INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5031, 5031, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Detective branch (DB) of police today pleaded to acquit Amatullah Bushra in a case lodged over the death of her friend and BUET student Fardin Noor Parash, 24, as they filed final report in the case.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Investigation officer and DB inspector Yasin Shikder filed the report with general registration wing of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court. The case is scheduled to be heard on February 14.</div><div><br></div><div>Dhaka 7th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Tehsin Iftekhar on January 8 granted bail to Amatullah Bushra.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier DB officials said they have found no involvement of Bushra in the death of Fardin, who they believe committed suicide.</div><div><br></div><div>Police on November 10, 2022, arrested Bushra from her Rampura flat and produced her before the court, pleading to place her on seven-day remand. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mehedi Hasan had placed her on five-day remand on that day.</div><div><br></div><div>Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) student Fardin went missing on November 5 and his body was found in the Shitalakshya River on November 7, 2022. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-06 16:18:34', '2023-02-06 16:18:34'),
(5032, 5032, '<p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Rescuers in Turkey and war-ravaged Syria searched through the frigid night into Tuesday, hoping to pull more survivors from the rubble after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 4,000 people and toppled thousands of buildings across a wide region.</span><br></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Authorities feared the death toll from Monday’s pre-dawn earthquake and aftershocks would keep climbing as rescuers looked for survivors among tangles of metal and concrete spread across the region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Survivors cried out for help from within mountains of debris as first responders contended with rain and snow. Seismic activity continued to rattle the region, including another jolt nearly as powerful as the initial quake. Workers carefully pulled away slabs of concrete and reached for bodies as desperate families waited for news of loved ones.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">“My grandson is 1 1/2 years old. Please help them, please. ... They were on the 12th floor,” Imran Bahur wept by her destroyed apartment building in the Turkish city of Adana on Monday.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Tens of thousands who were left homeless in Turkey and Syria faced a night in the cold. In the Turkish city of Gaziantep, a provincial capital about 33 kilometers (20 miles) from the epicenter, people took refuge in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared seven days of national mourning.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">U.S. President Joe Biden called Erdogan to express condolences and offer assistance to the NATO ally. The White House said it was sending search-and-rescue teams to support Turkey’s efforts.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The quake, which was centered in Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, sent residents of Damascus and Beirut rushing into the street and was felt as far away as Cairo.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">It piled more misery on a region that has seen tremendous suffering over the past decade. On the Syrian side, the area is divided between government-controlled territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Turkey, meanwhile, is home to millions of refugees from the civil war.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">In the rebel-held enclave, hundreds of families remained trapped in rubble, the opposition emergency organization known as the White Helmets said in a statement. The area is packed with some 4 million people displaced from other parts of the country by the war. Many live in buildings that are already wrecked from military bombardments.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Strained medical centers quickly filled with injured people, rescue workers said. Some facilities had to be emptied, including a maternity hospital, according to the SAMS medical organization.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">More than 7,800 people were rescued across 10 provinces, according to Orhan Tatar, an official with Turkey’s disaster management authority.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The region sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in similarly powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The U.S. Geological Survey measured Monday’s quake at 7.8, with a depth of 18 kilometers (11 miles). Hours later, a 7.5 magnitude temblor, likely triggered by the first, struck more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The second jolt caused a multistory apartment building in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa to topple onto the street in a cloud of dust as bystanders screamed, according to video of the scene.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Thousands of buildings were reported collapsed in a wide area extending from Syria’s cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 330 kilometers (200 miles) to the northeast.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">In Turkey alone, more than 5,600 buildings were destroyed, authorities said. Hospitals were damaged, and one collapsed in the city of Iskenderun.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Bitterly cold temperatures could reduce the time frame that rescuers have to save trapped survivors, said Dr. Steven Godby, an expert in natural hazards at Nottingham Trent University. The difficulty of working in areas beset by civil war would further complicate rescue efforts, he said.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Offers of help — from search-and-rescue teams to medical supplies and money — poured in from dozens of countries, as well as the European Union and NATO. The vast majority were for Turkey, with a Russian and even an Israeli promise of help to the Syrian government, but it was not clear if any would go to the devastated rebel-held pocket in the northwest.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense described the situation in the enclave as “disastrous.”</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The opposition-held area, centered on the province of Idlib, has been under siege for years, with frequent Russian and government airstrikes. The territory depends on a flow of aid from Turkey for everything from food to medical supplies.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 224 buildings in northwestern Syrian were destroyed and at least 325 were damaged, including aid warehouses. The U.N. had been assisting 2.7 million people each month via cross-border deliveries, which could now be disrupted.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">At a hospital in Idlib, Osama Abdel Hamid said most of his neighbors died when their shared four-story building collapsed. As he fled with his wife and three children, a wooden door fell on them, shielding them from falling debris.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">“God gave me a new lease on life,” he said.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">In the small Syrian rebel-held town of Azmarin in the mountains by the Turkish border, the bodies of several dead children, wrapped in blankets, were brought to a hospital.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">In the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, rescuers pulled two children alive from the rubble, and one could be seen lying on a stretcher on the snowy ground. Turkish broadcaster CNN Turk said a woman was pulled out alive in Gaziantep after a rescue dog detected her.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">In Adana, 20 or so people, some in emergency rescue jackets, used power saws atop the concrete mountain of a collapsed building to open up space for any survivors to climb out or be rescued.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">“I don’t have the strength anymore,” one survivor could be heard calling out from beneath the rubble of another building in Adana as rescue workers tried to reach him, said Muhammet Fatih Yavuz, a local resident.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">In Diyarbakir, hundreds of rescue workers and civilians formed lines across a huge mound of wreckage, passing down broken concrete pieces and household belongings as they searched for trapped survivors.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">At least 2,379 people were killed in 10 Turkish provinces, with nearly 15,000 injured, according to Turkish authorities. The death toll in government-held areas of Syria climbed to 656 people, with some 1,400 injured, according to the Health Ministry. In the country’s rebel-held northwest, groups that operate there said at least 450 people died, with many hundreds injured.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Huseyin Yayman, a legislator from Turkey’s Hatay province, said several of his family members were stuck under the rubble of their collapsed homes.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">“There are so many other people who are also trapped,” he told HaberTurk television by phone. “There are so many buildings that have been damaged. People are on the streets. It’s raining, it’s winter.” AP/UNB</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</p>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 03:31:59', '2023-02-07 03:31:59'),
(5033, 5033, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A Bangladeshi student named Md Golam Syed Rinku has been reported missing in the wake of the powerful earthquake that rocked Türkiye and Syria along their borders early Monday, toppling hundreds of buildings and killing more than 2,800 people.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rinku is from Bogura, Mohammed Nore-Alam, consul general of Bangladesh in Istanbul, told UNB.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Nur, one of the two missing students, has been found. However, Rinku is still missing,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rinku\'s friends identified him as an undergraduate student but could not provide any more details.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka is in touch with the Embassy of Bangladesh in Ankara.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are in touch with our mission,\" MoFA spokesperson Seheli Sabrin told UNB.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Authorities feared the death toll would keep climbing as rescuers searched through tangles of metal and concrete for survivors in a region beset by more than a decade of Syria\'s civil war and a refugee crisis, AP reported. 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, '2023-02-07 03:36:39', '2023-02-07 03:36:39'),
(5034, 5034, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Months after being stabbed repeatedly as he prepared to give a lecture, Salman Rushdie is blind in his right eye, struggles to write and, at times, has “frightening” nightmares.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But, he said during his first interview since the attack, he still has a feeling of gratitude.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Well, you know, I’ve been better,” he told The New Yorker’s David Remnick during an interview published Monday. “But, considering what happened, I’m not so bad.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The big injuries are healed, essentially,” Rushdie went on to describe. “I have feeling in my thumb and index finger and in the bottom half of the palm. I’m doing a lot of hand therapy, and I’m told that I’m doing very well.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Remnick, who spoke with Rushdie both in person at his agent’s office in Manhattan and via Zoom, wrote that the Booker Prize-winning author had lost more than 40 pounds (18 kilograms) and mostly reads through an iPad so he can adjust the lighting and font size.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“There is scar tissue on the right side of his face,” Remnick wrote. “He speaks as fluently as ever, but his lower lip droops on one side. The ulnar nerve in his left hand was badly damaged.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rushdie, 75, lived in hiding for years after Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989 calling for his death because of the alleged blasphemy of the novel “The Satanic Verses.” But he had long since moved about freely, with minimal security, and did not feel any sense of risk last August about appearing at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center in western New York.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rushdie was on stage when approached by a young man dressed in black and carrying a knife. The alleged assailant, Hadi Matar, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and attempted murder. During his New Yorker interview, Rushdie referred to Matar as an “idiot,” but otherwise said he felt no anger.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“I’ve tried very hard over these years to avoid recrimination and bitterness,” he said. “I just think it’s not a good look. One of the ways I’ve dealt with this whole thing is to look forward and not backwards. What happens tomorrow is more important than what happened yesterday.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The interview came out on the eve of the publication of Rushdie’s new novel, “Victory City,” which he completed a month before he was attacked. Featuring a protagonist who lives to be 247, “Victory” is a characteristically surreal and exuberant narrative about an imagined ancient poem that has received highly favorable reviews, with The Washington Post’s Ron Charles writing that “Rushdie’s magical style unfurls wonders.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rushdie had been silent for months on social media, but now tweets on occasion and even responds to insults. When a tweeter last week told him he was living a “disgraceful life,” Rushdie answered, “Oh, another fan! So pleased.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During his interview, he noted ruefully that sales for his book had soared after the stabbing, as if he were more popular when in danger.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Now that I’ve almost died, everybody loves me,” he said. “That was my mistake, back then. Not only did I live but I tried to live well. Bad mistake. Get 15 stab wounds, much better.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Monday, he tweeted a picture of himself, staring directly into the camera lens — his face thinner than in photos from before the stabbing, his right eye covered by a dark lens in his glasses frame.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He is otherwise still trying to recover. Rushdie has written that he initially had difficulty writing fiction after the fatwa, and he is having a hard time now, saying that he will sit down to work and “nothing happens,” just a “combination of blankness and junk.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One project he may attempt: a follow-up to his 2012 memoir “Joseph Anton,” which he wrote in the third person.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“This doesn’t feel third-person-ish to me,” Rushdie said of a possible sequel. “I think when somebody sticks a knife into you, that’s a first-person story. That’s an ‘I’ story.” 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, '2023-02-07 03:42:48', '2023-02-07 03:42:48'),
(5035, 5035, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) is now reviewing a submission for recognition of the \"genocide\" perpetrated by the Pakistani occupation forces in Bangladesh in 1971 to it last year.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">CMHR is a federally-managed museum whose role includes preserving and promoting Canada’s heritage at home and abroad; contributing to the collective memory and sense of identity of all Canadians; and inspiring research, learning, and entertainment that belong to all Canadians.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As part of the review process, Jeremy Melvin Maron, curator of the Holocaust and Genocide Contest at CMHR and in charge of reviewing and recommending the submission to the concerned authorities of CMHR for acceptance, will be in Dhaka from February 6 to 12 this year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During his stay in Dhaka, Maron would visit some of the sites where the genocide took place and meet the members of the families of the victims and the survivors. The Liberation War Museum, Bangabandhu Memorial Museum and other museums.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> He will also meet senior officials and policymakers of the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other national experts in genocide issues. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Liberation War Museum will jointly organise and manage his visit to Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Once the submission is accepted, CMHR would permanently display the \"Evidences and Exhibits of Genocide\" in the museum.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the same time, the Year of the Birth of Bangladesh and the Portrait of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman would also be placed in the \"Time Stream\" of the museum.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Acceptance of the submission and permanent display of \"Evidences and Exhibits of Genocide\" in the CMHR is an important step towards raising awareness about the genocide in 1971 and its recognition in Canada, the Bangladesh High Commission in Ottawa said Monday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, the Bangladesh mission in collaboration with the Bangabandhu Centre for Bangladesh Studies in Canada, the Liberation War Museum Dhaka, the Centre for Genocide Studies of Dhaka University and the Conflict and Resilience Research Institute Canada made a submission for recognition of the genocide to CMHR.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After the submission, the Bangladesh High Commission organised an international seminar at CMHR participated by international experts, intellectuals, diplomats and academicians.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The seminar discussed the genocide in Bangladesh in 1971 and emphasised its global recognition. 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, '2023-02-07 03:50:07', '2023-02-07 13:59:38'),
(5036, 5036, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Burkina Faso has launched an investigation into the deaths of Nigerian Muslim pilgrims who were allegedly killed while travelling by bus to Senegal, foreign minister Olivia Rouamba said Monday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nigerian media reported that President Muhammadu Buhari had condemned the killing of Nigerian pilgrims who were travelling to Kaolack, Senegal. The incident had allegedly happened as the bus was passing through Burkina Faso.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During a meeting with Nigerian ambassador Misitura Abdulraheem, Rouamba assured that \"investigations are opened to clarify the situation\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"For the moment, no concrete information or evidence has been recorded on the ground that proves the veracity of the facts,\" the minister said in a statement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rouamba added that Burkina Faso \"fundamentally disapproves of the accusations made against our defence and security forces\", referring to allegations made about its army being responsible for the attack.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Burkina Faso is one of the poorest and most volatile countries in Africa.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thousands of troops, police and civilians have been killed and around two million people have fled their homes since jihadists launched an insurgency from neighbouring Mali in 2015.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">More than a third of the country lies beyond the control of the government, and frustration within the army at the mounting toll triggered two coups last year. 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, '2023-02-07 03:58:27', '2023-02-07 03:58:27'),
(5037, 5037, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The US economy\'s humming and President Joe Biden is optimistic, but brutal polls and the nation\'s collective freak-out over a mysterious Chinese balloon will overshadow his State of the Union speech Tuesday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Democrat\'s speechwriters certainly had their work cut out on the weekend as they huddled with the president at the Camp David retreat in the rural hills of Maryland, before flying back to Washington Monday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A photo posted by Biden on Twitter showed a binder with the speech, a coffee mug and biscuits. \"Getting ready,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On arrival back at the White House, Biden told reporters: \"I want to talk to the American people and let them know the state of affairs -- what\'s going on, what I\'m looking forward to working on.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But the dramatic downing of a huge Chinese balloon by a US Air Force fighter jet Saturday left the dangerously unstable relationship with the communist superpower literally looming over the Biden administration.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And, as two polls published Sunday and Monday show, well under half of Democrats want 80-year-old Biden to seek a second term in 2024.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In other words, his personal sunniness, embodied by a constant refrain of never having \"been more optimistic\" about the country, is simply not penetrating.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Just last week, the script for Tuesday\'s big set piece event -- an address to a joint session of Congress, nearly the entire senior ranks of government, and a vast television audience -- had been almost writing itself.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Inflation, which just a few months ago seemed a near existential threat to the Biden presidency, is steadily ticking downward. Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are starting to flow out into programs passed under Biden to spur high-tech manufacturing and repair infrastructure.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Then on Friday, new figures showed that a surge in job creation has driven unemployment to its lowest rate in 50 years.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In his own mini-preview of the so-called SOTU speech, Biden told journalists: \"Next week, I\'ll be reporting on the state of the union. But today, I\'m happy to report that the state of the union and the state of our economy is strong.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Even if Biden has yet to formally announce his 2024 candidacy, the SOTU -- followed by two very campaign-like trips Wednesday and Thursday to Wisconsin and Florida -- is expected to give him a big shove in that direction.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The question now is whether at his age, with an unenthusiastic party, ferociously aggressive Republican opponents, and increasingly Cold War-like confrontations with Russia and China, Biden can push hard enough.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Balloon, but no party? -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On his side will be massive advantages: an economy defying multiple predictions of recession and the power of incumbency which means he can spend this year and the next traveling on Air Force One to tout his successes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But the weekend\'s news showed what he is up against, even before taking on whomever the Republicans choose as their candidate -- Donald Trump or someone new.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The fighter jet ordered into the sky by Biden efficiently dispatched the Chinese balloon, but the White House faces swirling questions over why the craft -- which China claims was studying weather -- was first allowed to trace a leisurely path across the entire country, passing directly over ultra-sensitive military bases.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And polls show a very down-to-earth danger for Biden: his own side doesn\'t seem to want him anymore.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, a paltry 37 percent of respondents said they back Biden running for a second term, which would end when he was 86 years old.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In an ABC News-Washington Post Poll, 58 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said the party should find someone else for 2024.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pressed about the disconnect between Biden\'s message, the macroeconomic data, and the apparent widespread dissatisfaction among ordinary Americans, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged that many voters remain worried about economic insecurity.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It\'s an incredibly complicated time,\" Jean-Pierre said, adding that the State of the Union will be an \"important moment\" in the battle to change Americans\' views.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I think (at) the State of the Union he\'ll have an opportunity to talk directly to the American people, not just Congress, to talk about what we have done,\" she added. 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, '2023-02-07 04:18:05', '2023-02-07 04:18:05'),
(5038, 5038, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Pakistan\'s prime minister on Monday ordered authorities to unblock Wikipedia, the government announced, just days after the online encyclopedia was restricted for \"blasphemous content\".</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Muslim-majority Pakistan, and social media giants Facebook and YouTube have previously been banned for publishing content deemed sacrilegious.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Minister of Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb tweeted a copy of the order that stated: \"The Prime Minister is pleased to direct that the website (Wikipedia) may be restored with immediate effect.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Wikimedia Foundation -- the non-profit fund managing Wikipedia -- told AFP on Monday that it \"was made aware that the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) had been directed to restore access to Wikipedia\" and hoped to see online traffic in Pakistan \"resume soon.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last week, the PTA gave Wikipedia 48 hours to remove content deemed \"blasphemous\", before it ultimately blocked the website.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An agency spokesman had said Saturday that Wikipedia would \"remain blocked until they remove all the objectionable material\", without specifying what content was at issue.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- \'Unintended consequences\' -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the order published Monday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had instructed a committee made up of three government ministers to examine the PTA\'s decision to block Wikipedia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The committee found that the \"unintended consequences of this blanket ban... outweigh its benefits\", the document, signed by principal secretary to the prime minister Syed Tauqir Shah, said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another ministerial committee would be established to further examine the issue, it added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The people of Pakistan rely on Wikipedia both as a knowledge resource and as a pathway to share their knowledge with others\", a Wikimedia spokesperson said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Lifting this ban means that the people of Pakistan can continue to benefit from and participate in its growth within a global movement that strives to spread and share knowledge that is verified, reliable and free.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The organisation did not immediately respond to an AFP query on if it had taken any action to remove certain content.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It said in a previous statement that \"the Wikimedia Foundation does not make decisions around what content is included on Wikipedia or how that content is maintained.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We respect and support the editorial decisions made by the community of editors around the world,\" it added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Free speech campaigners have highlighted what they say is a pattern of rising government censorship of Pakistan\'s printed and electronic media.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pakistan blocked YouTube from 2012 to 2016 after it carried a film about the Prophet Mohammed that led to violent protests across the Muslim world.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In recent years, the country has also blocked the wildly popular video-sharing app TikTok several times over \"indecent\" and \"immoral\" content. 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, '2023-02-07 04:49:38', '2023-02-07 04:49:38'),
(5039, 5039, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Results of 2022 HSC and equivalent exams will be published on February 8  (Wednesday).</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Dhaka Education Board, the coordinator of the inter-education board, issued an office order on Monday to publish the results.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tapan Kumar Sarker, convener of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee and Dhaka Education Board Chairman, confirmed the information.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is informed that the results of ‘HSC Exam 2022’ will be published simultaneously from the respective institutions and online at 11:30 am on February 8. The result sheet of each institution can be downloaded.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Institution-wise result sheets can be downloaded by entering the EIIN of the educational institution by clicking on the result corner on the website of Dhaka Education Board (www.dhakaeducationboard.gov.bd). Besides, the result sheet can be downloaded by clicking on the www.dhakaeducationboard.gov.bd website by the roll and registration number.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After the release of the exam result, the result can be collected by SMS. Type HSC<>Board name (first 3 letters)<>Roll<>Year and send to 16222. Eg: HSC Dha 123456 2022 and send to 16222</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The office order also informed that the concerned institutions are advised to download the result by EIIN of the board and institution by clicking on the result corner of www.dhakaeducationboard.gov.bd website to publish the results obtained online.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">HSC and equivalent exams were held from November 6 to December 13 last year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 1,203,407 examinees completed their registration to sit for the exams. Of them, 6,22,769 were boys and 5,80,611 were girls. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 05:05:58', '2023-02-07 13:55:30'),
(5040, 5040, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Australian men\'s Twenty20 captain Aaron Finch retired from international cricket on Tuesday, ending his 12-year career as one of the most prolific run scorers in limited-overs formats.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A destructive opening batter at his peak, Finch\'s position had been under a cloud since Australia failed to make the knockout stage of last year\'s T20 World Cup at home.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was not immediately clear who would replace the Victoria-born batter, who has captained the team in 76 of the 103 T20s he has played since debuting against England in 2011.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Realising that I won\'t be playing on until the next T20 World Cup in 2024, now is the right moment to step down and give the team time to plan and build towards that event,\" he told reporters at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"To be able to represent Australia for 12 years and play with and against some of the greatest players of all time has been an incredible honour.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 36-year-old was in 2018 crowned the best T20 batter in the game, and captained Australia to their maiden T20 World Cup victory in Dubai in 2021.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Only five players have scored more runs than Finch in T20 internationals.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Finch retired as Australia\'s one-day skipper last September, replaced by 29-year-old fast bowler Pat Cummins.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Cummins also leads Australia\'s Test squad, but selectors may be reluctant to add the T20 captaincy to his workload.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Finch said winning the T20 World Cup and the ODI World Cup in 2015 were the two cricket memories he would \"cherish the most\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He holds the record for the highest score in a T20 international -- 172 runs off 76 balls against Zimbabwe in 2018.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also hit the third-highest T20 international score -- 156 against England in 2013.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- An Australian \'great\' -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Cricket Australia chairman Lachlan Henderson said Finch was one of Australia\'s \"finest white-ball players\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"While he was a tough competitor on the field, Aaron always played the game with a smile on his face and in the right spirit,\" Henderson said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"As one of only four men\'s players to captain Australia to a World Cup victory, Aaron will always have a special place in Australian cricket\'s history.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Finch\'s Melbourne Renegades club called him a \"great of Australian cricket\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Although prolific in limited-overs formats -- he scored 5,406 ODI runs and 3,120 in T20 internationals -- Finch failed to make an impact in Tests.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He played five Tests for Australia in 2018 but was dropped after failing to impress selectors.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Finch is expected to continue playing T20 cricket in Australia\'s domestic league. 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, '2023-02-07 05:23:13', '2023-02-07 05:23:13'),
(5041, 5041, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Tourism recovery in Asia and Pacific region has picked up speed and might rebound to the pre-pandemic level by 2024, according to a report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Asian Economic Integration Report 2023 said international tourist arrivals in the Asia-Pacific region rose by 399 percent year-on-year for the first eight months of 2022, but only to 10.3 percent of the 2019 numbers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The variation is largely driven by differences in the pace of border reopening, public health protocols, and people\'s confidence in overseas travel,\" the report noted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The report added that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict also continued to pose a downside risk to Asian tourism, a potential loss of about one-third of Russia\'s outbound tourists.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Higher fuel prices translating to higher airfares and travel expenses, alongside weak global growth prospects, are dampening the recovery momentum,\" the report said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For post-pandemic recovery, the report believed that economies in the region need to look at several policy options to build sustainability and resilience while addressing pre-pandemic challenges such as narrow source markets, lack of infrastructure, and high informality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Greater regional cooperation is needed to deal with the prolonged challenges,\" added the report. Xinhua/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, '2023-02-07 06:51:42', '2023-02-07 06:51:42');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5042, 5042, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Many governments and aid groups have rushed to dispatch personnel, funds and equipment to help the rescue efforts in quake-stricken areas of Turkey and Syria. Here’s a glance at what’s being provided so far:</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— The European Union has mobilized search and rescue teams to help Turkey, while the 27-nation bloc’s Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services. At least 13 member countries have offered assistance. The EU said it’s also ready to offer help to Syria through its humanitarian assistance programs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— The United States is coordinating immediate assistance to NATO-member Turkey, including teams to support search and rescue efforts. U.S.-supported humanitarian partners are also responding to the destruction in Syria. In California, nearly 100 Los Angeles County firefighters and structural engineers, along with a half-dozen specially trained dogs, were being sent to Turkey to help with rescue efforts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Russian rescue teams from the Emergencies Ministry are preparing to fly to Syria, where Russian military deployed in that country already has sent 10 units comprising 300 people to help clear debris and search for survivors. The Russian military has set up points to distribute humanitarian assistance. Russia also has offered help to Turkey, which has been accepted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">War-ravaged Syria is calling on the United Nations and all member states to help with rescue efforts, health services, shelter and food aid. The affected area in Syria is divided between government-held territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— The Israeli army says it’s sending a search and rescue team of 150 engineers, medical personnel and other aid workers to Turkey. The army said they would provide “immediate assistance in life-saving efforts.” The two countries, once close regional allies, are in the process of mending ties after years of tensions. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has also approved a request for humanitarian aid for Syria, received through a diplomatic official. Israel and Syria do not have diplomatic relations and the two countries have fought several wars.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Neighbor and historic regional rival Greece is sending Turkey a team of 21 rescuers, two rescue dogs and a special rescue vehicle, together with a structural engineer, five doctors and seismic planning experts in a military transport plane.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Germany’s Foreign Ministry said it is coordinating its aid response with EU partners and readying deliveries of emergency generators, tents, blankets and water treatment equipment. It also has offered to send teams from the THW civil protection agency to Turkey to help with the response. The group International Search and Rescue Germany was also preparing to fly dozens of doctors and rescue experts to Turkey late Monday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— South Korea says it will dispatch a 60-person search and rescue team and also send medical supplies to Turkey. The regional government of Gyeonggi Province, near the capital Seoul, said it plans to provide $1 million in humanitarian assistance to Turkey to support rescue efforts and the medical response. Announcing the plan, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol described Turkey as a “brother nation” that swiftly sent troops to fight alongside South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Britain is sending 76 search-and-rescue specialists with equipment and dogs, as well as an emergency medical team, to Turkey. The U.K. also says it’s in contact with the U.N. about getting support to victims in Syria.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Lebanon’s cash-strapped government is sending soldiers, Red Cross and Civil Defense first responders, and firefighters to Turkey to help with its rescue efforts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Jordan is sending emergency aid to Syria and Turkey on the orders of King Abdullah II.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Egypt has pledged urgent humanitarian aid to Turkey.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— India is sending two search and rescue teams from its Natural Disaster Response Force to Turkey, comprising 100 personnel, as well as specially trained dog squads and equipment for relief efforts. Medical teams with trained doctors, paramedics and essential medicines are also ready, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Swiss rescue dog service REDOG is sending 22 rescuers with 14 dogs to Turkey. The government said it would also send 80 search and rescue specialists to the country, including army disaster experts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— The Czech Republic is sending Turkey a team of 68 rescuers, including firefighters, doctors, structural engineers and also experts with sniffer dogs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Japan is sending a group of about 75 rescue workers to Turkey.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Mexico’s foreign affairs secretary said the country will send equipment and rescue specialists to Turkey.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Austria has offered to send 84 soldiers from a military disaster relief unit to Turkey.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Spain was preparing to send two Urban Search and Rescue teams to Turkey with 85 personnel, and a contingent of volunteer firefighters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Italy’s Civil Protection Agency has offered assistance to Turkey. A firefighting team was preparing to leave from Pisa, and the Italian military says transport flights will carry equipment as well as health and other personnel.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— France is dispatching rescue teams to Turkey.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Poland is sending Turkey 76 firefighters and eight trained dogs, with equipment.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Romania is sending specialized personnel and material to Turkey on two military aircraft.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Croatia is sending 40 men and 10 dogs, rescue equipment and vans to Turkey.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Serbia is sending 21 rescuers and three liaison officers to Turkey.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Montenegro is sending at least 24 firefighters to Turkey.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— Moldova’s president says 55 rescue workers have been sent to Turkey.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— New Zealand is providing $632,000 to the Turkish Red Crescent and $316,000 to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to deliver items such as food, tents and blankets, as well as provide medical assistance and psychological support.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">— China’s Red Cross Society is providing the Turkish Red Crescent and the Syrian Red Crescent with $200,000 each in cash humanitarian assistance. The society said Tuesday it will send further humanitarian aid if needed. 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, '2023-02-07 07:01:48', '2023-02-07 07:01:48'),
(5043, 5043, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The overall number of Covid-19 cases around the world has now crossed 676 million.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the latest global data, the total Covid-19 case count was 676,396,299 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,773,261 this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The US has recorded 104,509,261 Covid-19 cases so far, while 1,136,448 people have died from the virus in the North American country — both highest around the world.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">India on Monday reported 91 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of coronavirus infections to 4,46,83,454 in the South Asian country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the Union Health Ministry, the daily positivity rate in India stands at 0.14%, and active cases comprise 0.01% of total infections.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The active case tally remained at 1,817, with no rise or decline in such cases, while Covid-related death count stands at 5,30,745.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, Tokyo reported 1,105 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, down 713 from a week before.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Twelve new fatalities were newly confirmed, while the number of severely ill coronavirus patients under Tokyo’s criteria rose by two from Sunday to 41, the metropolitan government said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh reported 13 more Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours till Monday morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With the new number, the country\'s total caseload rose to 2,037,622, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,443 as no new fatalities were reported.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The daily Covid-19 test positivity rose to 0.58 percent against the 2,247 samples tested. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"6\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 07:18:19', '2023-02-07 07:18:19'),
