INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4786, 4786, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Kangana Ranaut spoke about Shah Rukh Khan\'s Pathaan in a series of tweets on Friday. The actor, who had praised the film after it\'s release on Wednesday, took a U-turn and questioned \'all those who are claiming Pathaan is triumph of love over hate\' after the film broke box office records, grossing ₹106 crore worldwide on its opening day. Responding to a Twitter user, who said that Pathaan was the answer to all those, who keep asking \'who can lead the country, if not Prime Minister Narendra Modi?\'&nbsp;</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kangana recently returned to the social media platform after her 2020 ban was lifted. In a new tweet, Kangana said about Pathaan\'s box office performance, \"It is the love of India that has triumphed hate and petty politics of enemies. Lekin (but) all those who are having high hopes please note… Pathaan sirf ek film ho sakti hai… goonjega toh yahan sirf Jai Shri Ram… Jai Shri Ram (Pathaan is just a film, the country will only hear cries of Jai Shri Ram).\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;After Kangana Ranaut seemingly reacted to filmmaker Karan Johar\'s recent \'love trumps hate\' statement after Pathaan\'s box office day one collection broke records, the actor targeted those, who suggested PM Modi could be replaced by Shah Rukh\'s Pathaan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Friday, she responded to a Twitter user, who wrote, \"I think 2023 has finally given the answer to (the question) – \'Modi nahin toh kaun (If not Narendra Modi, then who can lead the country)???\' The answer is Pathaan.\" Kangana tweeted in response, \"Warning: If film industry doesn’t want to bear the brunt of political propaganda then they should condemn such propaganda using their films.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tum khelo toh game hai hum khelein toh shame hai, aisa nahi chalega bhai… baad mein mat rona hum toh artistes hai, abhi se aukat mein raho (if they play then it is a game, if we play then it is shame. Artistes should stay in their lane now itself and not cry later).\" 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, '2023-01-27 11:05:01', '2023-01-27 11:05:01'),
(4787, 4787, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Nearly two years after Myanmar\'s military coup, the UN rights chief warned Friday that the country had plunged into catastrophe, calling for the military to be brought under civilian oversight.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since the coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi\'s civilian government on February 1, 2021, Myanmar has \"by nearly every feasible measurement, and in every area of human rights... profoundly regressed,\" Volker Turk said in a statement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Despite clear legal obligations for the military to protect civilians in the conduct of hostilities, there has been consistent disregard for the related rules of international law,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Far from being spared, civilians have been the actual targets of attacks -- victims of targeted and indiscriminate artillery barrages and air strikes, extrajudicial executions, the use of torture, and the burning of whole villages.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The UN rights office said at least 2,890 people had died at the hands of the military and its allies since the coup, pointing to credible sources.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of those, \"at least 767 were initially taken into custody\", it said, adding that \"this is almost certainly an underestimation of the number of civilians killed as a result of military action\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The military has also imprisoned the democratically elected leadership of the country, and more than 16,000 others, the rights office said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another 1.2 million people have meanwhile become internally displaced since the coup, while more than 70,000 have left the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They have joined more than one million others who have fled persecution in Myanmar over the past decades, including most of the country\'s Rohingya Muslim population.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"There must be a way out of this catastrophic situation, which sees only deepening human suffering and rights violations on a daily basis,\" Turk said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He decried that the junta had treated a plan agreed with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), aimed at quelling the bloodshed and allowing humanitarian access, \"with disdain\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Instead, \"violence has spiralled out of control and humanitarian access has been severely restricted\", he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Turk insisted that \"those responsible for the daily attacks against civilians and the human rights violations must be held accountable\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"How can a military that purports to defend the country have brought their own people -- from all parts of Myanmar\'s rich and diverse society -- to such a point of desperation?\" he asked.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The military needs to be brought under real, effective civilian oversight.\" 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, '2023-01-27 11:32:06', '2023-01-27 11:32:06'),
(4788, 4788, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ten Bangladeshi companies are going to take part in a three-day trade show, Texworld USA/ Apparel Sourcing USA 2023, to be held from January 31 to February 2 at New York.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association, led by its President Hossain, is taking part with a special Bangladesh pavilion at the trade show, said a press release here today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With a wide variety of different products, the association will be offering the buyers the entire range of products that Bangladesh is manufacturing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After a summer edition of Texworld – Apparel Sourcing USA in July, one of the largest sourcing shows on the East Coast will return to New York later this month.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 324 exhibitors will participate from 22 countries. There will be country pavilions of China, Taiwan and South Korea. China will participate with 175 exhibitors.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The companies which will represent Bangladesh at the fair are – Arjeans Producer Ltd, Ha-meem Denim, Pioneer Denim, Max Will BD, Pengnuo Group, Vero Style, Total Apparel, N2N Sourcing is participating under the Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association while Dhaka Fareast and Wikitex BD (Interlink Dresses) will have direct booths.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The next Texworld USA will be held on 18 – 20 July. Apparel Sourcing Paris will be held on 6 – 8 February and Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics will be held on 28 – 30 March. 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, '2023-01-27 11:51:19', '2023-01-27 11:51:19'),
(4789, 4789, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">South Africa won the toss and decided to bat in the first one-day international against England at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Friday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Batsman Harry Brook was named in the England team, adding a first ODI cap to&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">those he has already earned in Tests and Twenty20 internationals.</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fast bowler Jofra Archer returned from a long injury-enforced absence for his&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">first one-day international since September 2020.</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The three-match series is part of the International Cricket Council\'s World&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Cup Super League, from which the top eight teams will qualify for the World&nbsp;</span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Cup in India in October and November.</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With South Africa still not assured of qualification, captain Temba Bavuma&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">said: \"It\'s a big World Cup year and we want to collect as many points as we&nbsp;</span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">can.\"</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">England captain Jos Buttler said he probably would have chosen to bowl if he&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">had won the toss. \"We fancy a chase,\" he said.</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Although defending champions England are guaranteed a place in the World Cup&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">in India in October and November, Buttler said the series was important. \"We&nbsp;</span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">don\'t have many games before the World Cup so these are crucial games for&nbsp;</span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">us.\"</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>Teams:</b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>South Africa: </b>Temba Bavuma (capt), Quinton de Kock (wkt), Rassie van der&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Sisanda&nbsp;</span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Magala, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi.</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>England:</b> Jos Buttler (capt, wkt), Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Ben Duckett, Harry&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Brook, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Olly&nbsp;</span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Stone.</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>Umpires:</b> Marais Erasmus, Bongani Jele (both RSA)</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>TV umpire</b>: Allahudien Palekar (RSA)</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>Match referee: </b>Jeff Crowe (NZL). 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, '2023-01-27 12:04:41', '2023-01-27 12:04:41'),
(4790, 4790, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Two more people were hospitalised with dengue in the 24 hours to Friday morning.</span><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;\">Fifty dengue patients, including 32 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">So far, the DGHS has recorded 525 dengue cases, 469 recoveries, and six deaths this year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></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, '2023-01-27 12:14:29', '2023-01-27 12:14:29'),
(4791, 4791, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Shamima Begum has spoken of the first time she talked to her mother after leaving the UK in 2015, at the age of 15, to join Daesh in Syria.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“The first time I called my mum she was just crying. I felt like she was trying to make me feel guilty,” she told journalist Joshua Baker during an interview for the second series of the BBC podcast “I’m Not A Monster,” which began this month.</div><div><br></div><div>“I don’t know, maybe it was just emotions but I just didn’t say anything to her, I let her cry. I just kept telling her I was OK.”</div><div><br></div><div>Baker asked her what she had said when her mother pleaded with her to come home, to which she replied she “just said no.”</div><div><br></div><div>Begum, now 23, added that although she had not yet fully committed to her decision to join the extremist group at that point, she did not want to give her mother false hope because she did not know whether she would be able to leave.</div><div><br></div><div>Baker then asked Begum how she felt when she heard her sister publicly beg her to leave Daesh.</div><div><br></div><div>“I couldn\'t believe it,” she said. “I couldn’t believe that my sister would travel all the way to Turkey thinking that she could save me.”</div><div><br></div><div>Begum even suggested her family were “responsible” for the media storm that erupted around her when her journey to Syria was revealed, because of their emotional pleas for her return.</div><div><br></div><div>“But I don’t think they knew how far it would go and how big it would become,” she added. “I blame the media for obsessing over my friends and I so much.”</div><div><br></div><div>The podcast series, new episodes of which are released each Wednesday, also revealed information about people smuggler Mohammed Al-Rasheed, who helped Begum travel to Syria while he was also working as an agent for Canadian intelligence services.</div><div><br></div><div>The BBC has faced a public outcry this month over the podcast series, which focuses on Begum’s case and in which she defends her actions. The UK’s public service broadcaster responded by saying the series is “not a platform for Shamima Begum to give her unchallenged story” but rather a “robust, public-interest investigation” into her case.</div><div><br></div><div>Begum was born in the UK to parents of Bangladeshi origin and citizenship. She was living with her family in the Bethnal Green area of London when she left for Syria. Shortly after arriving in the war-torn country she married Dutch-born Yago Riedijk. In the years that followed, she gave birth to three children, all of whom died young. In 2019, she was discovered living in a refugee camp in northern Syria. The UK government revoked her British citizenship and said she would not be allowed to return to the country. - Arab News&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-27 12:15:45', '2023-01-27 12:15:45'),
(4792, 4792, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Advocate Anisul Haque, MP, today said the next general election will be held as per constitution.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Bangladesh has a constitution in which a complete guideline for holding national election has been written. Next parliament election would be held as per the existing constitution,\" he said while replying to a question of journalists at Akhaura railway station of the district this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also said that any political party can do political activities in a democratic country. Awami League and Sheikh Hasina\'s government have no objection to that. Awami League (AL) believes in democracy and AL established democracy in Bangladesh. 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, '2023-01-27 13:16:10', '2023-01-27 13:16:10'),
(4793, 4793, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">\"No onion toppings. Every restaurant is facing a shortage of onions. You see the signs everywhere.\"</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">According to official statistics, the price of onions surged in the Philippines to around 700 pesos ($12.80; £10.40) per kg last month.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That is more than the cost of meat, and the Southeast Asian country\'s daily minimum wage.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Although prices have eased in recent weeks, onions are still a luxury for many consumers, says Rizalda Maunes, who runs a pizzeria in the central Cebu city.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We used to buy three to four kilogrammes of onions a day. Now we buy half a kilo which is all we can afford,\" Ms Maunes told the BBC.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Our customers understand because it is not just restaurants... households are having a hard time as many dishes are sweetened with onions,\" she adds.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The staple ingredient in Filipino cuisine has become a symbol of the rising cost of living.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It comes as inflation, which measures the rise in prices of everything from food to fuel, reached a new 14-year-high in the tropical country last month.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who is also the agriculture secretary, has called rising food prices an \"emergency situation\". Earlier this month Mr Marcos approved the import of red and yellow onions in an attempt to boost supply.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Experts say that the reopening of the Philippines economy is driving demand, while harsh weather has affected the production of food, including onions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Back in August, the Department of Agriculture had forecast a potential shortage of the root crop. A few months later, the Philippines was hit by two powerful storms that caused substantial crop damage,\" says Nicholas Mapa, a senior economist at ING Bank.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We have also seen a stark pickup in demand as the economy recovers sharply,\" Mr Mapa said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Widespread impact</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rising prices have also hit street food stalls in Cebu, which are popular with locals and tourists.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fried vegetables, meat and seafood, are typically served with an onion and vinegar dipping sauce.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Onions are a big part of our dishes. It adds a flavourful crunch [and] sweetness to contrast the saltiness of our food,\" says Alex Chua, who has cut back on onions at his stall.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are thankful that the government is implementing measures to stop the increase of prices. We hope that they continue to implement such measures to bring prices down further,\" he adds.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Onions have been so sought after that April Lyka Biorrey chose to carry a bouquet of the crop at her wedding in Iloilo City.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I asked my groom if we could use onions instead of flowers, since after the wedding the flowers would wilt and end up being thrown away,\" Ms Biorrey told a local newspaper.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"So why not onions? It\'s practical in a way that it could still be used after the wedding,\" she quipped.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Others have gotten in trouble for smuggling onions into the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier this month, 10 crew members from Philippine Airlines were investigated for attempting to smuggle nearly 40kg of onions and fruits into luggage bags.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Customs officials later said they will not face charges but warned travellers against carrying produce without permits.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Growing crisis</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The crisis has put pressure on Mr Marcos, who had promised to boost food production as agriculture secretary. Some lawmakers have called for him to appoint a replacement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking at a hearing on the country\'s rising food prices, Philippines Senator Grace Poe said, \"Before it was sugar, now, it\'s onions. We\'ll end up having a hearing for everything in the kitchen.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Marie-Anne Lezoraine from the Kantar Worldpanel consultancy says climate change is also a major threat to the country\'s food security.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Purchasing power is tight for most consumers who already afford only the essentials. If climate change causes shortages and therefore prices to soar, it will cause a very damaging impact on a large proportion of consumers in the Philippines,\" Ms Lezoraine says.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But Mr Mapa believes that the price of onions could stabilise as the government imports more of the crop.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"However the timing may be unfortunate as it coincides with the February harvest season for locally produced onions,\" he says. \"Prices may actually drop dramatically once both harvest and imports hit the market almost simultaneously.\" 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, '2023-01-27 13:32:24', '2023-01-27 13:32:24'),
(4794, 4794, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar said that the government is working to build a \'Smart Bangladesh\' announced by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Smart Bangladesh will be built on the strong foundation of Digital Bangladesh. Therefore, the smart citizen is very important for that,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The minister said these while addressing as the chief guest a discussion on the fifth industrial revolution and 5G infrastructures: Bangladesh\'s Preparation\' on the second day of the Digital Bangladesh Fair organised by the Posts and Telecommunications Division at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) here, said a press release.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Referring to the new generation of the country as very talented, Jabbar urged them to be efficient in making 5G-based tools.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The new generation will build machines or instruments and establish their control over those machines or instruments,\" the minister said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Secretary General of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) Brigadier General SM Farhad (Retd) conducted the programme while Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Digital University Prof Dr Mohammad Mahfuzul Islam presented keynote paper there, the release added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Additional Secretary of Posts and Telecommunications Division Md Mahbub-ul-Alam and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Director General Brigadier General Mohammad Moniruzzaman Jewel also spoke on the occasion, among others. 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, '2023-01-27 14:26:57', '2023-01-27 14:27:17'),
(4795, 4795, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The 18th death anniversary of Shah AMS Kibria, a former finance minister and senior Awami League leader, was observed Friday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, the trial of the murder case is yet to make significant progress. Due to the non-appearance of regular witnesses, the date of recording depositions is being deferred repeatedly.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Two cases – one for murder and another under the Explosive Substances Act – filed in this incident are currently pending in the Sylhet Speedy Trial Tribunal. On January 21, the trial was deferred to February 19 as there was no witness present before the court.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sarwar Ahmad Chowdhury Abdal, the official counsel of the case, said there are 171 witnesses in the chargesheet, of which the depositions of 47 witnesses have been recorded so far.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Even a warrant has been issued against the witnesses, but no witness appeared before the court on the last fixed date, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On January 27, 2005, Kibria and four others were killed in a grenade attack on an Awami League rally in the Baidderbazar area of Habiganj. Around 70 people, including incumbent Habiganj-3 constituency parliamentarian Abu Jahir and others were injured.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After three rounds of the probe, the investigation officer, Sylhet’s ASP (CID) Meherun Nesa Parul filed a supplementary chargesheet against 32 persons by including 11 new names on Dec 21, 2014.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She accused 35 persons including Khaleda Zia’s former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, the then Sylhet Mayor Ariful and Habiganj Mayor Gaus.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The trial of the murder case began in September 2015.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 32 people, including former State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar, were indicted in the murder case in 2015.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The investigation was delayed by 10 years. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police investigated the case thrice. The depositions of 43 witnesses among 171 have been recorded while charges were framed on October 22, 2020, in the case filed under The Explosives Act. 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, '2023-01-27 15:59:28', '2023-01-27 15:59:28'),
(4796, 4796, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A ship carrying material for Bangabandhu Rail Bridge has arrived at Mongla port from Vietnam, authorities said on Saturday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The Panama flag carrier, ‘MV Mauritius’, carrying 1519 metric tonnes of material for the bridge arrived at the No. 7 jetty of the port on Friday afternoon.</div><div><br></div><div>Unloading has already started.</div><div>Shawkat&nbsp; Ali, operation manager of Haque and Sons Limited, said the ship carrying material for Bangabandhu Rail Bridge left for Mongla port on January 16 from Haiphong port in Vietnam and reached on Friday afternoon.</div><div><br></div><div>After unloading, the machinery will be sent to Sirajganj Bangabandhu Railway Bridge Jetty.</div><div><br></div><div>It is for the 5th time, the ship, carrying material for Bangabandhu Rail Bridge, arrived at the port.</div><div><br></div><div>On November 29 2020, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of a 4.8km double-line dual-gauge Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge aimed at boosting rail communication between the capital and western zones of Bangladesh Railway.</div><div><br></div><div>The main bridge will be constructed in two phases. Two separate agreements have already been signed with Obayashi-TOA-JFE, Japan and IHI-SMCC JV, Japan for eastern and western parts of civil works respectively. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 09:00:08', '2023-01-28 09:00:08'),
(4797, 4797, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Two people died and three others fell sick after ‘drinking spurious ‘liquor in Sadar upazila of Jashore district.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The deceased were identified as Islam, 45, son of Abdul Hamid and Zakir Hossain, 29, son of Shahjahan Ali of Kachua village in Sadar upazila.</div><div><br></div><div>Quoting local people, police said, five people including Islam and Zakir drank liquor on January 25 and fell sick.</div><div><br></div><div>Dr Abdur Rashid, in-charge of Jashore 250-bed hospital, said Islam and Zakir were admitted to the hospital on January 25.</div><div><br></div><div>Later, Islam died on Thursday afternoon while Zakir died on Friday morning.</div><div><br></div><div>Three others people got admitted to the hospital and received treatment, reprots UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>Nazmul Hasan, sub-inspector of Narendrapur Police Camp, said the relatives of the deceased took the bodies to their respective home and buried those. “Police are investigating the matter,” he added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 09:37:19', '2023-01-28 09:37:19'),
