Russia from inside.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the wide-ranging briefing, the Russian president told reporters that Moscow carried out some \"preventive strikes\" after an explosion on a Crimean bridge earlier this month.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Following the bridge incident - which left two people dead - Mr Putin vowed to respond to what he claimed was a \"terrorist\" act by Ukraine. Kyiv did not officially say it was responsible for the blast on the bridge, which links the occupied peninsula to Russia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Russia-Africa summit comes after an African contingent including leaders and representatives from seven countries met Ukraine\'s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Mr Putin last month.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, on the ground, Russia said two office blocks were damaged in a drone attack on Moscow early on Sunday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The city\'s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said no one was injured in the attack, which he blamed on Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The airspace over Moscow was temporarily closed but Vnukovo Airport has since reopened.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, one person was killed and five others injured after a rocket attack, the country\'s interior ministry said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ministry said on Telegram that a Russian missile hit an educational institution on Saturday evening. The BBC has not verified this information.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Elsewhere, two people were killed and another was injured after a missile hit \"an open area\" in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, an official said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Anatoliy Kurtiev, secretary of the city council, said the blast wave caused by the \"enemy missile\" blew out apartment windows and damaged an educational institution and supermarket.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Zelensky has been visiting Ukrainian special forces near Bakhmut, the city where some of the fiercest fighting of the war has been taking place.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukrainian authorities have said Kyiv\'s troops are gradually moving forward near the eastern city, which Russian forces seized in May. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-30 17:20:24', '2023-07-30 17:20:24'),
(8291, 8291, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said the people once again witnessed the horror of arson violence unleashed by BNP as the activists from the opposition party set fire to a number of buses during their protests.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We again witnessed the terrible scene of arson violence unleashed by them even yesterday,” she said referring to the torching of several buses in the city on Saturday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier said this while opening 50 more newly constructed model mosques and Islamic cultural centres across the country in the fifth phase.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She inaugurated the mosques through a virtual inaugural ceremony from her official residence Ganabhaban.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hasina said BNP does politics in the name of Islam but they have no sincerity to the religious works. Whatever BNP did had been for show-off, she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“You know their character. They are quite terrorists. You saw the arson violence even yesterday. They burnt a number of buses,” she said, adding that they burnt running buses, trains, launches, offices and schools in 2013 and 2014 too.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The PM asked the people to remain vigilant so that such terrorists couldn’t damage the country again.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With the new ones, 250 mosques have so far been built as part of the government’s move to construct 564 district-level and upazila-level model mosques at a cost of Tk 9,435 crore throughout the country. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-30 17:36:19', '2023-07-30 17:36:19'),
(8292, 8292, '<div>Lifestyle of some 200,000 people of Kutubdia island, with an area of 215.80 square kilometre consisting of six unions, has changed a lot since April.</div><div><br></div><div>Kutubdia is an upazila under Cox’s Bazar district surrounded by the Bay of Bengal.</div><div><br></div><div>The island, which would plunge into darkness at dusk, now has electricity. It has been connected to the national grid since April through submarine cable. The 33 KV line has been constructed from Matarbari in Moheshkhali of Cox’s Bazar to Mognama Ghat.</div><div><br></div><div>From there, electricity is supplied to Kutubdia by constructing a 5 km double-circuit submarine line with fibre optic under the sea. Some 2 km distribution line has been constructed in Kutubdia to provide electricity at the consumer level.</div><div><br></div><div>While visiting the island recently, houses in Kutubdia were seen illuminated. Because of electricity, extensive socio-economic development is underway.</div><div><br></div><div>Local teenagers Rafiq, Salim and Azizul never had ice-cream before. Farmer Manzoor Alam got a mobile phone earlier, but because there was no electricity, charging it was an ordeal.</div><div><br></div><div>Their lives have changed at “lightning speed.”</div><div><br></div><div>Even a few months ago, pregnant women would be taken to Chakaria or Cox’s Bazar, risking the rough waves of the sea. But now, there is no need to cross the sea anymore. An operation theatre has been opened at the 50-bed government hospital after the island got electricity connection.</div><div><br></div><div>Salt farming is common in Kutubdia upazila. There is a lighthouse, the beach, and the shrine of Qutub Auliya. The beach, where one can witness incredible sunset views, is about 16 km long. Another attraction are the seagulls.</div><div><br></div><div>Residents of Kutubdia said that the island used to lag far behind in terms of socio-economic status. There was no access to modern agriculture, education, or medical care. Now, the government has arranged all facilities on the island. Kutubdia residents now understand how important electricity is.</div><div><br></div><div>Now various government and private development activities including industries, cold storage, businesses are progressing rapidly. Street lights are making commute after dark easier. Electricity connection has ensured security and enabled economic activity after sunset.</div><div><br></div><div>Fair price for various agricultural products including fish, dried fruits, salt, watermelon, betel nut produced in the island is being ensured. Islanders hope there will be a rapid expansion in tourism.