(5044, 5044, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Belgium Queen Mathilde will visit different projects at Dacope upazila here tomorrow, deputy commissioner Khondokar Yasir Arefin said today.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Queen will visit Water Treatment Plant of UNDP at Sutarkhali Union of the upazila.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She will also visit flood related project at Jhulantapara of Kalabogi area under Sutarkhali Union and exchange views with beneficiaries of the project later.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Belgium\'s Queen is now on a three-day visit to Bangladesh in her capacity as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) advocate.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dacope upazila administration has taken massive preparation ahead of Belgium Queen\'s visit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dacope Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mintu Biswas told BSS that tight security measures have been taken at the upazila on her visit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Law enforcement personnel including RAB and Police members have already been deployed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A helipad has already been prepared and speed boats have been kept ready, the UNO said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Local administration, high officials of law enforcement agencies and a special team of Special Security Force (SSF) have already visited Water Treatment Plant and Flood project area ahead of the Queen\'s visit. 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, '2023-02-07 07:22:26', '2023-02-07 07:22:26'),
(5045, 5045, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A massive fire broke out at a textile mill in Dhaka\'s Shyampur area this morning, officials said.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">No casualties were reported till the filing of this report.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The blaze started around 11:23 am at the ground floor of the four-storey building of Pakiza Textile, said Anwarul Islam, warehouse inspector of Fire Service and Civil Defense headquarters\' media cell.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On information, five firefighting units rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control around 12:10pm, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"A probe has been ordered to ascertain the exact cause of the fire,\" the officer 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, '2023-02-07 07:25:17', '2023-02-07 07:25:17'),
(5046, 5046, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">BNP will again march in the capital on February 9 and 12 to press home their 10-point demand,&nbsp; including holding the next general election under a non-party caretaker government.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the two-pay fresh programme at a press conference at BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“As part of our ongoing movement for the restoration of democracy, unconditional release of our leader Khaleda Zia, the resignation of the government, dissolution of parliament and realising the 10-point demand, BNP Dhaka South and North city units have decided to march again,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As part of the programme, he said BNP’s Dhaka South City unit will march towards the Jatiya Press Club from Gopibagh Brothers Union Club ground at 2pm on February 9 while its Dhaka North City unit will march towards Bosila Saat Rasta intersection from Shyamoli playground at 2pm on February 12.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, leaders and activists of the party’s Dhaka north and south city units observed the march programme on January 28, 31, 30 and February 1 respectively to push for their 10-point demand.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later on February 4, BNP announced another march programme in all unions across the country on February 11 (Saturday) to mount pressure on the government to accept their 10-point demand. 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, '2023-02-07 08:09:39', '2023-02-07 08:09:39'),
(5047, 5047, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Rakhi Sawant\'s husband Adil Khan Durrani has been reportedly arrested and taken to the Oshiwara police station in Mumbai after the actor filed an FIR against him.&nbsp;</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Monday, the actor had alleged that Adil was mishandling her funds, while she was participating in Bigg Boss Marathi last year, and she had asked him to look over her ailing mother Jaya Sawant, who died on January 29 after a long battle with cancer. Rakhi also alleged that Adil was responsible for her mother\'s death as he did pay money on time for her surgery.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sharing an update on his arrest on Tuesday, Rakhi said she was reaching the station, too, to address the matter. He was arrested after he came home to meet her. She shared in a media statement, \"Yeh koi media ya natak nahi hai.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meri zindagi kharab ki hai issne. Mujhe mara hai, mera paisa loota hai Quran pe haath rakh ke bhi. Issne mere saath cheating kiya hai (This is not drama. He has ruined my life. He has beaten me up and stolen my money even as he put his hand on the Quran. He has cheated me).\" She said she had submitted all the proofs to find out the truth.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last week, Rakhi had also revealed to the media that Adil was having an extramarital affair; she recently also shared the name of his alleged girlfriend via Instagram and paparazzi videos.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Monday, Rakhi and Adil were seen during a dinner outing with friends. In the video, shared on a paparazzo account, Adil can be seen feeding Rakhi while she reluctantly accepted. She commented on the paparazzo video with tear emoji, writing, \"Ji ha woh maafi magne aya thye lekin mai kabhi maff nahi karungi (Yes, he had come to apologise but I will never forgive him).\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, when speaking to the media, Rakhi said, \"Main ussko hamesha ghar mein khana khilati thi. Kya pata yeh aaj ke meri zindagi ka aakhri nivala ho. Haan, maine aaj aakhri nivala khilaya. Dushman ko bhi, jab aata hai na ghar mein, toh paani pilate hain. Yeh toh mera shohar hain.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chahti rahungi marte dum tak, lekin no maafi. No maafi, maafi mushkil hain (I have always fed him at home. Who knows if this will be the last time I feed him. Yes, I have fed him today. Even enemies when they come home, you give them water. He\'s my husband. I will love him till I die, but no apology. No apology, to forgive is hard).\" 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, '2023-02-07 08:29:14', '2023-02-07 08:29:14'),
(5048, 5048, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Rescuers raced Tuesday to find survivors in the rubble of thousands of buildings brought down by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and multiple aftershocks that struck eastern Turkey and neighboring Syria, with the discovery of more bodies raising the death toll to 5,000.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Countries around the world dispatched teams to assist in the rescue efforts, and Turkey’s disaster management agency said more than 24,400 emergency personnel were now on the ground. But with such a wide swath of territory hit by Monday’s earthquake and nearly 6,000 buildings confirmed to have collapsed in Turkey alone, their efforts were spread thin.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Attempts to reach survivors were also impeded by temperatures below freezing and close to 200 aftershocks, which made the search through unstable structures perilous.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nurgul Atay told The Associated Press she could hear her mother’s voice beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in the city of Antakya, the capital of Hatay province, but that her and others efforts to get into the ruins had been futile without any rescue crews and heavy equipment to help.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“If only we could lift the concrete slab we’d be able to reach her,” she said. “My mother is 70-years-old, she won’t be able to withstand this for long.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Across Hatay province, just southwest of the earthquake’s epicenter, officials say as many as 1,500 buildings were destroyed and many people reported relatives being trapped under the rubble with no aid or rescue teams arriving.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In areas where teams worked, occasional cheers broke out through the night as survivors were brought out of the rubble.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The quake, which was centered in Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, sent residents of Damascus and Beirut rushing into the street and was felt as far away as Cairo.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders confirmed Tuesday that one of its staff members was among the dead after his house in Syria’s Idlib province collapsed, and that others had lost family members.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We are very shocked and saddened by the impact of this disaster on the thousands of people touched by it, including our colleagues and their families,” said Sebastien Gay, the group’s head of mission in Syria.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the Turkish city of Gaziantep, a provincial capital about 33 kilometers (20 miles) from the epicenter, people took refuge in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At least 3,381 people were killed in 10 Turkish provinces, with more than 20,000 injured, according to the latest figures from Turkish authorities on Tuesday. The death toll in government-held areas of Syria climbed to 769 people, with some 1,450 injured, according to the Health Ministry. In the country’s rebel-held northwest, groups that operate there said at least 450 people died, with many hundreds injured. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared seven days of national mourning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Authorities fear the death toll will keep climbing as the rescuers look for survivors among tangles of metal and concrete spread across the region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis. AP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 08:45:36', '2023-02-07 08:45:36'),
(5049, 5049, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Russia was pouring reinforcements into eastern Ukraine ahead of a possible new offensive, said a Ukrainian governor, but British intelligence said on Tuesday it was unlikely that Russia would have enough forces to significantly affect the war within weeks.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Desperate for Western military aid to arrive, Ukraine anticipates a major offensive could be launched by Russia for “symbolic” reasons around the Feb. 24 anniversary of the invasion, which Moscow persists in calling “a special military operation.”</div><div><br></div><div>Ukraine is itself planning a spring offensive to recapture lost territory, but it is awaiting delivery of promised longer-range Western missiles and battle tanks, and some analysts say the country was months away from being ready.</div><div><br></div><div>“We are seeing more and more (Russian) reserves being deployed in our direction, we are seeing more equipment being brought in...,” said Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of the mainly Russian-occupied Luhansk province.</div><div><br></div><div>“They bring ammunition that is used differently than before — it is not round-the-clock shelling anymore. They are slowly starting to save, getting ready for a full-scale offensive,” Haidai told Ukrainian television.</div><div><br></div><div>“It will most likely take them 10 days to gather reserves. After Feb. 15 we can expect (this offensive) at any time.”</div><div><br></div><div>The war is reaching a pivotal point as its first anniversary approaches, with Ukraine no longer making gains as it did in the second half of 2022 and Russia pushing forward with hundreds of thousands of mobilized reserve troops.</div><div><br></div><div>Britain’s Defense Intelligence said in its daily report that Russia’s military has likely attempted since early January to restart major offensive operations aimed at capturing Ukraine-held parts of Donetsk.</div><div><br></div><div>However, Russian forces have gained little territory as they “lack munitions and maneuver units required for a successful offensive,” it said.</div><div><br></div><div>“Russian leaders will likely continue to demand sweeping advances. It remains unlikely that Russia can buiild up the forces needed to substantially affect the outcome of the war within the coming weeks.”</div><div><br></div><div>In his Monday evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said personnel changes on the border and frontline will bolster Ukraine’s military efforts amid uncertainty over the future of his defense minister, just as Russia advances in the east for the first time in six months.</div><div><br></div><div>Zelensky said he wanted to combine military and managerial experience in local and central government but did not directly address confusion about whether his defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, would be replaced.</div><div><br></div><div>On Sunday, David Arakhamia, head of Zelensky’s parliamentary bloc, said Reznikov would be transferred to another ministerial job, but on Monday he wrote that “there will be no personnel changes in the defense sector this week.”</div><div><br></div><div>Zelensky says he needs to show that Ukraine was a safe steward of billions of dollars of Western military and other aid, and his government is engaged in the biggest political and administrative shake-up since Russia’s invasion nearly a year ago.</div><div><br></div><div>“In a number of regions, particularly those on the border or on the front line, we will appoint leaders with military experience. Those who can show themselves to be the most effective in defending against existing threats,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The European Union said Zelensky has been invited to take part in a summit of EU leaders, amid reports he could be in Brussels as soon as this week, in what would be only his second known foreign trip since the invasion began.</div><div><br></div><div>Zelensky’s office did not respond to a request for comment.</div><div><br></div><div>NEW RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE</div><div><br></div><div>Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Ukrainska Pravda on the weekend that intelligence suggested any new Russian offensive would likely come from the east or south.</div><div><br></div><div>“Their dream is to expand the land corridor to Crimea in order to continue supplies. Therefore, of course, the key risks are: the east, the south, and after that the north,” he said. Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014.</div><div><br></div><div>Ukrainian defense analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko said a new Russian offensive could come from one of four directions; the eastern Luhansk region, the Donetsk region, the Zaporizhzhia region and the city and port of Mariupol.</div><div><br></div><div>“Things are more serious in Donetsk region, particularly around Bakhmut and Avdiivka. And the Russians will be boosting their contingents there as well as equipment and paratroops,” Kovalenko, from the “Information Resistance group” think tanks, told Ukrainian radio NV.</div><div><br></div><div>For months Russia’s main target in eastern Ukraine has been Bakhmut, where its state media said the Wagner mercenary group had gained a foothold. Ukraine said on Monday evening that Russian forces had trained tank, mortar and artillery fire there in the past 24 hours.</div><div>Kovalenko said Mariupol, captured by Russian forces last May, could be used by the Russians to bring in troops and equipment for a new offensive.</div><div><br></div><div>“It could serve as a transport hub for the Russian occupation forces,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Kovalenko said Ukraine’s counter-offensive would not happen any time soon and Ukrainian forces would be assuming a defensive position, particularly in Donetsk.</div><div><br></div><div>“It may be an active defense, but a defensive position nonetheless. The idea will remain to block any Russian advance,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>“Things could change more quickly in other sectors. But this situation could go on for two to two-and-a-half months — that is the time required for providing the tanks for brigades, training and getting everything outfitted.” - Reuters</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 10:08:48', '2023-02-07 10:08:48'),
(5050, 5050, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Fahim Tajwar Joy, a prominent activist of the ruling party student front Bangladesh Chhatra League Masterda Surja Sen Hall Chhatra League of Dhaka University has been accused of molesting a woman and her husband and looting money from them in front of central Shahid Minar.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>In this regard, a case has been filed accusing Fahim and 10-12 unnamed people who participated in the looting.</div><div><br></div><div>Principal administrative Officer, Md. Abdul Motaleb, of Masterda Surja Sen Hall lodged the case against Fahim at the Shahbagh police station as his niece and her husband were the victims.</div><div><br></div><div>According to the complaint letter, \"Riya and her husband Rasel were on the way to visit Abdul Motaleb\'s house from nearby Chawkbazar at 11 pm of February 4. When they were crossing throughout the frontier road of Shahid Minar, Fahim and his friends blocked their way, abused them verbally and beat them with sticks. At one point they took Rasel at the backside of Shahid Minar and snatched all money from him which counts TK 22000 and then they snatched ATM cards from him.\"</div><div><br></div><div>\"They also molested my niece,\" the complaint said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Being informed, when my son Mehrab went to rescue them, Fahim and his friends beat me badly. Later, surrounding people came and saved us from them.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Contacted, OC of Shahbagh police station, Noor said, \"We have received the case and we will investigate the matter.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Mentioned, Fahim is a posted member of Masterda Surja Sen Hall Chhatra League and follower of Abdulla Khan Shoisob who is a follower of Dhaka University Chhatra League General secretary Tanbir Hasan Saikat. Moreover, he is a student of department of History of 2021-22 session. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 10:32:33', '2023-02-07 10:32:33'),
(5051, 5051, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Ghana national player and former Newcastle midfielder Christian Atsu has been found alive in the rubble of an earthquake that killed more than 5000 people in Turkey and neighbouring Syria, Ghana\'s ambassador to Turkey said today.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Christian Atsu, 31, joined Turkish Super Lig side Hatayspor in September, based in the southern province of Hatay near the epicentre of Monday\'s massive quake.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I have good news coming. I am just getting information from the president of the Ghana association that Christian Atsu has been found in Hatay,\" Francisca Ashietey-Odunton told Accra-based Asaase Radio, referring to a local Ghanaian community association.</div><div>The envoy gave no further details on his condition.</div><div><br></div><div>Hatayspor official Mustafa Ozat told Play Spor streaming channel on Monday that Christian Atsu was still in the rubble and was trying to escape.</div><div><br></div><div>Christian Atsu spent five seasons at Newcastle after an initial campaign on loan before leaving for Saudi Arabia in 2021.</div><div><br></div><div>He won the last of his 60 Ghana national caps in September 2019.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We pray for Ghana International Christian Atsu and victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria,\" the Ghana Football Association said on Twitter.</div><div><br></div><div>Dozens of nations have offered aid since the 7.8-magnitude quake struck early on Monday as people were sleeping. Freezing weather has hampered emergency efforts.</div><div><br></div><div>Multi-storey apartment buildings full of residents were among the more than 5,600 structures reduced to rubble in Turkey, while Syria announced dozens of collapses. ‍Source: AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 12:09:59', '2023-02-07 12:09:59'),
(5052, 5052, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Structural engineers, soldiers, paramedics and handlers with trained search dogs are heading to Turkey and Syria to help locate and rescue survivors of Monday’s earthquake. Here\'s a glance at the assistance that\'s being provided:</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>— The European Union has mobilized search and rescue teams to help Turkey, while the bloc\'s Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services. At least 13 member countries have offered assistance.</div><div><br></div><div>— The United States is coordinating immediate assistance to Turkey, including teams to support search and rescue efforts. In California, nearly 100 Los Angeles County firefighters and structural engineers, along with six specially trained dogs, were being sent to Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>— Russian rescue teams from the Emergencies Ministry were sent to Syria, where Russian military deployed in that country already has sent 10 units comprising 300 people to help clear debris and search for survivors. The Russian military has set up points to distribute humanitarian assistance. Russia also has offered help to Turkey, which has been accepted.</div><div><br></div><div>— War-ravaged Syria called for the United Nations and its members to help with rescue efforts, health services, shelter and food aid. Both government-held territory and the last opposition-held enclave were damaged by the earthquake.</div><div><br></div><div>— The International Committee of the Red Cross has sent enough surgical material to treat 100 people to one of the public hospitals in the Syrian city of Aleppo. More medical equipment is on its ways to Aleppo, Latakia and Tartous. The Red Cross also is donating canned food, blankets, mattresses and other essential items for distribution in the many shelters being set-up in affected areas.</div><div><br></div><div>— The Israeli army is sending a search and rescue team of 150 engineers, medical personnel and other aid workers to render lifesaving aid in Turkey. The two countries are mending ties after years of tensions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has also approved a request for humanitarian aid for Syria. Israel and Syria do not have diplomatic relations.</div><div><br></div><div>— Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said the Palestinian Authority will dispatch two humanitarian missions to assist in Syria and Turkey. The aid missions will include civil defense and medical teams.</div><div><br></div><div>— Neighbor and historic rival Greece is sending Turkey a team of 21 rescuers, two rescue dogs and a special rescue vehicle, together with a structural engineer, five doctors and seismic planning experts in a military transport plane.</div><div><br></div><div>— The Lebanese army says it will send a team of 15 members of the miltiary’s engineering regiment to neighboring Syria to help in rescue operations in government-held parts of the country. Tuesday’s announcement came a day after the army sent 20 members of the same regiment to Turkey to help rescuers there who are racing to find survivors.</div><div><br></div><div>— One of Libya’s rival governments said it will dispatch a 55-member team to Turkey to help in rescue efforts. The government of Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah said the team would include rescuers, medical members along with four dogs.</div><div><br></div><div>— Spanish medical workers will set up a field hospital in Turkey to treat the wounded. Spain has mobilized troops and drones from the country’s Military Emergency Unit to Malatya airport, where the Turkish authorities have installed an international aid center. Spain will also contribute to aid efforts through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Spain will also contribute to rescue efforts in Syria through NGOs operating there.</div><div><br></div><div>— Germany’s THW civil protection agency is sending a 50-member rescue team to Turkey on Tuesday. A team from the group International Search and Rescue Germany, with 42 experts and seven dogs, has arrived in Turkey and is heading to Kirikhan, near the Syrian border. Germany also has been readying deliveries of emergency generators, tents, blankets and water treatment equipment.</div><div><br></div><div>— South Korea will dispatch a 60-person search and rescue team and 50 troops and send medical supplies to Turkey. The government also says it is providing an initial $5 million in humanitarian support, and the Gyeonggi provincial government plans to provide $1 million in humanitarian assistance.</div><div><br></div><div>— Pakistan has sent one flight of relief supplies and another carrying a 50-member search and rescue team. The government says daily aid flights to Syria and Turkey will start Wednesday.</div><div><br></div><div>— Britain is sending 76 search-and-rescue specialists with equipment and dogs, as well as an emergency medical team, to Turkey. The U.K. also says it’s in contact with the U.N. about getting support to victims in Syria.</div><div><br></div><div>— India is sending 100 search and rescue personnel from its Natural Disaster Response Force to Turkey, as well as specially trained dog squads and equipment for relief efforts. Medical teams with trained doctors, paramedics and essential medicines are also ready, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.</div><div><br></div><div>— Taiwan is sending 130 rescue squad members, five search dogs and 13 tons of equipment to Turkey. Interior Minister Lin Yu-chang said the first group left for Turkey late Monday and another was sent Tuesday. Taiwan earlier said it would donate $200,000 to Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>— Swiss rescue dog service REDOG is sending 22 rescuers with 14 dogs to Turkey. The government said it would also send 80 search and rescue specialists to the country, including army disaster experts.</div><div><br></div><div>— The Czech Republic is sending Turkey a team of 68 rescuers, including firefighters, doctors, structural engineers and also experts with sniffer dogs.</div><div><br></div><div>— Japan is sending a group of about 75 rescue workers to Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>— Austria has offered to send 84 soldiers from a military disaster relief unit to Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>— Poland is sending Turkey 76 firefighters and eight trained dogs, with equipment.</div><div><br></div><div>— Romania is sending specialized personnel and material to Turkey on two military aircraft.</div><div><br></div><div>— Croatia is sending 40 personnel and 10 dogs, rescue equipment and vans to Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>— Serbia is sending 21 rescuers and three liaison officers to Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>— Montenegro is sending at least 24 firefighters to Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>— Moldova\'s president says 55 rescue workers have been sent to Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>— France is dispatching rescue teams to Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>— Jordan is sending emergency aid to Syria and Turkey on the orders of King Abdullah II.</div><div><br></div><div>— Mexico’s foreign affairs secretary said the country will send equipment and rescue specialists to Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>— Egypt has pledged urgent humanitarian aid to Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>— Italy’s Civil Protection Agency has offered assistance to Turkey. A firefighting team was preparing to leave from Pisa, and the Italian military says transport flights will carry equipment as well as health and other personnel.</div><div><br></div><div>— New Zealand is providing $632,000 to the Turkish Red Crescent and $316,000 to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to deliver items such as food, tents and blankets, as well as provide medical assistance and psychological support.</div><div><br></div><div>— China’s Red Cross Society is providing the Turkish Red Crescent and the Syrian Red Crescent with $200,000 each in humanitarian assistance. - AP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 12:22:32', '2023-02-07 12:22:32'),
(5053, 5053, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The foreign assistance for the national budget has declined to US$ 2.23 billion in the current fiscal year from US$ 3.26 billion in the last fiscal year (2021-22).</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday placed this statistics in Parliament while replying to a scripted question from Awami League lawmaker Morshed Alam (Noakhali-2).</div><div><br></div><div>In the written answer, the minister said the government received assistance equivalent to some US$ 3.26 billion from different development partners for the budget in the last fiscal year. But there is a possibility to get the assistance equivalent to US$ 2.23 billion in the current fiscal year.</div><div><br></div><div>Responding to questions from ruling party MPs Kazim Uddin Ahmed (Mymensingh-11), the Finance Minister said there is currently no plan to increase the interest rate on family savings certificates. But the interest rate on savings certificates may be revised considering the investment situation, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>In response to a question from Mamunur Rashid Kiran (Noakhali-3), Mustafa Kamal said the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has been working to accomplish 100 percent of the revenue collection target.</div><div><br></div><div>The NBR expects that the target will be fully achieved by the end of the fiscal year, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 13:37:43', '2023-02-07 13:37:43'),
(5054, 5054, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Newly appointed Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Iwama Kiminori said his country will continue support in development activities of Bangladesh.&nbsp;</span><br></b></div><div><b>&nbsp;</b></div><div>\"JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) will work on capacity building for human resource development of Bangladesh,\" he said.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The ambassador paid a courtesy call on State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid at his ministry office.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>During the call on, they discussed various issues related to mutual interest.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The Japanese ambassador thanked the state minister for 100 percent electrification of the country and said Japan will always cooperate in the development activities of Bangladesh.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Realizing the success of the Japanese company ONUDA in making gas meters, he said more small and large Japanese companies will come to work in Bangladesh, adding, \"The concept of \'Smart Bangladesh\' will transform Bangladesh into a developed one by 2041.\"</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Welcoming the ambassador of Japan, Nasrul Hamid said the government has undertaken projects as per the plan, which will require more $30 billion in the next 5 years.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>\"A joint operation and maintenance company can be formed, which will save both money and time for Bangladesh. JICA can support Bangladesh Power Management Institute to make it an international standard institution,\" he said.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The state minister said smart power and energy master plan is needed for a smart Bangladesh, which will take all sectors forward behind the scene. \"Japan can assist in adopting and implementing energy sector (gas and oil) master plans,\" he added.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Besides, they also discussed about Matarbari power hub, underground cables and sub-stations, prepaid meters, smart meters, gas meters and upcoming projects in the power and energy sector. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 13:49:53', '2023-02-07 13:49:53'),
(5055, 5055, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali today said Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport\'s third terminal will be inaugurated in October this year as 60 percent construction work of the terminal has already been completed.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"The aesthetic terminal building is now visible. Now works of different machinery installation and interior designing is going on,\" he said while talking to journalists after visiting the construction work of the terminal and passenger services at the current terminal-1 and 2.</div><div><br></div><div>Mahbub Ali said works of enhancing strength of runways at all airports, new terminal building construction and modernization of security system are going on to ensure safe flight operations and enhancing passenger services.</div><div><br></div><div>Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, silent revolution of development has taken place in the country\'s aviation sector, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The state minister said flight operations at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) are being kept closed for five hours every night as the work is underway to update the instrumental landing system (ILS) of the runway to category-2 from category-1.</div><div><br></div><div>He said they are making their efforts so that passengers do not face any problem for the development works.</div><div><br></div><div>Once the ILS is updated, the limitations of flight operations due to thick fog in winter will be removed, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Md. Mokammel Hossain, Civil Aviation Authority Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman and Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Executive Director Group Captain Muhammed Kamrul Islam were present during the visit. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 15:00:07', '2023-02-07 15:00:07');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5056, 5056, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni on Tuesday claimed that for lack of any other issue, a vested quarter is spreading misinformation on the new curriculum textbooks to create confusion ahead of the election.&nbsp;</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“its purpose is to incite people against the government through misusing religion and creating instability and anarchy,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The Minister said this while participating in the discussion on the thanksgiving motion on the President\'s speech in Parliament.</div><div>She said that most of the propaganda about textbooks is false.</div><div><br></div><div>She mentioned that Awami League has never done anything against Quran and Sunnah and never will.</div><div><br></div><div>Education Minister Dipu Moni said that these are being spread purposely through photoshopping the pictures of various books, editing the text.</div><div><br></div><div>“Non-curriculum books are being spread by referring to the books of this country.&nbsp; These books are being criticised by using fictional subjects and images,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She also mentioned that fake and offensive news about the content is being spread.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“Offensive, nasty statements are being made about book authors, ministers and academics.&nbsp; They are being threatened.”</div><div><br></div><div>The education minister informed that two committees regarding the errors in the textbooks have formed.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that those who are attacking these textbooks are not involved in teaching at any of their academic institutions.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“The experimental books are published with the opinion of those who teach in their institutions. Any errors in the book are being and will be corrected.”</div><div><br></div><div>Dr Dipu Moni said that the intention of those who are criticising is not to correct mistakes.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“If their intentions were honest, they would have suggested correcting mistakes through constructive criticism.&nbsp; He would not lie. They would not have done this kind of lying by photoshopping and editing.”</div><div><br></div><div>Addressing the critics, the education minister said that she believes in her religion, sense of religion, message of religion and religious discipline.</div><div><br></div><div>“I pray that Allah gives guidance to those who make these ugly statements.&nbsp; Allow them to tell the truth, avoid lying, and refrain from trying to destabilise the country.”</div><div><br></div><div>Jatiya Party MP Kazi Firoz Rashid said that there is extreme corruption in the financial sector.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“Bank money is being freely looted and is siphoned abroad. Corruption is taking a totalitarian form in today\'s society.&nbsp; The middle class is disappearing day by day.&nbsp; The disparity between the rich and the poor is glaring.”</div><div><br></div><div>He said that the President cannot say anything about these things.&nbsp; The president does not have the scope to say these things.&nbsp; “That\'s the rule.”</div><div><br></div><div>He questioned Can the president say that the Awami League is plunged by hybrid leaders through hiring them in exchange of money.</div><div><br></div><div>Jatiya Party MP Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud said that the prescriptions given by the IMF are nothing new, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>He urged to look into the reports of various national and international organizations without dismissing them.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>He said that the report given by CPD is very high standard. “You can disagree with that.&nbsp; But rather than ignoring these reports, one should take a good look at what is there.”&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas&nbsp;</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 15:14:30', '2023-02-07 15:14:30'),
(5057, 5057, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The sole border crossing used to shuttle life-saving aid from Turkey into conflict-ravaged Syria has seen its operations disrupted by the deadly earthquake that struck the two countries, the UN said Tuesday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The 7.8-magnitude quake and its aftershocks struck Turkey and Syria on Monday and killed more than 5,000 people.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The cross-border operation has itself been impacted,\" Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told reporters in Geneva.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It is a disaster zone,\" he said, appealing for politics to be put aside to allow desperately needed aid to get through.</div><div><br></div><div>Disaster agencies said several thousand buildings were flattened across an area plagued by war, insurgency, refugee crises and a recent cholera outbreak.</div><div><br></div><div>Concerns have been running particularly high for how aid might reach all those in need in Syria, devastated by more than a decade of civil war.</div><div><br></div><div>Humanitarian aid in rebel-held areas usually arrives through Turkey via a cross-border mechanism created in 2014 by a UN Security Council resolution.</div><div><br></div><div>But it is contested by Damascus and its ally Moscow, who see it as a violation of Syrian sovereignty.</div><div><br></div><div>Under pressure from Russia and China, the number of crossing points has been reduced over time from four to one.</div><div><br></div><div>And now areas surrounding that one border crossing have suffered significant infrastructure damage, while the aid workers on the ground have been hit by the catastrophe.</div><div><br></div><div>- \'Lives are at stake\' -</div><div><br></div><div>\"Every effort is being done to overcome these logistical hurdles, which are created by the earthquake,\" Laerke said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"There is a window of about seven days\" when survivors are generally found, Laerke said, adding that it was \"critical\" to get teams to those in immediate need as soon as possible.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It is imperative that everybody sees it as a humanitarian crisis where lives are at stake,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Please don\'t politicise this. Let\'s get the aid out to the people who so desperately need it.\"</div><div><br></div><div>He said the UN was intent on using \"any and all means to get to people, and that includes the cross-border operation and the cross-line operation from inside Syria\".</div><div><br></div><div>But Laerke said access by road was \"a challenge\" and pointed out that the quake had impacted the UN\'s \"own staff, our own contracting partners, our truck drivers that we work with, our national staff\".</div><div><br></div><div>\"They\'re looking for their families in the rubble... That has had an impact on that operation in the immediate,\" he acknowledged.</div><div><br></div><div>At the same time, he said, partners that deliver aid in northwestern Syria had indicated they were \"operational and they are asking for supplies, and they are also asking for funding\".</div><div><br></div><div>For now though, the specific Syria cross-border humanitarian fund is empty, he warned. - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 15:23:57', '2023-02-07 15:23:57'),
(5058, 5058, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The government’s successful negotiation of a $4.7 billion, approved at the Executive Council of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will raise confidence in the macroeconomy amid a volatile foreign exchange market, analysts said.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>They said that the IMF loan program can help bring stability to the macroeconomic situation in two ways- increasing the US dollar supply and igniting a process of reform in the financial sector.</div><div><br></div><div>Economist and adviser to the last caretaker government Dr ABM Mirza Azizul Islam told UNB that the IMF loan works as a standard for the economic strength of a country. Other international financial organisations would be encouraged to provide loans and in other financial dealings with Bangladesh now.</div><div><br></div><div>He said that the loan will contribute to a stable exchange rate by strengthening the foreign exchange reserve for the short term.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, the IMF loan will work as a remedy while inward remittance flow and repatriation of export income have slightly decreased, Mirza Aziz said.</div><div><br></div><div>The government will be implementing reforms in the financial sector as per the advice of the IMF, which will bring good results in the long run for the macroeconomy, he pointed out.</div><div><br></div><div>Many countries are seeking IMF’s loan support to face the foreign exchange crisis due to the fall of global economic growth.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Bangladesh’s process for securing the loan has been much smoother than some other countries, which is a good endorsement of Bangladesh’s macroeconomic stability.</div><div><br></div><div>Economist and former Governor of Bangladesh Bank (BB) Dr Atiur Rahman told UNB that the IMF board decision indicates strong confidence in Bangladesh\'s macroeconomic management and willingness to undertake necessary reforms for inclusive and sustainable growth.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides budget support, the approval of a new loan of $1.4 billion from the Resilience and Sustainable Fund (RSF) also demonstrates the IMF\'s recognition of Bangladesh\'s capacity to address climate change challenges, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>“The loan, of course, is focused on addressing high inflation and falling foreign exchange reserves. Indeed, Bangladesh, though not in the same club as Sri Lanka and Pakistan, has still made this pre-emptive move of asking for long term low-cost funding support from the IMF, to avoid future pressures on its macroeconomic indicators that have already been affected to some extent by the ongoing global economic crisis,” he added.</div><div><br></div><div>Dr Atiur said the state-of-the-art technical knowledge of IMF experts in Bangladesh will certainly benefit from this program in undertaking necessary reforms in the financial sector for raising revenue and foreign exchange reserve, improving governance of the banking sector to reduce non-performing assets, and targeting better social protection for the extreme poor.</div><div><br></div><div>These reforms are, however, already in place as a part of the indigenous development strategy of Bangladesh. The program will only further consolidate their implementation process, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Other development partners like the World Bank, ADB, and JICA will be encouraged to come forward with additional support for infrastructural development in Bangladesh. FDI will also flow at a faster pace to take advantage of the conducive investment environment in Bangladesh which will be further strengthened by the presence of the IMF program,\" said Dr Atiur, also a professor of economics at Dhaka University, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>The IMF also said that the loan will help stabilise Bangladesh\'s macroeconomy, implement the necessary reforms to build capacity for social and development spending, strengthen the financial sector, modernise policy frameworks, and address climate change.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 15:41:14', '2023-02-07 15:41:14'),