(4798, 4798, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The government of India has announced the Padma Awards for this year on January 2, ahead of 74th Republic Day. Actress Raveena Tandon is the lone actor to be conferred with Padma Shri this year. She is one among the 106 recipients of this the third-highest civilian award in India this year, The Statesman reported.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The news came a day after Raveena was chosen as a delegate at the W20, which is the Women’s Empowerment engagement wing at G20 India’s Presidency. The actress responded to the news by declaring that she would dedicate the award to her late father Ravi Tandon.</div><div><br></div><div>Ravi Tandon was an Indian film director and producer. He also worked as an assistant director and story writer. Ravi passed away on February 11, 2022.</div><div>Padma Awards are the highest civilian honour of the country. They are divided in three categories, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given for contribution in various fields of activities like social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and arts. Raveena Tandon has been selected for Padma Shri in the field of art.</div><div><br></div><div>RRR’s music composer MM Keeravaani and singers Suman Kalyanpur and Vani Jairam are also among this year’s Padma Shri awardees.</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile, tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and singer Vani Jairam have been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan, respectively.</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'Entertainment Desk', '[\"13\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 09:45:01', '2023-01-28 09:45:01'),
(4799, 4799, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate seven development projects during her daylong visit to Rajshahi tomorrow (Sunday).</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) has implemented the projects with an estimated cost of around Taka 295.60 crore aimed at enhancing civic facilities during the last couple of years.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier is also likely to open 18 other projects implemented by different other organizations with involvement of around Taka 1,612.57 crore besides laying foundation stones of six projects with an estimated cost of around Taka 376.28 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>The RCC has constructed the country\'s ever-largest mural of the Father of Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at C&B Crossing area in Rajshahi city at a cost of around Taka 5.02 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>Height of the mural is 58 feet having a 50-feet height and 40-feet wide Bangabandhu photo in the main part of the mural.</div><div><br></div><div>Terracotta works were done on 700-feet space on both sides of the boundary wall. Gallery and landscaping were well-decorated with super granite. The mural has night vision with decorative electric bulbs.</div><div><br></div><div>Rajshahi City Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton said the mural inspires people to know about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with his life, works and laudable contribution and sacrifice to the country\'s independence.</div><div><br></div><div>Construction work of Sheikh Russel Shishu Park is on the final stage in Rajshahi city aimed at opening up a new horizon in recreation of people, particularly the children.</div><div><br></div><div>The park was established on 2.14 acres of land in Chhotobangram area through a time-fitting design to give an eye-catching and attractive look with an estimated cost of around Taka 4.43 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>There are various modern rides including bridge, open stage, walk ways, artificial hill and full-proof security in the park.</div><div><br></div><div>Rajshahi people will get a new architectural view in the park and that will contribute a lot towards physical and mental development of children, benefiting people of all ages.</div><div><br></div><div>The city corporation has been elevating the Bilsimla Railway crossing to City Hat road to four-lane aimed at making the movement of both vehicles and people quick and smooth.</div><div><br></div><div>It\'s turning the road to 80-feet wide along with a four-foot-wide road divider with an outlay of around Taka 44.92 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>On both sides of the 3.532-kilometer road, a 44-feet road, 12-feet wide drain and footpath and 20-feet road for the slow-moving vehicles are also being constructed.</div><div><br></div><div>It has also been elevating another dilapidated road to a smart one at a cost of around Taka 55.78 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>The 4.17-kilometer potential road from Naodapara bus terminal to Bhadra Railway crossing is being elevated to four-lanes from double lane with additional two other lanes for slow-moving vehicles, road divider and drain and footpaths on both sides.</div><div><br></div><div>In addition to the elevation works the north-south connecting road will be beautified and greened through transplanting decorative trees and plants.</div><div><br></div><div>As a whole, the road will bring an epoch-making change to people residing adjacent to the road in terms of uplifting their socio-economic situation.</div><div><br></div><div>A flyover has been constructed on Mohanpur railway crossing at a cost of around Taka 40.80 crore. In all perspectives, the road area, particularly the flyover, is seen as a tourist spot as scores of people are humming to the area generating income for many of the locals.</div><div><br></div><div>City Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton said an east-west connecting road has been constructed from Alif Lam Meem Bhata crossing on Rajshahi-Naogaon highway to Choddopaya crossing on Rajshahi-Natore highway via Chhotobangram, Meherchandi, Budhpara and Mohanpur at a cost of around Taka 189.35 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>In addition to construction of footpaths on both sides of the 6.793-kilometer road, various need-based modern infrastructures, including a flyover on railway crossing, a bridge, eight culverts and median, were constructed.</div><div><br></div><div>The newly constructed four-lane road has been playing a significant role towards mitigating the gradually mounting traffic jams in the metropolis.</div><div><br></div><div>Mayor Liton said a 2.5-kilometer road from Kalpana Cinema Hall Crossing to Talaimary crossing has been elevated to four-lane, costing around Taka 131.36 crore. Decorated and pedestrian-friendly footpaths have been constructed on both sides of the road with setting up colourful road lights.</div><div><br></div><div>Island has been beautified through transplanting decorative and ornamental flower plants.</div><div><br></div><div>Carpeting road, drain and footpath construction from Rentur Kharir Arat to Dhalur More via Hi-tech Park and carpeting road construction from Court to Shahartali Club has also been implemented at a cost of around Taka 13.30 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>Two midtown roads from Upashahar to Sonadighi crossing and Malopara crossing to Sagarpara crossing have been widened, costing around Taka 126.40 crore bringing an epoch-making change in terms of the city\'s communication.</div><div><br></div><div>The city corporation has so far installed 1,654 decorated and eye-catching lights on 695 poles in five separate roads and streets with a length of around 21 kilometers. Apart from this, 15 important road crossings were also brought under the modern lighting system.</div><div><br></div><div>As a whole, Rajshahi city has got a new look amid massive infrastructural development works and the modern road lighting has brought happiness to the city dwellers and other beneficiaries. Source: BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 09:52:10', '2023-01-28 09:52:36'),
(4800, 4800, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Over a few hours under grey skies, dozens of combat planes and helicopters roar on and off the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Nimitz, in a demonstration of US military power in some of the world\'s most hotly contested waters.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>MH-60 Seahawk helicopters and F/A-18 Hornet jets bearing pilot call signs like \"Fozzie Bear\", \"Pig Sweat\" and \"Bongoo\" emit deafening screams as they land in the drizzle on the Nimitz, which is leading a carrier strike group that entered the South China Sea two weeks ago.</div><div><br></div><div>The group\'s commander, Rear Admiral Christopher Sweeney, said the tour was part of a US commitment to uphold freedom of passage in the waters and airspace of a region vital to global trade.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We are going to sail, fly and operate wherever international norms and rules allow. We\'re going to do that safely and we\'re going to be resolute about that,\" Sweeney said on Friday.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It\'s really just about sailing and operating obviously with our allies and partners in the area and assuring them of free and open commerce and trade in the Indo-Pacific.\"</div><div><br></div><div>A US presence in the South China Sea, a conduit for about $3.4 trillion of annual trade, has been welcomed by allies like Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Australia, but it continues to rile rival China, which sees the exercises as provocations in its backyard.</div><div><br></div><div>China claims historic jurisdiction over almost the entire South China Sea, which includes the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.</div><div><br></div><div>Beijing has been conducting regular exercises too and maintains a large presence of coast guard and fishing vessels far off its mainland - a source of frequent tension with its neighbours.</div><div><br></div><div>The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group 11 includes the guided-missile cruiser Bunker Hill and the guided-missile destroyers Decatur, Wayne E Meyer and Chung-Hoon. The Chung-Hoon on Jan 5 sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, irking China.</div><div><br></div><div>That came two weeks after a Chinese navy J-11 fighter jet caused alarm when it came within 10 feet (3 metres) of a US Air Force plane over the South China Sea.</div><div><br></div><div>Sweeney said it was crucial for international rules to be followed and said the US presence in the South China Sea demonstrated its commitment to its regional allies.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We\'ve operated in the same body of water as the Chinese or the Singaporean navy or the Filipino navy since we\'ve arrived and it\'s all been safe and professional,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We\'re going to sail, fly and operate wherever international waters allow us to, so we\'re not going anywhere.\" According to Reuters reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 09:59:36', '2023-01-28 09:59:36'),
(4801, 4801, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Two Indian Air Force fighter jets - a Sukhoi Su-30 and a Mirage 2000 - crashed during a training exercise earlier today, officials said on Saturday, resulting in the death of one pilot. While one aircraft crashed in Morena in Madhya Pradesh, the other is believed to have gone down 100 km away in Rajasthan\'s Bharatpur.&nbsp;</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The Sukhoi had two pilots, while the Mirage had one pilot, defence sources said. Both aircraft are used on the frontlines by the Indian Air Force. The two pilots on the Sukhoi managed to eject and were taken to the hospital in a helicopter.</div><div><br></div><div>Both the fighter jets had taken off from the Gwalior Air Force base which has squadrons of both the Russian-designed Sukhoi and the French Mirage 2000.</div><div>Videos from the scene, shot by locals in Morena, showed smouldering debris of the aircraft strewn on the ground.</div><div><br></div><div>The Air Force has launched a probe to examine if a mid-air collision led to the crash, defence sources told.</div><div><br></div><div>\"IAF court of inquiry has been launched to establish whether there was a mid-air collision or not. The Su-30 had two pilots while Mirage 2000 had one pilot during the crash. Initial reports suggest two pilots are safe while an IAF chopper reaching the location of the third pilot soon,\" sources said.Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has been briefed by the Indian Air Force chief on the crash of two aircraft, PTI report.</div><div><br></div><div>Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that in a tweet, \"The news of the crash of Sukhoi-30 and Mirage-2000 aircraft of the Air Force near Kolaras in Morena is very sad. I have instructed the local administration to cooperate with the Air Force in quick rescue and relief work. I pray to God that the pilots of the planes are safe.\"</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 10:06:34', '2023-01-28 10:06:34'),
(4802, 4802, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Record levels of torrential rain in Auckland left three dead with a fourth person missing, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said Saturday after flooding devastated the country\'s largest city.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>During a press conference after visiting some of the waterlogged communities, Hipkins said flash flooding had led to \"three fatalities with one person still missing as a result of the weather\".</div><div><br></div><div>\"The level of devastation in some areas is considerable,\" he added.</div><div>Hipkins said Auckland experienced \"its wettest day on record\" on Friday.</div><div><br></div><div>\"This is an unprecedented event in recent memory.\"</div><div><br></div><div>It is his first major incident since Hipkins took office on Wednesday following Jacinda Ardern\'s shock resignation. Source: AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 10:25:42', '2023-01-28 10:25:42');
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(4803, 4803, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A Palestinian gunman opened fire outside an east Jerusalem synagogue Friday night, killing five people and wounding five others in one of the deadliest attacks on Israelis in years, medical officials said. The attack was halted when the gunman was shot by police.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The killings took place a day after Israeli troops killed nine Palestinians in a raid in the West Bank and raised the likelihood of further bloodshed.</div><div><br></div><div>The violence posed a challenge for Israel’s new hard-line government and cast a cloud over a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region Sunday. He is likely to discuss the underlying causes of the conflict that continue to fester, the agenda of Israel’s new far-right government and the Palestinian Authority’s decision to halt security coordination with Israel in retaliation for the deadly raid.</div><div><br></div><div>The Israeli rescue service MADA confirmed five deaths and said that five people were wounded, including a 70-year-old woman in critical condition and a 14-year-old boy in serious condition.</div><div><br></div><div>Police said the gunman was “neutralized,” a term that typically means he was killed. There was no official confirmation, however.</div><div><br></div><div>At several locations across the Gaza Strip, dozens of Palestinians gathered in spontaneous demonstrations to celebrate the Jerusalem attack, with some coming out of dessert shops with large trays of sweets to distribute. Similar celebrations were reported in the West Bank town of Ramallah.</div><div><br></div><div>The attack came amid heightened tensions. Palestinians marched in anger Friday as they buried the last of 10 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire a day earlier.</div><div><br></div><div>Scuffles between Israeli forces and Palestinian protesters erupted after the funeral for a 22-year-old Palestinian north of Jerusalem and elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, but calm prevailed in the contested capital and in the blockaded Gaza Strip for most of the day.</div><div><br></div><div>Thursday’s raid in the flashpoint Jenin refugee camp descended into a gunbattle that killed at least nine Palestinians, while clashes elsewhere left a 10th dead. Gaza militants then fired rockets and Israel carried out airstrikes overnight — but the exchange was limited.</div><div><br></div><div>The Biden administration has been deeply engaged with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in recent days, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, underscoring the “urgent need here for all parties to deescalate to prevent the further loss of civilian life and to work together to improve the security situation in the West Bank.”</div><div><br></div><div>“We’re certainly deeply concerned by this escalating cycle of violence in the West Bank as well as the rockets that have been apparently fired from Gaza,” Kirby said. “And of course, we condemn all acts that only further escalate tensions.”</div><div><br></div><div>Israel’s defense minister, meanwhile, instructed the military to prepare for new strikes in the Gaza Strip “if necessary” - also appearing to leave open the possibility that violence would subside.</div><div><br></div><div>While residents of Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank remained on edge earlier Friday, midday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, often a catalyst for clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police, passed in relative calm.</div><div><br></div><div>At the funeral of the 22-year-old, crowds of Palestinians waved the flags of both Fatah, the party that controls the Palestinian Authority, and militant Hamas, which rules Gaza. In the streets of the town called al-Ram, masked Palestinians threw stones and set off fireworks at Israeli police, who responded with tear gas.</div><div><br></div><div>But both the Palestinian rockets and Israeli airstrikes seemed limited so as to prevent growing into a full-blown war. Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and several smaller skirmishes since the militant group seized power in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.</div><div><br></div><div>Friday night’s shooting, come on the Jewish sabbath, immediately changed the equation.</div><div><br></div><div>Israel’s opposition leader, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, called it “horrific and heartbreaking.” - AP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 10:41:08', '2023-01-28 10:41:08'),
(4804, 4804, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Dan Izzett has lived with leprosy\'s effects on his body for 70 years, and has lost much to what he calls an \"ancient, fascinating, very unkind disease\".</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The Zimbabwean former civil engineering technician and pastor was diagnosed at the age of 25 in 1972, but first contracted the disease when he was just five.</div><div><br></div><div>That long incubation period gave the bacteria that causes leprosy, Mycobacterium leprae, lots of time to spread through his body.</div><div><br></div><div>His right leg was amputated in 1980 in Zimbabwe\'s capital Harare. Now 75, Izzett has no feeling above his elbows, below his knees or in 70 percent of his face.</div><div><br></div><div>That lack of feeling poses a \"constant danger,\" Izzett told AFP in a phone call from his home in southwest England.</div><div><br></div><div>In October 2020, \"I put my hands on a hot plate and hadn\'t noticed it until I could smell my flesh burning,\" he said, leading to the amputation of the middle finger of his right hand.</div><div><br></div><div>The following year, the little toe on his left foot was amputated. Last month, he lost another toe.</div><div><br></div><div>Izzett said he chose to speak out about his experience because millions of survivors who were less well off were unable to, partly because of the stigma and discrimination that still surrounds the disease.</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;The \'forgotten\' patients&nbsp;</div><div>Leprosy, also known as Hansen\'s disease, has been haunting humanity for at least 4,000 years, often affecting the poorest communities.</div><div><br></div><div>It is a considered a neglected tropical disease by the World Health Organization, and remains under researched and little discussed compared to many other illnesses.</div><div><br></div><div>In 2021, more than 140,500 new cases were detected worldwide, nearly three quarters of them in Brazil, India and Indonesia, according to the WHO.</div><div><br></div><div>However pandemic-related disruptions have led to nearly 40 percent fewer cases being detected a year, with fears that tens of thousands have gone undiagnosed.</div><div><br></div><div>Even before the pandemic, the official numbers likely did not reflect reality.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We know the number of patients who have been tested, but we do not count the forgotten, undetected patients,\" said Bertrand Cauchoix, a leprosy specialist at the Raoul Follereau Foundation in France.</div><div><br></div><div>This is in part because the disease\'s incubation period can last up to 20 years. Testing and diagnosis also takes time, during which patients could potentially infect their family members.</div><div><br></div><div>Before he received his diagnosis, said Izzett, \"my wife got the disease from me\".</div><div><br></div><div>Back in the 1970s, Izzett was given the antibiotic Dapsone, which was then a lifetime treatment.</div><div><br></div><div>In the mid-80s, a combination of drugs including Dapsone known as multidrug therapy (MDT) became available. It can cure leprosy over a 12-month course -- though nerve damage and other remnants of the disease remain.</div><div><br></div><div>Mathias Duck, a former chaplain in Paraguay\'s capital Asuncion, only needed six-months of MDT after being diagnosed with leprosy in 2010.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I consider myself the luckiest person affected by leprosy because I was diagnosed and treated in time and so I have no impairments whatsoever,\" the 44-year-old told AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>The WHO provides MDT to patients worldwide for free, with Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis donating doses since 2000.</div><div><br></div><div>However there has been little progress for new treatments.</div><div>\"There is no money for leprosy, only charitable donations,\" Cauchoix said.</div><div><br></div><div>Don\'t use the \'L word\'</div><div><br></div><div>Alexandra Aubry, a specialist at the Centre for Immunology and Infectious Diseases in France, evaluates whether every new antibiotic developed for other illnesses could also be used for leprosy.</div><div><br></div><div>Her laboratory is one of the few in the world able to carry out tests on the leprosy bacteria, which does not survive in a petri dish.</div><div><br></div><div>They are trying to find a way to \"simplify\" treatment so it can take less than six months, she said.</div><div><br></div><div>There are also a couple of vaccines being developed, though they remain in early phases of human testing.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It is very complex to get funding for this,\" Aubry said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"To assess the effectiveness of a vaccine, you have to follow the vaccinated population for 10 to 15 years,\" with the timeframe extended further by the disease\'s long incubation period, she said.</div><div><br></div><div>In comparison to how swiftly the world responded to Covid, leprosy efforts are \"a drop in the bucket,\" Duck said, calling for far more research and political action.</div><div><br></div><div>But he added that there is something everyone can do for World Leprosy Day on Sunday -- stop using the word \"leper\".</div><div><br></div><div>\"We call it the \'L word\',\" Duck said, describing it as discriminatory.</div><div>\"It\'s a little step that most people can do,\" he added, \"to give people affected by leprosy \"the dignity they deserve\". Source: AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 11:35:22', '2023-01-28 11:35:22'),
(4805, 4805, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The stock market has passed the 4th week of the current month with a capital gain of Tk 10,185 crore in four days, data analysis of the capital market has revealed.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The capital of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) was Tk 7.56 lakh crore at the beginning of trading on the first working day of last week. On the last day, after transaction on Thursday, the capital stood at Tk 7.67 lakh crores.</div><div><br></div><div>In other words, the capital has increased by Tk 10185 crore. It increased by Tk 2149 crore in the previous week. The investors\' capital increased in the market for two consecutive weeks.</div><div><br></div><div>In the past week (January 22 to 26), trading was done on five working days. The first trading day marked a fall in the index, followed by four consecutive trading days during which the index rose from Monday to Thursday.</div><div><br></div><div>During this period, a total of 387 shares and units were traded in DSE. Among them, 63 companies\' share prices increased, those of 119 decreased and 205 unchanged.</div><div><br></div><div>Among the companies traded in the previous week, 114 rose, 68 fell and 205 remained unchanged. The number of companies reducing prices has increased compared to the previous week.</div><div><br></div><div>However, the main index of DSE increased by 30 points from the previous week to 6,296 points in the outgoing week as the share prices of several companies increased.</div><div><br></div><div>Among the other two indexes of DSE, the DSES index increased by 6 points to 1,374 points and the DS-30 index increased by 22 points to 2,230 points from the previous week.</div><div><br></div><div>Although the index has increased, the volume of transactions has decreased. In the last week, the total transaction in DSE was Tk 3050 crores, which was traded in the previous week for Tk 3850 crore. That is, Tk 800 crore worth of transactions have decreased; as a percentage it has decreased by 20.78 percent.</div><div><br></div><div>The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), another capital market of the country, was also traded in the same condition.</div><div><br></div><div>In the last week, the overall index of CSE increased by 89 points to 18565 points. Tk 63.19 crores were traded during this time, which was traded in the previous week for Tk 104.55 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>Among the traded companies, the share prices of 61 companies increased, 83 decreased and 134 remained unchanged. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 11:47:39', '2023-01-28 11:47:39'),