</div><div><br></div><div>A “100 Percent Reliable and Sustainable Electrification” project for Hatia, Nijhum Dwip and Kutubdia islands was undertaken in 2020 at a cost of around Tk 400 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>The project wrapped up in June this year. But before scheduled time, electricity has reached Kutubdia island.</div><div><br></div><div>Famer Manzoor Alam of Manoarkhali village said, “Earlier, I used to run the generator with oil and charge my mobile phone. If there was no oil, I had to go to someone else’s house and charge it with solar electricity. Now I have electricity in my house.”</div><div><br></div><div>It has been a month since electricity came to the house of 64-year-old Bajal Karim of Ars Sikdarpara. “I can now use a rice cooker in my house. I bought a fridge too. I can keep the fish in it,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Upazila Nirbahi Officer Dipankar Tanchangya said that after the electricity connection last April, there is excitement among the people in the area. People’s interest in small scale businesses has increased as well.</div><div><br></div><div>Karim Uddin, a businessman at Baraghop market in Kutubdia Upazila Sadar, said the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has fulfilled the dreams of the people of Kutubdia.</div><div><br></div><div>“I never thought that electricity would come to Kutubdia. We got electricity from April 12 night. Our lives have changed right away,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>At the house of Rafiqul Alam, a resident of Lemshikhali village in Kutubdia upazila, electric light is on. People in the house are watching the news on a color television. He said that children could not study at home for long after dark due to lack of electricity. “Now, they can use computers too.”</div><div><br></div><div>Fisherman Jalal Ahmad said that at least 34,000 fishermen will be benefited. Some people including him are preparing to build a cold storage for fish conservation.</div><div><br></div><div>Elders of Kutubdia said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, students all over the country could participate in online classes, but students in Kutubdia were deprived of that opportunity.</div><div><br></div><div>At the island’s 50-bed government hospital, medical services were run by generators for several hours at night. If the generator was out of order, various treatments were carried out in candlelight.</div><div><br></div><div>That is not the case now. Residents of the island commented that getting electricity was a milestone in the fulfilment of their dreams. UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-30 18:13:09', '2023-07-30 18:13:09'),
(8293, 8293, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal on Sunday said that the schedule for the 12th parliamentary election will not be announced before the last week of October.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The CEC was speaking to reporters at the Election Commission Secretariat on Sunday afternoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the constitution, if the next national election is to be held with the current parliament in place, it will be within the previous 90 days starting January 29, 2024. That is, the countdown to the 12th national election will start from November 1 this year. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-30 20:58:05', '2023-07-30 20:58:05'),
(8294, 8294, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Awami League on Sunday postponed its peace rally scheduled to be held at old trade fair ground in Agargaon of the capital on Monday.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Proloy Samaddar Bappi, office secretary of Dhaka metropolitan north unit of the party, said they suspended the peace rally but not cancelled it.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said that the date and venue of the peace rally will be announced later.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He, however, said thana-level AL leaders and activists were asked to remain vigilant.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, the party announced the rally to protest the killing, terrorism and anarchy by the BNP-Jamaat across the country. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-30 21:02:10', '2023-07-30 21:02:10'),
(8295, 8295, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least 11 cases have been filed against 549 leaders and activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)&nbsp; in connection with the clashes between party activists and police over its sit-in programme at Dhaka’s key entry points.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police arrested at least 149 BNP leaders and activists in these cases.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Among the accused, 469 are named and another 70-80 are undammed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The cases were filed for clashes, vandalism and arson attacks during the sit-ins on Saturday, said Farooq Hossain, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police\'s Media and Public Relations Division.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nine of the cases were filed by sub-inspectors of Uttara West, Uttara East, Bongshal, Airport, Kodomtoli, Jatrabari, and Sutrapur police stations and the rest two by two individuals.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said that the BNP organized an ‘illegal rally’ yesterday ignoring DMP\'s disapproval.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“They vandalized buses and blasted crude bombs, vandalized police cars, attacked police officers, and obstructed them from performing duties,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP’s sit-in programme at the key entry points of Dhaka was marred by clashes and violence on Saturday, leaving an unspecified number of people injured.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Several vehicles were torched in different areas, including Matuail and Shyamoli, during the clashes between BNP activists and police.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police also beat up BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, leaving him injured. The law enforcers later picked him up from the spot.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police also picked up BNP’s Dhaka north city unit convener Amanullah Aman from Gabtoli Bus Station around 12 pm as he along with BNP activists tried to stage a sit-in there.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, they were released.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Clashes broke out between BNP leaders, activists and police when the opposition activists gathered at several entry points of Dhaka to observe their five-hour sit-in programme.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The opposition leaders and activists locked in clashes with police at Dholaikhal, Uttara, Matuail, Rayerbag and Gabtoli when they took position there observing their scheduled programme. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-07-30 21:09:32', '2023-07-30 21:09:32');