(5059, 5059, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Most faults in the Earth’s crust don’t move for a long time. But in some cases, the rock on either side of a fault slowly deforms over time due to tectonic forces.&nbsp;</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Earthquakes are usually caused when underground rock suddenly breaks and there is rapid motion along a fault. This sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake. During and after the earthquake, the plates or blocks of rock start moving—and they continue to move until they get stuck again.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The spot underground where the rock first breaks is called the focus, or hypocenter of the earthquake. The place right above the focus (at the ground surface) is called the epicenter of the earthquake.</div><div><br></div><div>Try this little experiment:</div><div>Break a block of foam rubber in half.</div><div><br></div><div>Put the pieces on a smooth table.</div><div><br></div><div>Put the rough edges of the foam rubber pieces together.</div><div><br></div><div>While pushing the two pieces together lightly, push one piece away from you along the table top while pulling the other piece toward you.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>See how they stick?</div><div>Keep pushing and pulling smoothly.</div><div><br></div><div>Soon a little bit of foam rubber along the crack (the fault) will break and the two pieces will suddenly slip past each other. That sudden breaking of the foam rubber is the earthquake. That\'s what happens along a strike-slip fault.</div><div><br></div><div>Seismic waves can also be caused by natural processes other than earthquakes and by human activities. Some are geological like the Menominee Crack.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>When magma moves toward the surface prior to volcanic eruptions, it produces seismic waves that can be used to forecast an eruption.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Ocean and lake wave activity, mining operations, subway construction, and other underground explosions can cause seismic waves, too.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Nuclear warhead explosions create seismic waves very much like large earthquakes—one of the reasons for the global nuclear test ban is that no nuclear warhead can be detonated on Earth without producing seismic waves. - Michigan Tech</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-07 15:53:17', '2023-02-07 15:53:17'),
(5060, 5060, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Four men were arrested at Gandharbyopur village in Haziganj upazila of Chandpur district over gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The crime occurred on Monday night, said Zubayer Syed, officer-in-charge of Haziganj Police Station.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police arrested Nimai Chandra Das, 24; Momin, 32; Mamun, 30; and Mizan, 45 in this connection.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A complaint was lodged with Haziganj Police Station on Tuesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the complaint, Nimai developed a relationship with the girl, hailing from Darbeshpur village in Ramganj upazila.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nimai invited the girl to his village. On Monday, Nimai took the girl to his village.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At one point, Nimai along with three other men took the girl to an abandoned place and raped her.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hearing screams, locals rescued the girl and informed police who arrested the four men.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The arrestees were sent to jail after being produced before the court on Tuesday, said OC.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The girl is now undergoing treatment at Chandpur General Hospital. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 05:48:57', '2023-02-08 05:48:57'),
(5061, 5061, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The wait of some 1,203,407 students will come to an end as results of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations of 2022 will be published today.</span><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The results will be officially announced at the International Mother Language Institute at Segunbagicha in the capital at 12:30pm, said Mohammad Abul Khayer, information and public relations officer of the Education Ministry on Tuesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">HSC and equivalent exams were held from November 6 to December 13 last year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The HSC, equivalent exams were held at 2,649 centers and 9,181 institutions across the country. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 05:51:51', '2023-02-08 05:51:51'),
(5062, 5062, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Rescuers raced against time early Wednesday to pull survivors from the rubble before they succumbed to cold weather two days after an earthquake tore through southern Turkey and war-ravaged northern Syria. The death toll climbed above 7,700 and was expected to rise further.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The last two days have brought dramatic rescues, including small children emerging from mounds of debris more than 30 hours after Monday\'s pre-dawn quake. But there was also widespread despair and growing anger at the slow pace of rescue efforts in some areas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“It’s like we woke up to hell,” said Osman Can Taninmis, whose family members were still beneath the rubble in Hatay, Turkey\'s hardest-hit province. “We can’t respond to absolutely anything. Help isn’t coming, can’t come. We can’t reach anyone at all. Everywhere is destroyed.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Syria, residents found a crying newborn still connected by the umbilical cord to her mother, who was dead. The baby was the only member of her family to survive a building collapse in the small town of Jinderis, relatives told The Associated Press.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Search teams from nearly 30 countries and aid pledges poured in. But with the damage spread across several cities and towns — some isolated by Syria\'s ongoing conflict — voices crying for help from within mounds of rubble fell silent.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Monday\'s magnitude 7.8 quake and powerful aftershocks cut a swath of destruction that stretched hundreds of kilometers (miles) across southeastern Turkey and neighboring Syria. The shaking toppled thousands of buildings and heaped more misery on a region wracked by Syria’s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Turkey is home to millions of refugees from the war. The affected area in Syria is divided between government-controlled territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, where millions rely on humanitarian aid to survive.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unstable piles of metal and concrete made the search efforts perilous, while freezing temperatures made them ever more urgent, as worries grew about how long trapped survivors could last in the cold. Snow swirled around rescuers in parts of Turkey.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The scale of the suffering — and the accompanying rescue effort — were staggering.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Adelheid Marschang, a senior emergencies officer with the World Health Organization, said up to 23 million people could be affected in the entire quake-hit area, calling it a “crisis on top of multiple crises.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 13 million of the country\'s 85 million people were affected, and he declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces. More than 8,000 people have been pulled from the debris in Turkey, and some 380,000 have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels, authorities said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But authorities faced criticism from residents of hard-hit Hatay, sandwiched between Syria and the Mediterranean Sea, who say rescue efforts have lagged. Erdogan\'s handling of the crisis could weigh heavily on elections planned for May, and his office has already dismissed the criticism as disinformation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nurgul Atay told The Associated Press she could hear her mother’s voice beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Antakya, the capital of Hatay province. But rescuers did not have the heavy equipment needed to rescue her.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“If only we could lift the concrete slab, we’d be able to reach her,” she said. “My mother is 70 years old, she won’t be able to withstand this for long.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 1,647 people were killed in Hatay alone, the highest toll of any Turkish province. At least 1,846 people had been rescued there as of Tuesday evening, he said. Hatay’s airport was closed after the quake destroyed the runway, complicating rescue efforts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Syria, meanwhile, aid efforts have been hampered by the ongoing war and the isolation of the rebel-held region along the border, which is surrounded by Russia-backed government forces. Syria itself is an international pariah under Western sanctions linked to the war.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Volunteer first responders known as the White Helmets have years of experience rescuing people from buildings destroyed by Syrian and Russian airstrikes in the rebel-held enclave, but they say the earthquake has overwhelmed their capabilities.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mounir al-Mostafa, the deputy head of the White Helmets, said they were able to respond efficiently to up to 30 locations at a time but now face calls for help from more than 700.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Teams are present in those locations, but the available machinery and equipment are not enough,” he said, adding that the first 72 hours were crucial for any rescue effort.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The United Nations said it was “exploring all avenues” to get supplies to the rebel-held northwest.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the road leading to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing — the only terminal through which U.N. aid is allowed to enter the rebel-held area — was damaged by the quake, disrupting deliveries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dujarric said the U.N. was preparing a convoy to cross the conflict lines within Syria.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The U.N. already delivers aid across conflict lines to the rebel-held enclave. But it can’t move the quantities needed because of difficulties in arranging convoys with opposing parties, making aid deliveries from Turkey critical.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government has pressed for years for all humanitarian aid to be sent from within Syria, including to the opposition-held enclave. The U.N. has increased cross-conflict line deliveries but not enough for the millions in need.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Turkey has large numbers of troops in the border region and has tasked the military with aiding its rescue efforts, including setting up tents for survivors and a field hospital in Hatay province.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A navy ship docked Tuesday at the province’s port of Iskenderun, where a hospital collapsed, to transport people in need of medical care to a nearby city.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A large fire at the port, caused by containers that toppled over during the earthquake, sent thick plumes of black smoke into the sky. The Defense Ministry said the blaze was extinguished with the help of military aircraft, but live footage broadcast by CNN Turk showed it was still burning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Vice President Fuat Oktoy said at least 5,894 people have died from the earthquake in Turkey, with another 34,810 injured.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The death toll in government-held areas of Syria has climbed to 812, with some 1,400 injured, according to the Health Ministry. At least 1,020 people have died in the rebel-held northwest, according to the White Helmets, with more than 2,300 injured.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The region sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in similarly powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999. AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 06:00:48', '2023-02-08 06:00:48'),
(5063, 5063, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A New Zealand pilot has been taken hostage by separatist fighters in Indonesia\'s Papua region who have threatened to kill him.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The man was taken after his plane was set alight when it landed in the mountainous district of Nduga.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Five passengers who were on board, including a young child, are thought to have been released.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The separatists want Indonesia to recognise the independence of the province of West Papua.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police have said they are investigating the incident - but say this is logistically difficult as the area can only be reached by air.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The pilot has been named as Philip Merthens, although different spellings for his name have been given.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The West Papua National Liberation Army - which Indonesia has designated as a terrorist group - has claimed responsibility for the attack.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The group\'s spokesperson, Sebby Sambom, has said the pilot will be executed if Indonesia \"is obstinate\" and fails to negotiate over the independence of West Papua.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The New Zealand government has said that it is aware of the situation and its consulate in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, is providing assistance to the pilot\'s family.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The plane, which belonged to Susi Air, was carrying supplies from the mining town of Timika in the neighbouring district, according to the Associated Press. BBC</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 06:05:04', '2023-02-08 06:05:04'),
(5064, 5064, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">President Joe Biden called on Republicans in his State of the Union address Tuesday night to work with him to “finish the job” of rebuilding the economy and uniting the nation as he sought to overcome pessimism in the country and navigate political divisions in Washington.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The backdrop of the annual address was markedly different from the previous two years, with a Republican speaker sitting behind Biden and GOP lawmakers in the audience preparing to scrutinize both his administration and his policies. He sought to reassure the nation that his stewardship of the country has delivered results both at home and abroad, as he also set out to prove his fitness for a likely re-election bid.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The challenges for Biden are many: economic uncertainty, a wearying war in Ukraine, growing tensions with China and more. And signs of the past trauma at the Capitol, most notably the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, were unavoidable, with a large fence encircling the complex as lawmakers and those in attendance faced tighter-than-usual security measures.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rather than rolling out flashy policy proposals, the president set out to offer a reassuring assessment of the nation’s condition, declaring that two years after the Capitol attack, America\'s democracy was “unbowed and unbroken.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The story of America is a story of progress and resilience,\" he said, highlighting record job creation during his tenure as the country has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Biden also pointed to areas of bipartisan progress in his first two years in office, including on states\' vital infrastructure and high tech manufacturing. And he says, \"There is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The people sent us a clear message. Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere,” Biden said. “And that’s always been my vision for the country: to restore the soul of the nation, to rebuild the backbone of America — the middle class — to unite the country.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We’ve been sent here to finish the job!”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The president took to the House rostrum at a time when just a quarter of U.S. adults say things in the country are headed in the right direction, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About three-quarters say things are on the wrong track. And a majority of Democrats don’t want Biden to seek another term.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He sought to confront those sentiments head-on.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"You wonder whether a path even exists anymore for you and your children to get ahead without moving away, I get it,” Biden said. “That’s why we’re building an economy where no one is left behind. Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back because of the choices we made in the last two years.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was seated behind Biden urged his conference to be respectful ahead of Biden\'s address and in turn asked Biden to refrain from using the phrase “extreme MAGA Republicans,” which the president deployed on the campaign trail in 2022.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“I won’t tear up the speech, I won’t play games,” McCarthy told reporters, a reference to Pelosi’s dramatic action after President Donald Trump’s final State of the Union address.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who gained a national profile as Trump’s press secretary, was to deliver the Republican response to Biden’s speech.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She was to focus much of her remarks on social issues, including race in business and education and alleged big-tech censorship of conservatives.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“While you reap the consequences of their failures, the Biden administration seems more interested in woke fantasies than the hard reality Americans face every day,” she was to say, according to excerpts released by her office. “Most Americans simply want to live their lives in freedom and peace, but we are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn’t start and never wanted to fight.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With COVID-19 restrictions now lifted, the White House and legislators from both parties invited guests designed to drive home political messages with their presence in the House chamber. The parents of Tyre Nichols, who was severely beaten by police officers in Memphis and later died, are among those seated with first lady Jill Biden. Other Biden guests included the rock star/humanitarian Bono and the 26-year-old who disarmed a gunman in last month’s Monterey Park, California, shooting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Members of the Congressional Black Caucus invited family members of those involved in police incidents, as they sought to press for action on police reform in the wake of Nichols\' death. The White House, ahead of the speech, paired police reform with bringing down violence, suggesting that giving police better training tools could lead to less crime nationwide.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Biden was shifting his sights after spending his first two years pushing through major bills such as the bipartisan infrastructure package, legislation to promote high-tech manufacturing and climate measures. With Republicans now in control of the House, he is turning his focus to implementing those massive laws and making sure voters credit him for the improvements.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The switch is largely by necessity. The newly empowered GOP is itching to undo many of his achievements and vowing to pursue a multitude of investigations — including looking into the recent discoveries of classified documents from his time as vice president at his home and former office.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the same time, Biden will need to find a way to work across the aisle to keep the government funded by raising the federal debt limit by this summer. He has insisted that he won’t negotiate on meeting the country’s debt obligations; Republicans have been equally adamant that he must make spending concessions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the eve of the president\'s address, McCarthy challenged Biden to come to the negotiating table with House Republicans to slash spending as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We must move towards a balanced budget and insist on genuine accountability for every dollar we spend,” McCarthy said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While hopes for large-scale bipartisanship are slim, Biden reissued his 2022 appeal for Congress to get behind his “unity agenda” of actions to address the opioid epidemic, mental health, veterans’ health and cancer. He announced new executive action and call for lawmakers to act to support new measures to support cancer research, address housing needs and suicide among veterans, boost access to mental health care, and move to further crack down on deadly trafficking in fentanyl.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The president also called for extending the new $35 per month price cap on insulin for people on Medicare to everyone in the country. And he pushed Congress to quadruple the 1% tax on corporate share buybacks that was enacted in the Democrats\' climate and health care bill passed last year known as the Inflation Reduction Act.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The speech comes days after Biden ordered the military to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew brazenly across the country, captivating the nation and serving as a reminder of tense relations between the two global powers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last year\'s address occurred just days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine and as many in the West doubted Kyiv’s ability to withstand the onslaught. Over the past year, the U.S. and other allies have sent tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to bolster Ukraine’s defenses. Now, Biden must make the case — both at home and abroad — for sustaining that coalition as the war drags on. AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 06:12:41', '2023-02-08 06:12:41'),
(5065, 5065, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The air quality in Dhaka showed no signs of improvement, as it continued to be in the \'unhealthy\' zone this morning.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 178 at 9:12 am, the capital of Bangladesh ranked fifth in the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Poland’s Krakow, China’s Chongqing and Pakistan’s Lahore occupied the first three spots, with AQI scores of 211, 193 and 185 respectively.</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;\">Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As per 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, 'Newsdesk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 06:18:09', '2023-02-08 06:18:09'),
(5067, 5067, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The overall civil work progress of metro rail Agargaon-Motijheel section is now over 92 percent as 88.22 percent installation work of electrical and mechanical system and rolling stock depot equipment collection has already been completed, an official said.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Under the package-5, the viaduct construction on 3.195 km Agargaon-Karwan Bazar route and building 3 stations is on as construction of other viaducts and platforms of the stations has already been completed,\" said Managing Director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL) MAN Siddique.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Talking to BSS, he said the construction of entry/exit and stations, plumbing (MEP) as well as architectural, mechanical and electrical work are in progress under the package.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Roof-sheet installation was completed at the Farmgate and Karwan Bazar stations while the roof-sheet installation work of the Bijoy Sarani station is going on, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The overall progress of the package from Agargaon to Karwan Bazar has stood 91.98 percent,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Siddique said the actual work of the package-6 (from Karwan Bazar to Shahbagh) had started on August 1, 2018 and construction of the viaducts and platforms of the stations has been completed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The construction of Entry/exit and stations as well as mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP) and architectural work are progressing, he said, adding that roof-sheet installation work of Shahbagh, University of Dhaka and Bangladesh Secretariat stations have been completed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, the roof-sheet installation work is going on at the Motijheel station and the overall progress of the package is 92.14 percent.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under the package-7, the overall progress of the electrical and mechanical system delivery and construction work is 90.93 percent, while the work of the package started on July 11, 2018.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Laying of railway tracks and electrical and machinery installation work in the depot area has been completed and commissioned.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Construction of Motijheel Receiving Sub-Station (RSS) building, installation of all electrical equipment and 132 KV cable laying work have been completed, Siddique said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Construction of 16.19-km track of the rail line and OCS (OSIsoft Cloud Services) portal has already been accomplished from Agargaon to Motijheel part as out of 19.89 km of OCS wiring, 15.65 km of wiring has been completed, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under the package-8, the MRT authority brought 21 sets of train out 24 sets, while 22nd and 23rd sets are on the way to Bangladesh from Japan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The procurement and equipment collection work of this package started on September 13, 2017.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, the last 24th set of train is likely to start journey from Kobe seaport in Japan in the second week of February this year, which will arrive at Mongla port in the last week of March 2023.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The project details said the metro rail is likely to carry 60,000 passengers per hour after opening the entire route of 21.26 km from Uttara to Motijheel-Kamalapur Railway Station in less than 40 minutes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The total 21.26-kilomtere metro rail - Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project (Line-6) - is being built under eight packages from Uttara to Kamlapur, Siddique said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The actual work of the package-1 started from September 8 2016, which was completed on January 31, 2018, 9 months before the scheduled date. The project authority saved the government exchequer of Tk 70.58 crore.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Following the instructions of the prime minister, contract for construction of the extension of MRT Line-6 from Motijheel to Kamalapur (1.16 km) was signed with construction firm on November 28, 2022,\" said a project official familiar with the process.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The actual work of the package-2 began on September 13, 2017 and all the 52 infrastructures inside the depot were completed on June 20, 2022.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the project details, under the package-3 and 4, contractors stated work on 1 August 2017 for 11.73 km viaduct from Uttar to Agargaon and construction of 9 stations while the combined actual progress of the two packages were 99.25 percent.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Construction work of entry/exit of Shewrapara Station is going on while road repair from Pallabi to Agargaon and tree plantation work is also going on in the median. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 06:49:07', '2023-02-08 13:36:17'),
(5068, 5068, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday unveiled the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations results.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Releasing the results of 11 education boards after pressing button at her office here this morning, she extended her wholehearted gratitude to the education ministry and other concerned for holding examinations and publishing results timely.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni and Deputy Minister for Education Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury spoke at the function.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, the education minister handed over the summary of the combined results to the prime minister.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, the chairmen of 11 education boards - nine general boards, one madrasah education board and one technical education board - handed over their respective boards’ results to the premier</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Secondary and Higher Education Division Secretary Suleman Khan conducted the result handover function.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Educational institutions can download the result sheets clicking the result corner in www.dhakaeducationboard.gov.bd website by using EIIN.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Results can also be downloaded from www.educationboardresults.gov.bd writing roll number and registration number.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, students will be able to collect their result through sending SMS to 16222 and for this, they will need to write first HSC, board\'s name (first three letters), roll number and year (for example: HSC Dha 123456 2022).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The HSC and equivalent examinations were held between November 6 and December 22 in 2022.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 1,203,407 examinees appeared in the examinations. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 07:05:07', '2023-02-08 07:06:36');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5069, 5069, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The death toll from a massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria rose above 8,300 on Wednesday, official data showed, with rescue workers still searching for trapped survivors.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Officials and medics said 5,894 people have died in Turkey and 2,470 in Syria, bringing the total to 8,364. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 07:09:32', '2023-02-08 07:09:32'),
(5070, 5070, '<p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Results of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations were published today. The pass percentage is 85.95 percent.</b></span><br></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina published the results of HSC and equivalent exams for 2022. </p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">HSC and equivalent exams were held from November 6 to December 13 last year. The exams were held at 2,649 centers and 9,181 institutions across the country. UNB</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</p>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 07:39:53', '2023-02-08 13:37:28'),
(5071, 5071, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Just like Shah Rukh Khan has once again won the hearts of his fans with his role in Pathaan, John Abraham too is enjoying the attention coming his way for playing the antagonist Jim in the film. The actor now hopes that producer Aditya Chopra brings Jim back and tell the world his backstory. He said it would be \"great if Aditya Chopra wants to tell the world how good a super-spy he was and how he became a ruthless mercenary later”.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As a patriot-turned mercenary Jim, John Abraham had the best action sequences in the film as he gave Shah Rukh\'s Pathaan a tough fight. He plays the leader of notorious Outfit X, a band of deadly gun-toting mercenaries on hire.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking on the response for his role in Pathaan, John said, “It is incredible the amount of love that I have been receiving for playing Jim in Pathaan! As an actor, I only work for the love of audiences and fans. Records and milestones are a huge bonus and I’m grateful that Pathaan is such a historic blockbuster. I didn’t expect that people would love my character so much that they want more of Jim to be given to them.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He added, “I’m astounded by the number of messages I’m getting daily on my social media about how there should be a prequel to Jim. When people almost always root for the hero, and that hero is Shah Rukh Khan in Pathaan, it is hugely gratifying that people are rooting for the anti-hero too! I’m fortunate that my work in Pathaan has spoken loudly and hopefully, I have managed to give people an anti-hero that they will always remember. That was my intent when I heard Pathaan.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking about what he loves about Jim, John says, “Jim is a refreshingly suave villain, with very well etched out characterisation that dives into why he became what he became! Imagine the pain he endured, imagine the hurt that broke him and turned him into the man he became. To me, Jim was a very powerful character and yes, it would be great if Aditya Chopra wants to bring him back and tell the world how good a super-spy he was and how he became a ruthless mercenary later!”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He adds, “As Luthra says in Pathaan, Jim and Kabir are the best in business. So, there could be lots to explore if a film is made on Jim. I don’t know what Aditya Chopra has in mind. As of now, I’m relishing the love that’s coming my way and I’m thankful that I have entertained people thoroughly.” HT</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"13\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 07:45:38', '2023-02-08 07:45:38'),
(5072, 5072, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday asked students to acquire special training on skills development on different subjects, especially on ICT, for taking advantage of the immense opportunities in the job market.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“This is the digital era; you have to keep your eyes on this. If you do that, you will get more opportunities in the job market,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister said this on the occasion of publishing Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent exam results at her office (PMO).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina asked students to take skills development trainings, particularly on ICT, during their free time – to make them better prepared for the digital age.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Bachelor’s or master’s alone won’t be enough; you need special knowledge in any subject to expand job opportunities at home and abroad,” the PM said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She asked students not to waste their time and get trainings that the government is providing across the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina asked concerned persons and authorities to put more attention on research.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Our research work on agriculture is going well; I will ask you to give more attention to other subjects,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said that without research it would not be possible to attain knowledge on the latest developments.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The PM said that no country can be developed without having a literate nation. “We want a poverty-free Bangladesh. And for that we urgently need literate people.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In this connection, she said that the government has diversified education.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We have given special attention on education so that our children can cope with the continuously developing world. We are providing scopes to get higher education in every district. This will ensure employment too,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said that the government has set up subject-focused universities which are required to keep up with the rest of the world.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She highly praised students for continuing their studies during the coronavirus pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war, sanctions and counter-sanctions – that have created a restless situation across the globe.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Within this situation, our children continued their education, sat for exams, and passed the exams – this is no small achievement.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She congratulated those who have passed in the exams and their guardians.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“And those who did not manage to pass the exams, I would urge them not to be depressed. Start preparing for the next exam with determination.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Considering the pass rate for female students is higher than their male counterparts, she asked the latter to be more attentive in their studies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina said that children of the country are brilliant, and if they are given the opportunities, they can achieve anything.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni handed over the result summary to the prime minister. After that chairmen of different education boards handed over the results of their respective boards to the PM. The education minister, Deputy Minister for Education Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury and Secretary of Secondary and Higher Education Division Suleman Khan also spoke at the programme. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 07:58:19', '2023-02-08 07:58:19'),
(5073, 5073, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>According to a study published online in the journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, people who live with a partner have a higher possibility of being healthy in terms of keeping lower blood sugar levels, regardless of how amicable or combative their relationship is. According to researchers, having a spouse or cohabiting partner may be a significant relationship and source of social support and/or strain for persons in their mid to late-life health.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, the effects of each specific social health dimension are complex, so a team of researchers from Luxembourg and Canada set out to investigate if there was an association between marital status and marital quality with average glycemic levels in older adults. They used biomarker data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) - a population-based sample of adults aged 50 years and older and their partners, who live in England, from whom data are collected every second year, with biomarker data collected every other wave.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The data used for the study was on 3,335 adults aged 50 to 89 years old without previously diagnosed diabetes over a period from 2004 to 2013. The sample was people without pre-existing diabetes between the ages of 50 and 89 years in wave 2 (2004-05) - when biomarker data were first available in ELSA. Pre-existing diabetes was determined by self-reporting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Participants were invited to have a nurse visit following the main interview in waves 2 (2004-05), 4 (2008-09) and 6 (2012-13) and blood samples were taken to measure their HbA1c (average glycemic or blood glucose) levels. Respondents were also asked if they had a husband, wife, or partner with whom they lived and asked questions designed to measure the level of social strain and social support within the marital/cohabitating relationship.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Information on several factors was also gathered such as details about age, income, employment, smoking, being physically active, depression, body mass index (BMI), and having other social relationship types in their social network (child, another immediate family, friend). The data showed that in wave 2 (2004-05), about three-quarters (76 per cent) of the respondents were married/cohabiting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Analysis of the data over time showed that people who experienced marital transitions (eg. divorce) also experienced significant changes in their HbA1c levels and odds of pre-diabetes. However, the quality of the relationship did not make a significant difference to the average levels of blood glucose, suggesting that having a supportive or strained relationship was less important than just having a relationship at all.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This was an observational study, and as such, it can\'t establish cause. Indeed, the study had some limitations such as the fact that there was a sizeable number of people who dropped out of the ELSA between waves with biomarker data. More than half of the wave 2 sample had no follow-up data so were excluded. There was also the possibility that those people in worse health were more likely to get divorced.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nevertheless, the authors argued that their study\'s strengths included the use of HbA1c as an outcome measure versus self-reported diagnoses - the former being a more accurate and precise measure when used in population-based surveys than diagnosed medical conditions, which are dependent on participants having accessed appropriate healthcare prior to study enrollment.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The researchers concluded: \"Overall, our results suggested that marital/cohabitating relationships were inversely related to HbA1c levels regardless of dimensions of spousal support or strain. Likewise, these relationships appeared to have a protective effect against HbA1c levels above the pre-diabetes threshold.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Increased support for older adults who are experiencing the loss of a marital/cohabitating relationship through divorce or bereavement, as well as the dismantling of negative stereotypes around romantic relationships in later life, maybe starting points for addressing health risks, more specifically deteriorating glycemic regulation, associated with marital transitions in older adults.\" HT</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"6\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 08:34:29', '2023-02-08 13:39:26'),
(5074, 5074, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said her government is tirelessly working to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We\'re making all-out efforts to implement the SDG agendas by incorporating its targets to the eighth fifth year plan and the perspective plan from 2021-2041,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Premier said this when visiting Queen of Belgium and UN SDG Advocate Mathilde Marie Christine paid a courtesy call on her at her office here.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">PM\'s Speechwriter M Nazrul Islam briefed the newsmen after the meeting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Referring to the Russia-Ukraine war, the Prime Minister said the entire world has become instable and the inflation rate has gone up due to war.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Russia-Ukraine war should be stopped immediately as the people\'s suffering has been mounting across the globe due to the war,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The visiting Queen highly praised the Prime Minister for tremendous development in Bangladesh\'s various sectors particularly in women empowerment, development of women and children and female education.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I am very happy to see the progress,\" she said. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 08:37:30', '2023-02-08 08:37:30'),