(4806, 4806, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The financial loss of the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) is likely to cross Tk 54,000 crore in the current fiscal after the hike in the price of gas increased their input cost. In 2021-22 its losses were Tk 29,915 crore.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>“We have to count Tk 10,000 crore extra cost to pay the gas bills following the new gas price enhancement,” a top official of the BPDB told UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>He said the new cost of gas purchase was already communicated to the Power Division which had already raised the issue at a high level meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) seeking further instruction.</div><div><br></div><div>The government on January 18 raised the retail gas prices for public, private and captive power plants and also for industries and commercial users with effect from February 1.</div><div><br></div><div>As per the new government announcement, the gas prices have been increased by almost three times for public and private power plants while almost double for captive power plants and industries, and significantly hiked for commercial users.</div><div><br></div><div>However, prices for household consumers, CNG-run for motor vehicles and tea estates were kept unchanged.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The Energy and Mineral Resources Division set the prices through a gazette notification issued on Wednesday applying the new amendment to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Act, which empowered the government to set all kinds of energy prices bypassing the regulator’s jurisdictions at any time.</div><div><br></div><div>As per the gazette notification, the public and private power plants including the IPP and rental power plants will pay gas price at Tk 14 per unit (each cubic metre) instead of previous price of Tk 5.02. The rise is 179 percent.</div><div><br></div><div>The captive power plants, small power plants and commercial power plants will pay Tk 30 per unit instead of the previous price of Tk 16 which is an 88 percent rise.</div><div><br></div><div>It means after the current enhancement in gas price, the loss in the space of one fiscal will go up by over Tk 24,000 crore, said the sources at the BPDB - an almost 80 percent jump.</div><div><br></div><div>According to BPDB’s own latest estimates, the financial loss was supposed to cross Tk 48,000 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal from Tk 29,915 crore in the fiscal year 2021-22. But after the hike in bulk power tariff, the loss was calculated to come down by about Tk 4000 to Tk 44,000 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>“But now the loss will go up by Tk 10,000 crore due to the gas price hike effective from February 1,” said the official referring to their latest calculation.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The directorate of finance of BPDB prepared this calculation on the basis of an audited report, official sources said.</div><div><br></div><div>On November 21, the bulk power tariff was raised by about 19.92 percent - to Tk 6.20 per kilowatt hour (each unit) from the previous Tk 5.17 - with effect from December 2022.</div><div><br></div><div>As per the calculation, the loss has shot up excessively mainly for the two reasons - primary fuel price escalation and devaluation of the local currency.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Among the two, the devaluation of local currency emerged as the major reason,\" a top official of the BPDB told UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>He informed that the BPDB was going to incur a loss of about Tk 10,000 crore solely due to the high rate of dollar. Earlier, the US dollar exchange rate was calculated at Tk 85 which is now at Tk 107 which means the cost increased by Tk 22 per dollar.</div><div><br></div><div>The BPDB has to pay about $9 billion annually to buy electricity from private sector plants, to pay capacity charges and also to import other materials from abroad for its own purposes.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The BPDB has a power purchase agreement with a huge number of private power generation companies to buy their electricity.</div><div><br></div><div>Available statistics reveal, currently, the country’s installed power generation capacity is over 25,500 MW and more than 50 percent of electricity is generated by the private sector through independent power producers, rental and quick rental power plants.</div><div><br></div><div>Import of electricity from India is also counted as private sector generation.</div><div><br></div><div>The private sector operators mainly use furnace oil, natural gas and diesel. Of these, 4,700 MW is generated by using furnace oil. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 13:39:20', '2023-01-28 13:39:20'),
(4807, 4807, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Weather may remain dry with temporary partly cloudy skies over the country in the next 24 hours, the Met office said.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Light to moderate fog may occur at places over the country from late night till morning, said the latest weather bulletin from Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).</div><div><br></div><div>Night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country while day temperature may fall slightly over the northern part and it may remain nearly unchanged elsewhere over the country, as per the bulletin.</div><div><br></div><div>The lowest temperature was recorded in Tetulia at 12.2 degree Celsius, while the highest temperature was 31 degrees in Sitakunda and Teknaf of the Chattogram division.</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile, a low-pressure area has formed over southeast Bay and adjoining areas. Its associated trough extends up to North Bay. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 14:19:38', '2023-01-28 14:19:38'),
(4808, 4808, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Terming their march programme a new form of anti-government movement, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday called upon the government to quit power immediately to avert a shocking ouster.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“We started a new movement today (Saturday) through this silent protest in Dhaka city. Through the silent march together with people we’ll force this terrible, monstrous government to quit power,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>In a brief address prior to launching the march programme in the city’s Badda area, the BNP leader also said they want to send out a message to the government through the fresh programme to hand over power to a caretaker government with immediate resignation and empower the people to exercise their right to vote under a new Election Commission.</div><div><br></div><div>“Otherwise you will have to face a very shocking ouster and you won’t find a way to escape,” he warned.</div><div><br></div><div>As part of the party’s four-day programme, BNP leaders and activists marched towards the capital\'s Abul Hotel area in Malibagh from Badda’s&nbsp; Suvastu Nazar Valley market to press home their 10-point demand, including holding the next general election under a non-party caretaker government.</div><div><br></div><div>Fakhrul formally inaugurated the programme around 2:30 pm which ended peacefully around 4pm after parading over a four-kilometre stretch of the road.</div><div><br></div><div>He asked the party leaders and activists to hold the programme peacefully without responding to any provocation. \"We\'ve so far held our all programmes peacefully and we\'ll ensure their (govt\'s) fall through the peaceful agitations.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Accusing the government of snatching people\'s voting rights, the BNP leader said they will restore the voting rights of people by ousting the Awami League government.</div><div><br></div><div>\"No fair election will be held as long as Awami League is in power. So, the Awami League government must hand over power to a caretaker government by quitting power and dissolving parliament so that people can cast their votes under a new Election&nbsp; Commission,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Fakhrul said people will elect their representatives and the government with their votes through a credible election under a non-party administration. “That elected government will run the country.”</div><div><br></div><div>He bemoaned that people are struggling to get by as the prices of all essential commodities, including rice, oil, salt and eggs, have gone up unusually.</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader alleged that people now cannot raise their voices against the government due to repressive acts. “The opposition leaders and activists are being arrested and sent to jail by implicating them in false cases and fictitious cases. They (govt) have turned entire Bangladesh into a prison.”</div><div><br></div><div>Claiming that their party’s around 35 lakh people have been facing political cases, he said all these cases must be withdrawn and all the arrested leaders and activists will have to be released for a fair and inclusive election in the country.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier on Thursday, BNP announced the four-day march programme in the capital for January 28, 30, 31 and February 1.</div><div><br></div><div>Dhaka North City unit BNP will also march from Gabtoli to Mirpur-10 intersection on January 31, reports UNB</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, Dhaka South City unit BNP will march from Jatrabari to Shyampur on January 30 and from Mugda to Malibagh on February 1.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 14:50:54', '2023-01-28 14:50:54'),
(4809, 4809, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">An emotional Aryna Sabalenka battled back from a set down to beat Elena Rybakina and win the Australian Open on Saturday for her first Grand Slam title.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The hard-hitting Belarusian collapsed to the court in tears after winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 against the Wimbledon champion in a 2hr 28min arm-wrestle on Rod Laver Arena.</div><div><br></div><div>The 24-year-old Sabalenka wiped away tears before getting a warm hug from Moscow-born Rybakina, who played a full part in a thrilling match between two of the most powerful hitters in the women\'s game.</div><div><br></div><div>Sabalenka, the fifth seed, then ran to her player\'s box to celebrate with her team.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Thank you, my team, the craziest team on the tour. We\'ve been through a lot of I would say downs last year,\" Sabalenka said, addressing her team after receiving the trophy.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Thank you so much for what you are doing for me. I love you guys.\"</div><div><br></div><div>She added: \"I want to congratulate Elena for an incredible two weeks. You\'re such a great player and of course we are going to have many more battles, hopefully in finals of the Grand Slams.\"</div><div><br></div><div>It was a fitting finale to two weeks of drama at Melbourne Park, highlighted by brutal groundstrokes, precision serving and wonderful rallies from two players at the top of their game.</div><div><br></div><div>- Nerve-shredding -</div><div>Rybakina cruised through the first set in 34 minutes but Sabalenka scrapped her way back in a 57-minute second set to take it to a nervy decider.</div><div><br></div><div>It was then a case of which of the big servers would blink first in a toe-to-toe battle.</div><div><br></div><div>At 3-3 Rybakina -- who represents Kazakhstan-- could not find enough first serves and though she saved two break points, a third was too much and Sabalenka had the finish line in sight.</div><div><br></div><div>An ace took her to 5-3 and Rybakina held to force Sabalenka to test her nerves and serve for the championship.</div><div><br></div><div>She was up to the challenge, but needed four nerve-shredding match points after a display where she hit an astonishing 51 winners and 17 aces to edge past the big-serving Rybakina.</div><div><br></div><div>Sabalenka will now rise to second in the world, equalling her career high.</div><div><br></div><div>Rybakina will have the consolation of breaking into the top 10 for the first time, after reaching her second Grand Slam final in seven months.</div><div><br></div><div>She was awarded no ranking points for her Wimbledon win because of the ban on Russian and Belarusian players there.</div><div><br></div><div>- New ground -</div><div><br></div><div>Both players broke new ground in Melbourne this year.</div><div><br></div><div>Rybakina\'s previous Australian Open best was a third-round appearance in 2020, while Sabalenka had exited in the fourth round in 2021 and 2022.</div><div><br></div><div>Sabalenka served first in the final and let out a nervous laugh as she immediately double-faulted.</div><div><br></div><div>It was the sort of start that might have induced a bout of nerves in the Sabalenka of 2022, when she dished up 428 double faults, 151 more than any other player on the women\'s tour.</div><div><br></div><div>But not this year. Her new-found confidence enabled her to respond immediately with an ace and roll through to hold.</div><div><br></div><div>Rybakina had served more aces than any other player, 45, in her run to the final and she rattled off three more in a row to level at 1-1.</div><div><br></div><div>Rybakina fought back from 0-40 to deuce in the next when a second Sabalenka double fault opened the door.</div><div><br></div><div>She stepped through when Sabalenka went wide and consolidated to lead 3-1, then served out with ease to take the first set</div><div><br></div><div>It was the first set that Sabalenka had dropped in 2023.</div><div><br></div><div>The second set started in similar fashion, Sabalenka holding but under pressure on her serve.</div><div><br></div><div>She showed guts at 1-1 to hold with two aces before forcing a break of her own with her heavy groundstrokes to lead 3-1.</div><div><br></div><div>Another double fault gave Rybakina an immediate break back point which Sabalenka saved with a power-packed backhand winner and a scream of \"Come on!\" before getting to 4-1.</div><div><br></div><div>Sabalenka, having visibly picked up the pace, took the set.</div><div><br></div><div>The third set was heart-thumpingly tight, both players creating chances only to see their opponent fight back, until Sabalenka finally secured her dream. - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 16:07:38', '2023-01-28 16:07:38'),
(4810, 4810, '<div><b><br></b></div><div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday accused the Ukrainian army of striking a hospital in the eastern Lugansk region, leaving 14 dead and injuring 24 others.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>On Saturday morning in the town of Novoaidar, “the Ukrainian armed forces deliberately attacked the building of a district hospital” with a US-made HIMARS multiple-launch rocket system, the ministry said in a statement.</div><div><br></div><div>The ministry added that 14 were killed and 24 wounded among the “hospital patients and medical staff.”</div><div><br></div><div>It said that the hospital has been providing “necessary medical assistance to the local population and military personnel for many months,” reports AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“A deliberate missile strike on a known active civilian medical facility is, without doubt, a grave war crime by the Kyiv regime,” the ministry said.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-28 16:20:39', '2023-01-28 16:20:39'),
(4811, 4811, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Memphis Police Department has disbanded the so-called Scorpion special unit, whose officers are accused of murdering Tyre Nichols.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Scorpion stands for \"Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The unit is a 50-person unit with the mission of bringing down crime levels in particular areas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But now it is being abolished after its officers were seen beating Mr Nichols, 29, in the videos from 7 January.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a statement, the department said \"it is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate\" the unit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"While the heinous actions of a few casts a cloud of dishonour on the title Scorpion, it is imperative that we, the Memphis Police Department, take proactive steps in the healing process for all impacted,\" it added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Nichols\' family welcomed the decision in a statement from their lawyers, calling it \"both appropriate and proportional to the tragic death of Tyre Nichols, and also a decent and just decision for all citizens of Memphis\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The unit was launched in October 2021 with a focus on high-impact crimes, such as car thefts and gang-related offences.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The five officers - Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith - were fired last week.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They were taken into custody on Thursday and each faces charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Four of the five posted bail and were released from custody by Friday morning, according to jail records.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lawyers for Mr Martin and Mr Mills have said their clients will plead not guilty.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The unit that murdered Tyre has been permanently disbanded,\" a protester shouted into a megaphone in Memphis and the crowd erupted into cheers. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Despite the rain, the group of fewer than 100 protesters had gathered in the square in front of the Memphis Police headquarters to demand change to a system of policing that they said makes a habit of brutalising black people in Memphis and across the country.  </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Memphis is taking a stand,\" said Casio Montez, one of the protest organisers. \"This means we\'re doing something right.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Montez vowed that he and other community organisers would continue to pressure Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis and city officials until \"the community\'s demands are met\", including reforming the department\'s organised crime unit.  </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In an interview with BBC News on Friday, Chief Davis said the Scorpion unit was created to be \"more responsive\" and \"more proactive\" to gun violence in the city. But she acknowledged that the officers who brutally beat Tyre Nichols \"decided to go off the rails\".  </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are doing an individual evaluation of all units,\" she said. \"This is a necessary step. We want to be fully transparent to the community.\"  </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But for some, the problem of police violence is more deeply rooted than any reform can address.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the rally Saturday, Memphis native Allie Watkins held a sign that proclaimed, \"All cops uphold white supremacy.\"  </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The sign is historically accurate, she said, because the history of policing in America began with slave patrols.  </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"This is not an issue of corruption in the United States, this is an issue of the fact that the system has been built against black bodies,\" she said.  If the system is broken, she added, the only way to fix it is to start again. 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, '2023-01-29 02:39:29', '2023-01-29 15:58:25'),
(4812, 4812, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Donald Trump\'s announcement that he\'s running for US president in 2024 wasn\'t a lark, or a ploy to avoid prosecution, as some have speculated. He\'s hitting the road and laying the kind of groundwork necessary for a serious bid to recapture the White House.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nearly three months after announcing his campaign, the former president made his first campaign foray out of his adopted home state of Florida on Saturday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In New Hampshire, he addressed a meeting of the Republican Party and announced the outgoing state party chair would be a senior adviser to his campaign. And at the state capitol in Columbia, South Carolina, he received the endorsements of the state\'s governor, Henry McMaster, and Senator Lindsey Graham.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The latter, a Trump confidante who expressed some disillusionment after the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021, is now back firmly in the fold.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"How many times have you heard, \'We like Trump policies, but we want somebody new?\" Mr Graham asked the crowd. \"There are no Trump policies without Donald Trump. I was there.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Trump once again denied his 2020 defeat and told supporters that he - unlike any possible Republican alternatives - would be the most effective nominee in 2024.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"To change the whole system, you need a president who can take on the whole system and a president who can win,\" he said from the state capitol\'s main hall.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In both stops, Mr Trump touted what he said was his record of success during his presidency and attacked President Joe Biden\'s record on crime, immigration and the economy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Across the street, Todd Gerhardt, a Republican district executive committee member from nearby Charleston, sold honey in Trump-shaped plastic bottles.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Gerhardt was an early supporter of Mr Trump\'s first presidential campaign, organised a 2016 rally for him on South Carolina\'s posh Kiawah Island, and recently visited the former president\'s Mar-a-Lago estate for a fundraiser and to provide his honey for the campaign\'s gift bags.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said Mar-a-Lago had a festive atmosphere as the Trump team geared up for the coming fight and he dismissed concerns that Republican voters, in South Carolina and across the US, might be looking for a different nominee this time around.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"When people talk about other candidates running and they say I\'m going to do this, or I\'m going to do that, Trump has actually done it,\" Gerhardt says. \"He has all the oxygen in the room.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier in the day, at a street market a few blocks away from the capitol, however, Mr Trump\'s visit to Columbia seemed hardly to register. A patron at a local coffee shop groused about it being inappropriate for the former president to hold a campaign event on state property, but most did not even know he was in town.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"There doesn\'t seem to be the same enthusiasm for Trump this time around,\" said another local.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It\'s no coincidence that the first two stops of Mr Trump\'s third presidential campaign were South Carolina and New Hampshire. The two states could prove to be central to Mr Trump\'s strategy to retake the White House.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While Iowa is the first state to hold a Republican presidential nomination contest in 2024, Mr Trump finished third there in 2016 and the evangelical Christians who dominate the state\'s Republican electorate could be eying other possible candidates, like former Vice-President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">New Hampshire and South Carolina, however, provided Mr Trump with a one-two punch that catapulted him to the front in 2016 - a lead he never relinquished.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They could do the same in 2024. In fact, every Republican presidential nominee since 1980 has won the South Carolina primary, making it unique among the traditional early-voting states.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">South Carolina could prove to be a unique challenge for Mr Trump this time around, however. He faces potential challenges from Senator Tim Scott as well as the state\'s former governor, Nikki Haley.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">If this is a pivotal moment for Mr Trump, it comes at a time when public opinion polls are starting to stabilise for him after his support dropped in the aftermath of Republicans\' disappointing results in November\'s midterm congressional elections.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An Emerson Poll conducted earlier this week found 55% of Republican voters supporting Mr Trump, well ahead of the 29% for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has not announced a presidential bid but is viewed to be the former president\'s most formidable rival. A Monmouth poll in December had Mr DeSantis ahead by double-digits.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier this week, Meta announced that it was lifting the suspension it had placed on Mr Trump\'s accounts in the aftermath of the attack on the US Capitol by his supporters. Although the former president has yet to resume posting to his accounts, his return could provide yet another opportunity for voter outreach - and fundraising - as his still minimally staffed campaign gears up for its 2024 run.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">If rallies and Facebook donations were the fuel for Mr Trump\'s past White House bids, his South Carolina stop was a different kind of operation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With only 300 announced attendees, it was a decidedly low-key event compared to his typical arena gatherings, with their carnival atmosphere. Attire tended toward sport coats and dresses, not Make America Great Again hats and Let\'s Go Brandon t-shirts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">To win a third Republican presidential nomination, however, Mr Trump will need the support of the political rank-and-file in states like New Hampshire and South Carolina, as well as his rally-going loyalists. And while Mr Trump\'s national polls show continued strength, a recent South Carolina survey had nearly half of Republican voters expressing a preference for \"someone else\" besides Mr Trump.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Someone else\" will not appear on primary ballots, however. And with just over a year until voting begins, while he is still the only announced candidate, Donald Trump is testing out new ways to make that pitch.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"They said he\'s not doing rallies and he\'s not campaigning, maybe he\'s lost his step,\" Mr Trump said in New Hampshire. \"I\'m more angry now and I\'m more committed now than I ever was.\" 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, '2023-01-29 02:53:37', '2023-01-29 02:53:37');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4813, 4813, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Israel\'s prime minister has promised \"strong\" and \"swift\" response after two separate attacks by Palestinians in Jerusalem over the past two days.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The attacks took place after an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank killed nine people.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Ahead of a security cabinet meeting, Benjamin Netanyahu said he would seek new measures to \"combat terror\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Israeli\'s army also said it would be reinforcing troop numbers in the occupied West Bank.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">His comments came after Israeli police said a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was behind a shooting in Jerusalem\'s Silwan neighbourhood on Saturday that left an Israeli father and son seriously wounded.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">An Israeli police force spokesperson previously said the assailant ambushed five people as they made their way to prayers, leaving two in a \"critical condition\". The 13-year-old was shot and injured by passers-by and is being held in hospital.