(5075, 5075, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A total of 1,76,282 students got the highest Grade Point Average (GPA-5) in the HSC and equivalent examinations 2022 under 11 education boards.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the result published here today, among the GPA-5 holders, 80,561 are male students and 95,721 are female.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 1,59,755 students achieved GPA-5 under nine general education boards, 9,423 students under madrasah education board and 7,104 under technical education board. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 08:50:45', '2023-02-08 08:50:45'),
(5076, 5076, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The results of (HSC) Higher Secondary Certificate and its equivalent examinations of 2022 have been published on Wednesday (February 8).</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">This year, the HSC and equivalent examinations were held at a total of 9,139 institutions across the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Not a single student passed from 50 institutions in the HSC and equivalent examinations, according to the results published today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The number is 10 times higher than that in the previous year’s HSC and equivalent examinations. In the 2021 HSC and equivalent examinations, only five educational institutions across the country had zero pass rate.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This year, the average pass rate is 85.95 per cent across the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The pass rate in Dhaka is 87.80 per cent, while 78.76 per cent in Chattogram, 80.32 per cent in Mymensingh, 81.59 per cent in Rajshahi, 81.4 per cent in Sylhet, 83.32 per cent in Jashore and 85.95 per cent in Barishal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Total 1,78,443 students achieved GPA 5 in the HSC.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni held a press conference to brief the details of the results at International Mother Language Institute in the capital’s Shegun Bagicha at 12:30pm.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni handed over the copies of results to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, the Prime Minister published the results of HSC and its equivalent examinations by pressing a button on the computer around 11:45 am.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 12,03,407 candidates took part in the examination under nine general education boards, madrasa board and technical education board.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Candidates can get their results online or through SMS, board officials said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">To get the results under general boards through SMS, candidates have to type HSC, the first three letters of the board name, followed by the candidate’s roll number and the year, and send it to 16222.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They can download individual result sheets by entering roll and registration number.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'Newsdesk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 09:18:16', '2023-02-08 09:18:16'),
(5077, 5077, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The overall civil work progress of metro rail Agargaon-Motijheel section is now over 92 percent as 88.22 percent installation work of electrical and mechanical system and rolling stock depot equipment collection has already been completed, an official said.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"Under the package-5, the viaduct construction on 3.195 km Agargaon-Karwan Bazar route and building 3 stations is on as construction of other viaducts and platforms of the stations has already been completed,\" said Managing Director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL) MAN Siddique.</div><div><br></div><div>Talking to BSS, he said the construction of entry/exit and stations, plumbing (MEP) as well as architectural, mechanical and electrical work are in progress under the package.</div><div><br></div><div>Roof-sheet installation was completed at the Farmgate and Karwan Bazar stations while the roof-sheet installation work of the Bijoy Sarani station is going on, he said.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>\"The overall progress of the package from Agargaon to Karwan Bazar has stood 91.98 percent,\" he added.</div><div><br></div><div>Siddique said the actual work of the package-6 (from Karwan Bazar to Shahbagh) had started on August 1, 2018 and construction of the viaducts and platforms of the stations has been completed.</div><div><br></div><div>The construction of Entry/exit and stations as well as mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP) and architectural work are progressing, he said, adding that roof-sheet installation work of Shahbagh, University of Dhaka and Bangladesh Secretariat stations have been completed.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, the roof-sheet installation work is going on at the Motijheel station and the overall progress of the package is 92.14 percent.</div><div><br></div><div>Under the package-7, the overall progress of the electrical and mechanical system delivery and construction work is 90.93 percent, while the work of the package started on July 11, 2018.</div><div><br></div><div>Laying of railway tracks and electrical and machinery installation work in the depot area has been completed and commissioned.</div><div><br></div><div>Construction of Motijheel Receiving Sub-Station (RSS) building, installation of all electrical equipment and 132 KV cable laying work have been completed, Siddique said.</div><div><br></div><div>Construction of 16.19-km track of the rail line and OCS (OSIsoft Cloud Services) portal has already been accomplished from Agargaon to Motijheel part as out of 19.89 km of OCS wiring, 15.65 km of wiring has been completed, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Under the package-8, the MRT authority brought 21 sets of train out 24 sets, while 22nd and 23rd sets are on the way to Bangladesh from Japan.</div><div><br></div><div>The procurement and equipment collection work of this package started on September 13, 2017.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, the last 24th set of train is likely to start journey from Kobe seaport in Japan in the second week of February this year, which will arrive at Mongla port in the last week of March 2023.</div><div><br></div><div>The project details said the metro rail is likely to carry 60,000 passengers per hour after opening the entire route of 21.26 km from Uttara to Motijheel-Kamalapur Railway Station in less than 40 minutes.</div><div><br></div><div>The total 21.26-kilomtere metro rail - Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project (Line-6) - is being built under eight packages from Uttara to Kamlapur, Siddique said.</div><div><br></div><div>The actual work of the package-1 started from September 8 2016, which was completed on January 31, 2018, 9 months before the scheduled date. The project authority saved the government exchequer of Tk 70.58 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Following the instructions of the prime minister, contract for construction of the extension of MRT Line-6 from Motijheel to Kamalapur (1.16 km) was signed with construction firm on November 28, 2022,\" said a project official familiar with the process.</div><div><br></div><div>The actual work of the package-2 began on September 13, 2017 and all the 52 infrastructures inside the depot were completed on June 20, 2022.</div><div><br></div><div>According to the project details, under the package-3 and 4, contractors stated work on 1 August 2017 for 11.73 km viaduct from Uttar to Agargaon and construction of 9 stations while the combined actual progress of the two packages were 99.25 percent.</div><div><br></div><div>Construction work of entry/exit of Shewrapara Station is going on while road repair from Pallabi to Agargaon and tree plantation work is also going on in the median. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 09:48:29', '2023-02-08 09:48:29'),
(5078, 5078, '<p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Thinly stretched rescue teams worked through the night in Turkey and Syria, pulling more bodies from the rubble of thousands of buildings toppled by a catastrophic earthquake. The death toll rose Wednesday to more than 9,400, making the quake the deadliest in more than a decade.</b></span><br></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Turkey\'s disaster management agency said the country\'s death toll had risen to 6,957, bringing the overall total to 9,487, including fatalities reported in neighboring Syria, since Monday\'s earthquake and multiple aftershocks.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The death toll in government-held areas of Syria has climbed to 1,250, with 2,054 injured, according to the Health Ministry. At least 1,280 people have died in the rebel-held northwest, according to volunteer first responders known as the White Helmets, with more than 2,600 injured.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">That surpassed the 8,800 killed in a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal in 2015.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Amid calls for the government to send more help to the disaster zone, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was to travel to town of Pazarcik, the epicenter of the quake, and to the worst-hit province of Hatay on Wednesday.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Turkey now has some 60,000 aid personnel in the quake-hit zone, but with the devastation so widespread many are still waiting for help.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Nearly two days after the magnitude 7.8 quake struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, rescuers pulled a 3-year-old boy, Arif Kaan, from beneath the rubble of a collapsed apartment building in Kahramanmaras, a city not far from the epicenter.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">With the boy\'s lower body trapped under slabs of concrete and twisted rebar, emergency crews lay a blanket over his torso to protect him from below-freezing temperatures as they carefully cut the debris away from him, mindful of the possibility of triggering another collapse.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The boy\'s father, Ertugrul Kisi, who himself had been rescued earlier, sobbed as his son was pulled free and loaded into an ambulance.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">“For now, the name of hope in Kahramanmaras is Arif Kaan,” a Turkish television reporter proclaimed as the dramatic rescue was broadcast to the country.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">A few hours later, rescuers pulled 10-year-old Betul Edis from the rubble of her home in the city of Adiyaman. Amid applause from onlookers, her grandfather kissed her and spoke softly to her as she was loaded on an ambulance.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">But such stories were few more than two days after Monday\'s pre-dawn earthquake, which hit a huge area and brought down thousands of buildings, with frigid temperatures and ongoing aftershocks complicating rescue efforts.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Search teams from more than two dozen countries joined the Turkish emergency personnel, and aid pledges poured in.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">But with devastation spread multiple several cities and towns — some isolated by Syria’s ongoing conflict — voices crying from within mounds of rubble fell silent, and despair grew from those still waiting for help.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">In Syria, the shaking toppled thousands of buildings and heaped more misery on a region wracked by the country\'s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">On Monday afternoon in a northwestern Syrian town, residents found a crying newborn still connected by the umbilical cord to her deceased mother. The baby was the only member of her family to survive a building collapse in the small town of Jinderis, relatives told The Associated Press.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Turkey is home to millions of refugees from the war. The affected area in Syria is divided between government-controlled territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, where millions rely on humanitarian aid.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">As many as 23 million people could be affected in the quake-hit region, according to Adelheid Marschang, a senior emergencies officer with the World Health Organization, who called it a “crisis on top of multiple crises.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Many survivors in Turkey have had to sleep in cars, outside or in government shelters.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">“We don’t have a tent, we don’t have a heating stove, we don’t have anything. Our children are in bad shape. We are all getting wet under the rain and our kids are out in the cold,” Aysan Kurt, 27, told the AP. “We did not die from hunger or the earthquake, but we will die freezing from the cold.”</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Erdogan said 13 million of the country\'s 85 million people were affected, and he declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces. More than 8,000 people have been pulled from the debris in Turkey, and some 380,000 have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels, authorities said.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">In Syria, aid efforts have been hampered by the ongoing war and the isolation of the rebel-held region along the border, which is surrounded by Russia-backed government forces. Syria itself is an international pariah under Western sanctions linked to the war.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The United Nations said it was “exploring all avenues” to get supplies to the rebel-held northwest.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">In addition to the thousands killed in Turkey, another 37,011 have been injured.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The region sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in similarly powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999. UNB</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</p>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 09:58:57', '2023-02-08 09:58:57'),
(5079, 5079, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Did they, or didn\'t they? For a surreal moment -- just as Joe Biden prepared to deliver his State of the Union speech -- his wife Jill Biden stole the show by appearing to plant a kiss smack on the lips of the vice president\'s husband.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>It happened in a heartbeat: after sweeping into Congress to cheers, the first lady made her way over to the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, and clasped his hand.</div><div><br></div><div>Then, in a moment destined to go viral, they leaned in for a friendly embrace -- but at least one of them appears to have miscalculated and the result was a kiss either on, or very, very close, to the lips.</div><div><br></div><div><iframe frameborder=\"0\" src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/bX8t_1dBuZ8\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"note-video-clip\"></iframe><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"Smooch of the Union,\" teased the New York Post tabloid -- zooming in on photos of what it declared without a doubt to have been a kiss on the mouth.</div><div><br></div><div>Other close-ups of the embrace seemed to show Biden\'s kiss landing just to one side of Kamala Harris\'s husband\'s mouth.</div><div><br></div><div>But Fox News -- a frequent critic of Biden\'s administration -- pounced on the apparent slip-up without the shadow of a doubt.</div><div><br></div><div>And Donald Trump\'s former advisor Kellyanne Conway shared a picture of the smooch with similar delight, quipping: \"Wow, Covid really is over.\" - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 10:09:01', '2023-02-08 10:09:01'),
(5080, 5080, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Many Muslim majority countries bear the brunt of climate change, but their cultural awareness of it and climate action are often staggeringly limited.&nbsp;</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A movement of “Islamic environmentalism” based on Islamic tradition – rather than imported “white saviour” environmentalism based on first-world political campaigns – can address both. And the post-COVID-19 lull in emissions is an opportunity to fast-track this.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is a movement we sorely need. My home country Turkey, for example, is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, as temperatures are rising and rainfall is decreasing year on year, causing serious problems with water availability. In Bangladesh, it is estimated that by 2050 one in seven will be displaced by climate change, creating millions of climate refugees. In the Middle East, large areas are likely to become uninhabitable due to heatwaves likely to sweep over the region in the next few decades.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, despite their vulnerability, many Muslim countries are contributing to the problem. Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world, is the world’s fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and is doing little to curb emissions. Bangladesh and Pakistan are the two most polluted countries in the world, but have taken no serious measures to address pollution. Inaction in the Muslim world persists despite a declaration by Muslim countries in 2015 to play an active role in combatting climate change.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">You would think that those most affected by climate change would be the most eager to stop it. This is not always the case. Many Muslim countries are reluctant to impose Western concepts of environmentalism, or to bow to pressure from countries which have already gone through industrialisation without having to address pollution or curb emissions. Environmental colonialism is not the answer.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">What would work, and has been proven to work, is using the principles of Islam to encourage conservation in Muslims.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Islam teaches its followers to take care of the earth. Muslims believe that humans should act as guardians, or khalifah, of the planet, and that they will be held accountable by God for their actions. This concept of stewardship is a powerful one, and was used in the Islamic Declaration on Climate Change to propel change in environmental policy in Muslim countries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In fact, Muslims need to look no further than the Quran for guidance, where there are approximately 200 verses concerning the environment. Muslims are taught that “greater indeed than the creation of man is the creation of the heavens and the earth”. The reality is that nothing could be more Islamic than protecting God’s most precious creation: the earth.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is this approach that can reach the hearts and minds of the 1.8 billion Muslims around the world, and it must be integrated with, rather than neglected by, the climate movement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) also demonstrated kindness, care and general good principles for the treatment of animals, which form a benchmark for Muslims. He outlawed killing animals for sport, told people not to overload their camels and donkeys, commanded that slaughtering an animal for food be done with kindness and consideration for the animal’s feelings and respect for Allah who gave it life, he even allowed his camel to choose the place where he built his first mosque in the city of Medina.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A 2013 study in Indonesia showed that including environmentalist messages in Islamic sermons led to increased public awareness and concern for the environment. In 2014, Indonesia issued a fatwa (or Islamic legal opinion) to require the country’s Muslims to protect endangered species.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There are also organisations dedicated to using religion to pass on the message of conservation, such as the Alliance for Religions and Conservation (ARC). One of its most successful projects used Islamic scholars to convince Tanzanian fishermen that dynamite, dragnet and spear fishing goes against the Quran – and they listened.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This case also tells us that remote, top-down moralising is unlikely to be effective. The fishermen had previously resisted bans from the government, but were persuaded once they were told that they were acting un-Islamically. One fisherman said: “This side of conservation isn’t from the mzungu [“white man” in Swahili], it’s from the Quran.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Clearly, we need to speak the language of those whose behaviour we are seeking to change, particularly if that language is naturally averse to unsustainable policies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some Muslim thought leaders are aware of this and are eager to develop a “homegrown” environmental movement to emerge as thought leaders in their own right. For example, the Dhaka Forum this month ran a panel on post-COVID-19 environmental issues with the majority of speakers coming from the Muslim world.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Muslim countries have a head start in the climate race. They have a framework and a belief system which mandates protection of the earth and its natural resources. As Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a prominent proponent of the religion and environmentalism movement, argues, the desacralisation of the West has resulted in an ideology that humans have dominion over the earth, rather than stewardship of it, which is the Islamic view.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Muslims must become guardians of the earth once more, for the sake of their environments and for the sake of God. Aljazeera</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"7\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 10:35:52', '2023-02-08 10:37:57'),
(5081, 5081, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Containing and cleaning up environmental pollution, especially in waterways, is crucial to controlling increasingly bullet-proof superbugs which could kill tens of millions by mid-century, a new UN report said Tuesday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Superbugs — strains of bacteria resistant to antibiotics — are estimated to have killed 1.27 million people in 2019, and the World Health Organization says antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top global health threats on the near-term horizon.</div><div><br></div><div>Up to 10 million deaths could occur every year by 2050 because of AMR, the UN says.</div><div><br></div><div>The disinfectants, antiseptics and antibiotics that can help microbes become stronger are everywhere, from toothpaste and shampoo to cow’s milk and wastewater.</div><div><br></div><div>A new report Tuesday said pollution is a key driver in the “development, transmission and spread” of AMR, calling for urgent action to clean up the environment.</div><div><br></div><div>“With increasing pollution and lack of management of sources of pollution, combined with AMR in clinical and hospital settings and agriculture, risks are increasing,” said the report from the UN Environment Programme.</div><div><br></div><div>Antimicrobial resistance is a natural phenomenon, but the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in humans, animals and plants has made the problem worse.</div><div><br></div><div>This means antibiotics may no longer work to fight the very infections they were designed to treat.</div><div><br></div><div>The UN report Tuesday said that pollution in the environment from key economic sectors has exacerbated the problem, namely from the pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing sectors, along with agriculture and health care.</div><div><br></div><div>Herbicides to control weeds on farms may also increase AMR, while heavy metals are also contributing to the problem.</div><div><br></div><div>Once antimicrobials enter the environment they seep into the food chain — they’ve been found in fish and cattle — and loop back into factories making everyday toiletries, for example.</div><div><br></div><div>Antimicrobial resistant genes are in waterways across the globe, from the Ganges River in India to the Cache la Poudre River in the US state of Colorado, the UN study found.</div><div><br></div><div>“This is a real issue, because rivers are often the source of our drinking water,” Jonathan Cox, senior lecturer in microbiology at Britain’s Aston University, told AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>“It’s already the silent pandemic,” warned Cox, who is not linked to the UN study. “It is becoming the next pandemic without us really recognizing it.”</div><div><br></div><div>Prevention is key, the UN said.</div><div><br></div><div>“Fuelled by population growth, urbanization and growing demand for food and health care, we can expect an increase in the use of antimicrobials and in pollutant releases into the environment,” it said.</div><div>The UN urged governments and international groups to address “key pollution sources,” including sewage, city waste, health care delivery, pharmaceutical manufacturing and intensive crop sectors.</div><div><br></div><div>Cox said solutions need to be global, since AMR is so pervasive.</div><div><br></div><div>One answer is to focus on clinical approaches, such as improving rapid testing for infections so that antibiotics are not incorrectly prescribed.</div><div><br></div><div>Another is improving wastewater management to remove antimicrobials. But such processes are complicated and costly, reports AFP</div><div><br></div><div>“The technology is out there, it just isn’t being employed because governments don’t care so much about the environment as they do about the bottom line,” Cox said.</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 11:05:04', '2023-02-08 11:05:04'),
(5082, 5082, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The High Court ordered authorities concerned to immediately allocate stall to publishing house Adarsha Prokashoni in Amar Ekushey Boi Mela on conditions of not to sell or display three books, about which Bangla Academy raised objections.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>A High Court division bench of Justice Md Khasruzzaman and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir passed the order after holding hearing on a writ filed by Adarsha Prokashoni proprietor Mahabub Rahman.</div><div><br></div><div>Barrister Aneek R Haque moved the plea before the court, while Assistant Attorney General Selim Azad stood for the state.</div><div><br></div><div>The three books, about which the Bangla Academy raised objections, are: Mediocrityr Sandhane written by Faham Abdus Salam, Unnayan Bivram written by Zia Hasan and Aprotiroddho Unnayaner Ovabanio Kothamala by Fayej Ahmed Taiyab.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 11:13:41', '2023-02-08 11:13:41');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5083, 5083, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, Representative in Bangladesh Johannes van der Klaauw has said the visit of the Queen of the Belgians will help keep the attention on the Rohingya situation, which continues to be one of the largest refugee crises in the world.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Queen’s visit comes as the crisis is well in to its sixth year of displacement, and against the backdrop of a serious decline in available funding,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The UNHCR Representative in Bangladesh said the Queen’s visit is a significant support to their ongoing efforts to mobilize sufficient funding for life-saving and life-sustaining assistance but also for key protection services, especially for women and children, such as preventing gender-based violence and addressing mental health problems.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On her second day of visiting Bangladesh, the Queen of the Belgians traveled to the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, the largest refugee camp in the world.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She met with Rohingya women, men, and youths to learn about their challenges, opportunities, anxieties, hopes and dreams.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The visit to the Rohingya camps was organized on the occasion of the Queen’s visit to Bangladesh in her capacity of the UN Secretary General’s Advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">More than 940,000 Rohingya refugees are generously hosted by the Bangladesh Government and people in Cox’s Bazar district, but living in congested camps in an area regularly hit by multiple natural disasters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During her visit to the camps, the Queen met children and their teachers in one of the learning centres in the camps, where she was briefed about the important steps being taken to introduce the Myanmar Curriculum and the challenges in identifying and training more Rohingya refugees as teachers and the need for additional space to accommodate more students.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Myanmar curriculum will lead the way towards a more formal education and nurture the hope that children will be able to continue their education once they can safely return home.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Young adolescent Rohingya climate activists also explained their role in taking care of the environment and raising awareness in their communities to prevent deforestation and protect the flora and fauna.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">UNHCR briefed on various activities to protect the environment and manage waste, enhance the resilience of refugees and host communities to respond to and prevent shocks as a result of climate change and natural hazards, while investing in infrastructure and regreening efforts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Queen met with, Rohingya women volunteers working to prevent and respond to gender-based violence and participated in a discussion with Rohingya refugee psychosocial counsellors to learn more about the mental health situation of their community.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the visit, the delegation was welcomed in various facilities managed by UNHCR and its partners, including national organizations, such as BRAC, CODEC, GK, IUCN, NGO Forum, as well as UNICEF and UN Women. 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, '2023-02-08 11:34:16', '2023-02-08 11:34:16'),
(5084, 5084, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said smart connectivity is needed to build \'Smart Bangladesh\'.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Smart roads are needed to build a smart Bangladesh. Smart connectivity is required,\" he told a contract signing ceremony here.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The contract of Lot No. DS-5 of South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation Dhaka-Sylhet Corridor Road Investment Project was signed at a city hotel. The length of the road under Taka 17,000-crore project is 209 km.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Expressing dissatisfaction over the poor road condition before completion of the project, Quader said the work of the project must be completed within specific timeframe maintaining its quality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said from the beginning, the Dhaka-Sylhet highway should have been a four-lane one, while such mistakes should not be made in taking projects.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The road transport and bridges minister said there is no new project right now but the works of the ongoing project must be completed maintaining its standard.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Now the people of Sylhet region are eagerly waiting (for implementation of the project). The Sylhet people are very happy in development of the road. Those who are benefited from it are happy. The project must be completed within timeframe. Quality first, pay heed to it,\" he said.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chairmen of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Road Transport and Bridges Ministry Rowshan Ara Mannan, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Ali, Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri, ADB Country Director for Bangladesh Edimon Ginting and Project Director of SASEC Dhaka-Sylhet Corridor Road Investment Project AK Mohammad Fazlul Karim were, among others, were present at the signing ceremony. 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, '2023-02-08 12:15:34', '2023-02-08 12:15:34'),
(5085, 5085, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The High Court (HC) on Wednesday granted&nbsp; permanent bail to BNP leaders Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Mirza Abbas in a case over the clash between police and the party activists at Nayapaltan on December 7 last year that left one dead.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>An HC bench of Justice Md Selim Azad and Justice Md Riaz Uddin Khan passed the order after hearing a rule in this regard.</div><div><br></div><div>Advocates Jainul Abedin and Sagir Hossain stood for the BNP leaders while Additional Attorney General SM Munir and Deputy Attorney General SM Golam Mostafa represented the state.</div><div><br></div><div>The rule as absolute, the HC granted permanent bail to them, said counsel Sagir.</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, state counsel Munir said they would take a decision on appeal against the HC order after discussion.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 9 last year, a team of Detective Branch (DB) of police picked up Fakhrul and Abbas from their homes in separate raids in the capital.</div><div><br></div><div>Later, they were shown arrested in a case over the clash between police and the party activists in the capital’s Nayapaltan. A Dhaka court sent them to jail rejecting their bail pleas.</div><div><br></div><div>On January 3, the High Court granted six months bail to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas in the case.</div><div><br></div><div>On the following day, the government filed a petition with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking stay on the High Court order granting bail to the BNP leaders in the case.</div><div><br></div><div>On January 8, A four-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Hasan Foyez Siddiqui upheld the High Court order granting bail to the BNP leaders.</div><div><br></div><div>Just after a month of their arrest, Fakhrul and Abbas were freed from jail on bail on January 9 evening. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 12:36:30', '2023-02-08 12:36:30'),
(5086, 5086, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Ratib Matar’s family was growing. They needed more space.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Before his granddaughters, now 4 and 5, were born, he built three apartments on an eastern slope overlooking Jerusalem’s ancient landscape. The 50-year-old construction contractor moved in with his brother, son, divorced daughter and their young kids — 11 people in all, plus a few geese.</div><div><br></div><div>But Matar was never at ease. At any moment, the Israeli code-enforcement officers could knock on his door and take everything away.</div><div><br></div><div>That moment came on Jan. 29, days after a Palestinian gunman killed seven people in east Jerusalem, the deadliest attack in the contested capital since 2008. Israel’s new far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called not only for the sealing of the assailant\'s family home, but also the immediate demolition of dozens of Palestinian homes built without permits in east Jerusalem, among other punitive steps.</div><div><br></div><div>Mere hours after Ben-Gvir\'s comments, the first bulldozers rumbled into Matar\'s neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber.</div><div><br></div><div>For many Palestinians, the gathering pace of home demolitions is part of the new ultranationalist government\'s broader battle for control of east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and claimed by the Palestinians as the capital of a future independent state.</div><div><br></div><div>The battle is waged with building permits and demolition orders — and it is one the Palestinians feel they cannot win. Israel says it is simply enforcing building regulations.</div><div><br></div><div>“Our construction is under siege from Israel,” Matar said. His brothers and sons lingered beside the ruins of their home, drinking bitter coffee and receiving visitors as though in mourning. “We try really hard to build, but in vain,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Last month, Israel demolished 39 Palestinian homes, structures and businesses in east Jerusalem, displacing over 50 people, according to the United Nations. That was more than a quarter of the total number of demolitions in 2022. Ben-Gvir posted a photo on Twitter of the bulldozers clawing at Matar\'s home.</div><div><br></div><div>“We will fight terrorism with all the means at our disposal,” he wrote, though Matar\'s home had nothing to do with the Palestinian shooting attacks.</div><div><br></div><div>Most Palestinian apartments in east Jerusalem were built without hard-to-get permits. A 2017 study by the U.N. described it as “virtually impossible\" to secure them.</div><div><br></div><div>The Israeli municipality allocates scant land for Palestinian development, the report said, while facilitating the expansion of Israeli settlements. Little Palestinian property was registered before Israel annexed east Jerusalem in 1967, a move not internationally recognized.</div><div><br></div><div>Matar said the city rejected his building permit application twice because his area is not zoned for residential development. He\'s now trying a third time.</div><div><br></div><div>The penalty for unauthorized building is often demolition. If families don\'t tear their houses down themselves, the government charges them for the job. Matar is dreading his bill — he knows neighbors who paid over $20,000 to have their houses razed.</div><div><br></div><div>Now homeless, Matar and his family are staying with relatives. He vows to build again on land he inherited from his grandparents, though he has no faith in the Israeli legal system.</div><div><br></div><div>“They don\'t want a single Palestinian in all of Jerusalem,” Matar said. Uphill, in the heart of his neighborhood, Israeli flags fluttered from dozens of apartments recently built for religious Jews.</div><div><br></div><div>Since 1967, the government has built 58,000 homes for Israelis in the eastern part of the city, and fewer than 600 for Palestinians, said Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer specializing in the geopolitics of Jerusalem, citing the government’s statistics bureau and his own analysis. In that time, the city’s Palestinian population has soared by 400%.</div><div><br></div><div>“The planning regime is dictated by the calculus of national struggle,” Seidemann said.</div><div><br></div><div>Israel\'s city plans show state parks encircling the Old City, with some 60% of Jabal Mukaber zoned as green space, off-limits to Palestinian development. At least 20,000 Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem are now slated for demolition, watchdogs say.</div><div><br></div><div>Matar and his neighbors face an agonizing choice: Build illegally and live under constant threat of demolition, or leave their birthplace for the occupied West Bank, sacrificing Jerusalem residency rights that allow them to work and travel relatively freely throughout Israel.</div><div><br></div><div>While there are no reliable figures for permit approvals, the Israeli municipality set aside just over 7% of its 21,000 housing plans for Palestinian homes in 2019, reported Ir Amim, an anti-settlement advocacy group. Palestinians are nearly 40% of the city\'s roughly 1 million people.</div><div><br></div><div>“This is the purpose of this policy,” said Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at Ir Amim. “Palestinians are forced to leave Jerusalem.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Arieh King, a Jerusalem deputy mayor and settler leader, acknowledged that demolitions help Israel entrench control over east Jerusalem, home to the city\'s most important religious sites.</div><div><br></div><div>“It’s part of enforcing sovereignty,\" King said. “I\'m happy that at last we have a minister that understands,\" he added, referring to Ben-Gvir.</div><div><br></div><div>Ben-Gvir is now pushing for the destruction of an apartment tower housing 100 people. Trying to lower tensions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed the eviction that was planned for Tuesday, Israeli media reported.</div><div><br></div><div>King contended it was possible for Palestinians to secure permits and accused them of building without authorization to avoid an expensive bureaucracy.</div><div><br></div><div>When the al-Abasi family in east Jerusalem found a demolition order plastered on their new breeze-block home last month, they contemplated their options.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The government had knocked down their last apartment, built on the same lot, eight years ago. This time, Jaafar al-Abasi decided, he would tear it down himself.</div><div><br></div><div>Al-Abasi hired a tractor and invited his relatives and neighbors to join. The destruction took three days, with breaks for hummus and soda. His three sons borrowed pickaxes and jackhammers, angrily hacking away at the walls they had decorated with colored plates just last month.</div><div><br></div><div>“This place is like a ticking time bomb,” said his brother in law, 48-year-old Mustafa Samhouri, who helped them out.</div><div><br></div><div>Protests over the demolitions have roiled east Jerusalem in recent days. Two weekends ago, Samhouri said, the family\'s 13-year-old cousin opened fire at Jewish settlers in the neighborhood of Silwan just across the valley, wounding two people before being shot and arrested.</div><div><br></div><div>“The pressure just grows more and more,” Samhouri said. “And at last, boom.\" Source: AP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 13:23:06', '2023-02-08 13:23:06'),
(5087, 5087, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">As glaciers melt and pour massive amounts of water into nearby lakes, 15 million people across the globe live under the threat of a sudden and deadly outburst flood, a new study finds.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>More than half of those living in the shadow of the disaster called glacial lake outburst floods are in just four countries: India, Pakistan, Peru and China, according to a study in Tuesday’s Nature Communications. A second study, awaiting publication in a peer-reviewed journal, catalogs more than 150 glacial flood outbursts in history and recent times.</div><div><br></div><div>It’s a threat Americans and Europeans rarely think about, but 1 million people live within just 6 miles (10 kilometers) of potentially unstable glacial-fed lakes, the study calculated.</div><div><br></div><div>One of the more devastating floods was in Peru in 1941 and it killed between 1,800 and 6,000 people. A 2020 glacial lake outburst flood in British Columbia, Canada, caused a tsunami of water about 330 feet (100 meters) high, but no one was hurt.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>A 2017 glacial outburst flood in Nepal, triggered by a landslide, was captured on video by German climbers. Alaska’s Mendenhall glacier has had annual small glacial outburst floods in what the National Weather Service calls “suicide basin,” since 2011, according to study lead author Caroline Taylor, a researcher at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom.</div><div><br></div><div>Heavy rains and a glacial lake outburst flood combined in 2013 in India to kill thousands of people. A 2021 deadly flood in India that was initially attributed to a glacial lake outburst wasn’t caused by one, studies later found.</div><div><br></div><div>Scientists say so far it doesn’t seem like climate change has made those floods more frequent, but as glaciers shrink with warming, the amount of water in the lakes grows, making them more dangerous in those rare situations when dams burst.</div><div><br></div><div>“We had glacier lake outburst floods in the past that have killed many many thousands of people in a single catastrophic flooding event,” said study co-author Tom Robinson, a disaster risk scientist at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. “And with climate change glaciers are melting so these lakes are getting bigger, potentially getting more unstable.”</div><div><br></div><div>Dan Shugar, a geoscientist at the University of Calgary who wasn’t part of the two studies, said much of the threat depends simply on how many people live in a glacial flood zone.</div><div><br></div><div>“In a warming world we certainly expect more and larger glacial lakes,” Shugar said in an email. “But the threat that these lakes might pose critically depends on where people are living and what their vulnerabilities might be.”</div><div><br></div><div>Robinson said what’s different about his study is that it’s the first to look at the climate, geography, population, vulnerability and all these factors to get “a good overview of where in the world is the most dangerous places″ for all 1,089 glacial basins.</div><div><br></div><div>At the top of the list is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa basin in Pakistan, north of Islamabad.</div><div><br></div><div>“That’s particularly bad,” Robinson said. “Lots of people and they’re very, very vulnerable” because they live in a valley below the lake.</div><div><br></div><div>The trouble is that scientists are focusing too much attention on the Pakistan, India, China and the Himalayas, often called High Mountain Asia, and somewhat ignoring the Andes, Robinson said. The second and third highest risk basins are in Peru’s Santa basin, and Bolivia’s Beni basin, the paper said.</div><div><br></div><div>After the deadly Andes flood in the 1940s that region “was sort of a leader” in working on glacial flood outburst threats, but in the last decade or so, High Mountain Asia has taken over because of the high population, said University of Dayton geology professor Umesh Haritashya, who wasn’t part of the studies.</div><div><br></div><div>India ranks high in the threat list not so much because of the physical setup but because of “a huge number of people downstream.”</div><div><br></div><div>Three lake basins in the United States and Canada rank high for threats, from the Pacific Northwest to Alaska, but aren’t nearly as high as areas in Asia and the Andes with few people in the danger zone. They are in Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula — distinct from the Mendenhall glacier near Juneau — northeast Washington and west central British Columbia.</div><div><br></div><div>“This ranking is a good checklist for further research,” said Oliver Korup of the University of Potsdam in Germany, who co-authored the list of glacial lake outburst floods. - AP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 14:54:25', '2023-02-08 14:54:25'),
(5088, 5088, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said no one should raise any concern about the election being free and fair under the AL government following the recent by-elections in six parliamentary seats&nbsp; and Rangpur City Corporation.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>“These have proved that fair elections are held during the Awami League period,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister said this while participating in the discussion on the thanksgiving motion on President\'s speech in parliament.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>She said that six by-elections were held just a few days ago where Jatiya Party won in one seat.</div><div><br></div><div>She mentioned that in another seat, the BNP MP who resigned from the parliament returned as an independent candidate.</div><div><br></div><div>“Moreover, we left one to Rashed Khan Menon’s party where the Jatiya Party candidate won. Another was given to Hasanul Haque Inu’s party and it won in Bogra,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that AL candidate won only in Bogra and Chapainawabganj.</div><div><br></div><div>“No one could complain about Rangpur mayor election.&nbsp; But Jatiya Party won that election, Awami League lost.”</div><div><br></div><div>Therefore, she said, “we have been able to prove that the election has been fair, free and impartial during the Awami League government.”</div><div><br></div><div>“I hope no one gets a chance to raise anything about the election after this (by-elections and mayor election).”</div><div><br></div><div>She mentioned that AL always has fought for people\'s right to vote.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“I think it is our responsibility to ensure the right to vote.”</div><div><br></div><div>PM Hasina said that the government has built the Padma Bridge with its own funding, which was a challenging job.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“This one decision has changed the image of Bangladesh internationally. Those who earlier thought that Bangladesh will never be able to stand up proved wrong. Those who seized power after 1975 tragedy (assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) had wanted that,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Hasina said that the international status of Bangladesh has increased as the country has proved that it can.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that digital services are being launched in all areas and now the documents of land can be taken at home while any bill can be paid from home.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that the government is working for the overall development of the people of the country.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier recalled the election during Ziaur Rahman\'s tenure.&nbsp; &nbsp;The people had seen how the presidential election of 1981 was rigged, she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She also said that during his time General Ershad (founder of Jatiya Patty) changed the election results by withholding the counting for 48 hours.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>She recalled that no party could form the government in the 1991 elections on its own and so BNP joined hands with Jamaat to form the government.&nbsp; And they held a election without participation of voters on February 15, 1996. People don\'t let go if votes are stolen.&nbsp; Khaleda Zia had to resign on March 30.”</div><div><br></div><div>The PM said that there was a conspiracy in 2001 regarding the sale of country’s gas, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>She also said that Bangladesh is sending medical teams, medicines, dry food to help the earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 15:29:58', '2023-02-08 15:29:58'),
(5089, 5089, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi reiterated that there would be no crisis of essential commodities in the country during the Holy month of Ramadan.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"There will be no crisis of essential commodities during the month of Ramadan as the consumers will be able to get their desired essential items due to pragmatic measures taken by the government,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The Commerce Minister made these comments emerging from a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) held at the Cabinet Division at Bangladesh Secretariat with Agriculture Minister Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque in the chair.</div><div><br></div><div>The meeting approved separate proposals for procuring some 1.10 crore litres of soybean oil through the local open tendering method and 8,000 metric tons of lentils through the international open tendering method.</div><div><br></div><div>Tipu said the government usually has to procure essentials for the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) while it has to procure more ahead of the Holy Month of Ramadan.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The soybean oil and lentil will be sold among nearly one crore family card holders. Apart from this, LCs are being opened to procure other essential items as the importers are now being able to open up LCs although there were some difficulties in the initial stage,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Answering to a question, he said that the import of fruits is being discouraged to save the foreign currency reserve as the country is now also producing enough fruits.</div><div><br></div><div>\"So, import of fruits is being discouraged so that pressure is not put on the foreign currency reserve side by side the farmers get fair price of their local produces,\" he added.</div><div><br></div><div>Briefing reporters about the outcome of the meeting, Cabinet Division additional secretary Sayeed Mahbub Khan said that the day\'s CCGP meeting approved a total of 15 proposals.</div><div><br></div><div>He said the TCB would procure some 1.10 crore litres of soybean oil with Taka 194.56 crore whereas per litre soybean oil would cost Taka 176.88 against the previous price of Taka 177. Meghna Edible Oil Refinery will supply this edible oil.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, the TCB would procure some 8,000 metric tons of lentils with Taka 73.28 crore whereas per kg lentil would cost Taka 91.60. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 15:47:12', '2023-02-08 15:47:12'),
(5090, 5090, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">In a circular on Wednesday Bangladesh Bank said that obtaining banking diploma is a must to get promoted to a senior officer post in banks.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>“One has to pass both phases of the banking diploma. This rule will be applicable to promote the officers’ level of all scheduled banks operating in the country,” the circular stated.</div><div><br></div><div>The banking regulation and policy department of BB issued the circular on Wednesday and sent it to the top executives of banks. This directive will be effective from January 1, 2024. At the same time, the central bank canceled the instructions given on October 13, 2022, in this regard.</div><div>The notification said the new requirement won’t be applicable for those not directly involved in banking activities. The exceptions are for doctors, engineers (civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>According to the central bank, the syllabus of the Diploma in Banking includes all the theoretical and practical knowledge of banking subjects.</div><div><br></div><div>In the first phase, basic and fundamental subjects related to banking are taught, and in the second phase, advanced banking knowledge and skills are tested. The Institute of Bankers, Bangladesh (IBB) offers this two-phase Banking Diploma degree.</div><div><br></div><div>The BB circular stated that the importance of the banking sector in the country\'s overall development is immense.</div><div><br></div><div>Such a directive has been issued considering the need to create skilled human resources with basic banking knowledge in this sector and increase the capacity of officials in decision-making. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-08 16:23:26', '2023-02-08 16:23:26'),
(5091, 5091, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Turkey\'s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended his government\'s response to two catastrophic earthquakes, saying it was impossible to prepare for the scale of the disaster.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At least 15,000 people are confirmed dead in Turkey and northern Syria.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Critics claimed the emergency services\' response was too slow and the government was poorly prepared.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Erdogan accepted the government had encountered some problems, but said the situation was now \"under control\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The leader of Turkey\'s main opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu disagreed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"If there is one person responsible for this, it is Erdogan,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The president rejected the accusation and said unity was required in the aftermath of the disaster, \"In a period like this, I cannot stomach people conducting negative campaigns for political interest,\" he told reporters in Hatay.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In nearby Syria, relief efforts have been complicated by years of conflict that has destroyed the nation\'s infrastructure.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Bab al-Hawa crossing between Turkey and Syria has been closed since the earthquake as the roads were badly damaged.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While a senior UN official said the road may soon be accessible, Turkey\'s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed the country was working to open two more border gates to help get aid into the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"There are some difficulties in terms of Turkey\'s and the international community\'s aid [reaching Syria]. For this reason, efforts are being made to open two more border gates,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The EU has confirmed it will send €3.5m (£3.1m) in aid to Syria following a government request for assistance, but said the aid must be delivered to both government- and rebel-controlled areas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">More than 1,500 people have died in Idlib province alone and an adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said sanctions were stopping Syria from receiving the aid it needed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We don\'t have enough bulldozers, we do not have enough cranes, we do not have enough oil due to European and American sanctions,\" Bouthaina Shabban said. 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, '2023-02-09 03:15:07', '2023-02-09 03:15:07'),
(5092, 5092, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">President Abdul Hamid on Wednesday urged the senior politicians to come forward to highlight the authentic history in front of the new and future generations to enrich them with the spirit of Liberation War and independence.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"If we want to enrich our new and future generations with the spirit of Liberation War and independence, we should tell them the authentic history of these things. And this is the responsibility of all of us,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The President made the statement while delivering his speech at the publication festival of his two books \'Amar Jiban Niti, Amar Rajniti and \'Swapna Jayer Ichcha\'. The event was organised at the Durbar Hall of Bangabhaban.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was present as the chief guest while Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury and Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique spoke as special guests.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said that independence is the biggest achievement of the Bengali nation.&nbsp; Struggle of independence and liberation war is the most important chapter in the history of Bengali nation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The two-time president referred to himself as a common man born in the remote areas of Hoar region and raised in the mud of Hoar, and said that he never did politics with the aim of getting or becoming something. His politics started from his school life.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I have not seen Bangabandhu yet. But the noble call of the great man always exposed me to the spirit of the independence movement. The first meeting with Bangabandhu was&nbsp; in 1964. And from then on, my activities in the politics began.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Bangabandhu\'s political philosophy and ideology became my path.&nbsp; He was one and only sources of the ideal and inspiration in the language movement of 1952, Anti-military movement of 1958,&nbsp; six points of 1966, 11 points of the Chhatra League,&nbsp; &nbsp;uprising of 1969, general election of 1970 and liberation war of 1971. And he is the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This senior politician also commented that Bangabandhu\'s ideals and inspiration have given him strength to face all the ups and downs in life, including facing extreme situation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I prefer to think of myself as a worker of Bangabandhu. Please pray for me so that I can uphold Bangabandhu\'s teachings and ideals and live as a soldier of Bangabandhu\'s ideals till the end of my life,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also thanked everyone who was directly or indirectly associated with the publication of his autobiographical books.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After inaugurating the Book Fair this year, the Prime Minister unveiled the autobiographical book \'Amar Jiban Niti, Amar Rajniti\'.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mentioning \'Bangabandhu is my political&nbsp; spiritual guide, my journey to the politics started under his guidance\', the President said that he started writing the autobiographical book with the intention of presenting the history of his political life to the next generation.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I am very grateful to my wife for inspiring me to start writing. Late Mainuddin Uddin Khandkar also played a significant role in this regard,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In order to spread the ideals of Bangabandhu from generation to generation, Hamid called on all those who came close to Bangabandhu to write autobiographies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In addition, the first and second volume of the book entitled \'Swapna joyer Ichcha\' is basically a collection of speeches given on various occasions during 2013-2018. The book was compiled and edited by the Press Wing of Bangabhaban.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After the welcome speech, Bangabandhu\'s close companion and longtime political colleague of the President, a member of the advisory council of Bangladesh Awami League Tofail Ahmed discussed the two books. First Lady Rashida Khanam gave the vote of thanks.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Director General of Bangla Academy Mohammad Nurul Huda delivered the welcome speech in the publication ceremony.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, the visual documentary on the glorious history of Bangabhaban was displayed on two side screens of the stage. Then, a brief cultural soiree was held by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy there.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the occasion of the conclusion of the first session of the 11th National Parliament in 2023, a cultural programme and dinner was organized in honour of the Prime Minister, Speaker, Ministers, Members of Parliament.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For more than a long month, a discussion was held on the President\'s speech in the National Parliament. In the discussion, the parliamentarians gave their well hought--out views on various issues related to the interests of the country and the people.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hamid asked all to continue the development work in their respective areas with more sincerity and compassion for the welfare of the people. 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, '2023-02-09 03:24:39', '2023-02-09 03:24:39'),
(5093, 5093, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">President Joe Biden said Wednesday the United States is not looking for conflict with China despite heightened tensions over last week\'s downing of a Chinese balloon that US officials say was part of a spy fleet spanning five continents.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We\'re going to compete fully with China, but... we\'re not looking for conflict -- and that\'s been the case so far,\" he said in a televised interview with PBS.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pointing to global ramifications of the balloon incident that has animated the United States, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier that the United States was giving data to allies as it assesses recovered debris.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We already shared information with dozens of countries around the world, both from Washington and through our embassies,\" Blinken said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We\'re doing so because the United States was not the only target of this broader program, which has violated the sovereignty of countries across five continents,\" he told a joint news conference with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, speaking separately to reporters on Air Force One, described the balloons as part of a fleet and said they had been spotted around the world for several years.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A huge white balloon carrying sophisticated equipment traversed the continental United States last week before Biden ordered the military to shoot it down just off the east coast in the Atlantic.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China insists that the balloon was merely conducting weather research, but the Pentagon described it as a high-tech spying operation. The balloon floated at an altitude far higher than most airplanes and crossed directly over at least one sensitive US military site.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- \'Pattern\' by China -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The NATO secretary-general, whose visit to Washington followed a trip to Japan and South Korea, said the balloon showed the need for countries across the alliance to protect themselves.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The Chinese balloon over the United States confirms a pattern of Chinese behavior where we see that China over the last years has invested heavily in new military capabilities,\" Stoltenberg said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We\'ve also seen increased Chinese intelligence activities in Europe. They use satellites, they use cyber and, as we\'ve seen over the United States, also balloons. So we just have to be vigilant,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Stoltenberg also issued a new warning that China was drawing lessons from the war in Ukraine, which NATO countries have been supporting as it fights back Russian invaders.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"What happens in Europe today could happen in Asia tomorrow,\" Stoltenberg said, pointing to China\'s pressure on Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by Beijing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Washington Post, quoting US officials, reported that the Chinese surveillance program has been run partly out of the southern island of Hainan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Updating old technology, the balloons have been used to monitor the military assets of nearby rivals such as Japan, India and Taiwan, the newspaper said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Biden, in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, said that his orders to shoot down the balloon showed that the United States would not hesitate to act when needed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But he also stressed that the United States did not want conflict with China. The balloon episode led Blinken to postpone a trip to China in which he had hoped to work at easing tensions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China, which voiced regret about the air intrusion but later denounced the US decision to down it, responded to Biden that it would also \"firmly defend\" its interests.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">US officials said they took measures to prevent the balloon\'s instruments from collecting confidential information during its flight.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They say that the decision to wait until the balloon reached water was the only way to ensure the safety of people on the ground.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Biden\'s Republican rivals say he should have ordered the balloon to be destroyed as soon as it was identified. 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, '2023-02-09 03:28:37', '2023-02-09 03:28:37'),
(5094, 5094, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Thousands of Twitter users on Wednesday reported problems using the platform as the Elon Musk-owned social network began letting paying users post tweets as long as 4,000 characters.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Twitter may not be working as expected for some of you,\" the company said in a tweet.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Sorry for the trouble. We\'re aware and working to get this fixed.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Reports of Twitter troubles spiked at website Downdetector early afternoon in Silicon Valley, and continued for about two hours.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Users complaints shared online included being unable to post messages, being told they had exceeded a daily limit of tweets, and inability to send direct messages.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A daily limit of 2,400 tweets per day was put in place at Twitter to reduce strain on its operations, according to US media.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">People also reported that TweetDeck, the popular dashboard for managing and viewing Twitter accounts, had stopped working.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The disruptions came on the same day Twitter added a length perk to its Blue subscription service costing $8 monthly in the United States.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Twitter Blue subscribers can now post tweets of up to 4,000 characters, far beyond the 280-character limit imposed on non-paying users, the tech firm said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"But don\'t worry, Twitter is still Twitter,\" the tech firm said in a lengthy tweet announcing the perk.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We know longer Tweets could mean a lot of scrolling, so they\'ll be capped at 280 characters on your timeline and you\'ll see a \'Show more\' prompt to click and read the whole Tweet.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Musk slashed Twitter\'s workforce late last year after he became owner of the San Francisco-based company, raising concerns about having enough engineering talent on hand to keep the platform running smoothly.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">US tech media reported Wednesday that Musk put out word to Twitter staff to put aside work on new features to focus on troubleshooting. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"5\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 03:32:09', '2023-02-09 03:32:09');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5095, 5095, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A Dhaka court has issued an arrest warrant for Irfan Selim, son of Dhaka-7 MP Haji Selim, in a case over the unprovoked attack on an off-duty Navy officer in 2021.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court Judge Muhammad Asaduzzaman Nur passed the order while rejecting an application for bail by the accused.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The court had earlier set Wednesday (Feb. 8) for hearings, but Ifran was absent from court on account of illness. A time petition was also placed for him, but the court rejected it.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Irfan\'s counsel, Sri Prannath, prayed for bringing forward the date of hearing due to his personal jobs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rejecting the time petition, the court issued the arrest warrant for Irfan and asked for the trial process to be formally initiated through the framing of charges against the five accused, including Irfan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The court also set March 6 for recording testimonies of witnesses in the case.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The other four accused are his bodyguard Jahidul Mollah, driver Mizanur Rahman, Madina Group Protocol Officer AB Siddique Dipu and associate Kazi Ripon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of them, Jahidul has been in jail, Mizanur and Dipu are now out on bail, while Ripon is absconding.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A case was filed with Dhanmondi Police Station against Irfan Selim for assaulting a navy official, Lieutenant Wasif Ahmed Khan, more than two years back. October 26, 2020.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lt Wasif filed the case against four named, including Irfan Selim, also councillor of ward-30 of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), and 2-3 unnamed persons he accused.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the case statement, a private car hit Lt Wasif\'s motorcycle near Labaid Hospital at Dhanmondi on October 25, 2020 when he along with his wife was returning to their Mohammadpur residence from Nilkhet area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Members of Rapid action Battalion (Rab) detained Irfan Selim in this connection later. 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, '2023-02-09 03:37:41', '2023-02-09 03:37:41'),
(5096, 5096, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">As the women\'s T20 World Cup gets ready to start in South Africa on Friday, AFP Sport picks out five cricketers to watch.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- India: Shafali Verma -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the end of January, Shafali Verma led India to victory in the Under-19 World Cup. Barely two weeks later, the 19-year-old batter is back in South Africa to help India in their bid to win the women\'s T20.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As a child she disguised herself as a boy in order to play but after breaking into the senior women\'s game, there has been no stopping her.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Youngest international, youngest to score 50 which she did against West Indies in her first series and the youngest to play in all three formats for India.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Her aggressive batting style has resulted in the nickname \"Lady Sehwag\", after explosive Indian men\'s opener Virender Sehwag, but it was seeing Sachin Tendulkar batting when she was just nine that inspired her to chase the game.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ahead of the 2020 edition, when India were runners-up to Australia, Verma ranked as number one T20 batter in the world. She has now played 51 T20Is, racking up over 1200 runs at an impressive strike rate of 134.5.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- England: Alice Capsey -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">If England are to unseat defending champions Australia they will need their 18-year-old all-rounder Alice Capsey to live up to and exceed her already remarkable progress.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">First, though, they need her to be fit - she broke her collarbone during England\'s tour of the West indies in December. But if she is firing on all cylinders the batting all-rounder will be crucial.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She made her international debut last summer and was England\'s highest scorer at the Commonwealth Games. A two-time winner of The Hundred with Oval Invincibles, she has also starred for Melbourne Stars in the women\'s Big Bash in Australia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Australia: Kim Garth -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kim Garth was only 14 when she made her international debut in an ODI against New Zealand in 2010.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That, however, was in the green shirt of her native Ireland with whom she won 114 caps in total as well as being vice-captain.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She was named Ireland cricketer of the decade in 2021 but by then had decided to try for a pro career in Australia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It worked. The 26-year-old all-rounder did well enough to qualify for her new country, making her debut in a T20 in Mumbai in December.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Defending champions Austrlalia have a side packed with big names so Garth\'s opportunities may be limited but if she should get some time in the spotlight, expect her to make the most of it. One thing she will be glad, however, is that Ireland are in the other group.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Pakistan: Nida Dar -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Amid the young guns, an old-stager in the shape of Pakistan\'s 36-year-old off-spinner Nida Dar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After making her international debut against Ireland in 2010, she has gone on to play 84 ODIs and over 100 T20Is.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She was named Pakistan\'s player of the tournament at the 2018 T20 World Cup and featured again in 2020. She is now just five short of West Indies\' Anisa Mohammed\'s record of 125 T20 wickets.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Her nickname \"Lady Boom Boom\" is a reminder that she is also a useful slugger with the bat.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- South Africa: Marizanne Kapp -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When Dane van Niekerk was cut from the squad there was a fear that her wife Marizanne Kapp might also step away.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But the 33-year-old stayed with the team which, realistically, is only likely to progress from a group that includes Australia and New Zealand, if she delivers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kapp has had her problems, not least four bouts of Covid, but she is a class all-rounder with a Test hundred under her belt as well as a lorryload of wickets.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She was South Africa\'s standout performer in last year\'s ODI World Cup with 203 runs and 12 wickets. 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, '2023-02-09 03:43:08', '2023-02-09 03:43:08'),
(5097, 5097, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka has once again topped the list of cities around the world with the worst air quality this morning (Thursday).</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 225 at 8:51 am today, Dhaka ranked first in the list of cities with worst air.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 151 and 200 is said to be ‘unhealthy’ while 201 and 300 is considered ‘very unhealthy’, and 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;\">Pakistan’s Lahore and India’s Mumbai occupied the second and third places with AQI of 195 and 180 respectively.</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;\">Also read: Dhaka\'s air quality still ‘very unhealthy\' as it ranks 2nd worst polluted city</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, largely as a result of 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, '2023-02-09 03:47:15', '2023-02-09 03:47:15'),
(5098, 5098, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday called for concerted global efforts and partnerships to create a global health strategy to respond to future health threats by taking lessons from COVID-19 Pandemic.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He made the call while delivering his remarks at the virtual COVID-19 Global Action Plan (GAP) Foreign Ministerial Meeting convened by the State Secretary of the USA, Antony J. Blinken.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The meeting was moderated by Coordinator for Global COVID-19 Response and Health Security of the US State Department Mary Beth Goodman.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered the opening remarks followed by remarks from the Foreign Ministers of Japan – Yoshimasa Hayashi, MinisterMomen, Germany - Annalena Baerbock, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Foreign Ministers and High representatives of other 20 countries and organizations intervened in the meeting. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Momen commended the initiatives and efforts of Secretary Blinken and the Government of the USA as well as contributions by the partners on this platform.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Foreign Minister expressed his satisfaction with the multilateral processes including initiatives like ACT-A and COVAX under the guidance of WHO to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with this, he also emphasized expanding the capacity of the healthcare sector and injecting sustained and significant funds for capacity building, especially in lower-income countries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Emphasizing the critical role of vaccines in combating the pandemic, Bangladesh\'s Foreign Minister stressed making vaccines affordable and accessible to all by declaring it \'Global Public Goods\'. He also urged the developed countries for their “Moral Commitment” to support the countries having relatively advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing bases like Bangladesh to develop their own capacity to produce vaccines through granting Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and appropriate provisions for technology transfer.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Momen highlighted Bangladesh’s tremendous success in COVID management centred on saving lives, supporting livelihoods- especially of the most vulnerable ones, and posting quick economic recovery under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also stated that Bangladesh surpassed the target set by WHO to vaccinate 70% of the population and is currently on course to reach the landmark of 90%. He added that Bangladesh is open to sharing the experience of its success story of the public health system’s response towards mass vaccination and hospital care.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Foreign Minister further stressed bilateral, regional and global cooperation to continue the work on Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPR) in the coming days to combat any such future threat. He also expressed the readiness of Bangladesh to contribute to platforms like GAP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He appreciated the idea of organizing the \'Covid-19 Pandemic Summit\' to remember that the world had to witness and handle a big global crisis all of a sudden, and the international community stood together to address such an emergency health situation to ensure greater global good.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A joint statement was issued at the end of the Ministerial which emphasised the importance of mutual cooperation among GAP partners to combat future health threats. It also reflected upon lessons learned to promote future collaboration to prevent, detect and respond to the next global health security threat.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Global Action Plan (GAP) Foreign Ministerial is a platform of foreign ministers which was launched one year ago with the objective of enhancing international coordination to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen readiness for future pandemic threats. The first meeting of the platform was held on 10th November 2021 presided by the US Secretary of State.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The next meeting was held on 19th July 2022, presided over jointly by the US Secretary of State and the Japanese Foreign Minister. As part of Bangladesh’s active engagements, Bangladesh co-hosted the 3rd meeting in New York on 23rd September 2022 along with USA, Spain and Botswana. Foreign Minister represented Bangladesh in all the meetings. 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, '2023-02-09 05:26:14', '2023-02-09 05:26:26'),
(5099, 5099, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The construction works of much-awaited Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel, the first under-river tunnel in South Asia, is nearing completion as construction progress has reached 96 percent.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"96 percent construction works of the tunnel under river Karnaphuli in Chattogram has been completed. The mechanical installation work is still going on. Along with this, the approach road construction works has already been completed,\" said Project Director of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel Md Harunur Rashid today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said construction works of the cross passage and tunnel related to the toll plaza is also nearing completion.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Mechanical, electrical and civil works of the tunnel is going on and other related work is also at final stage,\" Rashid said and hoped that the construction works of the tunnel will be finished within the stipulated time.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the project, two tubes having 35 feet wide and 16 feet high have been constructed within an 11-metre gap so that heavy vehicles can pass through the tunnel easily.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The length of the under-construction tunnel will be 3.40 kilometres with an approach road of 5.35 kilometres alongside a 727-metre bridge linking the main city, port and Western side of the river with its Eastern side.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangabandhu\'s daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the construction work of the first tunnel tube on February 24, 2019. On October 14, 2016, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Chinese President Xi Jinping jointly laid the foundation stone of the Bangabandhu Tunnel.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China Communications Construction Company Ltd is working as the contractor for the project.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The tunnel will connect the proposed Asian Highway to Dhaka-Chattogram-Cox\'s Bazar Highway and will reduce the distance from Chattogram to Cox\'s Bazar by 40-km. Vehicles in this tunnel will run at a speed of 80-km per hour, according to the project details.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangabandhu Tunnel is being built at a cost of Taka 10,374 crore. The tunnel project is being implemented with joint funding of the governments of Bangladesh and China. The Exim Bank of China is giving loan of Taka 5,913 crore while the Bangladesh government is funding the rest.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Exim Bank of China is giving loan of Taka 5,913 crore with two percent interest rate.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The tunnel will be the first under-river tunnel in South Asia. Extensive work is underway to complete the remaining eight percent work of the project. Local and foreign engineers alongside workers are involved in the project.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took the initiative to build a tunnel under Karnaphuli River to connect the city\'s Patenga and Anwara upazila of south Chattogram to make the port city \'One City, Two Town\' model similar to the Chinese city of Shanghai.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In November 2015, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the multi-lane road tunnel project at a cost of Taka 8,446.64 crore and the project duration was set for December 2021.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The cost was later increased to Taka 10,374.42 crore and the project period extended to December 2022.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the latest revision, the project duration has been extended till December 30, 2023, and the cost was increased by Taka 164 crore.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the survey conducted in 2013, before the construction of the tunnel, 6.3 million vehicles will be able to move through the tunnel annually. According to that, about 17260 vehicles can run in a day. By 2025, an average of 28,305 vehicles will travel through Bangabandhu Tunnel every day. 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, '2023-02-09 05:37:41', '2023-02-09 05:37:41'),
(5100, 5100, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ferry services on the Paturia-Daulatdia and Aricha-Kazirhat routes resumed this morning, after 3-4 hours of disruption caused by thick fog.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ferry service on Paturia-Daulatdia route remained suspended from 6 am on Thursday due to poor visibility. Services resumed around 9 am today, said sources at Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) at Aricha point.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, ferry services on the Aricha-Kazirhat route remained suspended from 4:15 am today due to dense fog. Later, the ferry services on the route resumed at 8:30 am.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Five ferries remained stranded in the middle of the Padma river on Paturia-Daulatdia route and one ferry on Aricha-Kazirhat route, causing immense sufferings to commuters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Several hundred vehicles were seen waiting on both sides to cross the river. 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, '2023-02-09 05:42:58', '2023-02-09 05:42:58'),
(5101, 5101, '<div><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">An estimated 27.3 million people watched President Joe Biden\'s State of the Union address on television, the second smallest audience for the annual event in at least 30 years, the Nielsen company said on Wednesday.</b><br></div><div><br></div><div>It was also down nearly 28% from the 38.2 million people who saw Biden\'s address in 2022.</div><div><br></div><div>The only smaller audience since 1993 was the 26.9 million who watched Biden\'s address to Congress in 2021 — not officially a State of the Union speech, since he had just taken office a few months earlier. That speech was delivered on the unusually late date of April 28.</div><div><br></div><div>Nielsen did not have figures available from before President Bill Clinton\'s first address to Congress, which reached 66.9 million people in 1993, when entertainment options were fewer.</div><div><br></div><div>Nearly three-quarters (73%) of the people who watched Biden\'s speech were 55 and older, Nielsen said. Only 5% were young adults under age 35.</div><div><br></div><div>The speech was carried live on 16 television networks.</div><div><br></div><div>Biden\'s largest audience came on Fox News Channel, where the speech was seen by 4.69 million people, Nielsen said. ABC had 4.41 million viewers for Biden, NBC had 3.78 million, CBS had 3.64 million, MSNBC had 3.55 million, CNN had 2.4 million and the Fox broadcast network had 1.66 million. AP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 06:29:09', '2023-02-09 06:29:09'),
(5102, 5102, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The death toll from a huge earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria climbed above 15,800 on Thursday, as rescuers raced to reach survivors stuck under rubble in freezing weather.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Officials and medics said 12,873 people had died in Turkey and 2,992 in Syria from Monday\'s 7.8-magnitude tremor, bringing the confirmed total to 15,865. 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, '2023-02-09 07:10:01', '2023-02-09 07:10:01'),
(5103, 5103, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Delhi home on Wednesday as the newlyweds returned from Jaisalmer after their wedding. The two were welcomed with dhol beats as they stood outside his home decorated with lights. A video of Sidharth and Kiara shaking a leg with others at the gate has now surfaced online.&nbsp;</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara were twinning in red as they arrived in Delhi for the wedding reception. The two even grooved to the dhol beats before entering Sidharth\'s home.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As a paparazzo shared the video on Instagram, a fan commented, “That\'s how a welcome should be.” A fan also spotted Kiara\'s brother Mishal Advani with them. 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, '2023-02-09 07:17:41', '2023-02-09 07:17:41'),