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">In a separate shooting on Friday at a synagogue in East Jerusalem, seven people were killed and at least three more injured as they gathered for prayers at the start of the Jewish Sabbath. The gunman was shot dead at the scene.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The man behind Friday\'s synagogue attack was identified by local media as a Palestinian from East Jerusalem.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Police have arrested 42 people in connection with that attack.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Israeli police commissioner Kobi Shabtai called it \"one of the worst attacks we have encountered in recent years\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Palestinian militant groups praised the attack, but did not say one of their members was responsible.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Mr Netanyahu called for calm and urged citizens to allow security forces to carry out their tasks, while the military said additional troops would be deployed in the occupied West Bank.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"I call again on all Israelis - don\'t take the law into your hands,\" Mr Netanyahu said. He thanked several world leaders - including US President Joe Biden - for their support.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Tensions have been high since nine Palestinians - both militants and civilians - were killed during an Israeli military raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">This was followed by rocket fire into Israel from Gaza, which Israel responded to with air strikes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Since the start of January, 30 Palestinians - both militants and civilians - have been killed in the West Bank.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas suspended its security co-operation arrangements with Israel after Thursday\'s raid in Jenin.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Friday\'s synagogue shooting happened on Holocaust Memorial Day, which commemorates the six million Jews and other victims who were killed in the Holocaust by the Nazi regime in Germany.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, saying that one of the victims was a Ukrainian woman.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"Terror must have no place in today\'s world - neither in Israel nor Ukraine,\" he said in a tweet.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly wrote on Twitter: \"To attack worshippers at a synagogue on Holocaust Memorial Day, and during Shabbat, is horrific. We stand with our Israeli friends.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">President Joe Biden talked to Mr Netanyahu and offered all \"appropriate means of support\", the White House said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Shortly after the incident, Mr Netanyahu visited the site, as did the controversial far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Mr Ben-Gvir promised to bring safety back to Israel\'s streets, but there is rising anger that he has not yet done so, the BBC\'s Yolande Knell in Jerusalem said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was \"deeply worried about the current escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory\", a spokesperson said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"This is the moment to exercise utmost restraint,\" UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">On Saturday, the European Union expressed alarm at heightened tensions and urged Israel to use lethal force only as a last resort.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"The European Union fully recognises Israel\'s legitimate security concerns - as evidenced by the latest terrorist attacks - but it has to be stressed that lethal force must only be used as a last resort when it is strictly unavoidable in order to protect life,\" said the EU\'s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since the 1967 Middle East war and considers the entire city its capital, though this is not recognised by the vast majority of the international community.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the future capital of a hoped-for independent state. 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, '2023-01-29 03:03:45', '2023-01-29 03:03:45'),
(4814, 4814, '<p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The financial loss of the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) is likely to cross Tk 54,000 crore in the current fiscal after the hike in the price of gas increased their input cost. In 2021-22 its losses were Tk 29,915 crore.</b></span><br></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">“We have to count Tk 10,000 crore extra cost to pay the gas bills following the new gas price enhancement,” a top official of the BPDB told UNB.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">He said the new cost of gas purchase was already communicated to the Power Division which had already raised the issue at a high level meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) seeking further instruction.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The government on January 18 raised the retail gas prices for public, private and captive power plants and also for industries and commercial users with effect from February 1.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">As per the new government announcement, the gas prices have been increased by almost three times for public and private power plants while almost double for captive power plants and industries, and significantly hiked for commercial users.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">However, prices for household consumers, CNG-run for motor vehicles and tea estates were kept unchanged. </p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The Energy and Mineral Resources Division set the prices through a gazette notification issued on Wednesday applying the new amendment to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Act, which empowered the government to set all kinds of energy prices bypassing the regulator’s jurisdictions at any time.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">As per the gazette notification, the public and private power plants including the IPP and rental power plants will pay gas price at Tk 14 per unit (each cubic metre) instead of previous price of Tk 5.02. The rise is 179 percent.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The captive power plants, small power plants and commercial power plants will pay Tk 30 per unit instead of the previous price of Tk 16 which is an 88 percent rise.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">It means after the current enhancement in gas price, the loss in the space of one fiscal will go up by over Tk 24,000 crore, said the sources at the BPDB - an almost 80 percent jump.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">According to BPDB’s own latest estimates, the financial loss was supposed to cross Tk 48,000 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal from Tk 29,915 crore in the fiscal year 2021-22. But after the hike in bulk power tariff, the loss was calculated to come down by about Tk 4000 to Tk 44,000 crore.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">“But now the loss will go up by Tk 10,000 crore due to the gas price hike effective from February 1,” said the official referring to their latest calculation.    </p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The directorate of finance of BPDB prepared this calculation on the basis of an audited report, official sources said.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">On November 21, the bulk power tariff was raised by about 19.92 percent – to Tk 6.20 per kilowatt hour (each unit) from the previous Tk 5.17 – with effect from December 2022.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">As per the calculation, the loss has shot up excessively mainly for the two reasons — primary fuel price escalation and devaluation of the local currency.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"Among the two, the devaluation of local currency emerged as the major reason,\" a top official of the BPDB told UNB.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">He informed that the BPDB was going to incur a loss of about Tk 10,000 crore solely due to the high rate of dollar. Earlier, the US dollar exchange rate was calculated at Tk 85 which is now at Tk 107 which means the cost increased by Tk 22 per dollar.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The BPDB has to pay about $9 billion annually to buy electricity from private sector plants, to pay capacity charges and also to import other materials from abroad for its own purposes.  </p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The BPDB has a power purchase agreement with a huge number of private power generation companies to buy their electricity.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Available statistics reveal, currently, the country’s installed power generation capacity is over 25,500 MW and more than 50 percent of electricity is generated by the private sector through independent power producers, rental and quick rental power plants.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Import of electricity from India is also counted as private sector generation.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The private sector operators mainly use furnace oil, natural gas and diesel. Of these, 4,700 MW is generated by using furnace oil. UNB</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</p>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-29 03:28:38', '2023-01-29 15:58:54'),
(4815, 4815, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Slowing inflation and a cooling property sector are fueling expectations that the US central bank can adopt a smaller interest rate hike this week, as policymakers assess current efforts to rein in prices.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As consumer inflation rocketed to decades-high levels last year, the Federal Reserve raised rates seven times in an aggressive campaign to cool the world\'s biggest economy and lower costs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since then, the interest-sensitive property sector has slumped, retail sales have weakened and wage growth has started to ease, prompting some Fed policymakers to suggest it may be time to slow the pace of rate hikes further.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"A slower pace of rate hikes will give the committee time to assess the full economic effects of monetary tightening thus far,\" said Moody\'s Investors Service in a report.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Markets expect the Fed to adopt a 25-basis-point hike at the end of a two-day meeting Wednesday, slowing the pace of increases for a second time in a row.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This would take the benchmark lending rate to 4.50-4.75 percent, a level last seen in 2007. In December, the Fed announced a 50-basis-point hike, stepping down from four earlier, steeper spikes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"They are seeing the desired effects of policy,\" Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics told AFP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"They don\'t want to keep on pushing until they get the economy into a recession,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- \'Far from won\' -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But the inflation fight \"is far from won,\" warned the Moody\'s report.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Although demand appears to be moderating and supply bottlenecks have eased, spending has been stronger than expected.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This has prevented inflation from falling more rapidly and suggests the Fed\'s \"terminal rate\" -- the level at which it will halt its increases -- remains uncertain.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For inflation to come down to the Fed\'s target, \"we will need a little bit of softening in the labor market,\" Madhavi Bokil of Moody\'s Investors Service told AFP. This could show up in a slower pace of hiring and fewer vacancies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Wages do not appear to be driving inflation up, but they do lend some support to consumer spending as households draw down on pandemic-era savings.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Salary gains remained high last year, while employers were reluctant to shed workers they may have struggled to find since the pandemic, keeping the labor market tight.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- \'Soft landing\' -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the other hand, the fact that the labor market has not slumped in response to tightening monetary policy brings optimism for a \"soft landing\" of the economy, where inflation comes down without triggering significant job losses or a major downturn.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"No one ever said that arranging a soft landing is easy, but our base case remains that if the Fed stops raising rates soon, the risk of a severe recession is quite small,\" said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">If the Fed raises rates too far, a \"bigger danger\" would be an unnecessary recession, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"However much the Fed might want to be sure the inflation demon is put back in its box,\" dragging inflation below policymakers\' two percent target and an \"accompanying rise in unemployment would represent a policy failure,\" said Shepherdson. 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, '2023-01-29 03:47:47', '2023-01-29 03:47:47'),
(4816, 4816, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">North Korea on Sunday denied providing arms to Moscow after the United States said the nuclear-armed state supplied rockets and missiles to Russia\'s private military group Wagner.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Washington earlier this month designated the Wagner group as a \"transnational criminal organization,\" citing its weapons dealings with Pyongyang in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The White House showed US intelligence photographs of Russian rail cars entering North Korea, picking up a load of infantry rockets and missiles, and returning to Russia, according to national security spokesman John Kirby.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, a senior North Korean official rejected the accusations, warning that the US will face a \"really undesirable result\" if it persists in spreading the \"self-made rumour\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Trying to tarnish the image of (North Korea) by fabricating a non-existent thing is a grave provocation that can never be allowed and that cannot but trigger its reaction,\" said Kwon Jong Gun, director general of the Department of US Affairs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also called it \"a foolish attempt to justify its offer of weapons to Ukraine\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden promised 31 Abrams tanks, one of the most powerful and sophisticated weapons in the US army, to help Kyiv fight off Moscow\'s invasion.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The move drew a rebuke Friday from Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who accused Washington of \"further crossing the red line\" by sending the tanks into Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Along with China, Russia is one of the North\'s few international friends and has previously come to the regime\'s aid.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Other than Syria and Russia, North Korea is the only country to recognise the independence of Luhansk and Donetsk, two Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia, one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, has long held the line against increasing pressure on nuclear-armed North Korea, even asking for relief from international sanctions for humanitarian reasons.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kim Jong Un declared North Korea an \"irreversible\" nuclear state in September, and the country conducted sanctions-busting weapons tests nearly every month last year -- including firing its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile. 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, '2023-01-29 04:19:09', '2023-01-29 04:19:09'),
(4817, 4817, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">New Zealand police said Sunday a fourth body was found after deadly record torrential rain and flooding devastated Auckland.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The country\'s largest city saw 249 millimetres of rainfall on Friday, smashing the previous record of 161mm in a 24-hour period, and Auckland\'s 1.6 million residents remain under a state of emergency.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two bodies were found in floodwater at separate locations Friday night in the northern suburb of Wairau Valley, and a third was discovered Saturday after a landslide brought down a home in central Auckland.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Sunday a drone operator discovered the body of a man about a kilometre from where he was swept away Friday at Onewhero, south of Auckland.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The flooding situation has been a traumatic experience for everyone in Auckland,\" New Zealand\'s deputy prime minister Carmel Sepuloni said at a press conference in the city Sunday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The most horrific part of it has been that we have lost lives... we share our condolences and sadness with that person\'s family,\" she added when asked about the Onewhero death.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the peak of the flooding Friday, around 24,000 homes were without power, according to transport minister Michael Wood, speaking alongside Sepuloni -- who is also a member of parliament for the West Auckland suburb Kelston.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said that by Sunday around 3,000 homes are still without electricity, and a number of homes are without water, including hers. She added that companies are working to reinstate electricity and water.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Friday\'s torrential rain also flooded terminals at Auckland airport, which had to be closed before international flights could resume Sunday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sir Elton John was forced to cancel concerts in Auckland Friday and Saturday -- part of his farewell tour -- due to crowd safety. 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, '2023-01-29 04:41:37', '2023-01-29 04:41:37'),
(4818, 4818, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least 24 people died Saturday when a bus carrying 60 passengers, including an unknown number of Haitians, plunged over a cliff in northwestern Peru, police said.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They had earlier stated the toll in Piura province as 25, before correcting it to 24.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The bus, belonging to the Qorianka Tours company, departed from Lima and was en route to Tumbes, on the border with Ecuador, when it went off the road near the town of Organos, according to police.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police at the scene told local media that the accident occurred at a difficult spot known as \"Devil\'s Curve,\" but they said the cause remained under investigation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An unknown number of injured passengers were transported to hospitals in El Alto and Mancora, popular resorts some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of Lima.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some passengers were from Haiti, the police said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The number of Haitian migrants in Peru has been increasing, though the situation of those on the bus remains unclear.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Several passengers were thrown from the bus while others were trapped inside. 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, '2023-01-29 04:54:59', '2023-01-29 04:54:59'),
(4819, 4819, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Iran repelled a drone attack on a military site in central Isfahan province, the defence ministry said early Sunday acording to the IRNA news agency.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"An unsuccessful attack was carried out using (drones) ... on one of the workshop complexes of the ministry of defence,\" it said, adding that the strike late Saturday night caused only minor damage to the roof of a building but no casualties.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The announcement of the attack comes at a tense time in Iran, which has been rocked by protests over the death of Mahsa Amini in September, tensions over its nuclear programme and accusations by some countries that Tehran has been supplying drones to Russia for the war in Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ministry said one of the drones was destroyed by the site\'s anti-aircraft defence system, while the other two exploded.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The attack, which occurred around 11:30 pm on Saturday, did not cause any disruption to the operation of the complex,\" it said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A video widely shared on social media, the authenticity of which AFP could not verify, shows a loud explosion at the site and images of emergency vehicles then heading towards the area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The deputy governor of Isfahan province, Mohammad Reza Jan-Nesari, also said on television there had been \"no casualties\", adding that \"the cause of the incident is under investigation.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Authorities did not elaborate on the activities at the targeted site, north of the city of Isfahan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Iran has several known nuclear research sites in the region, including a uranium conversion plant.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In April 2021, Tehran announced that it had started producing 60 percent enriched uranium at the Natanz site in Isfahan province.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, known by its acronym JCPOA, between Iran, the European Union and six major powers, stalled after the United States exited in 2018.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The agreement was aimed at preventing Tehran from acquiring atomic weapons, an objective that Iran has always denied pursuing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In recent years, Iran has accused Israel of carrying out several covert actions on its soil, including an attack, according to Tehran, using a satellite-controlled machine gun, which killed a leading nuclear physicist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in November 2020.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In addition, Tehran has been accused in recent months of supplying drones to Russia for the war in Ukraine, which Iran denies. 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, '2023-01-29 05:21:01', '2023-01-29 05:21:01'),
(4820, 4820, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The enthusiastic people of the city along with other parts of eight districts under Rajshahi division are eagerly waiting to welcome Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina here today.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Already, the metropolis has become colourful and decorative with scores of banners, posters, placards and festoons and paintings on the roadside walls.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to address a huge public meeting organized by Rajshahi city and district units of Bangladesh Awami League (AL) at historic Madrasha ground today as chief guest.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Apart from addressing the meeting, she is expected to inaugurate 25 projects with involvement of around Taka 1,316.97 crore. The premier is also likely to lay the foundation stones of six other projects with an estimated cost of around Taka 376.28 crore.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many of the AL leaders and workers fixed large and medium size banners and posters on both sides of the roads towards the meeting venue welcoming Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">AL Presidium Member and Rajshahi Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton said measures have been taken so that the public in general can hear the speech of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in and around three-kilometer areas in addition to the meeting venue.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Elaborating their preparations to make the meeting a grand success, he said adequate number of volunteers will remain engaged for security. \"We are now in the final stage of preparations,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mayor Liton said the law enforcement agencies have taken tight security measures to make the public meeting a total success.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) has imposed some restrictions to make the public meeting a success. RMP Commissioner Anisur Rahman told BSS that carrying, using, possessing and selling of all kinds of firearms, explosives and crackers have been banned from 6am of January 27 to 6am of January 30, 2023 in the city.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Drone flying without prior permission has also been banned during the same period.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Selling and purchasing of any type of drug items, including local and foreign wine, spirit and alcohol, were also banned. Shops and bars of the drink items have been asked to shut their business during the time.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He, however, mentioned that firearms of the law enforcement agencies and other security personnel will not remain under the purview of the restriction.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Commissioner Anisur Rahman said they have imposed the restrictions to maintain a peaceful environment centering the public meeting, where a large number of people from far flung areas of the region are expected to join. 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, '2023-01-29 05:44:47', '2023-01-29 05:44:47'),
(4821, 4821, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka’s air quality remained in the \'very unhealthy\' zone this morning. With an air quality index (AQI) score of 215 at 11:30 am, the capital of Bangladesh ranked second in the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">India’s Delhi and Pakistan’s Lahore occupied the first and third spots, with AQI of 249 and 201 respectively.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered \'unhealthy\', particularly for sensitive groups, and an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be \'poor\', while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered \'hazardous\', posing serious health risks to residents.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, is used by government agencies to inform 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; \">In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants -- Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone. 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, '2023-01-29 06:15:20', '2023-01-29 06:15:20'),
(4822, 4822, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least 40 people died when a bus plunged off a bridge in southwestern Pakistan and burst into flames, a government official said Sunday.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The dead bodies...are beyond recognition,\" Hamza Anjum, a senior official of Lasbela district in Balochistan province, said at the accident site. 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, '2023-01-29 06:26:24', '2023-01-29 06:26:24'),
(4823, 4823, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Results of 2022 HSC and equivalent exams will be published on February 8.</b><br></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 to UNB today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“A proposal was sent to the Ministry of Education to publish the results between February 7 and 9. The prime minister set February 8 as the date,” he said.</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. 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, '2023-01-29 07:12:49', '2023-01-29 07:12:49'),
(4824, 4824, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Akshay Kumar has unveiled the teaser of his upcoming song Main Khiladi from the film Selfiee. It is the recreation of his hit 90s song Main Khiladi Tu Anari from the film of the same name, which had him and Saif Ali Khan matching steps on the dance floor. The new song has Akshay with Emraan Hashmi as they dance to the hit dance number.</span><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sharing the teaser of the new song, Akshay Kumar wrote on Instagram, “Munh se seeti aur haath se taali bajaane ko ho tayyar (are you ready to whistle and clap)? Here’s a teaser of #MainKhiladi. Song drops 1st Feb!!” While the original had Akshay in a black blazer and tie and Saif in a brown jacket, the new song has Akshay in a shimmery green blazer and Emraan Hashmi in a shimmery black jacket. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They are also seen doing one of the original dance steps that has Emraan doing Saif\'s step by grooving while lying on the floor with Akshay dancing in front of him.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The original was sung by Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Udit Narayan and Anu Malik and also had Johny Lever in the frame. It was written by Maya Govind. Kader Khan had also made a brief appearance in the song from the 1994 film which had Shilpa Shetty in a dual role and Raageshwari as well.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Directed by Raj Mehta of Good Newwz fame, the film stars Akshay and Emraan together on screen for the first time. Nushraatt Bharuccha and Diana Penty play the female leads in the film. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The trailer introduced Emraan as a cop, who wishes to have a selfie with his favourite actor Vijay (played by Akshay). But the two find themselves in a tussle and it leads to a cold war between a fan and a star. The film is the official Hindi remake of the Malayalam film Driving License, which starred Prithviraj and Suraj Venjaramoodu in lead roles.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It will release in theatres on February 24 this year. It is produced by the late Aruna Bhatia, Hiroo Yash Johar, Supriya Menon, Karan Johar, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Apoorva Mehta and Listin Stephen. 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, '2023-01-29 07:53:36', '2023-01-29 07:58:39'),
(4825, 4825, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today asked members of Bangladesh Police to take services to people’s doorsteps.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The police services will have to reach the doorsteps of the masses, prioritizing the concept of ‘citizen services’ for modern times, so that police can earn public confidence,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister was addressing the parade of the 38th BCS Police Batch at Bangladesh Police Academy in Rajshahi’s Sardah.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said that police need to win public trust as cooperation from the people is essential when law enforcers go to tackle any disaster, or contain terrorism and for other work.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina asked the police to ensure that the people feel safe when seeking help during any danger. “Keeping that in mind, police should gain the confidence of the people with professionalism and sympathy,” she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The PM handed over awards to five assistant superintendents of police (ASPs) for their outstanding performance – achieving excellence in different fields in the one-year ASP Probationer training course.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shakibul Alam Bhuiyan received the award of ‘Best Probationer’ while Jahangir Kabir got the award of ‘Best Academic Performer’. Russel Rana obtained the award of ‘Best Shooter’, Sajjadur Rahman won the award of the ‘Best Horsemanship’ and Shuvra Deb received the award of ‘Best In-Field Performer’ from the prime minister.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, Sheikh Hasina reviewed the parade, and received salute of the march-past of a smartly turned out contingents of the police from the saluting dais.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On her arrival at the police academy, the PM was received by Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Senior Secretary of Public Security Division Aminul Islam Khan, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun and Principal (Additional IG) of Bangladesh Police Academy Abu Hasan Muhammad Tarique. 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, '2023-01-29 08:03:54', '2023-01-29 08:03:54'),
(4826, 4826, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A court here today set March 14 for holding a hearing in a graft case against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and 14 others.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Judge Ali Hossen of Dhaka Special Judge Court-3 re-fixed the date after filing a plea by defendant lawyer for extending time of hearing on charge framing due to absence of Begum Zia for her illness.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On September 2, 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case against 13 people, including Khaleda and her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko with Tejgaon Police Station on charges of misappropriating huge money while dealing with Global Agro Trade (Pvt) Company Ltd (GATCO).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Next day, Khaleda Zia and Koko were arrested. The case was included in the Emergency Powers Act on September 18 at the same year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On May 13, 2008, the anti-graft body pressed charge sheets against the BNP chief and 23 others, inflicting 11 in the case.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, the names of eleven accused, including Khaleda\'s younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, were dropped out of the charge sheet following their deaths on different dates. 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, '2023-01-29 08:20:39', '2023-01-29 08:20:39'),
(4827, 4827, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today inaugurated 25 development projects in Rajshahi, worth some Tk 1,316.97 crore.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Of the 25, seven projects are for Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC).</div><div><br></div><div>The PM also laid foundation stones of six other development projects with an estimated cost of Tk 376.28 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister inaugurated and laid foundation stones of the projects joining a mammoth public rally organised by Rajshahi city and district units of Awami League at the historic Madrasa Maidan.</div><div><br></div><div>Foundation stones were laid for Tk 24 crore Information Complex, Tk 8.35 crore Regional PSC Office Building, Tk 62 crore Shaheed Janani Jahanara Imam Girls High School, Tk 53 crore Shaheed AHM Kamaruzzaman Boys High School, Tk 162 crore BKSP Regional Training Centre, and Tk 66 crore Rajshahi WASA Building.</div><div><br></div><div>The implemented projects include a 58ft mural of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, built by Rajshahi City Corporation at the city’s C&amp;B Crossing, at a cost of around Tk 5.03 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>The city corporation has also implemented other projects including Sheikh Russel Shishu Park, Flyover on Mohanpur Railway Crossing, four-lane road and road divider with a separate lane for slow moving vehicles from Vadra Rail Crossing to Nawdapara bus terminal, four-lane road and road divider including a separate lane for slow-moving vehicles from Bilsimla railway crossing to City Haat and road widening, development from Kalpana Cinema Hall to Talaimary crossing and road carpeting, drain and footpath construction from Rentur Kharir Arat to Dhalur Mor via Hi-tech Park and road construction from the court to Shahartali Club.</div><div><br></div><div>Aimed at ushering in a new horizon in recreation, particularly for children, the Sheikh Russel Shishu Park on 2.14 acre in Chhotobangram area with an estimated cost of Tk 4.43 crore is nearing completion.</div><div><br></div><div>The Roads and Highway Department has constructed a highway from Puthia to Bagmara at a cost of Tk 116.83 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank has implemented upward extension work from the sixth floor to tenth floor of its head office at a cost of Tk 10.21 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>Rajshahi Metropolitan Police as built its headquarters at a cost of Tk 20.08 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>Rajshahi National Heart Foundation Hospital has been established in Laxmipur area at a cost of Tk 14.46 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>A Technical Training Centre has been built at Mohanpur Upazila at a cost of Tk 22.18 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>Rajshahi Shishu Hospital has also been established at a cost of around Tk 22.90 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>Rajshahi Medical College has constructed its administrative building at costs of around Tk 15 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>A multi-storey Social Service Complex has been built in Rajshahi involving around Tk 12.78 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>A two-storey female hostel has been constructed on a six-storey foundation at Rajshahi Government Women\'s College for Tk 5.58 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>A five-storey academic building of Technical School and College has been built at Charghat costing around Tk 17.20 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>A multipurpose building has been constructed at Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital at a cost of around Tk 8.96 crore. The Civil Surgeon’s Office has also been established at a cost of Tk 4.27 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>Bangladesh Water Development Board has been implementing two projects to protect the left banks from erosion of the Padma river in Charghat and Bagha upazilas involving around Tk 694.34 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) has been constructing two roads under its Rural Connectivity Improvement Project involving around Tk 43.96 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>A multipurpose auditorium has been constructed at Rajshahi PTI at a cost of Tk 8.92 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>The Upazila Muktijoddha Complex Building has been built in Rajshahi city at a cost of Tk 2.81 crore. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-29 09:54:40', '2023-01-29 09:54:40');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4828, 4828, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">South Africa won the toss and decided to bowl in the second one-day international against England at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Sunday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>\"It\'s a morning game so the wicket might be a bit on the sticky side, there might be a little bit in it for the seamers,\" said South Africa captain Temba Bavuma.</div><div><br></div><div>South Africa won the first match by 27 runs at the same venue in a day-night game on Friday after choosing to bat first.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It looks a good wicket. We\'re happy to have first use of it,\" said England captain Jos Buttler.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We played some really good cricket (on Friday) but we didn\'t quite do it for long enough.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Both teams made changes. Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, and seamers Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen came in for South Africa in place of Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada and Sisanda Magala.</div><div><br></div><div>Chris Woakes and Reece Topley replaced fellow seam bowlers Jofra Archer and David Willey in what Buttler described as \"rotation\" of their bowling resources.</div><div><br></div><div>The third and final game of the series takes place at Kimberley on Wednesday.</div><div><br></div><div>South Africa: Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock (wkt), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi.</div><div><br></div><div>England: Jos Buttler (captain, wkt), Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Olly Stone, Reece Topley.</div><div><br></div><div>Umpires: Marais Erasmus, Adrian Holdstock (both RSA)</div><div><br></div><div>TV umpire: Bongani Jele (RSA)</div><div><br></div><div>Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL) - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-29 10:12:44', '2023-01-29 10:12:44'),
(4829, 4829, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Odisha Health Minister Naba Kisore Das was today shot at by an assistant sub-inspector near Gandhi Chowk near Brajarajnagar in Jharsuguda district on Sunday around 1 pm. He was on his way to attend a programme when he was shot at, and sustained bullet injuries to his chest. The police officer shot two rounds, critically injuring the minister, who was rushed to a hospital. He was later airlifted to Bhubaneswar, witnesses said.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"Assistant Sub-inspector of Police (ASI) Gopal Das opened fire at the minister. The minister is injured and rushed to hospital,\" Brajrajnagar Sub-Divisional Police Officer Gupteswar Bhoi told reporters. Gopal Das was caught by locals, and has been taken into custody, the police said</div><div><br></div><div>Witnesses claim he was shot at just as he stepped out of his vehicle. The motives behind the attack are still unclear.</div><div><br></div><div>Videos from the spot showed Mr Das bleeding from the chest with people trying to lift the injured minister, who seemed unconscious, and place him on the front seat of a car.</div><div><br></div><div>At a public grievance office opening, Naba Das was the chief guest. When he arrived, a crowd gathered to welcome him. Suddenly, a gunshot was heard. We saw a police personnel running away after shooting from close range,\" a witness said.</div><div><br></div><div>Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik condemned the attack, and directed the crime branch to investigate it, reports NDTV.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I am shocked at the unfortunate incident of attack. I strongly condemn this and pray for his early recovery. Crime Branch is directed to take up investigation. Senior officers of Crime Branch are asked to go to the spot,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-29 10:42:57', '2023-01-29 10:42:57'),
(4830, 4830, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>At least 10 children were killed on Sunday when a boat carrying religious school students capsized in the Tanda dam in northwest Pakistan, officials said, as rescue efforts continued.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Another six were injured and had been taken to hospital, according to Furqan Khan, the deputy commissioner of Kohat district in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where the accident took place.</div><div><br></div><div>The victims were young students at a nearby religious school, Khan said. More students were missing, said the officials who did not provide details on how many.</div><div><br></div><div>The students who had died were aged between seven and 12 years, according to a list shared with Reuters by the district\'s commissioner.</div><div><br></div><div>Khan said there had been incidents in the past and police had closed the dam for recreational trips.</div><div><br></div><div>Video footage by local broadcasters and on social media showed rescuers in the water.</div><div><br></div><div>The accident came the same day as a bus accident in southern Pakistan that killed more than 40 people. - zawya</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-29 11:03:19', '2023-01-29 11:03:19'),
(4831, 4831, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>“BNP now asks the government to run away. They (BNP leaders) said the government will not find any escape route,” said Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader. “This is ridiculous.”</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Quader said on Sunday that the party’s leaders will never run away from the country in any hostile situation.</div><div><br></div><div>He was addressing at a huge public meeting organized by the Rajshahi district and metropolitan Awami League at historic Rajshahi Madrasa ground with Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the chief guest.</div><div><br></div><div>“I will not run away, If necessary, I will go to Mr. Fakhrul\'s house.&nbsp; Will you not give us shelter? If not, he has a house Thakurgaon and we will go to that house,” he said amid laughter and cheers from the audience.</div><div><br></div><div>Quader said the BNP leaders have a history of fleeing from the country to save their skin from public wrath.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“Before fleeing to London Tariq Rahman signed a bond that he will not do politics again,” the AL leader said adding that the convicted fugitive is now the leader of the opposition BNP.</div><div><br></div><div>Obaidul Quader said that he was born in this country and will die in this country.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-29 12:11:09', '2023-01-29 12:11:09'),
(4832, 4832, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Results of 2022 HSC and equivalent exams will be published on February 8.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Tapan Kumar Sarker, convener of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee and Dhaka Education Board Chairman, confirmed the information to UNB today.</div><div><br></div><div>“A proposal was sent to the Ministry of Education to publish the results between February 7 and 9. The prime minister set February 8 as the date,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>HSC and equivalent exams were held from November 6 to December 13 last year.</div><div><br></div><div>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. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-29 13:05:08', '2023-01-29 13:05:08'),
(4833, 4833, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">President Abdul Hamid on Sunday called upon the parents to engage their children in different creative activities alongside their regular education.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>\"The influence of literature and culture is immense to create a creative generation. Apart from education, it is very urgent to facilitate the path of children’s mental growth by involving them in various extra-curricular activities, including arts, literature and sports,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The President was addressing the award distribution ceremony of “National Children Award Competition 2020 and 2021\" at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital.</div><div><br></div><div>“Every child has a personality… Let us create opportunity for them to express it in a proper manner,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The President said Shishu Academy has a great role in creating creative mind and mental development of children.</div><div><br></div><div>Noting that Bangabandhu loved children very much, President Hamid said he used to mingle with children whenever he got time and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is also very sincere regarding the overall development of children.</div><div><br></div><div>Describing children as the future leaders of the nation, he said children must be groomed to be good citizens as they would bear the country’s responsibility in future.</div><div><br></div><div>President Hamid urged all to work together for overall development of the children and help their inner potentialities flourish, irrespective of religion, caste and financial condition.</div><div><br></div><div>“It is everyone’s responsibility to develop children as enlightened citizens . . . Children need the suitable atmosphere, care and inspiration to develop their talents,” the President added.</div><div><br></div><div>Abdul Hamid said talented children scattered all over the country should be found out and given proper training to become quality artistes, painters or athletes so that they can compete in the global competitions.</div><div><br></div><div>Referring to the various activities of the government, he said Sheikh Hasina’s government is conducting multi-dimensional activities to ensure the overall rights of children.</div><div><br></div><div>\"In the national action plan, children\'s health-nutrition, education-science technology etc. are being prioritized . . . There are also various programmes and plans for the development of children with physical and mental disabilities,\" the President said.</div><div><br></div><div>The President advised the guardians to provide proper education to children, including learning on justice, difference between truth and falsehood, honesty, kindness, patriotism and love for life.</div><div><br></div><div>Hamid also put emphasis on providing ethical education to children in the era of globalization and information technology (IT).</div><div><br></div><div>He said, \"Nowadays, children in every house have mobile phones, laptops and other sophisticated devices many are addicted to mobile phones. They don\'t go to playground much, they don\'t practice art and literature and they even don\'t know nature and environment.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Around 6.50 lakh children from all districts took part in the ‘National Children\'s Award Competition-2020 and 2021’ in 30 categories. The aim of this event is to flourish the inner potentials of children and adolescents.</div><div><br></div><div>Among the participants, some 474 children received the awards at this event. Of the awardees, the President handed over six for 2020 and six others for 2021.</div><div><br></div><div>A video documentary on \"The children\'s development, their flourishing and safety\" was screened at the function. A memorial book entitled \"Alor Ful (flower of light)\" was launched on the occasion.</div><div><br></div><div>State Minister of Women and Children Affairs Fazilatunnesa Nesa Indira presided over the function. Chairman of Bangladesh Shishu Academy Lucky Enam and Secretary to Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Md Hasanuzzaman Kallol, among others, spoke on the occasion. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-29 14:49:25', '2023-01-29 14:49:25'),
(4834, 4834, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The Memphis Police Department has disbanded the so-called Scorpion special unit, whose officers are accused of murdering Tyre Nichols.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Scorpion stands for \"Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods\".</div><div><br></div><div>The unit is a 50-person team tasked with bringing down crime levels in particular areas.</div><div><br></div><div>But now it is being abolished after its officers were seen beating Mr Nichols, 29, in the videos from 7 January.</div><div><br></div><div>In a statement, the department said \"it is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate\" the unit.</div><div><br></div><div>\"While the heinous actions of a few casts a cloud of dishonour on the title Scorpion, it is imperative that we, the Memphis Police Department, take proactive steps in the healing process for all impacted,\" it added.</div><div><br></div><div>Mr Nichols\' family welcomed the decision in a statement from their lawyers, calling it \"both appropriate and proportional to the tragic death of Tyre Nichols, and also a decent and just decision for all citizens of Memphis\".</div><div><br></div><div>The unit was launched in October 2021 with a focus on high-impact crimes, such as car thefts and gang-related offences.</div><div><br></div><div>The five officers - Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith - were fired last week.</div><div><br></div><div>They were taken into custody on Thursday and each faces charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.</div><div><br></div><div>Four of the five posted bail and were released from custody by Friday morning, according to jail records.</div><div><br></div><div>Lawyers for Mr Martin and Mr Mills have said their clients will plead not guilty.</div><div><br></div><div>Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr said two deputy sheriffs who \"appeared on the scene following\" the confrontation have also been suspending pending an internal investigation.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The unit that murdered Tyre has been permanently disbanded,\" a protester shouted into a megaphone in Memphis and the crowd erupted into cheers. </div><div><br></div><div>Despite the rain, the group of fewer than 100 protesters had gathered in the square in front of the Memphis Police headquarters to demand change to a system of policing that they said makes a habit of brutalising black people in Memphis and across the country.  </div><div><br></div><div>\"Memphis is taking a stand,\" said Casio Montez, one of the protest organisers. \"This means we\'re doing something right.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Mr Montez vowed that he and other community organisers would continue to pressure Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis and city officials until \"the community\'s demands are met\", including reforming the department\'s organised crime unit.  </div><div><br></div><div>In an interview with BBC News on Friday, Chief Davis said the Scorpion unit was created to be \"more responsive\" and \"more proactive\" to gun violence in the city. But she acknowledged that the officers who brutally beat Tyre Nichols \"decided to go off the rails\".  </div><div><br></div><div>\"We are doing an individual evaluation of all units,\" she said. \"This is a necessary step. We want to be fully transparent to the community.\"  </div><div><br></div><div>But for some, the problem of police violence is more deeply rooted than any reform can address.</div><div><br></div><div>At the rally Saturday, Memphis native Allie Watkins held a sign that proclaimed, \"All cops uphold white supremacy.\"  </div><div><br></div><div>The sign is historically accurate, she said, because the history of policing in America began with slave patrols.  </div><div><br></div><div>\"This is not an issue of corruption in the United States, this is an issue of the fact that the system has been built against black bodies,\" she said.  If the system is broken, she added, the only way to fix it is to start again.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We need to have national criminal justice reform\", Gloria Browne-Marshall, a professor of constitutional law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told the BBC. She said units like the Scorpion unit exist \"across the country\" so piecemeal reform was not going to be a solution.</div><div><br></div><div>Police initially said Mr Nichols had been stopped on suspicion of reckless driving, which has not been substantiated. He died in hospital three days later, on 10 January.</div><div><br></div><div>Mr Nichols was black, as are all five officers charged in the case.</div><div><br></div><div>Memphis Police Department released four graphic videos of the traffic stop and its violent aftermath on Friday, totalling more than an hour of footage.</div><div><br></div><div>Peaceful protests took place in Memphis on Friday night after the video was released, with some demonstrators blocking a major highway in the city, while small-scale demonstrations were held elsewhere in the country.</div><div><br></div><div>Many protesters held banners demanding justice for Mr Nichols and an end to \"police terror\".</div><div><br></div><div>Lawyers for Mr Nichols\' family likened the assault to the 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.</div><div><br></div><div>The Scorpion programme was touted by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland in a speech a year ago. He said the city used crime data \"to determine where the unit will conduct its enforcement activities within the city\".</div><div><br></div><div>From October 2021 until January 2022, the unit made 566 arrests, he said. They also seized more than $100,000 in cash, 270 vehicles and 253 weapons.</div><div><br></div><div>In the wake of Mr Nichols\' death, one local man, Cornell McKinney, told a Memphis-area TV network that he had a tense encounter with the unit on 3 January, just days before the incident involving Mr Nichols.</div><div><br></div><div>Mr McKinney alleges that the officers - who were travelling in unmarked vehicles - threatened to \"blow his head off\", pointed a weapon at his head and accused him of carrying drugs.</div><div><br></div><div>He complained to the Memphis Police Department after the incident, but says he has not heard anything back.</div><div><br></div><div>One of the officers that arrested Mr Nichols had previously been sued by a man who accused him of beating him when he was a prisoner eight years ago. - BBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-29 15:41:55', '2023-01-29 15:42:23'),