(5104, 5104, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh today in principal agreed with a proposal of Gambi to co-deploy troops of the two countries in the UN peacekeeping mission as Gambian Foreign Minister Dr. Mamadou Tangara paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister consented in principle at the meeting with the Gambian foreign affairs, international cooperation and Gambians abroad minister as he handed over a request letter regarding the proposal of Gambian president to her.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Gambia has proposed for co-deployment of Bangladeshi and Gambian forces in a suitable UN peacekeeping mission, PM\'s Speechwriter M Nazrul Islam briefed the newsmen after the meeting held at the premier\'s official Ganabhaban residence here this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to Nazrul Islam, the prime minister has asked all concerned to prepare Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to pursue the proposal of co-deployment of troops in the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission upon UN approval.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also apprised the meeting that Bangladesh is the highest troops contributing country in the UN peacekeeping missions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The visiting Gambian minister has highly praised Bangladesh\'s contribution to maintain world peace and Bangladesh\'s massive development in agriculture sector.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In reply, the prime minister has proposed transferring Bangladeshi manpower and technology to Gambia to jointly cultivate in its vast land for mutual benefit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also said Bangladesh has become a food-sufficient country due to her government\'s timely measures that include arrangement of conducting research.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister said the research has helped Bangladesh become a self-reliant country in food production despite reduction of agriculture lands.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She, as well, mentioned her government’s policy not to leave a single inch of land uncultivated, saying Bangladesh people are very responsive to it.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister thanked the Gambian government to support Bangladesh in repatriation of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also said Bangladesh has given shelter to Rohingyas on humanitarian ground and tried its best to give them dignified life since sending them back to their nation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier said her government has been trying to repatriate the Rohingyas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gambian Defence Minister Sering Modou Njieis, Bangladesh Foreign Senior Secretary Masud Bin Momen, Principal Staff Officer of the Armed Forces Division Lt Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman and Prime Minister\'s Office (PMO) Secretary Mohammad Salahuddin, 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, '2023-02-09 07:37:46', '2023-02-09 08:00:08'),
(5105, 5105, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday inaugurated simultaneous operation of trains on three newly built rail lines to ease the transportation of passengers and cargo on the Rooppur, Shasidal and Joydebpur routes.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She inaugurated the 69.20 km lines virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 11-km-long rail line for Rooppur has been constructed by the science and technology ministry at the cost of Tk 335 crore.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The construction work started in April 2018. It is a dedicated rail line for transportation of cargo to the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As part of the project, a new rail station was constructed near Hardinge Bridge. Besides, a 26.52-km-long dual-gauge rail line was set up, including siding and loop line from Ishwardi by-pass station to Rooppur plant.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 11km-long dual-gauge double-line from Tongi to Joydebpur will help railway authorities to increase the number of train trips on the Dhaka-Tongi-Joyebpur route, which links the entire west zone of Bangladesh Railway.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The second line was built at the cost of Tk 1,300 crore under an Indian-funded project.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The sections of 14km-long dual-gauge double-line on the Dhaka-Chattogram route are Kashba to Mandabagh and Shashidal to Rajapur.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The construction was done under a project funded by Asian Development Bank. 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, '2023-02-09 07:59:42', '2023-02-09 07:59:42'),
(5106, 5106, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today called upon the Japanese investors to come up with robust investment in Bangladesh\'s various sectors as Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) Governor Nobumitsu Hayashi paid a courtesy call on her.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Japan is a trusted partner of Bangladesh,\" PM\'s Speechwriter M Nazrul Islam quoted her as saying while briefing the newsmen after the meeting at the premier\'s official Ganabhaban residence here this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to Nazrul Islam, the prime minister said the people of Japan have stood beside Bangladesh since the Liberation War in 1971.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I am extending gratitude to the Japan on behalf of Bangladeshi people as Japan is still extending cooperation to us,\" sheikh Hasina said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also said Bangladesh is implementing several mega projects with Japanese cooperation that include Matharbari Deep Seaport, Third Terminal of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Bangabandhu Rail Bridge over the Jamuna River and Metro Rail Project.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The existing bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Japan will be strengthened further in future,\" she hoped.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The JBIC governor said Japan is a development partner of Bangladesh and vowed to contribute more to the country\'s journey towards development.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He expressed his country\'s keenness to invest in Bangladesh\'s sugar, pre-paid gas metre producing industries and biomass power generation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In reply, the premier appreciated the proposals, saying that the pre-paid gas metre producing industry can be built on joint venture.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also proposed to hand over one or two state owned sugar mills out of 15 to the Japanese investors.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Foreign Senior Secretary Masud Bin Momen, Prime Minister\'s Office (PMO) Secretary Mohammad Salahuddin and Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Iwama Kiminori 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, '2023-02-09 08:25:05', '2023-02-09 08:25:05'),
(5107, 5107, '<p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Studies have linked air pollution to poorer outcomes for people with lung illness as long-term air pollution exposure can contribute to the development of certain lung disorders. There is evidence that outdoor air pollution causes lung cancer and long-term exposure to air pollution may be connected to the development of asthma.</b></span><br></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Inan interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr G Prakash, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Jindal Naturecure Institute in Bangalore, revealed, “Air pollution is linked to a wide range of acute and chronic ailments, including lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cardiovascular disease.&nbsp;</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">When you breathe in poor-quality air, contaminants can enter your bloodstream through your lungs and reach your heart. This increases your chances of getting heart and circulation problems. Air pollution can harm your blood vessels by narrowing and hardening them.”</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">He advised, “A person can practice yoga on a daily basis to avoid the effects of pollution on the lungs. Yoga increases circulation and promotes tissue perfusion. It strengthens respiratory muscles while decreasing sympathetic reactivity, so reducing stress and anxiety, both of which enhance the severity of CAD. These asanas can be done on a daily basis to improve the general health of the lungs. Dhanurasana (bow posture), Hasta Uttanasana (raised arm yoga stance), Ustrasana (camel pose), Ardha Chandrasana (half-moon pose), and Chakrasana (wheel pose).&nbsp;</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">It is also advised to a take diet that is rich in vitamins including A, D, and E, as well as zinc, which can help reduce the development of asthma, whereas carotenoids and antioxidant-rich meals, such as red/yellow/orange coloured foods, that can aid with COPD. Furthermore, a diet high in fruits, vegetables, low sodium, low trans fats, and omega-6 fatty acids will minimize your risk of lung disease greatly.”</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">According to Dr Shuchin Bajaj, Founder Director at Ujala Cygnus Group of Hospitals, following are some tips for reducing the impact of air pollution on lung health using natural methods -</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>1.</b> Increase indoor air quality: Keep windows and doors closed, use air purifiers, and keep indoor plants to help reduce indoor air pollution.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>2. </b>Exercise outdoors: When air quality is good, exercise outside, as physical activity can help improve lung function.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>3.</b> Eat a healthy diet: Eating a balanced diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can help support lung health and overall health.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>4.</b> Quit smoking: Smoking is a major cause of lung damage and can worsen the effects of air pollution. Quitting smoking can improve lung health.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>5.</b> Stay hydrated: Drinking plenty of water can help remove toxins from the body and reduce the impact of air pollution on the lungs.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>6.</b> Reduce exposure to pollutants: Try to reduce your exposure to pollutants by avoiding busy roads, using public transportation, and limiting time spent in high-pollution areas.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>7. </b>Practice deep breathing exercises: Deep breathing exercises can help strengthen lung capacity and improve lung function.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Remember, these tips can help reduce the impact of air pollution on lung health but it is still important to reduce exposure to air pollution whenever possible. HT</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</p>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"6\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 08:44:27', '2023-02-09 08:44:27'),
(5108, 5108, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>At least four people were killed Thursday when an earthquake struck the capital of Indonesia\'s breakaway eastern region of Papua and crumpled a waterfront restaurant, officials said.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The 5.1-magnitude quake hit around 1.28 pm (0628 GMT) on land just southwest of Jayapura city at a depth of 22 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"A cafe collapsed and four people died there. It fell into the sea,\" Asep Khalid, head of the Jayapura disaster mitigation agency, said in a press release.</div><div><br></div><div>Residents in Jayapura said people scrambled for safety, running from houses and shops when the quake struck.</div><div><br></div><div>Putri Kurita, 30, bolted for the exit at another restaurant fearing it would collapse.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I was having lunch when things suddenly swayed, the jolt got much stronger,\" she told AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>The country\'s meteorological agency gave a higher magnitude of 5.2 and warned of potential aftershocks.</div><div><br></div><div>Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific \"Ring of Fire\", where tectonic plates collide.</div><div><br></div><div>The region affected by Thursday\'s quake is home to a decades-long insurgency waged by rebels seeking independence from Indonesia. - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 09:45:48', '2023-02-09 09:45:48'),
(5109, 5109, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Uttara Centre and Mirpur-10 stations of Metro Rail will be open to commuters on February 18 and March 1 respectively.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Nazmul Ahsan Bhuiya, deputy project director of Metro Rail, disclosed the information&nbsp; on Thursday.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier, on January 25, the authorities opened the Mirpur’s Pallabi Station after nearly one month after the inauguration of the metro rail service in Dhaka.</div><div><br></div><div>Currently, commuters are using Uttara North Station to Pallabi, Pallabi to Uttara, and Agargaon to Pallabi.</div><div><br></div><div>The government has fixed Tk 30 for Uttara North Station to Pallabi, Pallabi to Uttara and Agargaon to Pallabi.</div><div><br></div><div>According to Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), the rail operation till Motijheel may start by the end of 2024, and Kamalapur by 2025.</div><div><br></div><div>By December 2024, metro rail will start operation from Agargaon to Kamalapur route with 24 trains. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 10:14:23', '2023-02-09 10:14:23'),
(5110, 5110, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A student of Shahjalal University of Science &amp; Technology (SUST) is suspected to have died by suicide at his own home early Thursday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The deceased was identified as Minhazul Abedin, a student of Mathematics Department of the university and a resident of Salamatpur village of Manirampur Upazila of Jashore district.</div><div><br></div><div>SM Saidur Rahman, Assistant Professor of Mathmatics&nbsp; department of the university, said Minhajul Abedin, a student of 2016-17 session of our department, committed suicide at his home around 3am on Thursday.</div><div><br></div><div>His mother informed the matter in the morning over phone, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>However, Minhaz was founder president of university’s robotics related organization ‘Roboadda’. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 11:30:10', '2023-02-09 11:30:10');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5111, 5111, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The death toll from a huge earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria climbed to more than 17,100 on Thursday, as hopes faded of finding survivors stuck under rubble in freezing weather.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Officials and medics said 14,014 people had died in Turkey and 3,162 in Syria from Monday\'s 7.8-magnitude tremor, bringing the confirmed total to 17,176.</div><div><br></div><div>Freezing temperatures deepened the misery Thursday for survivors.</div><div>The death toll from Monday\'s 7.8-magnitude quake is expected to rise sharply as rescue efforts pass the 72-hour mark that disaster experts consider the most likely period to save lives.</div><div><br></div><div>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday conceded \"shortcomings\" after criticism of his government\'s response to the earthquake, one of the deadliest this century.</div><div><br></div><div>Survivors have been left to scramble for food and shelter -- and in some cases watch helplessly as their relatives called for rescue, and eventually went silent under the debris.</div><div><br></div><div>\"My nephew, my sister-in-law and my sister-in-law\'s sister are in the ruins. They are trapped under the ruins and there is no sign of life,\" said Semire Coban, a kindergarten teacher, in Turkey\'s Hatay province.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We can\'t reach them. We are trying to talk to them, but they are not responding... We are waiting for help. It has been 48 hours now,\" she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Still, rescuers kept pulling survivors from the debris as the death toll continued to rise.</div><div><br></div><div>As criticism mounted online, Erdogan visited one of the hardest-hit spots, the quake\'s epicentre Kahramanmaras, and acknowledged problems in the response.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Of course, there are shortcomings. The conditions are clear to see. It\'s not possible to be ready for a disaster like this,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Twitter access returned on Thursday morning after the social network did not work on Turkish mobile networks for several hours Wednesday, according to AFP journalists and the NetBlocks web monitoring group.</div><div><br></div><div>Turkish officials had held talks with Twitter leaders after which deputy infrastructure minister Omer Fatih Sayan tweeted Thursday that Turkey expected the social network to cooperate more in the \"fight against disinformation\".</div><div><br></div><div>- Children saved -</div><div><br></div><div>Temperatures plunged to minus-five degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) in Gaziantep early Thursday, but the cold did not stop thousands of families from spending the night in cars and makeshift tents, too scared to stay in their homes or prohibited from returning to them.</div><div><br></div><div>Parents walked the streets of the southeastern Turkish city -- close to the epicentre of the earthquake -- carrying their children in blankets because it was warmer than sitting in a tent.</div><div><br></div><div>\"When we sit down, it is painful, and I fear for anyone who is trapped under the rubble in this,\" said Melek Halici, who wrapped her two-year-old daughter in a blanket as they watched rescuers working late into Wednesday night.</div><div><br></div><div>In Brussels, the EU is planning a donor conference in March to mobilise international aid for Syria and Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We are now racing against the clock to save lives together,\" EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter.</div><div><br></div><div>\"No one should be left alone when a tragedy like this hits a people,\" she said.</div><div><br></div><div>- \'People dying every second\' -</div><div><br></div><div>Due to the scale of the damage and the lack of help coming to certain areas, survivors said they felt alone in responding to the disaster.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Even the buildings that haven\'t collapsed were severely damaged. There are now more people under the rubble than those above it,\" Hassan, who did not provide his full name, said in his rebel-held Syrian town of Jindayris.</div><div><br></div><div>\"There are around 400-500 people trapped under each collapsed building, with only 10 people trying to pull them out. And there is no machinery,\" he added.</div><div><br></div><div>The White Helmets, leading efforts to rescue people buried under rubble in rebel-held areas of Syria, have appealed for international help in their \"race against time\".</div><div><br></div><div>They have been toiling since the quake to pull survivors out from under the debris of dozens of flattened buildings in northwestern areas of war-torn Syria that remain outside the government\'s control.</div><div><br></div><div>A leading UN official called for the facilitation of aid access to rebel-held areas in the northwest, warning that relief stocks will soon be depleted.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Put politics aside and let us do our humanitarian work,\" the UN\'s resident Syria coordinator El-Mostafa Benlamlih told AFP in an interview.</div><div><br></div><div>- Syria appeals for EU help -</div><div><br></div><div>The issue of aid to Syria is a delicate one, and the sanctioned government in Damascus made an official plea to the EU for help, the bloc\'s commissioner for crisis management Janez Lenarcic said.</div><div><br></div><div>A decade of civil war and Syrian-Russian aerial bombardment had already destroyed hospitals, collapsed the economy and prompted electricity, fuel and water shortages.</div><div><br></div><div>The European Commission is \"encouraging\" EU member countries to respond to Syria\'s request for medical supplies and food, while monitoring to ensure that any aid \"is not diverted\" by President Bashar al-Assad\'s government, Lenarcic noted.</div><div><br></div><div>Dozens of nations, including the United States, China and the Gulf States have pledged to help, and search teams as well as relief supplies have already arrived.</div><div><br></div><div>The EU was swift to dispatch rescue teams to Turkey, but it initially offered only minimal assistance to Syria because of EU sanctions imposed since 2011 on Assad\'s government over its brutal crackdown on protesters that spiralled into a civil war.</div><div><br></div><div>The Turkey-Syria border is one of the world\'s most active earthquake zones.</div><div><br></div><div>Monday\'s quake was the largest Turkey has seen since 1939, when 33,000 people died in the eastern Erzincan province.</div><div><br></div><div>In 1999, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake killed more than 17,000. - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 12:08:24', '2023-02-09 12:08:24'),
(5112, 5112, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">James Cameron doesn\'t have many regrets -- after all, he has now directed three of the four highest-grossing films of all time.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>But if he could go back and remake \"Titanic,\" the film that started his record streak 25 years ago and is being re-released in theaters Friday, there is one thing he would change.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Based on what I know today, I would have made the raft smaller, so there\'s no doubt!\" said Cameron.</div><div><br></div><div>Such is the film\'s enduring popularity, even a quarter of a century later debates and theories continue to swirl around the fate of Leonardo DiCaprio\'s lead character.</div><div><br></div><div>Fans insist Jack could have survived the icy Atlantic waters after the ocean liner sank, if only he had shared an improvised raft with Kate Winslet\'s Rose.</div><div><br></div><div>Instead, Jack gallantly gave Rose an entire wooden door to float on, condemning himself to a freezing death but ensuring she survived.</div><div><br></div><div>It is just one example of how the story of the Titanic \"never seems to end for people,\" Cameron told a press conference held for the anniversary re-release.</div><div><br></div><div>\"There have been much greater tragedies since the Titanic -- I mean, World War One, tens of millions of people died. World War Two...\"</div><div><br></div><div>\"But the Titanic has this kind of enduring, almost mythic, novelistic quality. And it has to do with, I think, love and sacrifice and mortality.</div><div>\"The men who stepped back from the lifeboats so that the women and the children could survive.\"</div><div><br></div><div>- \'Final verdict\' -</div><div><br></div><div>Cameron put Jack\'s individual sacrifice to the test in a new National Geographic documentary, running experiments featuring two stunt performers and an exact replica of the film\'s door in a cold water tank.</div><div><br></div><div>In \"Titanic: 25 Years Later with James Cameron,\" the stunt actors were fitted with internal thermometers to chart how quickly their bodies plunged toward hypothermia.</div><div><br></div><div>While the first test confirmed Jack would have died if he had acted according to the film\'s plot, a second found the pair could have both balanced on the door and kept their upper bodies out of the water.</div><div><br></div><div>\"He got into a place where if we projected that out, he just might have made it until the lifeboat got there,\" admitted Cameron.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Final verdict? Jack might have lived. But there\'s a lot of variables.\"</div><div><br></div><div>- Epic love story -</div><div><br></div><div>\"Titanic\" was first released in December 1997, and held the number one box office spot for 15 consecutive weekends.</div><div><br></div><div>While today most films earn their biggest profits on opening weekend, \"Titanic\" peaked on its eighth weekend -- Valentine\'s Day.</div><div><br></div><div>The epic love story is now being re-released ahead of this year\'s Valentine\'s Day weekend, where it will hope to add to its $2.2 billion total haul.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I\'ll grant you $100 million of our box office (was) for Leonardo DiCaprio\'s appeal to 14-year-old,\" girls, joked Cameron.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Titanic\" is currently behind only \"Avengers: Endgame\" and Cameron\'s \"Avatar,\" but is expected to soon be surpassed by \"Avatar: The Way of Water\" -- again, by Cameron -- which has made $2.18 billion and is still drawing crowds.</div><div><br></div><div>Collectively, Cameron\'s three monster hits have collected $7.25 billion -- roughly the entire annual GDP of Bermuda.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides making him an extraordinarily wealthy man, the three-hour-long \"Titanic\" has left another important if divisive legacy.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Historically before \'Titanic,\' the wisdom -- which proved not to be true -- was that a long movie can\'t make money,\" said Cameron.</div><div><br></div><div>The first \"Avatar\" ran for 162 minutes and again \"people said they wanted more,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We took that to heart and we made a three-hour-and-12-minute movie for the new \'Avatar.\'</div><div><br></div><div>\"And it\'s doing very well.\" - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'Entertainment Desk', '[\"13\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 12:43:42', '2023-02-09 12:43:42'),
(5113, 5113, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A fire broke out in a plastic factory in the capital\'s Sowari Ghat area on Thursday afternoon.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The fire started around 4:46 pm on the ground floor of a four-storey building of the factory, said Anwarul Islam, warehouse inspector of the Fire Service and Civil Defense headquarters\' media cell.</div><div><br></div><div>On information, four firefighting units reached spot and were trying to tame the blaze, added the officer.</div><div><br></div><div>The origin of the fire is yet to be known, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>No injuries or casualties were reported. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 13:00:35', '2023-02-09 13:00:35'),
(5114, 5114, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) authority has confirmed that the Decision Review System (DRS) will be implemented in the playoffs of this year\'s tournament.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Technicians who will operate the system have arrived in Dhaka, according to a BPL governing council member.</div><div><br></div><div>The DRS will be employed in three playoff matches and the final, using Hawk-Eye and UltraEdge technology to prevent controversies that arose during the league phase.</div><div><br></div><div>The DRS equipment has been installed in the production room at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, and six cameras will be used for the operation, with at least four technicians overseeing the system.</div><div><br></div><div>The BPL faced criticism for not using the DRS system in the league phase, which led to several controversies in the matches.</div><div><br></div><div>The council had previously cited a busy schedule and lack of personnel as reasons for not implementing the DRS from the start of the tournament. However, the BPL has fulfilled its promise to use the DRS system in the playoffs.</div><div><br></div><div>The absence of DRS has led the BPL authority to implement an Alternative Decision Review System (ADRS), which is not used in any major T20 leagues globally.</div><div><br></div><div>The playoffs, including an eliminator and two qualifier matches, will commence on Sunday, with the final set to occur on February 16th. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 13:05:53', '2023-02-09 13:05:53'),
(5115, 5115, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Touched by the pouring of love and assistance from Bangladeshis, Turkish Ambassador to Bangladesh Mustafa Osman Turan on Thursday said they seek no cash but “in-kind assistance” like medical and non-medical items along with winter clothes from Bangladesh.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>“We have decided not to receive cash assistance but we request everyone to deliver in-kind assistance,” he told reporters as his country needs support to cope with the magnitude of the urgent needs of people who are suffering on the ground due to harsh winter conditions in the southeastern region of Turkey struck by earthquakes.</div><div><br></div><div>Thousands who lost their homes in the catastrophic earthquake huddled around campfires and clamored for food and water in the bitter cold, three days after the temblor and series of aftershocks hit Turkey and Syria, killing more than 17,000.</div><div><br></div><div>He said many Bangladeshis would like to offer financial and in-kind assistance and noted that they are “very much touched and remain very humble” by their generosity.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>An in-kind contribution is a contribution of a good or a service other than money.</div><div><br></div><div>Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) launched a campaign to receive assistance from Bangladesh.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Ambassador Turan said Bangladeshi citizens are pouring love and support for their Turkish brothers and sisters through their messages. “We will never forget this type of solidarity.”</div><div><br></div><div>Turkish Airlines will carry the goods free of cost while the government of Bangladesh will facilitate customs clearances for quick delivery of those assistances.</div><div><br></div><div>The next one or two days will be very crucial to save more lives as his country is struggling to overcome the enormous challenges being hit by twin earthquakes and many aftershocks.</div><div><br></div><div>In a media briefing at the embassy, the ambassador expressed gratitude to the government and the people of Bangladesh for coming forward instantly after the earthquake.</div><div><br></div><div>Turan said no Bangladesh citizen has so far been affected.</div><div><br></div><div>He, however, said a former Turkish Ambassador to Bangladesh (immediate past Ambassador) who was posted in one of the affected provinces remains missing soon after the earthquake hit there.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Unfortunately, we don\'t have any information about him,\" said Turan, seeking prayers for his quick rescue.</div><div><br></div><div>The Bangladesh government sent a search and rescue team by a military aircraft last evening and declared a day of national mourning with flags lowered at half-mast on all government premises for Thursday.</div><div><br></div><div>\"This is a gesture we will not forget. There is an outpouring of support and solidarity by the people of Bangladesh on social media too,\" said the Ambassador.</div><div><br></div><div>“Very few countries declared a day for mourning,” he said, adding that many countries are now on the ground supporting his country with large teams.</div><div><br></div><div>Regarding the press visa, the envoy said visa will not be required for professional work requests received due to the earthquake in Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>Members of the press should apply to the e-mail address pressaccreditation@iletisim.gov.tr with a copy of the assignment letter, photograph and passport, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The ambassador, however, said it is very difficult to reach the affected areas and there is no hotel to stay there but the journalists can report from big cities including Ankara.</div><div><br></div><div>The president of Turkey on Wednesday acknowledged “shortcomings” in his country’s response to the world’s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade as hope dwindled that more survivors would emerge from the rubble of thousands of toppled buildings. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 13:21:08', '2023-02-09 13:21:08'),
(5116, 5116, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">India’s government-run animal welfare department has appealed to citizens to mark Valentine’s Day this year not as a celebration of romance but as \"Cow Hug Day”.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The Animal Welfare Board of India said Wednesday that “hugging cows will bring emotional richness and increase individual and collective happiness.”</div><div><br></div><div>Devout Hindus, who worship cows as holy, say the Western holiday goes against traditional Indian values.</div><div><br></div><div>In recent years, Hindu hardliners have raided shops in Indian cities, burned cards and gifts, and chased hand-holding couples out of restaurants and parks, saying that Valentine’s Day promotes promiscuity. Hardline political groups like Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal say such actions pave the way to reassert Hindu identity.</div><div><br></div><div>Young educated Indians irrespective of their religion typically spend the holiday crowding parks and restaurants, exchanging gifts and holding parties to celebrate like any other Indian festival, especially since India began the process of economic liberalization in the early 1990s.</div><div><br></div><div>The Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing a Hindu agenda, seeking supremacy of the religion at the expense of a secular nation known for its diversity.</div><div><br></div><div>Hindus comprise nearly 80% of its nearly 1.4 billion people. Muslims account for 14%, while Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains account for most of the remaining 6%.</div><div><br></div><div>The cow has long been embedded in the Hindu psyche and is deeply respected by many similar to one’s mother. Most states in India have banned cow slaughter. The animal welfare board\'s appeal asks people to go out and physically hug cows on Feb. 14.</div><div><br></div><div>Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a political analyst, said the message is \"absolutely crazy. It defies logic.\"</div><div><br></div><div>“The unfortunate part is this has now official sanction,\" he added.</div><div><br></div><div>\"This shows an eraser of one more line between the state and religion, which is very depressing. Now the state is doing what political and religious groups have been campaigning to do,” reports AP.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 13:37:02', '2023-02-09 13:37:02'),
(5117, 5117, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said on Thursady instruction will be given to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) for submitting probe report of journalist couple Sagar-Runi murder case quickly.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"We too want the mystery of this murder case to be revealed quickly,\" he told journalists after receiving a memorandum from leaders of Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) at his ministry office.</div><div><br></div><div>The DRU leaders, including its president Mursalin Nomani, general secretary Hasan Sohel, office secretary Kawser Azam, executive member Ismail Hossain Russel, senior members of the organisation Shyamal Sarker, Fasih Uddin Mahtab, Motahar Hossain, Mehedy Azad Masum and Alamgir Swapan gave the memorandum to the minister demanding speedy trial of Sagar-Runi murder case, reports BSS.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The minister said the government is also trying to reveal the mystery of the case, adding, \"I have also told the journalist leaders, if you have any information about Sagar-Runi murder, let us know, we will also look into it seriously.\"</div><div><br></div><div>\"I am sending the memorandum of DRU to the DG of RAB right now for submitting report quickly,\" he added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 13:43:01', '2023-02-09 13:43:01'),
(5118, 5118, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni today said a vested quarter is spreading propaganda over new curriculum to misguide the people of the country.</b></span><br></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>\"A section of people is resorting to falsehood over contents of textbooks to achieve their ill motive,\" she told the 10th convocation of Daffodil International University (DIU) at Ashulia, outskirts of the capital.</div><div><br></div><div>Professor Atul Koshla, Vice Chancellor of Shoolini University of Indian state of Himachal, was present as the convocation speaker.&nbsp;</div><div>Vice Chancellor of Daffodil International University Prof Dr Lutfar Rahman and Chairman of the Trustee Board of the university Dr Md Sabur Khan, among others, addressed the convocation, reports BSS</div><div><br></div><div>The education minister said the government has introduced new curriculum to improve standard of education and create skilled workforce in the country.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>She urged the people of the country to ignore any propaganda over new curriculum. \"We are working sincerely to bring a significant change in our education system to build our students as worthy citizens through providing them proper education,\" Dipu Moni added.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-09 14:07:34', '2023-02-09 14:07:34'),
(5119, 5119, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The China balloon shot down by the U.S. was equipped to detect and collect intelligence signals as part of a huge, military-linked aerial surveillance program that targeted more than 40 countries, the Biden administration declared Thursday, citing imagery from American U-2 spy planes.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A fleet of balloons operates under the direction of the People\'s Liberation Army and is used specifically for spying, outfitted with high-tech equipment designed to gather sensitive information from targets across the globe, the U.S. said. Similar balloons have sailed over five continents, according to the administration.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A statement from a senior State Department official offered the most detail to date linking China’s military to the balloon that was shot down by the U.S. last weekend over the Atlantic Ocean. The public details outlining the program\'s scope and capabilities were meant to refute China’s persistent denials that the balloon was used for spying, including a claim Thursday that U.S. accusations about the balloon amount to “information warfare.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Joe Biden defended the U.S. action.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And, asked in an interview with Spanish language Telemundo Noticias whether the balloon episode represented a major security breach, he said no.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Look, the total amount of intelligence gathering that’s going on by every country around the world is overwhelming,” he said. “Anyway, it’s not a major breach. I mean, look ... it’s a violation of international law. It’s our airspace. And once it comes into our space, we can do what we want with it.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Capitol Hill, the House voted unanimously to condemn China for a “brazen violation” of U.S. sovereignty and efforts to “deceive the international community through false claims about its intelligence collection campaigns.” Republicans have criticized Biden for not acting sooner to down the balloon, but both parties\' lawmakers came together on the vote, 419-0.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Beijing, before the U.S. offered its new information, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning repeated her nation\'s insistence that the large unmanned balloon was a civilian meteorological airship that had blown off course and that the U.S. had “overreacted” by shooting it down.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“It is irresponsible,” Mao said. The latest accusations, she said, “may be part of the U.S. side’s information warfare against China.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Underscoring the tensions, China’s defense minister refused to take a phone call from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to discuss the balloon issue on Saturday, the Pentagon said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned weekend trip to Beijing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The U.S. flatly contradicted China\'s version of events, saying that imagery of the balloon collected by American U-2 spy planes as it crossed the country showed that it was “capable of conducting signals intelligence collection” with multiple antennas and other equipment designed to upload sensitive information and solar panels to power them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jedidiah Royal, the U.S. assistant defense secretary for the Indo-Pacific, told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that the military has “some very good guesses” about what intelligence China was seeking. More information was expected to be provided in a classified setting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Senior FBI officials who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the bureau said just a few pieces of the balloon had arrived at the FBI’s Quantico, Virginia, lab for investigation. So far, investigators have parts of the balloon canopy, wiring, and what one official called “a very small amount of electronics.” The official said it was “very early for us to assess what the intent was and how the device was operating.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to two U.S. officials, the balloon recovery efforts were temporarily suspended on Thursday due to high seas. They said some balloon debris was intact on the ocean floor and divers had recovered potentially high-value equipment over the past day and a half.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another official said that some of the recovered equipment components had English writing or markings on them but it wasn\'t clear if they were American parts or from another English speaking country. The official said the more highly technical parts recovered did not have any overt markings.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Much of the debris is concentrated in two separate sections of an area 15 football fields long and 15 fields across, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the collection process.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The State Department official, providing details to reporters by email, also on condition of anonymity, said an analysis of the balloon debris was “inconsistent” with China’s explanation that it was a weather balloon that went off course. The U.S. is reaching out to countries that have also been targeted, the official said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The U.S. has confidence that the manufacturer of the balloon shot down on Saturday has “a direct relationship with China’s military and is an approved vendor of the” army, the official said, citing an official PLA procurement portal as evidence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">State Department spokesman Ned Price would not identify the other countries the U.S. says have also been targeted. Nor would he reveal how the U.S. knows there have been Chinese incursions over those countries\' territory, saying to do so could compromise intelligence sources and methods.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The release of new information appeared part of a coordinated administration response, with multiple officials appearing before congressional committees to face questions about the balloon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said officials had taken “all necessary steps to protect sensitive information” and had been able to study and scrutinize the balloon and its equipment.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We will continue to answer the dangers posed by the PRC with determination and resolve,” Sherman said, referring to the People\'s Republic of China. \"We will make clear to the PRC that violations of our sovereignty and the sovereignty of other countries are unacceptable.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At a separate Senate subcommittee hearing, lawmakers repeatedly pressed administration officials, including Pentagon military leaders, about why the balloon was not shot down over sparsely populated areas of Alaska. And they questioned whether allowing the balloon to transit such a large area set a precedent for future spying efforts by China and others.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“It defies belief that there was not a single opportunity to safely shoot this spy balloon prior to the coast of South Carolina,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. “By the administration’s logic we would allow the Chinese to fly surveillance balloons over the Pentagon or other sensitive sites and populated areas.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Melissa Dalton, assistant defense secretary of Homeland Defense, and Lt. Gen. Doug Sims, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. wanted to avoid any injuries or deaths from the debris field if the balloon was shot down over Alaska.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And they added that shooting it down over the frigid, icy waters in that region would have made it more difficult and dangerous to recover the pieces for more analysis.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We thought before we shot,” said Sims.This is not the first time the U.S. government has publicly called out alleged activities of the People’s Liberation Army. In a first-of-its-kind prosecution in 2014, the Obama administration Justice Department indicted five accused PLA hackers of breaking into the computer networks of major American corporations in an effort to steal trade secrets. 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, '2023-02-10 07:13:16', '2023-02-10 07:13:16'),