(4835, 4835, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>At least three people have died and more than 800 injured in a 5.9 magnitude earthquake that struck northwestern Iran\'s West Azerbaijan province on Saturday, officials said.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Jafar Miadfar, the head of Iran\'s National Medical Emergency Organization, told state TV that so far three deaths and 816 injuries had been confirmed.</div><div><br></div><div>Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian, the governor of West Azerbaijan, confirmed the casualty toll during his visit to worst-hit areas in the province.</div><div><br></div><div>He said residential properties in at least 70 villages were partially damaged by the high-intensity earthquake.</div><div><br></div><div>The quake was reported at around 9:44 pm local time (1814 GMT) on Saturday at a shallow depth of 7 kilometers with an epicenter near the city of Khoy, located 807 km northwest of the capital Tehran.</div><div><br></div><div>It was felt in multiple cities, including the provincial capital and largest city Urmia, officials and residents said.</div><div><br></div><div>Soon after the quake, multiple teams of the Red Crescent Society in West Azerbaijan were dispatched to the worst-affected areas to assess the damage, officials said.</div><div><br></div><div>Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi visited the city of Khoy on Sunday and chaired a crisis management meeting there, his office said in a statement.</div><div><br></div><div>According to locals in Khoy, Saturday\'s quake was followed by at least 30 after-shocks throughout the night, causing panic and forcing people to spend the night outdoors in intense cold.</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile, according to officials, more than 800 primary and secondary schools have been partially damaged in the city of Khoy, with at least 88 schools incurring heavy damage.</div><div><br></div><div>West Azerbaijan, the mountainous province that borders Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Iraq, was jolted by a 5.4 magnitude earthquake earlier this month, which shook Khoy city and caused extensive damage.</div><div><br></div><div>In October, another 5.4 magnitude earthquake in Khoy injured nearly 400 people and damaged hundreds of urban and rural residential properties.</div><div><br></div><div>Iran is located in a seismically active zone and has witnessed many catastrophic earthquakes in the past.</div><div><br></div><div>The most devastating earthquake to hit the country came in 2013 when at least 34,000 people died in the city of Bam in southeastern Kerman province. The quake measured 6.7 on the Richter scale.</div><div><br></div><div>In recent months, a string of high and medium-intensity earthquakes has hit provinces in southern and northern Iran.</div><div><br></div><div>Last month, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake rocked northeastern Iran\'s South Khorasan province, weeks after a 5.4 magnitude quake was reported in the same province, with its epicenter in the Ersk region.</div><div><br></div><div>In July, at least five people were killed and more than 80 injured after a 6.1 magnitude quake struck the southern province of Hormozgan situated along the coast of the Persian Gulf. - Anadolu Agency</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-29 15:47:10', '2023-01-29 15:47:10'),
(4836, 4836, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on Sunday said that the business environment in the country deteriorated in 2022 compared with 2021.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>A new survey by the CPD said that inadequate infrastructure, bureaucratic barriers to access to credit, and inefficient administration are the major barriers to entrepreneurship development.</div><div><br></div><div>It said high inflation, foreign exchange crisis and makeshift policies have further complicated the business environment.</div><div><br></div><div>The think tank shared the findings of the survey titled ‘Bangladesh Business Environment 2022: Entrepreneurship Survey’ on Sunday.</div><div><br></div><div>Khandkar Golam Moazzem, Research Director of the organisation, presented the survey data at a media briefing at the CPD office in Dhanmondi in the capital. CPD’s Executive Director Fahmida Khatun was present during the briefing.</div><div><br></div><div>Moazzem said that corruption is a major obstacle to growing a sustainable business in the country.</div><div><br></div><div>The survey revealed that the business environment deteriorated in 2022 compared with 2021. About 74 percent of officials of various institutions in the agriculture, production, and service sectors of Dhaka, Chattogram, Narayanganj and Gazipur took part in this survey conducted from April to July last year. However, it says this was not a nation-wide survey.</div><div><br></div><div>Around 64.6 percent of the executives surveyed cited corruption as a major obstacle to doing business.</div><div><br></div><div>About 64 percent of the officials mentioned that corruption is taking place in paying tax, 54 percent said they face graft in getting a business licence, 49 percent said bribe is a norm for getting gas-electricity-water connection, and 75 percent said corruption is rampant in the import-export sector, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>Fahmida Khatun told that the production cost of products is increasing due to corruption.</div><div><br></div><div>“The cost of services is also increasing. Common people must bear the brunt of this additional cost. Various levels of corruption are damaging the business environment and the economy,” she added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas&nbsp;</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-29 16:18:40', '2023-01-29 16:18:40'),
(4837, 4837, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister and Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina has said her party never flees, rather it works with the people for their betterment, calling upon the countrymen to vote the party to build a developed, prosperous and “Smart Bangladesh” by 2041.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div> “They (BNP leaders) who are saying that the Awami League will not get the chance of fleeing, I want to clear them one thing that the Awami League never flees, but their (BNP) leaders flee,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She said this while addressing as the chief guest a grand rally that turned into a human sea with participation of tens of thousands of people organised by Rajshahi city and district units of the AL at the historic Madrasha ground here.</div><div><br></div><div>At the rally, the premier also inaugurated 26 projects including seven of the Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC), worth over Tk1,333 crore and laid foundation stones of six other projects involving over Tk375 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>The Prime Minister said the BNP-Jamaat clique is saying many things and giving an ultimatum to her party saying that the Awami League would not get the scope to flee.</div><div><br></div><div>Referring to her return to the country twice ignoring the red eyes of the then governments in 1981 and 2007, she asked the BNP-Jamaat clique who wants to flee and said the AL never flees and it looks behind.</div><div><br></div><div>“I returned to the country thinking about the people of the country,” she added.</div><div><br></div><div>The AL president said her party is working with the people for their wellbeing as the organisation was formed at the hands of the Father of the Nation.</div><div><br></div><div>“This organisation (AL) whenever comes to power, the fate of the people is changed.”</div><div><br></div><div>AL General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, AL Presidium Members Advocate Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Abdur Rahman and Rajshahi City Corporation Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, AL Joint General Secretaries Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud and Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shariar Alam, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak, AL organising secretary SM Kamal, AL central working committee member Nurul Islam Thandu and BCL president Saddam Hossain also spoke.</div><div><br></div><div>Acting President of Rajshahi City Awami League Mohammad Ali Kamal and General Secretary Dablu Sarker respectively presided over and moderated the meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina came down heavily on the BNP leaders as they’re vowing to wage a war against corruption. “With whom you want to struggle against the graft as two of your top leaders, Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman, were sentenced in graft cases,” she asked.  </div><div><br></div><div>“BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman was sentenced in a corruption case and fled the country giving bond to the caretaker government in 2007 that he will never do politics,” she said and asked whether the BNP leaders had forgotten it.   </div><div><br></div><div>The Prime Minister said then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia had siphoned off huge amounts of money abroad through her two sons ,Tarique Rahman and Koko, and her government has so far returned Tk 40 crore of the laundered money. </div><div><br></div><div>“Are BNP leaders able to answer it?” she questioned.       </div><div><br></div><div>She said AL comes to power to give something to the people and the reality is that the masses get something if the party assumes power while the BNP comes to power to do every sort of crime that include carrying out murder, arson attacks, patronizing the killers alongside making their own fortunes.</div><div><br></div><div>The Prime Minister said the BNP-Jamaat clique burned people to death, torched public transports such as buses, trains and launches, and government offices in the name of movement.</div><div><br></div><div>“You (countrymen) have to think whether any human being can burn any person to death alive. ---they have such inhuman characters. It is the reality that they can’t tolerate any wellbeing of the Bangladeshi people,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP-Jamaat alliance is now in hot pursuit to carry out propaganda at home and abroad, cashing in on the opportunity of being a Digital Bangladesh, she said, adding, “We have built “Digital Bangladesh’’ and they’re carrying out propaganda against our government using it.”</div><div><br></div><div>On the contrary, she said, the AL government has transformed Bangladesh into a developing nation from the least developed country by implementing the “Vision 2021”, and is now out to build a developed, prosperous and Smart Bangladesh by 2041.</div><div><br></div><div>The AL government always keeps its words, the Prime Minister said, referring to achieving the target of Vision-2041.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina thanked the people of Rajshahi for voting her party time and again and requested them to promise to vote for the AL again by raising their hands in the next general election to be held at the end of this year or the beginning of the next year.</div><div><br></div><div>The mammoth gathering in reply raised their hands and shouted that they will cast their votes in favour of the party’s election symbol ‘Boat’.</div><div><br></div><div>‘’Please cast your vote for the Boat to continue the journey towards development that will lead to building a developed, prosperous and Smart Bangladesh by 2041,’’ she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Briefly describing her government’s development schemes, the Prime Minister said the people are now getting a developing nation, food sufficient country, free vaccine, cash and other assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic and a country well-connected through road, rail, water and air ways.</div><div><br></div><div>The Prime Minister reminded the inhabitants of Rajshahi that her government has conducted huge development in Rajshahi in the last 14 years.</div><div><br></div><div>“Rajshahi was always neglected. My government has done massive development works in Rajshahi involving Tk 10,660 crore including Tk 4000 crore for the development of Rajshahi city till date since 2009,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The Prime Minister said today she inaugurated 26 projects worth over Tk1,333 crore and laid foundation stones of six other projects involving over Tk375 crore.</div><div><br></div><div> “I have given the development schemes as my gift to the people of Rajshahi,” she added. </div><div><br></div><div>The Prime Minister once again vowed to bring all the landless and homeless people under the government’s housing schemes free of cost so that none remains homeless and devoid of address.</div><div><br></div><div>She once again asked the countrymen to grow their own food bringing every inch of fallow land under cultivation to meet their own demand as the world is going through economic recession and food crisis. Source: BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div><div><br></div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-29 16:30:24', '2023-01-29 16:30:36'),
(4838, 4838, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The lawyer representing Tyre Nichols\' family has called on the US Congress to pass urgent police reform legislation in the wake of his death.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Nichols, 29, was fatally beaten by five police officers in January.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Speaking to US media, Ben Crump urged President Joe Biden to use Mr Nichols\'s death to gain support for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And he said Mr Nichols\'s mother was coping with her son\'s loss by hoping that his death could lead to change.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"She believes in her heart Tyre was sent here for an assignment and that there is going to be greater good that comes from this tragedy,\" Mr Crump said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was introduced in 2021 after Mr Floyd was killed by a white police officer kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes. His death sparked international protests.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The bill would see a federal ban on the use of chokeholds by police and make it easier to bring charges against offending officers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lawmakers in the House of Representatives - which was then controlled by the Democratic Party - passed the bill in March 2021, but it was later held up by opposition in the Senate.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Shame on us if we don\'t use his tragic death to finally get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed,\" Mr Crump told CNN. The lawyer said if the law did not change, deaths at the hands of police would continue.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP civil rights group - also called on legislators to take action.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"By failing to write a piece of legislation, you\'re writing another obituary,\" Mr Johnson said in a statement. \"We can name all the victims of police violence, but we can\'t name a single law you have passed to address it.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But the Republican House of Representatives Judiciary chair Jim Jordan warned politicians to not rush legislation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"These five individuals did not have any respect for life... I don\'t know if there\'s anything you can do to stop the kind of evil we saw in that video,\" he told NBC\'s Meet the Press programme. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A childhood friend of Mr Nichols told the BBC his legacy would be preserved through legal reform. Angelina Paxton said he \"always wanted to change the world\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ms Paxton said Mr Nichols was \"very passionate about Black Lives Matter\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"He always wanted to make a difference,\" she said. \"If it gives anyone any comfort out of all those pain that we\'re all going through right now, just know that I can guarantee you he\'s up there right now smiling, because he finally did what he always wanted to do.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Saturday, the Memphis Police Department disbanded the so-called Scorpion special unit of which the police officers now charged with murder were members.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The unit was a 50-person team that was tasked with bringing down crime levels - particularly car thefts and gang-related offences.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Scorpion stood for \"Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The five officers - Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith - were fired from the Memphis police force last week.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Four of the five posted bail and were released from custody by Friday morning, according to jail records.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lawyers for Mr Martin and Mr Mills have said their clients will plead not guilty.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In an interview with BBC News on Friday, Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis said the Scorpion unit was created to be \"more responsive\" and \"more proactive\" to gun violence in the city. But she acknowledged that the officers who brutally beat Tyre Nichols \"decided to go off the rails\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are doing an individual evaluation of all units,\" she said. \"This is a necessary step. We want to be fully transparent to the community.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr said two deputy sheriffs who \"appeared on the scene following\" the confrontation have also been suspending pending an internal investigation. 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, '2023-01-30 02:55:12', '2023-01-30 15:22:12'),
(4839, 4839, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Boris Johnson has said Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike in an \"extraordinary\" phone call in the run-up to Russia\'s invasion of Ukraine.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The then-prime minister said Mr Putin told him it \"would only take a minute\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Johnson said the comment was made after he warned the war would be an \"utter catastrophe\" during a \"very long\" call in February 2022.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Details of the exchange are revealed in a BBC documentary, examining Mr Putin\'s interactions with world leaders.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Johnson warned Mr Putin that invading Ukraine would lead to Western sanctions and more Nato troops on Russia\'s borders.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also tried to deter Russian military action by telling Mr Putin that Ukraine would not join Nato \"for the foreseeable future\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But Mr Johnson said: \"He threatened me at one point, and he said, \'Boris, I don\'t want to hurt you but, with a missile, it would only take a minute\' or something like that. Jolly.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"But I think from the very relaxed tone that he was taking, the sort of air of detachment that he seemed to have, he was just playing along with my attempts to get him to negotiate.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Putin had been \"very familiar\" during the \"most extraordinary call\", Mr Johnson said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is impossible to know if Mr Putin\'s threat was genuine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, given previous Russian attacks on the UK - most recently in Salisbury in 2018 - any threat from the Russian leader, however lightly delivered, is probably one Mr Johnson would have had no choice but to take seriously.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nine days later, on 11 February, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace flew to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The BBC documentary Putin Vs the West reveals Mr Wallace left with assurances that Russia would not invade Ukraine, but he said both sides knew it was a lie.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He described it as a \"demonstration of bullying or strength, which is: I\'m going to lie to you, you know I\'m lying and I know you know I\'m lying and I\'m still going to lie to you.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I think it was about saying \'I\'m powerful\',\" Mr Wallace said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said the \"fairly chilling, but direct lie\" had confirmed his belief that Russia would invade.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As he left the meeting, he said Gen Valery Gerasimov - Russia\'s chief of general staff - told him \"never again will we be humiliated\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Less than a fortnight later, as tanks rolled over the border on 24 February, Mr Johnson received a phone call in the middle of the night from President Zelensky.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Zelensky\'s very, very calm,\" Mr Johnson recalled. \"But, he tells me, you know, they\'re attacking everywhere.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Johnson says he offered to help move the president to safety.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"He doesn\'t take me up on that offer. He heroically stayed where he was.\" 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, '2023-01-30 02:58:37', '2023-01-30 02:58:37'),
(4840, 4840, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that allowing Russia to compete at the 2024 Olympics in Paris would amount to showing that \"terror is somehow acceptable\".</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">He said he had raised the issue with French President Emmanuel Macron.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Moscow must not be allowed to use the Olympics for propaganda, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete as neutrals at the Olympics.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">But Ukraine has threatened to boycott Paris 2024 if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Attempts by the IOC \"to bring Russian athletes back into the Olympic Games are attempts to tell the whole world that terror is somehow acceptable\", Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia must not be allowed to use the Games \"or any other sport event as propaganda for its aggression or its state chauvinism\", he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IOC said this week that Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete as \"neutral athletes\", stating that \"no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But Mr Zelensky says there can be no neutrality in sport while his country\'s athletes are dying on the battlefield.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also drew comparison with the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin when the Nazis were in power.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"There was a major Olympic mistake,\" he said. \"The Olympic movement and terrorist states definitely should not cross paths.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The UK government has also condemned the plan to allow athletes to compete neutrally as a \"world away from the reality of war\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Zelensky\'s comments came as Russian forces continued to bombard the Ukrainian region of Kherson into the night, after a day of attacks which left at least three people dead.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Six others were wounded, two of them when a hospital was hit, local officials say.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Kherson regional administration said the region was shelled almost 40 times on Saturday and was pounded continually on Sunday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kherson was the only regional capital to have fallen to Russian forces since the February 2022 invasion, but they were forced into a humiliating retreat in November.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Zelensky said Russia had also stepped up its attacks in the eastern Donetsk region. He said his forces needed new weapons to confront a \"very tough\" situation of constant attacks.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Russia wants the war to drag on and exhaust our forces. So we have to make time our weapon. We have to speed up events, speed up supplies and open up new weapons options for Ukraine,\" he 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, '2023-01-30 03:03:40', '2023-01-30 03:03:40');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4841, 4841, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">When police fire tear gas at protesters demanding the resignation of Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, most run away.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A few, though, run toward the gas canisters as quickly as possible — to neutralize them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">These are the “deactivators.” Donning gas masks, safety goggles and thick gloves, these volunteers grab the hot canisters and toss them inside large plastic bottles filled with a mixture of water, baking soda and vinegar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The deactivators made their debut in Peru street protests in 2020, inspired by protesters in Hong Kong who in 2019 unveiled new strategies to counteract the eye-stinging, breath-stealing effects of tear gas. With protesters in Lima facing a nearly daily fusillade of tear gas, more people have joined the ranks of deactivators trying to shield them and keep the demonstrations going.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Peruvians have been protesting since early December, when former President Pedro Castillo was impeached after a failed attempt to dissolve Congress. His vice president, Boluarte, immediately took over — and has faced strong opposition ever since.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fifty-eight people have died in connection with the unrest, including one police officer. Forty-six of the deaths occurred during direct clashes between protesters and police.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The protests have exposed deep divisions in the country between the urban elites and the rural poor. Demonstrations were first largely concentrated in the south, a long-neglected region of Peru that felt a particular kinship to Castillo’s humble background as a rural teacher from the Andean highlands. But earlier this month, thousands descended on Peru\'s capital, and police met them with tear gas. Lots and lots of tear gas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Thursday, as protesters gathered in downtown Lima, Alexander Gutiérrez Padilla, 45, was giving a brief course to anyone who would listen around Plaza San Martín about how to mix vinegar and baking soda into the water and how to grab the tear gas canisters most efficiently.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“If we don’t deactivate, people disperse and the protest breaks,” Gutiérrez said. “That’s why we’re pillars of this demonstration.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Next to him was Wilfredo Huertas Vidal, 25, who has taken it upon himself to collect donations to buy gloves and other protective equipment and hand them out to those who want to help.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Who wants gloves? Who wants gloves?” he yelled as he stood next to several large bottles of water, gas masks and eye goggles.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When protesters descended on Lima earlier this month, old networks were reactivated. A tactic first seen in Peru in late 2020 during protests against then-President Manuel Merino resurfaced.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Vladimir Molina, 34, who participated in the 2020 protests, now runs what he calls a “brigade.” It consists of around 60 people, including paramedics, deactivators and “front-line” activists who stand in the middle of protesters and police with shields, in an effort to block any pellets or tear gas police may fire into the crowd.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Every day more and more people are joining,” Molina said. Interest in his group is so great that he’s made it a requirement for anyone who wants to join to have their own equipment.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By tossing the hot tear gas cartridges into the water solution, “what they do is extinguish the pyrotechnical charge so the tear gas cannot come out anymore,” said Sven Eric Jordt, a professor of anesthesiology at Duke University.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Water alone should achieve what the protesters want, although the carbon dioxide created by mixing vinegar and baking soda could “form a foam bath that suffocates the charge” further, Jordt speculated.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It may be only a matter of time before authorities deploy methods to blunt the deactivators\' effectiveness. Manufacturers are now developing tear gas with plastic cartridges that stick to the road so it “can’t be lifted up anymore,” Jordt said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fearful of being targeted by police and prosecutors, many of the deactivators prefer to remain anonymous, keeping their faces covered even when there’s no tear gas around.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Boluarte has given strong backing to law enforcement, and the government recently announced a bonus for police officers. Boluarte has characterized the work of police controlling the Lima protests as “immaculate,” despite their often indiscriminate firing of tear gas and pellets. In contrast, she says the demonstrations are violent and financed by drug-trafficking rings and illegal miners.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Andrea Fernández, 22, is new to deactivating tear gas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The truth is I love the adrenaline,” Fernández said shortly after grabbing a pair of gloves from Huertas and listening to the instructions closely.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said she hadn’t been really interested in the country’s political crisis at first. Then the deaths started piling up.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“There are a lot of farmers who’ve come from lots of parts of Peru and they come here to march, face-to-face, but don’t have the necessary protection,” Fernández said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Felix Davillo, 37, also says the casualties pushed him to become a deactivator.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“I made this decision for all the death that is going on in Puno right now,” Davillo said, referring to a region in Peru that has experienced some of the deadliest protests.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A general lack of protective equipment has also meant protesters have been injured by the widespread use of less lethal weapons.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">From January 19 to 24, Doctors Without Borders treated 73 patients at the Lima protests suffering from exposure to tear gas, pellet wounds, contusions or psychological distress, the non-profit organization said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The deactivators\' increased chance of injury doesn’t scare Julio Incarocas Beliz, who grabbed one of the big water bottles in the plaza for his first day trying to diffuse tear gas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“I served in the military and I’ve never been afraid,“ Incarocas, 28, said. “I’m fighting for my homeland.” 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, '2023-01-30 03:43:13', '2023-01-30 03:43:13'),
(4842, 4842, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The air quality of densely populated Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka continued to be in the \'very 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 267 at 8:30 am today (January 30, 2023), Dhaka ranked first in the list of cities worldwide with the worst air.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">India’s Delhi and Vietnam’s Hanoi occupied the second and third spots on the list, with AQI scores of 190 and 188, 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;\">Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies. 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, '2023-01-30 03:46:45', '2023-01-30 03:46:45'),
(4843, 4843, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">An alarming spike in Israeli-Palestinian violence and sharp responses by both sides are testing the Biden administration as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken plunges into a cauldron of deepening mistrust and anger on visits to Israel and the West Bank this week.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">What had already been expected to be a trip fraught with tension over differences between the administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right government has grown significantly more complicated over the past four days with a spate of deadly incidents. Blinken’s high-wire diplomatic act begins on Monday after he completes a brief visit to Egypt that has been almost entirely overshadowed by the deteriorating security situation in Israel and the West Bank.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">U.S. officials say the main theme of Blinken’s conversations with Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will be “de-escalation.” Yet Blinken will arrive in Israel just a day after Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet announced a series of punitive measures against Palestinians in response to a weekend of deadly shootings in which Palestinian attackers killed seven Israelis and wounded five others in Jerusalem. Those shootings followed a deadly Israeli raid in the West Bank on Thursday that killed 10 Palestinians, most of them militants.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The violence has made January one of the bloodiest months in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem in several years. While Blinken’s trip has been planned for several weeks and will follow visits by President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan and CIA Director Willian Burns, it will be the highest-level U.S. engagement with Netanyahu since he retook power last month and the first since the surge in violence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Already contending with the new Israeli government’s far-right policies and its opposition to a two-state resolution to the long-running conflict, U.S. officials have yet to weigh in on the retaliatory steps that include sealing and demolishing the homes of Palestinian attackers, canceling social security benefits for their families and handing out more weapons to Israeli civilians.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Perhaps most alarming was Netanyahu\'s vague promise to “strengthen” Israel\'s West Bank settlements, built on occupied land the Palestinians claim as the heartland of a future state. Bezalel Smotrich, an ultranationalist Cabinet minister whom Netanyahu has placed in charge of settlement policy, said he would seek new construction in a strategic section of the West Bank called E1. The U.S. has repeatedly blocked previous attempts by Israel to develop the area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">U.S. officials have, however, criticized Abbas’ decision to suspend Palestinian security cooperation with Israel in the wake of the West Bank raid.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We want to get the parties to not cease security cooperation but to really enhance the security coordination,” said Barbara Leaf, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East. “We are urging de-escalation and a calming of the situation.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ahead of his meeting with Blinken, Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel’s response is not intended to exacerbate tensions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We are not seeking an escalation, but we are prepared for any scenario,” Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting. “Our answer to terrorism is a heavy hand and a strong, swift and precise response.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Palestinians and some human rights groups believe the Israeli retaliation, including the demolition of homes of attackers\' families, amounts to collective punishment and is illegal under international law. The turmoil has added yet another item to Blinken’s lengthy diplomatic agenda that was already set to include Russia’s war on Ukraine, tensions with Iran and crises in Lebanon and Syria; all of which weigh heavily in the U.S.-Israel relationship.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Easing strains on those issues, or at least averting new ones, are central to Blinken’s mission despite Netanyahu\'s opposition to two of Biden’s main Mideast priorities: reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. But, with both of those matters stalled and little hope of any resumption in negotiations, the administration is attempting just to keep the concepts on life support.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the meantime, the administration has resolved to improve ties with the Palestinians that former President Donald Trump had severed. Although it has resumed suspended U.S. assistance, its goal of re-opening the American consulate in Jerusalem to deal with Palestinian issues and the possibility of allowing the Palestinians to re-open their diplomatic mission in Washington have been blocked by a combination of Israeli opposition and U.S. legal hurdles. Blinken is unlikely to be able to offer the Palestinians any sign of progress on either of those matters, while pressing the case for further political reform in the Palestinian Authority.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The U.S. has also remained silent on Netanyahu’s proposed sweeping changes to Israel’s judicial system, which would allow lawmakers to overrule decisions by the Supreme Court. Recent weeks have seen mass protests in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv over the proposals that critics say would badly damage Israel’s democratic standing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“It’s clear that this issue of the judicial legislation packages is one that’s sparked intense, intense discussion, debate within Israeli society,” said Leaf. “It’s clearly a measure of the vibrancy of the democracy that this is being contested so clearly up and down across segments of Israeli society.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While she and other U.S. officials have spoken of the importance of “shared values” with Israel, they have steered clear of commenting on what they regard as a purely domestic issue.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“But now it became an issue” because of its proposed speed and scope, the public outcry, and growing concern among American Jewish leaders and members of Congress, said Eytan Gilboa, a U.S.-Israel expert at Bar-Ilan University.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“There is much confusion about what the Israeli government is up to,” he said. “If for Netanyahu Iran is the major issue, by pushing the judicial reform, he is diverting the attention from the number one, more critical issue of Iran’s nuclear program.” 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, '2023-01-30 03:54:24', '2023-01-30 03:54:24'),
(4844, 4844, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg asked South Korea on Monday to \"step up\" military support for Ukraine, suggesting it reconsider its policy of not exporting weapons to countries in conflict.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Stoltenberg is in Seoul on the first leg of his Asia trip, which will also take in Japan, as part of a drive to boost ties with the region\'s democratic allies in the face of the Ukraine conflict and growing competition from China.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He met top South Korean officials Sunday, and on Monday urged Seoul to do more to help Kyiv, saying there was an \"urgent need for more ammunition\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He pointed to countries like Germany and Norway that had \"long standing policies not to export weapons to countries in conflict\" which they revised after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February last year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"If we believe in freedom, democracy, if we don\'t want autocracy and totalitarian to win then they need weapons,\" he said, speaking at the Chey Institute in Seoul.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">South Korea is an increasingly important arms exporter globally and has recently signed deals to sell hundreds of tanks to European countries, including NATO-member Poland.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But South Korean law bans the export of weapons to countries in active conflict, which Seoul has said makes it difficult to provide arms directly to Kyiv, although it has provided non-lethal and humanitarian assistance.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">South Korea opened its first diplomatic mission to NATO last year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Stoltenberg said it was unclear when the conflict in Ukraine would end, saying Putin was preparing for \"more war\" and actively acquiring weapons from countries including North Korea.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pyongyang has denied sending weapons to Moscow, and said Sunday that the US would face a \"really undesirable result\" if it persisted in spreading the \"self-made rumour\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Trying to tarnish the image of (North Korea) by fabricating a non-existent thing is a grave provocation that can never be allowed and that cannot but trigger its reaction,\" said Kwon Jong Gun, director general of the North\'s Department of US Affairs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also called it \"a foolish attempt to justify its offer of weapons to Ukraine\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden promised 31 Abrams tanks, one of the most powerful and sophisticated weapons in the US army, to help Kyiv fight off Moscow\'s invasion. 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, '2023-01-30 04:25:14', '2023-01-30 04:25:14'),
(4846, 4846, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Two of the world\'s greatest fast bowlers at the moment - Shaheen Shah Afridi and Jasprit Bumrah - will hopefully make a comeback soon to competitive cricket after being sidelined for several months. Afridi has been troubled with knee issues, while a back injury has kept Bumrah at bay as both India and Pakistan hope their respective candidates regain complete fitness at the earliest.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Afridi\'s knee problems forced him out of the Asia Cup 2022, where Pakistan finished as the runners-up. However, he made a comeback during the T20 World Cup in Australia, where Pakistan once again finished as the runners-up. It was during the event, where Afridi once again hurt his already injured knee while fielding in the finals, thus aggravating the injury and forcing him to miss the rest of the season.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, Bumrah\'s back forced him out of the Asia Cup, where India certainly missed his services. With the T20 World Cup approaching the Indian pacer was then rushed in by the management, but the move backfired. Bumrah was declared unfit for the T20 World Cup and he instead spent the time rehabilitating at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Comparing the two pacers, former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, who is also a part of Pakistan selection panel, made an atrocious statement, slamming the Indian. \"Shaheen Afridi is way better than Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah is nowhere close to Shaheen\'s level,\" the ex-cricketer told a local news channel on the sidelines of an event.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is not the first time when the former Pakistan all-rounder has made such claim about Bumrah. Earlier in 2019, Razzaq had called Bumrah a “baby bowler” and claimed that he would have dominated the Indian pacer had he been still playing. \"I have played against great bowlers like Glenn Mcgrath and Wasim Akram, so Bumrah is a baby bowler in front of me and I could have easily dominated and attacked him,\" Razzaq had then said to Cricket Pakistan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Coming back to Afridi and Bumrah, the Pakistan pacer has been seen bowling in the nets and is expected to make a comeback during the upcoming edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL), which starts from February 13.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bumrah, on the other hand, has not been risked by the BCCI, and has not been considered for the first two Tests of the highly-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which starts from February 9 in Nagpur. HT</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 05:07:06', '2023-01-30 05:07:06'),
(4847, 4847, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Yoga comes with multiple health benefits. From strengthening the muscles of the body to boosting digestion and inducing better blood circulation – yoga\'s benefits are manifold. </b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Yoga asanas target several muscle groups of the body and are known for improving the mental health as well. Regular practice of yoga helps in inducing better sleep, alleviating tension and reducing the risk of chronic illnesses. Yoga is recommended by health experts to keep the body and the mind healthy and fit. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Anshuka Parwani, yoga trainer to several Bollywood celebrities such as Alia Bhatt and Kareena Kapoor, is known for sharing yoga-related insights and information on her Instagram profile on a regular basis. From sharing benefits of a particular yoga routine to sharing tips on the asanas to perform to alleviate risk of a particular illness, Anshuka’s Instagram profile is replete with such helpful information.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Anshuka, a day back, shared a yoga routine and demonstrated asanas on how to improve ankle mobility. “Ankle mobility is as important as mobilising and exercising your core, legs, hips, etc. It is very important to include exercises that target the ankle muscles and here’s how this mobility drill will help you,” Anshuka wrote why ankle mobility is important for the body. HT</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"6\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 05:30:13', '2023-01-30 15:21:03'),
(4848, 4848, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Asian stocks were mixed Monday as traders struggled to maintain momentum from last week\'s rally, though Shanghai advanced as mainland Chinese markets reopened after a week-long Lunar New Year break.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Even a strong performance on Wall Street was not enough to lift sentiment across the region as data showed the Federal Reserve\'s preferred gauge of inflation rose in December at its slowest pace in more than a year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The reading saw dealers ramp up bets on the central bank lifting interest rates this week by just 25 basis points, down from the half-point hike last month, which followed four straight 75-point increases.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The European Central Bank and Bank of England are also due to announce decisions this week.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The meetings come as a string of recent data suggests that last year\'s monetary tightening campaign by policymakers was beginning to kick in as price rises begin to slow from their mutli-decade highs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But there remains a lot of trepidation on trading floors that economies could still slip into recession, while a mixed earnings season so far has also caused concern about company profits.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that while she was pleased to see inflation coming down, she remained wary about the economic outlook.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I\'m reasonably satisfied by the data that I\'ve seen so far, but I don\'t want to minimise the risk of recession\" owing to the Fed\'s rate hikes \"slowing down the economy\", she told Bloomberg News.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That worry was offsetting optimism in Asia about a strong recovery in China this year as it emerges from its painful period of zero-Covid.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Signs of strong travel and spending over last week\'s break added to the upbeat mood, coupled with data showing there was no explosion in Covid cases over that time, suggesting the disease could be under control now.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shanghai rallied as it resumed trading, while Tokyo, Taipei, Jakarta and Wellington also rose, though Hong Kong, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore and Manila slipped.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chinese markets are \"catching up with the performance of Hong Kong and US markets during the Chinese New Year\", said Willer Chen, at Forsyth Barr Asia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The market is very excited about the holiday data.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Oil prices rose on increased demand expectations as China emerges from years of strict Covid controls.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There was little impact on the commodity market from news of a drone strike on an Iranian defence ministry site.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"While oil prices opened higher on the headlines, the risk to global supply seems relatively limited at present,\" said SPI Asset Management\'s Stephen Innes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Iran\'s oil production facilities are located primarily in the southwest of the country and were not targeted in the current strikes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Iran is a marginal global crude exporter, and any significant disruption could be offset by newly-created OPEC spare capacity.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He added that traders were keeping an eye on developments as any escalation could see disruptions in the key transit point in the Strait of Hormuz. However, he added that observers saw such an issue as being unlikely for now.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Key figures around 0230 GMT -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 27,473.75 (break)</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.7 percent at 22,533.08</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 3285.65</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dollar/yen: UP at 130.14 yen from 129.80 yen on Friday</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0871 from $1.0874</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2391 from $1.2395</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Euro/pound: UP at 87.75 pence from 87.65 pence</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $79.87 per barrel</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.2 percent at $86.60 per barrel</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">New York - Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 33,978.08 (close)</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">London - FTSE 100: FLAT at 7,765.15 (close). 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, '2023-01-30 06:34:01', '2023-01-30 06:34:01'),