(5120, 5120, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Russian forces struck critical infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine\'s second-largest city, and launched multiple strikes on energy infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia early Friday as Moscow stepped up its attacks in Ukraine’s south and east and air raid sirens went off across much of the country.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary Anatolii Kurtiev said the city had been hit 17 times in one hour, which he said made it the most intense period of attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Kharkiv, authorities were still trying to establish information on victims and scale of the destruction, with Mayor Ihor Terekhov saying there may be disruptions to heating and the electricity and water supply.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Military analysts say Russian President Vladimir Putin is hoping that Europe’s support for Ukraine will wane, as Russia is believed to be preparing a new offensive.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fighting in Ukraine intensified Thursday. Kyiv’s military intelligence agency said Russian forces have launched an offensive in the partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with the aim to grab full control of the entire industrial region, known as the Donbas.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces there since 2014. 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, '2023-02-10 07:17:18', '2023-02-10 07:17:18'),
(5121, 5121, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka\'s air quality remained in the \"unhealthy\" zone Friday morning.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 196 at 9:15am, the capital ranked second in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 151 and 200 is considered \"unhealthy,\" 201 and 300 \"very unhealthy,\" and 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;\">India’s Delhi, Chile’s Santiago, Poland’s Krakow occupied the first, third and fourth spots in the list, with AQI scores of 206, 178 and 175, respectively.</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;\">Read more: Dhaka’s air most polluted in the world this morning</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.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person\'s chances of developing heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies. 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, '2023-02-10 07:59:49', '2023-02-10 07:59:49'),
(5122, 5122, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ghana international soccer player Christian Atsu is missing after the earthquake in Turkey, his club and agent said Thursday, following earlier reports he was rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building and taken to a hospital.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Atsu\'s well-being and whereabouts were unknown. Aydin Toksoz, the deputy head of Hatayspor soccer club, told Turkey\'s state-run Anadolu Agency news service that club sporting director Taner Savut was also missing after the massive earthquake that struck southern Turkey and Syria and has now killed more than 19,000 people, with that number expected to rise.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 31-year-old Atsu, who previously played for English clubs Chelsea and Newcastle, signed for Hatayspor late last year. The club is based in the southern city of Antakya, near the epicenter of the earthquake that struck in the early hours of Monday and devastated the region. Atsu and Savut were believed to have been in buildings that collapsed, the club had said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nana Sechere, the agent for Atsu, said in messages to The Associated Press that he traveled to Turkey to try to find Atsu but the player “is yet to be found.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hatayspor and the Ghana soccer association announced on Tuesday that Atsu was rescued from a ruined building on Monday night and taken to a medical facility for treatment.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Toksoz said Hatayspor was now \"not able to confirm this information.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We have not been able to reach Atsu or Taner Savut,” Toksoz told the Anadolu Agency.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ghana\'s ambassador to Turkey said she was also searching for Atsu. Francisca Ahsitey-Odunton told Ghanaian radio she was given a list of 200 hospitals or medical facilities that Atsu could have been sent to if he was rescued and she had also been unable to confirm where the player was.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said she hoped he was in one of those hospitals and his location hadn\'t been confirmed “in all the confusion, which is understandable under the circumstances.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Antakya is one of the cities hardest hit by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which has destroyed thousands of buildings in Turkey alone and sent more than 110,000 rescue personnel scrambling to find survivors trapped under wreckage. More than 63,000 people have been injured in Turkey.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Atsu scored late in injury time to give Hatayspor a 1-0 win over Istanblul-based Kasimpaşa S.K. in the Turkish league on Sunday, earning him praise from his new club hours before the earthquake struck. AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-10 08:02:31', '2023-02-10 08:02:31');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5123, 5123, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The death toll from the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria kept on climbing Thursday, topping 21,000 as the first UN aid reached Syrian rebel-held zones but hopes of finding more survivors faded.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The chief of the World Health Organisation said he was on his way to Syria, as bitter cold hampered the search of thousands of flattened buildings and threatened the lives of many quake victims who are without shelter and drinking water.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Relatives were left scouring body bags laid out in a hospital car park in Turkey\'s southern city of Antakya to search for missing relatives, an indication of the scale of the tragedy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We found my aunt, but not my uncle,\" said Rania Zaboubi, a Syrian refugee who lost eight members of her family.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chances of finding survivors have dimmed now that the 72-hour mark that experts consider the most likely period to save lives has passed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 7.8-magnitude quake struck early Monday as people slept, in a region where many had already suffered loss and displacement due to Syria\'s civil war.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday that he was heading to Syria.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"On my way to Syria, where WHO is supporting essential health care in the areas affected by the recent earthquake,\" Tedros tweeted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But in a potentially life-saving development, an aid convoy reached rebel-held northwestern Syria earlier in the day, the first since the quake, an official at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing told AFP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Freezing temperatures -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The crossing is the only way UN assistance can reach civilians without going through areas controlled by Syrian government forces.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A decade of civil war and Syrian-Russian aerial bombardment had already destroyed hospitals, collapsed the economy and prompted electricity, fuel and water shortages.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the Security Council to authorise the opening of new cross-border humanitarian aid points between Turkey and Syria to deliver aid.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Four million people living in rebel-held areas of northwest Syria have had to rely on the Bab al-Hawa crossing as part of a cross-border aid operation authorised by the Security Council nearly a decade ago.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"This is the moment of unity, it\'s not a moment to politicise or to divide but it is obvious that we need massive support,\" Guterres said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Temperatures in the Turkish city of Gaziantep plunged to minus five degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) early Thursday, but thousands of families spent the night in cars and makeshift tents -- too scared or banned from returning to their homes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Parents walked the streets of the city -- close to the epicentre of Monday\'s earthquake -- carrying their children in blankets because it was warmer than sitting in a tent.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gyms, mosques, schools and some stores have opened at night. But beds are still at a premium and thousands spend the nights in cars with engines running to provide heat.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I fear for anyone who is trapped under the rubble in this,\" said Melek Halici, who wrapped her two-year-old daughter in a blanket as they watched rescuers working into the night.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">International rescuers have said the intense cold has forced them to weigh whether to use their limited fuel supplies to keep warm or to carry out their work.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Racing against the clock -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Not a single person has failed to mention this, the cold,\" Athanassios Balafas, a Greek fire official, said in Athens. \"Obviously we chose to keep operating.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged on Wednesday that there were \"shortcomings\" in the government\'s handling of the disaster.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Monday\'s quake was the largest Turkey has seen since 1939, when 33,000 people died in the eastern Erzincan province.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Officials and medics said 17,674 people had died in Turkey and 3,377 in Syria from Monday\'s 7.8-magnitude tremor, bringing the confirmed total to 21,051.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Experts fear the number will continue to rise sharply.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Anger has mounted over the government\'s handling of the disaster.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"People who didn\'t die from the earthquake were left to die in the cold,\" Hakan Tanriverdi told AFP in Adiyaman province, one of the areas hardest hit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Despite the difficulties, thousands of local and foreign searchers have not given up the hunt for more survivors.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two dozen children and some of their parents from northern Cyprus -- 39 Turkish Cypriots in all -- were on a school trip to join a volleyball tournament when the quake hit their hotel in southeast Turkey\'s Adiyaman.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Their home region\'s government has declared a national mobilisation, hiring a private plane so they could join the search-and-rescue effort for the children.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ilhami Bilgen, whose brother Hasan was on the volleyball team, looked at the frightening pile of concrete slabs and heavy bricks that used to be the hotel.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"There\'s a hollow over there. The children may have crawled into it,\" Bilgen said. \"We still haven\'t given up hope.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Donor conference -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dozens of nations, including China and the United States have pledged to help.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The World Bank said it would give $1.78 billion in aid to Turkey to help relief and recovery efforts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Immediate assistance of $780 million will be offered from two existing projects in Turkey, said the bank, while an added $1 billion in operations is being prepared to support people affected amid recovery and reconstruction.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">In addition to a staggering human toll, the quake\'s economic cost appears likely to exceed $2 billion and could reach $4 billion or more, Fitch Ratings 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, '2023-02-10 08:08:08', '2023-02-10 08:08:08'),
(5124, 5124, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The number of administered Covid-19 jabs rose to three crore 75 lakh 40 thousand and 41 in Rangpur division with the inoculation of more 39,764 doses as the first, second, booster and fourth doses on Thursday.&nbsp; &nbsp;</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Among the administered 39,764 Covid-19 jabs on Thursday, 1,262 jabs were inoculated as the first, 23,389 as the second, 3,791 as the booster doses and 11,322 jabs as the fourth doses,” Divisional Director (Health) Dr. ABM Abu Hanif said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">So far, a total of 1,57,33,055 people got the first doses of Covid-19 jabs, and of them, 1,46,01,243 got the second doses, 69,37,723 got the booster doses and 2,68,020 got the fourth doses of the jabs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, the total number of Covid-19 patients remained steady at 64,955 as no fresh Covid-19 case was diagnosed after testing 16 new samples on Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The number of recovered Covid-19 patients remained steady at 63,662 as no more patients healed during the last 24 hours ending at 4 pm today in the division.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Besides, the number of casualties remained steady at 1,293 as no new death was reported from the division during the last 24 hours,” Dr. Hanif added. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh&nbsp; &nbsp;</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-10 08:12:40', '2023-02-10 08:12:40'),
(5125, 5125, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Two people were killed and&nbsp; 34 others&nbsp; were injured on the Dhaka-Khulna highway in&nbsp; Barashur&nbsp; area under&nbsp; Kashiani upazila&nbsp; of the district last night.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The deceased were identified as Bidyut Biswas,55, son of Gokul Chandra Biswas, resident&nbsp; of Bakri village, managing committee member&nbsp; of Bakri Bahumukhi Secondary School of&nbsp; Bagherpara upazila in Jashore district and Sudipta Biswas,30,&nbsp; lab assistant of the school.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Officer-in-charge- (OC) of Bhatiapara Highway Police Station, said that on Thursday morning, the&nbsp; students, teachers, school management committee members and staff went for a picnic at the mausoleum of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Tungipara, Gopalganj by 3 buses.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;After visiting various places in Gopalganj, on their way back in the night, one of the buses overturned and hit a roadside tree while trying to overtake another bus in the area around&nbsp; 8pm, leaving 36&nbsp; people seriously injured, the OC said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later,&nbsp; the injured were taken to&nbsp; Kashiani&nbsp; 100-bed Hospital&nbsp; where Bidyut Biswas succumbed to his injuries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 20 serious injured people were sent to Jashore Hospital for better treatment and Sudipta Biswas died while undergoing treatment there, the OC 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, '2023-02-10 09:27:32', '2023-02-10 09:27:32'),
(5126, 5126, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh and Botswana have signed an agreement on visa exemption for holders of diplomatic and official passports and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on bilateral political consultations.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam had bilateral talks with his Botswana counterpart Lemogang Kwape in Gaborone Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The state minister is on a two-day visit to Botswana, marking the first official bilateral visit from the foreign ministry.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Bangladesh high commissioner accredited to Botswana and officials of the foreign ministry were also present at the meeting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Botswana foreign minister called Shahriar\'s visit symbolic of the mutual desire to strengthen the relations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Botswana and Bangladesh may share experience in economic areas and identify concrete areas of cooperation, Lemogang said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Both sides are cooperating at international platforms like the UN and Commonwealth and supporting each other at the bodies, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lemogang also expressed a desire to visit Bangladesh soon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shahriar reaffirmed Bangladesh\'s keen interest to develop relations with Botswana.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He described Bangladesh\'s achievements in climate adaptation, mitigation, women empowerment and MDGs areas as well as its sustained efforts to achieve the targets of SDGs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Referring to the excellent bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Botswana at bilateral and multilateral levels, he sought the support of the country\'s government at the UN elections where Bangladesh has floated candidature.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh would be happy to share its knowledge with Botswana in the agriculture and textile sectors where it has a comparative advantage, Shahriar said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Both sides may forge cooperation in food safety and food security, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He proposed setting up contract farming in Botswana for the mutual benefit of the two countries as Botswana has plenty of uncultivated lands.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Both sides agreed to celebrate 50 years of their diplomatic relations by organising different programmes in Gaborone and Dhaka. 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, '2023-02-10 09:34:30', '2023-02-10 09:34:30'),
(5127, 5127, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Bangladesh and Vietnam will keep moving side by side towards realising their visions to become upper-middle-income countries by 2030 and developed nations in the early 2040s, living up to the dreams of President Ho Chi Minh and Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, said the Vietnam Embassy in Dhaka.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Vietnamese Ambassador to Bangladesh Pham Viet Chien and the embassy staff will visit and lay floral wreaths at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi 32 on Saturday morning to pay tribute to Bangladesh\'s Father of the Nation, who is the architect of setting up the diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The programme marking the golden jubilee of Bangladesh-Vietnam diplomatic relations will also see the participation of representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On 11 February 1973, Vietnam and Bangladesh established diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level, ushering in an era of excellent traditional friendship between the countries based on historical similarities and shared values of independence, peace, cooperation and development, said the Embassy of Vietnam.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The trade volume approached $1.5 billion in 2022, recording an impressive 75-fold growth in the last 20 years and a four-fold increase in the last 10 years (nearly $20 million in 2002 and $350 million in 2012).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, the story of solidarity and companionship between the two friendly countries had even begun much earlier.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Right after Bangladesh gained independence in March 1971, Vietnam was one of the first nations to recognise it.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Similarly, Bangladeshi people and leaders, especially Bangabandhu expressed strong support for the Vietnamese people\'s struggle for national freedom, independence and reunification of the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Over the past 50 years, relations between the two countries have been consolidated and strengthened gradually, especially through exchanges of high-level visits, such as Bangladesh visits of President Tran Dai Quang in 2018, President Tran Duc Luong in 2004, Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet in 1997, and Consultative Council of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam Chairman of Nguyễn Hữu Thọ in 1974.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And Bangladesh President Md Abdul Hamid visited Vietnam in 2015, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2012, and Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in 2017.]</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During these visits, a good number of bilateral agreements were signed and cooperation mechanisms were established, which have given significant impetus to further bolster the bilateral cooperation to be more substantive and effective. 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, '2023-02-10 10:26:56', '2023-02-10 10:26:56'),
(5128, 5128, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Aspirants for the Presidential election will have to submit their nomination papers to Election Commission (EC) on Sunday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"According to the polls schedule, the nomination papers can be submitted to the Chief Election Commission (CEC) office till 4 pm on February 12 (Sunday),\" EC Secretariat Secretary Md Jahangir Alam told BSS.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on February 13 from 10 am, while nomination papers could be withdrawn till 4 pm on February 14.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On February 19, the 22nd Presidential election will be held from 2 pm to 5 pm in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) complex.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The President may hold office for five years from the date of assumption of office.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Incumbent President Abdul Hamid assumed office on April 24, 2018. Accordingly, his five-year tenure will end on April 23, 2023.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the country\'s Constitution, members of parliament are voters in the Presidential election.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Awami League has the absolute majority in the current parliament.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In that case, there is no possibility of any party other than the Awami League to give a candidate to the presidential polls.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">If there is one candidate for the presidency, the election will not require a meeting or voting in parliament. 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, '2023-02-10 10:39:32', '2023-02-10 10:39:32'),
(5129, 5129, '<p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>An 11-year-old student died after being hit allegedly by the car of a teacher of Islamic University in Kushtia on Thursday night.</b></span><br></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The deceased Umme Rukaiya, daughter of Monohar Hossain, a resident of the village in the upazila, was a Class V student of Srirampur Government Primary School.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Quoting local people, Shailkupa police station officer-in-charge Aminul Islam said that the accident took place on Kushtia-Jhenaidah Highway at noon as a speeding car of IU political science department chairperson Assistant Professor Sherina Khatun hit Rukaiya while she (Rukaiya) was returning home from school, leaving her seriously injured on the spot.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Later, local people rescued the injured and took her to Kushtia General Hospital for treatment where the attending doctors referred her to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital for better treatment.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Rukaiya succumbed to her injuries on the way to the hospital in the night, the police official said.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">An unnatural death case was lodged with Shailkupa police station in this connection, the OC added.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Sherina Khatun could not be reached over phone despite repeated attempts for her comment in this regard. She was in the car when the accident occurred.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Rukaiya, however, was buried at her family graveyard at Modondanga village in the upazila on Friday morning. UNB</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</p>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-10 11:21:22', '2023-02-10 11:21:22'),
(5130, 5130, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The members of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in several anti-drug raids arrested a total of 52 people on charges of selling and consuming drugs during last 24 hours till 6 am today.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to a release issued by the DMP, police conducted the operations against the drug sellers and consumers in different areas under various police stations of the metropolis. They also detained a total of 52 drug traffickers and recovered huge drugs from their possessions from 6 am of February 9 to 6 am today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the anti-drug drives, police seized 9.300 kilograms of cannabis (ganja), 400.1 grams of and 50 puria (small packets) heroin, 3,513 pieces of contra banned yaba tablets and 122 bottles of phensidyle syrup from their possessions, it said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police filed 42 cases against the arrestees in these connections with respective police stations under the Narcotics Control Act.&nbsp; 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, '2023-02-10 11:35:08', '2023-02-10 11:35:08'),
(5131, 5131, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Russia will slash its crude oil output by five percent next month, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced Friday, in response to a price cap imposed by Western countries.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Russia will voluntarily reduce production by 500,000 barrels per day in March. This will help restore market relations,\" Novak said, according to Russian news agencies, adding that the decision was taken by Moscow unilaterally. 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, '2023-02-10 12:11:41', '2023-02-10 12:11:41'),
(5132, 5132, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Three more people were hospitalised with dengue in the 24 hours to Friday morning.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The new patients were admitted to hospitals in Dhaka, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thirty-six dengue patients, including 16 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">So far, the DGHS has recorded 631 dengue cases, 587 recoveries, and eight deaths this year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">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. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"6\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-10 12:38:44', '2023-02-10 12:38:44'),
(5133, 5133, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader today said the ruling party never wants conflict with BNP but it wants competition with that party.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"BNP has made democracy hostage. Those who make democracy hostage at home, how will they establish democracy in the country? From the beginning, we wanted competition with BNP, not confrontation,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"There is no way to change the government without elections,\" Quader told a joint meeting of AL organised at the party\'s central office at Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The joint meeting was arranged with the central AL leaders and the presidents and general secretaries of the AL North and North city units and AL\'s affiliated organisations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said form the beginning, the AL has been considering the BNP as a political opponent and seeking relations of competition with the party.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But, he said, the BNP always think that the Awami League is its enemy and that is why it is showing enmity to the AL. \"The obvious ally of this enmity is conspiracy.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">About the BNP\'s movement, the AL general secretary said the BNP has been staying in the political field for the last one year but the AL is holding peace rallies in concern of terrorism.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"When the BNP will wage a movement, we (AL) will hold peace rallies. They (BNP) will hold a rally at Nayapalton, we will hold a rally at Uttara. On December 10 last, they held a rally in the capital and we held a rally at Savar,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Informing that the next general elections will be held in December this year, Quader said once the elections approach, various rumours and propaganda spread.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Today, we started a clear journey towards polls. Our party is taking preparations for elections,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">If the Awami League announces any programme, some media outlets reflect the tune of BNP, he said, adding that the AL is not holding counter-meetings and rallies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"They (BNP) have been holding road march and rallies in the name of movement and we are holding peace rallies,\" Quader said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">AL presidium member Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Bir Bikram, Quamrul Islam and Dr Mustafa Jalal Mohiuddin, joint general secretary and Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, joint general secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, organising secretaries Ahmed Hossain, SM Kamal Hossain, Mirza Azam, Afzal Hossain and Sujit Roy Nandi, information and research secretary Dr Selim Mahmud, office secretary Barrister Biplab Barua, relief and social welfare affairs secretary Aminul Islam Amin, agriculture and cooperatives affairs Faridunnahar Laily, education and human resource affairs secretary Shamsun Nahar Chapa, deputy publicity and publication secretary Syed Abdul Awal Shamim, deputy office secretary Sayem Khan and executive members Shahabuddin Faraji and Sanjida Khanam were, among others, present at the meeting. 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, '2023-02-10 13:10:05', '2023-02-10 13:10:05'),
(5134, 5134, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Counselor of the US Department of State Derek Chollet has said they see \"huge potential\" in their relationship with Bangladesh and there is a lot of \"room to grow.\"</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are keen to follow up on that – it is a remarkable journey - 51 years. We are interested in deepening the ties,\" he said ahead of his planned visit to Bangladesh on February 14.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Talking at the television talk show \"Tritiyo Matra\" online, the US Counselor said he is coming to talk to senior officials and private sectors in Bangladesh to discuss ways to deepen the ongoing cooperation between the two countries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mentioning that the US places democracy and human rights at the heart of their foreign policy, Chollet said Bangladesh is such a good long-standing friend and they have \"very frank exchanges\" about the concerns they have.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The US counselor said they acknowledge that no democracy is perfect but they always try to make themselves better and try to acknowledge their mistakes and improve.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said when they talk about freedom of press, free and fair elections or the ability of civil society to organize and express their views freely, they do so freely in the \"spirit of partnership and friendship.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We look forward to continue working closely with the government of Bangladesh,\" Chollet said, adding that being a strong democracy is vital for a country to be successful.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said democracy is learning from one another and they look forward to continue working with Bangladesh as they to try to make their democracies stronger.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">About the next national election in Bangladesh, Chollet said they say the same to any of their democratic friends that they would want any election will be free and fair.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He appreciated peaceful rrallies held last year in Bangladesh and said that is a good thing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The issues related to the Rohingya crisis and overall security in the Indo-Pacific region are likely to get priority during his visit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are deeply concerned about the situation in Myanmar which is only getting worse,\" said Chollet.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The US want solution to the Rohingya crisis and solution lies in Myanmar but instability is growing inside Myanmar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The US Counselor said they are doing whatever they can in cooperation with Bangladesh and to try to ease the pressure on the country from the refugee crisis by providing critical assistance to it to support its humanitarian needs, also with efforts to try to bring some of the refugees back to the US.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The vibrancy of Bangladesh economy encourages the US to have a \"deeper cooperation\" with Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The US counselor will try to realize their common interest – economic ties, diplomatically and will explore what they can do to improve their security relations further and work together for addressing shared challenges – regionally, in Myanmar and globally like climate change.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There are \"whole host of issues\" that the two countries can work together, said the US Counselor.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Highlighting the importance of cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, Chollet said Bangladesh is an important partner and that is why they have seen such a steady stream of high-level visitors.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Indo-Pacific Strategy of the US outlines President Biden\'s vision to more firmly anchor the country in the Indo-Pacific and strengthen the region in the process. Its central focus is a sustained and creative collaboration with allies, partners, and institutions, within the region and beyond it.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The forthcoming visit of US counselor Chollet will help strengthen Bangladesh-US relations, said a spokesperson Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Counselor Derek Chollet will be visiting Bangladesh. The purpose of his visit is to strengthen the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and the United States,\" Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Seheli Sabrin told reporters in the afternoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The US counselor serves at the rank of under secretary as a senior policy advisor to the US secretary of state on a wide range of issues and conducts special diplomatic assignments as directed by the secretary.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sabrin said Chollet will also discuss the Rohingya issue and see the situation on the ground. Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas in Cox\'s Bazar and Bhasan Char.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The programmes are yet to be finalised,\" said the spokesperson about Chollet\'s planned February 14-15 visit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chollet previously held positions at the state department, the White House, and the Department of Defence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">From 2012-2015, he was the US assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs, where he managed US defence policy towards Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Before joining the Pentagon, Chollet served at the White House as special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning on the National Security Council (NSC) staff.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">From 2009 to 2011, he was the principal deputy director of the state department\'s policy planning staff.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He served on the 2020 Biden-Harris State Department transition team as well as the 2008 Obama-Biden NSC transition team. 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, '2023-02-10 13:16:52', '2023-02-10 13:16:52'),
(5135, 5135, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">BNP senior leader Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Friday said the ruling Awami League seems to be behaving like an opposition party as it is taking to the streets with counter-political programmes.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking at a rally, he also warned that the Awami League will fail to stop the ongoing movement for the restoration of democracy with the counter programmes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“They (Awami League) seem to have become the opposition party. If you look at their role, it seems that the Awami League is not the ruling party, but the opposition party,” Khosru said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When BNP announces peaceful programmes, he said Awami League also comes up with counter ones, including “peace rallies”.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We would like to say that BNP\'s peaceful programmes can’t be obstructed.&nbsp; Lakhs of people have taken to the streets and it has been proved that mass waves can’t be stopped by shooting, killing and implicating opposition leaders and activists in false and ghost cases.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Textile Engineers Association of Bangladesh organized the rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club to press home BNP’s 10-point demand, including the resignation of the government and holding the next polls under a non-party administration, and to protest the hikes in the prices of all essential items and utility services.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Referring to Awami League\'s peace rally countering the opposition’s programmes, Khosru questioned whether the government has disbanded the enforcement agencies as the ruling party leaders and activists are taking to the streets to ensure peace.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said the Awami League’s political weakness has reached such a level that it now cannot attract people with distinctive political programmes. “So, they’re trying to obstruct BNP’s programmes.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;“We would like to say that you are now known as a laughingstock to people, no matter how much you give counter programmes, hold peace rallies and how much you talk about protecting people\'s assets. The people of the country laugh at your programmes,” the BNP leader observed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said Awami League is now taking the shelter of police, RAB, BGB and the court after getting completely politically defeated.&nbsp; “You have been defeated politically also by taking a stand against the people.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The BNP leader alleged that the ruling party leaders and activists have been siphoning off huge amounts of money by indulging in corruption and plundering.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Those who are plundering the country’s resources and siphoning off money abroad must be accountable to people in the future, and they must return the money to the country,” he said. 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, '2023-02-10 13:47:52', '2023-02-10 13:47:52'),
(5136, 5136, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The apartments they once industriously spent so long saving up for, decorating and making comfortable now lie in a heap of rubble after a violent quake hit Turkey.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>New and old buildings, some constructed only six months ago, fell apart. Others flattened like concrete pancakes.</div><div><br></div><div>The full extent of the damage is unknown from Monday\'s 7.8-magnitude tremor and ceaseless aftershocks, which unleashed catastrophe in Turkey and Syria, killing more than 23,000 people.</div><div><br></div><div>Turkey\'s death toll rises every day. In parallel, so has fury over why, in a country with multiple fault lines and a history of major jolts, building quality is so poor that buildings fall apart like paper.</div><div><br></div><div>Experts say Turkey has the regulations in place to prevent such a catastrophe. But they are only applied loosely by construction companies, the largest of which are often close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.</div><div><br></div><div>Officials say 12,141 buildings were either destroyed or seriously damaged in Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>Since the first quake was so huge, \"damage was to be expected, but not the type of damage that you are seeing now\", said Mustafa Erdik, a professor at Istanbul-based Bogazici University.</div><div><br></div><div>Even if a building topples, people can usually hide until searchers can rescue them, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>But this time, he added, buildings suffered \"a pancake collapse\".</div><div>\"The floors are piling on top of each other,\" Erdik, also part of the Turkish Earthquake Foundation said, which means the chances of being found alive are slim.</div><div><br></div><div>- Poor quality cement -</div><div><br></div><div>So why did the buildings topple?</div><div><br></div><div>The causes are usually linked to the poor quality of the concrete, which sometimes is mixed with too much water and gravel, and too little concrete, according to Zihni Tekin, a consultant at Istanbul Technical University.</div><div><br></div><div>Other reasons include steel rods that are too thin to support the columns, which limit the building\'s strength, the engineer said.</div><div><br></div><div>But Tekin also blamed engineers and architects\' low quality of education, despite private universities appearing across Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>Turkish officials have also gambled by easing regulations.</div><div><br></div><div>Turkey\'s rules on construction, based on California\'s, have been regularly revised since a 1999 tremor in northwestern Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>The last revision came in 2018.</div><div><br></div><div>\"On paper, standards are respected, with contracts entrusted to private companies in charge of checking them,\" Istanbul architect Aykut Koksal said.</div><div><br></div><div>But oversight of these agreements is lax, he added, giving builders greater leeway in following -- or not -- the rules.</div><div><br></div><div>- Fury over negligence, greed -</div><div><br></div><div>Heavy bureaucratic procedures also end up diluting who is responsible if or when something goes wrong, Erdik said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The steps and signatories are so many that at the end, it is difficult to identify who is responsible.\"</div><div><br></div><div>To fix this issue, he recommends imposing an insurance on all actors against malpractice that guarantees victims compensation by guilty contractors.</div><div><br></div><div>\"That\'s how it is elsewhere in the world and it should be in Turkey,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The clear negligence and greed shown by some contractors has sparked fury, especially after luxury flats built within the last 20 years crumbled like a pack of cards.</div><div><br></div><div>Many hope this quake will finally lead to better monitoring.</div><div><br></div><div>The first legal complaint was made on Friday in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir and others have followed.</div><div><br></div><div>- Erdogan\'s vow to rebuild -</div><div><br></div><div>What has particularly raised hackles is the importance Erdogan has placed on construction since his Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002.</div><div><br></div><div>The boom in construction powered the substantial economic growth under Erdogan in the early years of his rule.</div><div><br></div><div>Official figures show the number of companies operating in the real estate sector increased by 43 percent in 10 years, reaching 127,000 before the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.</div><div><br></div><div>With Erdogan promising to rebuild the affected area within a year, the real estate frenzy is not likely to slow down.</div><div><br></div><div>Many speculate on the risk posed by high-rise buildings in Istanbul, which is anticipating its own passive jolt.</div><div><br></div><div>But for Erdik, the main concern is the \"buildings with six, seven and eight floors built by small companies or even the families themselves\".</div><div><br></div><div>He is not the only one fearful of lax building safety.</div><div><br></div><div>Since Monday, he has received never-ending calls from developers asking him to urgently assess their towers.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 08:35:04', '2023-02-11 08:35:04');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5137, 5137, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The price of chicken (meat) breached the Rs700 mark on Thursday as one kilogram of the poultry meat was sold between Rs700 to Rs705 at different retails shops making it the highest price of the commodity in the twin cities.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, poultry farmers claim that over 50 per cent of farms have been closed therefore people were not only facing the worst shortage of chicken but also high prices. People belonging to different walks of life strongly protested against ever-increasing chi­cken prices and demanded of the government to control it immediately.</div><div><br></div><div>According to the farmers, if the feed crisis persists, then chicken farming might completely stop very soon, which would result in a further rise in the price. The broiler feed mills across the country have been shut down due to the authorities\' refusal to clear the imported genetically modified soybean, which is a basic ingredient of chicken feed. The wholesale dealers told ‘The News’ that if government does not consider this issue and resolve it, people will get one-kilogram chicken meat at Rs1000 soon. Government should take up this issue to provide chicken meat at cheaper prices, the wholesale dealers warned.</div><div><br></div><div>‘The News’ conducted a survey that chicken meat is very costly here in Rawalpindi and Islamabad than in all other cities. The chicken meat is selling at Rs575 per kilogram in Lahore while in Gujranwala it is selling at Rs580.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The poultry farmers claim that feed is not available even for egg-laying layer chicken, which is making it difficult to meet the demand for eggs in winter. Due to this, the price of eggs is also going up and there are fears that supplies to the market might also be stopped in the near future. Citizens have demanded of the government to resolve the poultry crisis to ensure the availability of poultry products to the public at affordable prices. Source: thenews.com.pk</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 09:21:11', '2023-02-11 09:21:11'),
(5138, 5138, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">You know him as a cute, cuddly bear, but Winnie the Pooh is about to receive a terrifying makeover as the knife-wielding villain of a blood-drenched new slasher film -- no joke.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Pooh\'s shocking reinvention -- which hits US theaters next Wednesday and has already provoked death threats from enraged fans -- could break box office records and test the limits of intellectual property law.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Look, this is mental,\" said Rhys Frake-Waterfield, the 31-year-old director of \"Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.\"</div><div><br></div><div>\"I\'ve had petitions to stop it. I\'ve had death threats. I\'ve had people saying they called the police,\" he told AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>While Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore\'s family-friendly big-screen adventures have been licensed to Disney for decades, the copyright on the first A.A. Milne books recently expired -- and Frake-Waterfield\'s tiny British indie studio pounced on the opportunity.</div><div><br></div><div>The first images of \"Blood and Honey,\" in which a sinister, human-sized Pooh and Piglet hovered menacingly behind a young woman relaxing in a hot tub, quickly went viral last year.</div><div><br></div><div>Now the live-action film -- made on a shoestring budget of less than $250,000 -- is set for a major global theatrical release.</div><div><br></div><div>It is already out in Mexico, where it has made nearly $1 million in two weeks, and some industry analysts are tipping it to become one of the most profitable films of all time.</div><div><br></div><div>Frake-Waterfield originally hoped his film \"might do a mini theatrical run in certain areas.\"</div><div><br></div><div>He now believes it could achieve the highest \"budget-to-box office ratio\" since \"Paranormal Activity,\" the $15,000 film that launched a near $1 billion franchise over a decade ago.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I really believed in the idea. Other people didn\'t... and now it\'s doing all right,\" he joked.</div><div><br></div><div>- \'Un-family friendly\' -</div><div><br></div><div>Under US law, copyrights expire 95 years after a work is first published. The first \"Winnie-the-Pooh\" book came out in 1926.</div><div><br></div><div>However, there are caveats, especially when a character evolves over time.</div><div><br></div><div>Distinctive traits that were added to Pooh in later books or Disney films, such as his red shirt or fondness for playing the game Poohsticks, have not yet entered the public domain.</div><div><br></div><div>Similarly, Pooh\'s friend Tigger did not appear until later books, and so could not appear in \"Blood and Honey.\"</div><div><br></div><div>And then there is the issue of trademark.</div><div><br></div><div>Copyrights prevent the unlicensed copying of the creative work itself, for example books, films and characters. They expire after a set time.</div><div><br></div><div>Trademarks guard the source of a work, preventing anyone else from making a product that could mislead consumers into thinking it came from the original author. They can be renewed indefinitely.</div><div><br></div><div>\"You can\'t suggest that somehow it\'s sponsored by or affiliated or associated with Disney in any way, because Disney still does have robust trademark protection,\" said copyright lawyer Aaron J. Moss.</div><div><br></div><div>In this instance, the absurdity of making a Pooh horror movie helps the film\'s producers.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Simply because it is so un-family friendly, and isn\'t anything that (viewers) would expect Disney to have anything to do with, that would make any potential trademark claim much more difficult to assert,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Frake-Waterfield said there was never any desire to skirt as close to Disney\'s Pooh as legally possible.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It\'s literally the opposite. I want to go as far away from them as possible,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I want Winnie the Pooh to be big and menacing and scary and intimidating and horrifying. I don\'t want him to be small and cuddly and cute.\"</div><div><br></div><div>- \'Million\' dollar offer -</div><div><br></div><div>In the film, Pooh and Piglet have been left infuriated, abandoned and feral by the departure of Christopher Robin -- now a young adult -- and go on a murderous rampage.</div><div><br></div><div>An AFP reporter at a screening in Mexico City this week said many audience members appeared to be leaving the theater disappointed, with Jonathan Ortiz, 32, describing the film as \"very bad.\"</div><div><br></div><div>But neither the plot nor critical response are likely to matter much.</div><div><br></div><div>Hype around the movie is so substantial that Frake-Waterfield is already preparing a sequel -- as well as horror movies based on \"Bambi\" and \"Peter Pan\" books.</div><div><br></div><div>\"One person literally yesterday was like, \'Do you want a million to make a film? Just tell me the concept and we will just go ahead with it,\'\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"That\'s really hard to get. It\'s hard to get funding for any film, but people are starting to really try and engage.\" - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'Entertainment Desk', '[\"13\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 10:33:07', '2023-02-11 10:33:07'),
(5139, 5139, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Moderate to thick fog may occur at places over the river basins and the southern part and light to moderate fog elsewhere across the country from late night till Sunday morning.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Weather may remain dry with temporary partly cloudy skies over the country, according to Bangladesh Meteorological Department’s (BMD) bulletin.</div><div><br></div><div>Night and day temperatures may rise slightly.</div><div><br></div><div>The lowest temperature in the country was recorded at 12.2 degrees Celsius in Srimangal in 24 hours till 6 am today. The highest temperature was recorded at 31 degrees Celsius in Sitakunda during this time.</div><div><br></div><div>Trough of low lies over India’s Bihar state and adjoining areas. Seasonal low lies over the South Bay. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 10:41:15', '2023-02-11 10:41:15'),
(5140, 5140, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Peruvian authorities on Friday said the death toll from devastating mudslides in the country\'s south has climbed to 17, including three children.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The landslides, which occurred last Sunday, have additionally left 27 people injured and 20 missing, according to data from Peru\'s National Institute of Civil Defense (INDECI).</div><div><br></div><div>They followed heavy rains in Peru\'s Arequipa region, where homes, roads, schools and a medical center were destroyed in Camana province.</div><div><br></div><div>The area is home to numerous artisanal mines, and officials fear some people may have been trapped in makeshift mines, reports AFP</div><div><br></div><div>The children who died ranged in age from one to 10 years old, officials said.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 11:06:14', '2023-02-11 11:06:14'),
(5141, 5141, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Twelve BNP activists were injured in a clash between police and BNP during their ongoing union-level march at Panchrukhi in Araihazar upazila of Narayanganj district on Saturday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Lutfur Rahman, former joint secretary of district unit BNP, said they brought out a procession as part of their scheduled march programme at union level around 10 am.</div><div><br></div><div>When the procession reached Panchrukhi, police obstructed them, leading to a chase and counter-chase.</div><div><br></div><div>Police also lobbed tear gas shells and charged baton to disperse them, leaving 12 people injured.</div><div><br></div><div>The injured were given first aid.</div><div><br></div><div>The leaders and activists of main opposition BNP and its associate bodies have started march in all the unions across the country to press home their 10-point demand - most importantly, to hold the next general election under a non-party caretaker government.</div><div><br></div><div>On February 4, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the march programme at the union level from a rally in front of the party’s Nayapaltan central office. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 11:08:33', '2023-02-11 11:08:33'),
(5142, 5142, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The union-level march programme of BNP is underway in all the unions across the country to press home their 10-point demand including holding&nbsp; the next general election under a non-party caretaker government.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies have alleged that they police and the Awami League activists have been obstructing them while holding the programme.</div><div><br></div><div>UNB correspondents in Narayanganj, Sirajganj, Natore, Narshingdi reported that over 40 BNP leaders and activists were injured in clashes with police and AL men and the party activists faced obstruction in different places.</div><div><br></div><div>Twelve&nbsp; motorbikes were vandalised and three others torched during a clash between BNP and AL men in Sirajganj.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, Ganatantra Mancha, Ganatantrik Bam Oikya, the 12-Party Alliance, Samamona Jote, LDP, Gonoforum, and People’s Party, are observing a similar programme in the different areas of the capital as part of their simultaneous movement.</div><div><br></div><div>Ganatantra Mancha is observing the programme at the divisional and district levels.</div><div><br></div><div>BNP senior leaders said their programme will be observed only at the union level as part of the party’s move to involve people from the grassroots in their ongoing anti-government movement.</div><div><br></div><div>On February 4, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the march programme at the union level from a rally in front of the party’s Nayapaltan central office.</div><div><br></div><div>“Our program this time will be at the union level. We’ll march at the union level across the country on February 11 (Saturday), as part of the simultaneous movement to protest against the increase in prices of daily necessities, including gas electricity, rice and lentils and for the restoration of democracy, the resignation of the government and implementation of our 10-point demand,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Talking to UNB on Friday, BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said the main goal of their march programme at all unions is to spread the ongoing movement at the grassroots level.</div><div><br></div><div>“Our movement will get a new dimension through our march programme at the union level,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>It was the fifth program of the simultaneous movement after the mass processions on December 24 and 30, sit-in on January 11 and rallies, processions on January 16 and rallies on January 25 and February 4. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 11:33:59', '2023-02-11 11:33:59'),
(5143, 5143, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday urged the international community to work to address the barriers in mindset and learning environment to allow more women and girls to excel in science.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“It is unfortunate that women represent only 12% of scientists and 30% of researchers globally. We must work to address the barriers in mindsets and learning environments to allow more women and girls to excel in science,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier said this in a video statement screened at the 8th International Day of Women and Girls in Science Assembly, held in the United Nations Headquarters, New York, USA.</div><div><br></div><div>“Today, we celebrate the women and girls who are making important contributions to the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Hasina urged the women and girls to act as the agents of change themselves. “The women and girls in science and technology must remember that they are not alone. The steps they take would help open the door further for their sisters around the world,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She focused on her government’s steps for development of women in Bangladesh.</div><div><br></div><div>Turning to Bangladesh, the PM said, “I have made it a priority to have our women and girls lead in every sphere. Our women are doing very well in the field of research and higher education.”</div><div><br></div><div>She said scholarships are being given to girls to carry out research in agriculture, industry, health, science, art, information technology - all fields in Bangladesh.</div><div><br></div><div>To encourage girls, 5,275 digital centres have been established across Bangladesh from where one girl and one boy entrepreneur are providing 200 types of services, she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier said her government has established Science and Technology Universities across the country to give boys and girls easy access. Hi-tech Parks have created an inclusive environment where our girls can thrive alongside boys in the country, she added.</div><div><br></div><div>Hasina wished to see women and girls fulfill their potentials for innovation and creativity in science. “We must bridge the gaps in opportunities available for them in developed and developing countries. We want our girls to have their full share in building smart, knowledge-based societies,” she went on.</div><div><br></div><div>The PM congratulated all the women and girls on this International Day of Women and Girls in Science.</div><div><br></div><div>The 8th International Day of Women and Girls in Science Assembly was held aiming to bridge between the international community and women in science through linking their knowledge and expertise and its applications in a systematic, critical way for the 2030 agenda and its 17 global goals.</div><div><br></div><div>The Royal Academy of Science International Trust (RASIT), and co-organizing Member States celebrated the International Day of Women and Girls in Science in the UN Headquarters.</div><div><br></div><div>The theme of the assembly is “Innovate. Demonstrate. Elevate. Advance. (I.D.E.A.) to bring communities forward for sustainable and equitable development.” Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 11:42:59', '2023-02-11 11:42:59'),
(5144, 5144, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Six relatives huddled in a small air pocket, day after day. A desperate teenager grew so thirsty that he drank his own urine. Two frightened sisters were comforted by a pop song as they waited for rescuers to free them.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>These earthquake survivors were among more than a dozen people pulled out of the rubble alive Friday after spending over four days trapped in frigid darkness following the disaster that struck Turkey and Syria.</div><div><br></div><div>The unlikely rescues, coming so long after Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake brought down thousands of buildings, offered fleeting moments of joy amid a catastrophe that has killed nearly 24,000 people, injured at least 80,000 others and left millions homeless.</div><div><br></div><div>In the Mediterranean coastal city of Iskenderun, a crowd chanted “God is great!” as Haci Murat Kilinc and his wife, Raziye, were carried on stretchers to a waiting ambulance.</div><div><br></div><div>“You’ve been working so many hours, God bless you!” a relative of the couple told one of their saviors.</div><div><br></div><div>One rescue worker said that Kilinc had been joking with crew members while still trapped beneath the rubble, trying to boost their morale.</div><div><br></div><div>Two hours earlier in Kahramanmaras, the city closest to the epicenter, rescuers embraced and chanted their thanks to God after pulling a man from his collapsed home.</div><div><br></div><div>In Adiyaman, a hard-hit city of more than a quarter-million people, rescuers and onlookers suppressed their joy so as not to frighten 4-year-old Yagiz Komsu as he emerged from the debris, according the HaberTurk television, which broadcast the rescue live.</div><div><br></div><div>To distract him, he was given a jelly bean. Teams later rescued his 27-year-old mother, Ayfer Komsu, who had a broken rib.</div><div><br></div><div>But the flurry of dramatic rescues could not obscure the devastation spread across a sprawling border region that is home to more than 13.5 million people. Entire neighborhoods of high-rises have been reduced to rubble, and the quake has already killed more people than Japan’s Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, with many more bodies yet to be recovered and counted.</div><div><br></div><div>Relatives wept and chanted as rescuers pulled 17-year-old Adnan Muhammed Korkut from a basement in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the quake’s epicenter. He had been trapped for 94 hours, forced to drink his own urine to survive.</div><div><br></div><div>“Thank God you arrived,” he said, embracing his mother and others who leaned down to kiss and hug him as he was being loaded into an ambulance.</div><div><br></div><div>For one of the rescuers, identified only as Yasemin, Adnan’s survival hit home hard.</div><div><br></div><div>“I have a son just like you,” she told him after giving him a warm hug. “I swear to you, I have not slept for four days. … I was trying to get you out.”</div><div><br></div><div>Elsewhere, HaberTurk television said rescuers had identified nine people trapped inside the remains of a high-rise apartment block in Iskenderun and pulled out six of them, including a woman who waved at onlookers as she was being carried away on a stretcher. The crowd shouted “God is great!” after she was brought out.</div><div><br></div><div>The building was only 600 feet (200 meters) from the Mediterranean Sea and narrowly avoided being flooded when the massive earthquake sent water surging into the city center.</div><div><br></div><div>Video of another rescue effort in Kahramanmaras showed an emergency worker playing a pop song on his smartphone to distract the two teenage sisters as they waited to be freed.</div><div><br></div><div>There were still more stories: A German team said it worked for more than 50 hours to free a woman from a collapsed house in Kirikhan.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>And a trapped woman could be heard speaking to a team trying to dig her out in video broadcast by HaberTurk television. She told her would-be rescuers that she had given up hope of being found - and prayed to be put to sleep because she was so cold. The station did not say where the operation was taking place.</div><div><br></div><div>Even though experts say trapped people can live for a week or more, the odds of finding more survivors were quickly waning.</div><div><br></div><div>Death loomed everywhere: Morgues and cemeteries were overwhelmed, and bodies wrapped in blankets, rugs and tarps lay in the streets of some cities.</div><div><br></div><div>Temperatures remained below freezing across the large region, and many people have no shelter. The Turkish government has distributed millions of hot meals, as well as tents and blankets, but was still struggling to reach many people in need.</div><div><br></div><div>The disaster compounded suffering in a region beset by Syria\'s 12-year civil war, which has displaced millions of people within the country and left them dependent on aid. The fighting sent millions more to seek refuge in Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>The conflict has isolated many areas of Syria and complicated efforts to get aid in. The United Nations said the first earthquake-related aid convoy crossed from Turkey into northwestern Syria on Friday - a day after an aid shipment planned before the disaster arrived.</div><div><br></div><div>The U.N. refugee agency estimated that as many as 5.3 million people have been left homeless in Syria. Sivanka Dhanapala, the country representative in Syria for UNHCR, told reporters Friday that the agency is focusing on providing tents, plastic sheeting, thermal blankets, sleeping mats and winter clothing.</div><div><br></div><div>Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife, Asmaa, visited survivors at the Aleppo University Hospital, according to Syrian state media. It was the leader\'s first public appearance in an affected area of the country since the disaster. He then visited rescuers in one of the city\'s hardest-hit areas.</div><div><br></div><div>Aleppo has been scarred by years of heavy bombardment and shelling — much of it by the forces of Assad and his ally, Russia — and it was among the cities most devastated by the earthquake.</div><div><br></div><div>The Syrian government also announced that it will allow aid to reach all parts of the country, including areas held by insurgent groups in the northwest.</div><div><br></div><div>Also Friday, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, declared a cease-fire in its separatist insurgency in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast, including some areas affected by the quake.</div><div><br></div><div>Turkey’s disaster-management agency said more than 20,200 people had been confirmed killed in the disaster so far in Turkey, with more than 80,000 injured.</div><div><br></div><div>More than 3,500 have been confirmed killed in Syria, bringing the total number of dead to nearly 24,000.</div><div><br></div><div>Some 12,000 buildings in Turkey have either collapsed or sustained serious damage, according to Turkey’s minister of environment and urban planning, Murat Kurum. Turkey\'s vice president, Fuat Oktay, said more than 1 million people were being housed in temporary shelters.</div><div><br></div><div>Engineers suggested that the scale of the devastation was partly explained by lax enforcement of building codes. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 13:33:16', '2023-02-11 13:33:16'),
(5145, 5145, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">India is poised to become the world\'s most populous country in 2023, surpassing China which has held the position since 1950, Indian media have reported quoting Washington-based think tank Pew Research Centre.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>According to the report, the UN expects that India will overtake China in April, though it may have already reached this milestone since the UN estimates are projections, ANI reported from Washington.</div><div><br></div><div>Pew Research Center after analyses of data from the UN and other sources mentioned key facts about India\'s population and its projected changes in the coming decades.</div><div><br></div><div>The report said India\'s population has grown by more than one billion people since 1950, the year the UN population data begins.</div><div><br></div><div>People under the age of 25 account for more than 40 per cent of India\'s population. Unlike India, the other two most populous countries in the world, China and the US, have rapidly ageing populations.</div><div><br></div><div>The fertility rate in India is higher than that of China and the US, but the rate has declined rapidly in the recent decades. Fertility rates, however, vary widely by community type and state in India.</div><div><br></div><div>On average, Indian women in urban areas have their first child 1.5 years later than women in rural areas. India\'s artificially wide ratio of baby boys to baby girls, which rose in the 1970s from the use of prenatal diagnostic technology to facilitate sex-selective abortions, is narrowing, the report noted, reports BSS</div><div><br></div><div>Infant mortality in India has decreased by 70 per cent in the past three decades but remains high by regional and international standards. Typically, more people migrate out of India each year than into it, resulting in negative net migration, the report said.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 13:55:36', '2023-02-11 13:55:36'),
(5146, 5146, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Police arrested seven leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and their student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir from a procession on charge of attempting to carry out subversive activities in the district town on Saturday morning.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The detainees are district Jamaat ameer Anisur Rahman, Phulbari upazila unit’s former ameer Manjurul Quader, leaders-Abu Taher, Jahidul Islam and Abul Bashar and Shibir leader Nayeem Billah.</div><div><br></div><div>Tanvirul Islam Tanvir, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station, said they arrested the Jamaat-Shibir men from in front of the road of Polytechnic College around 10am.</div><div><br></div><div>After the primary interrogation, they were produced before a court at noon, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Turning down the claim by the law enforcers, the Jamaat-Shibir alleged that they were arrested from a procession brought out to express solidarity with the central committee to press home 10-point demand. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 14:04:32', '2023-02-11 14:04:32'),
(5147, 5147, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre has said that an earthquake of magnitude 6 has struck Indonesia.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The quake is said to have struck Kepulauan Talaud with a depth of 49km. Source: Khaleej Times</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 14:18:37', '2023-02-11 14:18:37'),
(5148, 5148, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Viewers have vowed to cancel their television licences as they slammed last night\'s \'sickening\' 90-minute Shamima Begum documentary on the BBC.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The programme aired on the back of the corporation\'s 10-part podcast that \'retraces\' the journey she took eight years ago from her home in east London to Syria, where she joined the terrorist group Islamic State.</div><div><br></div><div>Begum, now 23, has made several highly publicised attempts to return to the UK and restore her reputation after the Home Secretary stripped her of her British citizenship in 2019.</div><div><br></div><div>But critics say the BBC has been \'parading her as if she is some sort of celebrity\' for views. Viewers of The Shamima Begum Story last night accused the broadcaster of presenting the jihadi bride as a \'vulnerable young girl\' with \'beautifully staged, moody shots, ominous back track and tearful pieces to camera\'.</div><div><br></div><div>She is now living in a refugee camp in northern Syria, which she described as \'worse than a prison\'. She said: \'I hate myself inside... At least with prison sentences you know there\'s going to be an end. But here, you don\'t know if there\'s going to be an end.\'&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>\'Sickened to have watched the BBC\'s airing of \'\'The Shamima Begum Story\'\',\' one critic said.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Another said: \'Please tell me why the BBC are giving Shamima Begum the time of day? That girl has zero remorse and I don\'t know why I have to see her on my TV? She had a choice - she made her choice. Vile.\'</div><div><br></div><div>And the broadcaster was inundated with disappointed customers promising they would not renew their licence, the £159 annual fee viewers must pay to watch BBC programmes.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>One said: \'I won\'t be renewing my licence, it\'s taking the p**s.\'&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Another said: \'What is happening with the BBC? Are you kidding me? Won\'t ever pay my TV licence again... She\'s a terrorist with no remorse, she doesn\'t deserve to have her story heard like she is a victim.\'&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Begum&nbsp; travelled to Syria when she was 15 with two school friends from Bethnal Green, east London, in February 2015. Kadiza Sultana, who was also 15, and Amira Abase, 16, are believed to have been killed there.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>While she now wants to return to the UK and has disavowed the terror group, Begum admitted it was \'exciting\' to travel to Syria. She said she was \'in love\' with ISIS and desperate to join.</div><div><br></div><div>\'Disgusting and utterly disgraceful,\' one critic said on Tuesday night after the documentary aired.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>\'Why are the BBC giving Shamima Begum, a terrorist by association, airtime on our TVs?\'&nbsp; - Daily Mail</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div><div><br></div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 15:59:34', '2023-02-11 15:59:34'),
(5149, 5149, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Agriculture Minister Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque has said the government will continue ongoing subsidies in the agriculture sector to ensure food security.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>He said on Saturday that the prices of all agriculture-related products including fertilizers have increased drastically in the global market. Still, the price of fertilizers has not increased by a single penny in the country due to the subsidy given by the government.</div><div><br></div><div>Dr Razzaque said this while speaking as the chief guest at Bangladesh Seed Congress at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the capital.</div><div><br></div><div>The minister also said, “There are still many complaints about low-quality seeds. I got news from the field level that the seedlings are not half-grown. Still, some companies have a tendency to cheat farmers.”</div><div><br></div><div>With an annoyed tone, he said many times farmers are cheated by buying low-quality seeds. On the one hand, the farmers are affected and production is being hampered.</div><div><br></div><div>Citing a survey the minister said that rice production can be increased by 21 lakh tones if it is possible to ensure the supply of quality seed.</div><div><br></div><div>Agriculture Secretary Wahida Akhtar, Director General of International Rice Research Institute Jan Bailey, Bangladesh Representative of FAO Robert Simpson, President of Asia and Pacific Seed Association Monish Patel, General Secretary of International Seed Federation Michael Keller, among others, spoke in the opening day of seed congress.</div><div><br></div><div>President of Bangladesh Seed Association M Anis Ud Daula presided over the function.</div><div><br></div><div>Emeritus Professor Sattar Mondal of Bangladesh Agricultural University gave a presentation on the seed situation in the country, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>He also said, as a result of providing good quality seeds, the yield has already increased by 8-10 percent. If good quality seeds can be provided, it will be possible to increase the production of rice by 21 lakh tons per year.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div><div><br></div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 16:14:42', '2023-02-11 16:14:42'),
(5150, 5150, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader urged the party leaders and workers to stay vigilant everywhere and hit back if anyone tries to carry out attack on the people.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"This time the hand that wants to carry out vandalism will have to be broken. The hand that wants to torch things must be burnt,\" he said while addressing the triennial council of district unit of AL at Government Jubilee High School ground.</div><div><br></div><div>Quader, also road transport and bridges minister, said BNP is hatching conspiracy to carry out arson terrorism again in clandestine way as they knew that they cannot win the polls.</div><div><br></div><div>Pointing to BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, he said: \"We know you are the right hand of London (Tarique Rahman), not Fakhrul. You get all secret information. We are also informing you that we are on streets. We know what the strategy you are taking behind the scene. As you can\'t win polls, you will again launch arson terrorism in clandestine way\".</div><div><br></div><div>Recalling the incidents of 2013-14 period, he said BNP carried out attacks and killed innocent people and they torched buses, railway tracks and land office.</div><div><br></div><div>Quader said BNP\'s acting chairman had fled the country and other leaders are also now trying to flee.</div><div><br></div><div>Noting that BNP had made the country champions in corruption for five times so that the people don\'t want to see them in power again, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>AL Presidium Members Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Syeda Jebunnesa Haque, Planning Minister MA Mannan, AL Organising Secretaries Ahmed Hossain and Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel, central members Dr Mushfiq Hossain Chowdhury and Azizus Samad Azad Don, Deputy Office Secretary Sayem Khan, district AL Vice-President Muhibur Rahman Manik, MP, Dr Jaya Sengupta, MP, Moyazzem Hossain Ratan, MP, and Shamima Akhter Khanam, MP, addressed the council, among others.</div><div><br></div><div>District AL President and former lawmaker Matiur Rahman chaired the council which was moderated by General Secretary Barrister M Enamul Kabir Imon.</div><div><br></div><div>In the council, Sunamganj Zilla Parishad Chairman Nurul Huda Mukut and Noman Bakht Palin have been made president and general secretary of Sunamganj district unit of AL respectively.</div><div><br></div><div>AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader announced the new committee after the triennial council of the unit.</div><div><br></div><div>He also announced outgoing general secretary Enamul Kabir Imon as a member of the national committee. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 16:23:20', '2023-02-11 16:23:20'),
(5151, 5151, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Rescuers pulled children and the elderly from the rubble Saturday as miraculous survival stories coincided with hasty mass burials five days after an earthquake devastated parts of Turkiye and Syria, leaving almost 25,000 dead.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Tens of thousands of local and international rescue workers are still scouring through flattened neighborhoods despite freezing weather that has compounded the misery of millions now in desperate need of aid.</div><div><br></div><div>However, amid the destruction and death, survivors continue to emerge.</div><div><br></div><div>“Is the world there?” asked 70-year-old Menekse Tabak as she was pulled out from the rubble in the southern city of Kahramanmaras — the epicenter of Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor — to applause and cries praising God, according to a video shared on state broadcaster TRT Haber.</div><div><br></div><div>In southern Hatay, a two-year-old girl was found alive 123 hours after the quake, reported the Hurriyet daily online, adding to numerous children saved long after the disaster, and a pregnant woman who was found on Friday.</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile, in southern Turkiye, families clutched each other in grief at a cotton field that has been transformed into a cemetery, with an endless stream of bodies arriving for swift burial.</div><div><br></div><div>Compounding the anguish, the United Nations has warned that at least 870,000 people urgently need of hot meals across Turkiye and Syria. In Syria alone, up to 5.3 million people may have been made homeless.</div><div><br></div><div>Turkiye’s disaster agency on Saturday said nearly 32,000 people from Turkish bodies are working on search and rescue efforts. In addition, there are 8,294 international rescuers.</div><div><br></div><div>However, 82 Austrian soldiers on Saturday suspended rescue operations in Hatay over a “worsening security situation,” an army spokesman told AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>“There have been clashes between groups,” he said, without giving details.</div><div><br></div><div>The UN rights office had on Friday urged all actors in the affected area — where Kurdish militants and Syrian rebels operate — to allow humanitarian access.</div><div><br></div><div>The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is considered a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies, announced a temporary halt in fighting to ease recovery work.</div><div><br></div><div>In rebel-held northwestern Syria, about four million people rely on humanitarian relief, but there have been no aid deliveries from government-controlled areas in three weeks.</div><div><br></div><div>The Syrian government said it had approved the delivery of humanitarian assistance to quake-hit areas outside its control.</div><div><br></div><div>Only two aid convoys have crossed the border this week from Turkiye, where authorities are engaged in an even bigger quake relief operation of their own.</div><div><br></div><div>A decade of civil war and Syrian-Russian aerial bombardment had already destroyed hospitals and created electricity and water shortages.</div><div><br></div><div>UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the Security Council to authorize the opening of new cross-border humanitarian aid points between Turkiye and Syria. The council will meet to discuss Syria, possibly early next week.</div><div><br></div><div>Turkiye said it was working on opening two new routes into rebel-held parts of Syria.</div><div><br></div><div>The winter freeze has left thousands of people either spending nights in their cars or huddling around makeshift fires that have become ubiquitous across the quake-hit region.</div><div><br></div><div>Five days of grief and anguish have been slowly building into rage at the poor quality of buildings as well as the Turkish government’s response to the country’s worst disaster in nearly a century.</div><div><br></div><div>Officials in the country say 12,141 buildings were either destroyed or seriously damaged in the earthquake.</div><div><br></div><div>“Damage was to be expected, but not the type of damage that you are seeing now,” said Mustafa Erdik, a professor at Istanbul-based Bogazici University.</div><div><br></div><div>Police on Friday detained a contractor trying to flee the country after his building collapsed in the catastrophic quake.</div><div><br></div><div>Authorities in Kahramanmaras and Osmaniye have launched investigations into the buildings that have collapsed, according to the Anadolu state news agency.</div><div><br></div><div>The tremor was the most powerful and deadliest since 33,000 people died in a 7.8-magnitude tremor in 1939.</div><div><br></div><div>Officials and medics said 20,937 people had died in Turkiye and 3,553 in Syria. The confirmed total now stands at 24,490.</div><div><br></div><div>The disaster and resulting fury at how the Turkish government has handled it, comes just months before a presidential election in June.</div><div><br></div><div>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan conceded for the first time on Friday that his government was not able to reach and help the victims “as quickly as we had desired.” - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-11 16:33:55', '2023-02-11 16:33:55'),
(5152, 5152, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Turkish government detained more than 100 building contractors and others who may be responsible for the collapsed buildings and deaths this week, according to the New York Times, as the death toll from the earthquake that hit the region Monday surpassed 28,000.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Turkey’s justice ministry established the “Earthquake Crimes Investigation Units,” according to the state-run Anadolu News Agency, resulting in more than 100 being detained this week for having failed to meet construction codes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Turkey’s health ministry estimates the death toll from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake reached 24,617 Saturday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The death toll in government-controlled regions in northern Syria remains at 1,347, with 2,295 others injured, according to Syria’s health ministry—though the office has not updated its estimates since February 9.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A death toll for the country’s rebel-held area in the northwest—where residents have relied on humanitarian aid because of Syria’s decade-long civil war—has increased to 2,167, according to the Syrian Civil Defense.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While discussing humanitarian relief efforts, United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said the earthquake is the “worst event in 100 years in this region,” according to Reuters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The U.S. military began deploying forces to assist with relief efforts Friday, according to the Washington Post, following an announcement by Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder Wednesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>BIG NUMBER</b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">13 million. That’s how many people have been affected by the earthquake across 10 provinces in Turkey, according to Anadolu’s estimates.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>SURPRISING FACT</b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a separate set of arrests Saturday, Turkish officials detained 98 suspects for alleged looting and for prank calling affected victims, sources told Anadolu, after seizing at least $14,700 in stolen cash among other goods, including laptops, guns and jewelry.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>KEY BACKGROUND</b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The earthquake—the deadliest in the world since 2011—toppled residential buildings, shopping centers, mosques and offices just after 4 a.m. Monday morning, with an epicenter about 20 miles east of Gaziantep. Nearly 26,000 search and rescue workers in Turkey—in addition to added support from more than a dozen countries—are on the ground searching for survivors, according to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority. The World Health Organization warned the death toll could reach above 20,000 in an announcement Tuesday, an estimate that was eclipsed Wednesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>FURTHER READING</b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Turkey’s ‘Biggest Disaster In The Last Century’: Earthquake Death Toll Crosses 21,000. Forbes</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-12 02:07:49', '2023-02-12 02:07:49');