(4849, 4849, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said Bangladesh has witnessed incredible progress solely because of the continuation of democratic trends and elected governments.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Bangladesh couldn’t have achieved this level of development without continued democratic trends,” she said while inaugurating 11 newly-completed projects under the Housing and Public Works Ministry.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier joined a programme at Ramna Batamul (Ramna Park) through a virtual platform from her official residence Ganabhaban.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The projects were implemented in the 2021-2022 fiscal year by the Public Works Department, the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) and the National Housing Authority.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina said her government took Bangladesh forward as per its plans and the country gained the status of a developing country by 2021. “It has been possible only because democracy remained established continuously and elected public representatives were in power since 2009,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Focusing on her government’s steps for the development of Bangladesh, the PM said, “We’ve been working for the overall development of the country and the people. It is possible (to accomplish such development work) only because today, a government elected by the people is in power.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said the people voted Awami League to power in the 2014 and 2018 elections as the AL government worked for development. If there is a continuation of democratic trends, people will witness development, she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“I hope you all notice the change Bangladesh witnessed in the last 14 years (2009-2023) and it has been possible only as AL is in power,” she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Public Works Ministry Eng. Mosharraf Hossain, State Minister for Housing and Public Works Sharif Ahmed spoke at the event, while Housing and Public Works Secretary Kazi Wasi Uddin delivered the welcome speech. 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, '2023-01-30 06:37:52', '2023-01-30 06:37:52'),
(4850, 4850, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A 45-year-old man was shot dead allegedly by some miscreants in Fultola upazila of Khulna on Monday morning.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The deceased was identified as Milon Fakir, a resident of the upazila.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Three miscreants coming in a motorcycle shot Milon in Jamira area near Ideal School around 8am, said Khulna Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sushanta Sarker.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When wounded Milon took shelter in a nearby shop, the miscreants shot him again entering the shop and fled the scene, leaving Milon dead on spot, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The body was sent to Khulna Medical College and Hospital morgue for an autopsy, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The motive behind the killing is yet to be known but efforts are on to arrest the killers, said the officer. 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, '2023-01-30 07:00:26', '2023-01-30 07:00:26'),
(4851, 4851, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman has said that the expansion and modernization works of all 8 airports – international and domestic – in the country, involving Tk 35,850 crore, will be completed by the end of the current year.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Once the work is completed, there will be major changes in infrastructures of the airports. All the airports will be equipped with modern amenities, and they will get an attractive look,” the CAAB chief told UNB in an exclusive interview recently.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Work is going on in full swing to implement the projects as per the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said, adding that the engineers of CAAB worked round the clock even during the Covid-19 pandemic.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We have ensured the quality of the work and maintained European standard in terms of equipment and safety materials,” he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“More than 70 percent work of the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka has been completed and the operational activities of the new terminal will be inaugurated in October this year. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the third terminal,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“After completion of the third terminal, passenger handling capacity at Dhaka airport will increase from 10 million to 22 million. Besides, cargo handling capacity will rise from 2.20 lakh ton to 7 lakh ton,” the CAAB chairman added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said that passengers will be able to avail international standard services once the third terminal opens.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Construction work of 73,548 square meter cargo apron of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is now underway.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Eighty-five percent of the project has been completed and after implementation, the apron will be able to park additional 4 long-range cargo aircraft.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, the construction of general aviation hangar, hangar apron and fire station expansion project at Dhaka airport, at a cost of Tk 430 crore, is on.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 3rd Terminal of Dhaka airport under construction. Photo taken from the verified Facebook page of the Japanese Embassy in Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This project includes construction of 23,589 square meter general aviation hangar, 65,068 square meter hangar apron, 29,988 squar meters new parking area and a 5-storey building with 5,000 square meter floor space.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sixty-five percent of the work has been done so far.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Construction work of the country’s first-ever heliport, a dedicated landing facility for helicopters, is also underway.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The main objective of this project is to ensure the safe take-off and landing of helicopters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under the existing runway and taxiway power enhancement project of Sylhet’s Osmani Airport, the power of the runway and taxiway is being increased from 41 PCN (pavement classification number) to 90 PCN at a cost of Tk 451 crore, project authorities said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ninety-nine percent of the work has been completed. When it will be completed, Boeing-777 aircraft will be able to land at this airport at full speed, they said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the project source, the length of Cox’s Bazar airport runway has been increased to 9,000 feet from 6,775 feet under the development project (1st phase-3rd revised).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The runway of Barishal airport is also being increased from 6,000 to 7500 feet at a cost of Tk 370 crore. The width of the runway is being increased from 100 to 150 feet, project authorities said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thirty percent work of runway and taxiway capacity enhancement and expansion of Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram has been completed. Once implemented, Boeing 777 aircraft will be able to take off and land on the runway.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The terminal building of Syedpur Airport is being turned into an international standard one. The project is nearing completion.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Once implemented, the accommodation capacity of the building will increase from 310 to 670 people. Besides, a new passenger terminal building, cargo building with automation, operational building with apron, taxiway, control tower will be constructed for this airport.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rajshahi Terminal Building Expansion Project is going on at a cost of Tk 76 crore. The project includes construction of terminal building, installation of electro-mechanical and control tower along with communication and security equipment. This will increase the passenger accommodation capacity of the current terminal from 260 to 850.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Jashore Terminal Building Expansion Project will increase passenger accommodation capacity from 300 to 600 people. Ninety-nine percent work of the project has been completed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Apart from this, another project has been undertaken to ease take-off and landing of aircraft at Jashore, Syedpur, and Rajshahi airports at a cost of Tk 566 crore. 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, '2023-01-30 07:16:17', '2023-01-30 07:16:17'),
(4852, 4852, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has reached Moscow. He is currently on a two-day official visit, on invitation of his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was received by senior officials of the Russian foreign ministry, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Russia Shafqat Ali Khan and other embassy officials on Sunday upon his arrival in Moscow, reports Pakistani newspaper Dawn.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The two foreign ministers are scheduled to meet today for official talks.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Pakistani foreign minister was quoted by Dawn as saying: “I’ve been invited to speak at the international luncheon of the annual National Prayer Breakfast and will make an in-and-out trip for that.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, as part of Pakistan’s effort to re-engage with the US, the foreign minister and Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar are expected to visit Washington soon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is expected to visit New York to attend a UN-sponsored conference on Muslim women, being held on Pakistan’s initiative on March 8. He is also likely to attend another UN event in New York on March 15 to commemorate the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, as per Pakistani media report. 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, '2023-01-30 07:48:59', '2023-01-30 07:48:59'),
(4853, 4853, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Two vessels with consignments for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Pabna have arrived at Mongla port.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The ships-- ‘MV Anka Sun’ and ‘MV Sapodilla’ carrying goods weighing 1400.42 MT and 518.42 MT respectively docked at the port’s jetty no 7 and 8 on Sunday evening, Mongla Port Authority (MPA) Harbor Master Captain Shaheen Majid said.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The unloading of goods from the ships started on Sunday night, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Liberian flag carrier MV Sapodilla left St. Petersburg Port of Russia for Mongla Port and docked at the jetty no 8 of the port on Sunday evening.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another ship, MV Anka Sun left Russian Novorossiysk Sea Port on December 26 docked at the jetty no-7 of Mongla port at the same time.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The goods will be taken to the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant by road, said Sadhan Kumar Chakraborty, local shipping agent of MV Anka Sun.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier on January 22, Panama flag carrier Liberty Harvest and Russian flag carrier MV Kamilia carrying goods for the nuke plant docked at the port.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sanctioned Russian ship Sparta III (Ursa Major) was scheduled to dock at Mongla port in the southwestern part of the country at the end of December last year and unload cargo destined for the Rooppur NPP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But the authorities denied the ship permission to dock at the port after officials got a letter from the US Embassy in Dhaka saying that the ship was on a list of Russian ships sanctioned by the US.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On January 22, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said Bangladesh will not accept those Russian ships which are under sanctions. 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, '2023-01-30 08:29:11', '2023-01-30 08:29:11');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4854, 4854, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations for 2023 will begin on April 30.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Professor Tapan Kumar Sarkar, chairman of Dhaka Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, revealed the schedule to UNB today.</div><div><br></div><div>Last year, Education Minister Dipu Moni said SSC and HSC exams in 2023 will be held in April and June, respectively, based on shortened syllabus, just like the previous academic session.</div><div><br></div><div>SSC exams for 2022 began on September 15 last year considering the flood situation in the country, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, according to the government\'s academic calendar, SSC exams are held from February 1 and HSC from April 1 every year. However, these exams were not held on time in the past two years due to Covid-19.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 10:09:06', '2023-01-30 10:09:06'),
(4855, 4855, '<div><div><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A powerful blast inside a mosque in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar has left at least 25 people dead and 120 more injured, according to Peshawar deputy commissioner Shafiullah Khan, reports CNN</b><br></div></div><div><br></div><div>No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, said Saddique Khan, a senior police official in Peshawar who gave the latest casualty tolls, but the Pakistani Taliban have been blamed in similar suicide attacks in the past.</div><div><br></div><div>The bomber detonated his suicide vest as some 150 worshipers — including many policemen from nearby police offices — were praying inside. The impact of the explosion collapsed the roof of the mosque, which caved in and injured many, according to Zafar Khan, a local police officer.</div><div><br></div><div>A survivor, 38-year-old police officer Meena Gul, said he was inside the mosque when the bomb went off. He said he doesn\'t know how he survived unhurt. He could hear cries and screams after the bomb exploded, Gul said.</div><div><br></div><div>Rescuers scrambled trying to remove mounds of debris from the mosque grounds and get to worshippers still trapped under the rubble, police said. Khan said said several of the wounded were listed in critical condition at a hospital and there were fears the death toll would rise.</div><div><br></div><div>Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in a statement condemned the bombing, and ordered authorities to ensure the best possible medical treatment to the victims. He also vowed “stern action\" against those who were behind the attack.</div><div><br></div><div>Former Prime Minister Imran Khan also condemned the bombing, calling it a “terrorist suicide attack\" in a Twitter posting. “My prayers &amp; condolences go to victims families,\" said the ex-premier. “It is imperative we improve our intelligence gathering &amp; properly equip our police forces to combat the growing threat of terrorism.”</div><div><br></div><div>Peshawar is the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan and has been the scene of frequent militant attacks.</div><div><br></div><div>The Pakistani Taliban, are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, and are separate group but also a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.</div><div><br></div><div>The TTP has waged an insurgency in Pakistan over the past 15 years, fighting for stricter enforcement of Islamic laws in the country, the release of their members who are in government custody and a reduction of the Pakistani military presence in the country’s former tribal regions. - AP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 10:41:37', '2023-01-30 10:45:46'),
(4856, 4856, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Three years to the day after the World Health Organization sounded the highest level of global alert over Covid-19, it said Monday the pandemic remains an international emergency.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The UN health agency\'s emergency committee on Covid-19 met last Friday for a 14th time since the start of the crisis.</div><div><br></div><div>Following that meeting, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus \"concurs with the advice offered by the committee regarding the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and determines that the event continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC),\" the organisation said in a statement.</div><div><br></div><div>Tedros, it said, \"acknowledges the committee\'s views that the Covid-19 pandemic is probably at a transition point and appreciates the advice of the committee to navigate this transition carefully and mitigate the potential negative consequences.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Even prior to the meeting, the WHO chief had suggested the emergency phase of the pandemic is not over, pointing to surging numbers of deaths and warning that the global response to the crisis \"remains hobbled\".</div><div><br></div><div>\"As we enter the fourth year of the pandemic, we are certainly in a much better position now than we were a year ago, when the Omicron wave was at its peak, and more than 70,000 deaths were being reported to WHO each week,\" he told the committee at the start of Friday\'s meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>Tedros said the weekly death rate had dropped below 10,000 in October but had been rising again since the start of December, while the lifting of Covid restrictions in China had led to a spike in deaths.</div><div><br></div><div>In mid-January, almost 40,000 Covid weekly deaths were reported -- more than half of them in China -- while the true toll \"is certainly much higher\", he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The WHO first declared a so-called PHEIC as what was then called the novel coronavirus began to spread outside China on January 30, 2020.</div><div>Though declaring a PHEIC is the internationally agreed mechanism for triggering a global response to such outbreaks, it was only after Tedros described the worsening Covid situation as a pandemic on March 11, 2020, that many countries realised the danger.</div><div><br></div><div>Globally, more than 752 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been reported to the WHO, including more than 6.8 million deaths, though the United Nations\' health agency always stresses that the true numbers are likely much higher. Source: AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 11:40:11', '2023-01-30 11:40:11'),
(4857, 4857, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni said that the present Awami League (AL) government never did and will not do anything against Islam.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Dipu Moni said this while responding to questions of&nbsp; journalists at Rajshahi University (RU) today.</div><div><br></div><div>\"If there are errors in the new textbooks, we will bring necessary corrections. But, rumors are going on frequently in this regard,\" she added,&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Dipu Moni said rumors are being spread about some issues which have not been mentioned in the books. She urged all quarters to remain alert in this regard.</div><div><br></div><div>The minister said, adding, that the errors were corrected and more corrections are going on. Committee has been formed and it has been working relentlessly.</div><div><br></div><div>She sought cooperation of all to identify the remaining errors and expressed her assurance of need-based correction.</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, Education Minister Dipu Moni distributed gold medals and certificates among 103 students of RU as recognition of their brilliant results at Kazi Nazrul Islam auditorium as the chief guest. The students were from five academic sessions of graduation courses and six post-graduation courses under nine faculties.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 12:50:05', '2023-01-30 12:50:05'),
(4858, 4858, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>As part of BNP\'s four-day program, the leaders and activists of its Dhaka South City unit started marching towards the capital\'s Shyampur area from Jatrabari to press home their 10-point demand, including holding the next general election under a non-party caretaker government.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir formally inaugurated the program in front of Jatrabari Ideal School around 2:50pm on Monday.</div><div><br></div><div>It is the second such program of BNP as the leaders and activists of the party\'s Dhaka North City unit marched from Badda to Malibagh in the capital on Saturday.</div><div><br></div><div>In a brief address prior to launching the march, Fakhrul asked the party leaders and activists to hold the program peacefully as they did all other previous programs.</div><div><br></div><div>He, however, warned the ruling party not to consider BNP\'s peaceful programs as its weakness. “A strong resistance will be put up if our program is obstructed.”</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader also said they will achieve the final victory by ousting the current government through peaceful programs with the involvement of the common people.</div><div><br></div><div>Fakhrul said they have begun a new chapter of the movement through the march program for the restoration of democracy and people\'s voting and other rights. “This march is a triumph of democracy and civilization.”</div><div><br></div><div>He said the ruling party leaders are now making unguarded remarks as they have lost the grounds beneath their feet after getting isolated from people.</div><div><br></div><div>Stating the ruling party\'s various “evil” efforts to ensure the victory of Advocate Abdus Sattar, a former MP and sacked BNP leader, in the Brahmanbaria-2 constituency by-polls, Fakhrul said no fair election can be held as long as Awami League is in power.</div><div><br></div><div>“So, the Awami League government must hand over power to a caretaker government after quitting and dissolve parliament so that people can cast their votes under a new election commission,\" Fakhrul said.</div><div><br></div><div>Thousands of leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies joined the program, carrying banners, national, party and white flags, festoons and portraits of the party\'s top leaders.</div><div><br></div><div>A huge number of law enforcers have been deployed to maintain law and order and fend off any untoward incidents.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier on Thursday, BNP announced the four-day march program in the capital for January 28, 30, 31 and February 1.</div><div><br></div><div>Dhaka North City unit BNP will also march from Gabtoli to Mirpur-10 intersection on January 31, reports UNB</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, Dhaka South City unit BNP will march from Mugda to Malibagh on February 1.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 12:59:07', '2023-01-30 12:59:07'),
(4859, 4859, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>On-loan Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun ran through to score a remarkable 96th-minute equaliser as Reims held 10-man Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain to a 1-1 draw on Sunday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>It looked like Neymar\'s strike early in the second half would be enough for PSG to take all three points despite substitute Marco Verratti being sent off shortly after that goal.</div><div><br></div><div>But an impressive Reims side got the draw they richly deserved when Balogun broke away to fire home right at the death.</div><div><br></div><div>The result sees the club coached by 30-year-old Belgian-born Englishman Will Still extend their unbeaten run to 14 games between league and cup.</div><div><br></div><div>They remain in mid-table but have now drawn with the Parisians twice this season, their collective strength allowing a team of hungry young players to hold their own against PSG\'s superstars.</div><div><br></div><div>PSG have now dropped points in three of their four league games in 2023, and while they remain three points clear of Lens at the top of the table, their form is a concern with the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Bayern Munich now little over two weeks away.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Overall we obviously can\'t be satisfied with our performance. It is not a question of being worried but we need to get back to winning ways quickly and play much more as a team than we are at the moment,\" coach Christophe Galtier told broadcaster Amazon Prime.</div><div><br></div><div>\"To concede a goal after 95 minutes with the number of experienced players we have -- it is damaging for us in terms of the points dropped but it is also very surprising.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Galtier fielded Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar all together in his starting line-up for the first time since the World Cup as PSG took to the field wearing their fourth kit with players\' names in Mandarin to mark the Lunar New Year.</div><div><br></div><div>In fact PSG lined up in a 4-2-4 formation at the start with Carlos Soler joining the superstar attacking trio and playing on the right wing.</div><div><br></div><div>- Neymar scores, Verratti sent off -</div><div><br></div><div>Yet they sorely missed Verratti in midfield with the Italian left on the bench in the first half as Reims looked the more dangerous side.</div><div><br></div><div>He came on at the break and they took the lead in the 51st minute as a Messi shot came off Achraf Hakimi and fell to Neymar, who duly converted his 17th goal of the season.</div><div><br></div><div>However, PSG were reduced to 10 men shortly after amid much confusion.</div><div><br></div><div>Reims were initially awarded a penalty for a foul by Marquinhos on Balogun in the box, but a VAR intervention led to the referee sending-off Verratti for a dangerous tackle on Junya Ito in the build-up and then cancelling the penalty for an offside.</div><div><br></div><div>PSG then saw Sergio Ramos head off the bar before Hakimi had a goal disallowed for offside.</div><div><br></div><div>It looked like they would hold on for the victory but, with the allotted five added minutes having been played, Kamory Doumbia sent Balogun away and the England Under-21 striker rounded Gianluigi Donnarumma and finished emphatically for his 11th Ligue 1 goal this season.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We played like a team, a team that was ready, proud and who were not afraid to play here,\" said Still, who has not lost a game since being promoted to the role of head coach following the departure of Oscar Garcia in October.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We had no complexes. I think the goal we conceded was a bit annoying but that is part of the game and we held on in there, maintained hope and were rewarded at the end.\" Source: AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 13:21:21', '2023-01-30 13:21:21'),
(4860, 4860, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Illegal electric blankets are being sold online which could cause electric shocks, a consumer group warns.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Which? found some of the products being sold are made \"so poorly\" they could pose \"a serious risk\".</div><div><br></div><div>Separately charity Electrical Safety First says it found \"highly dangerous\" electrical products for sale by third party sellers online.</div><div><br></div><div>It wants new regulations to bolster consumer protection.</div><div><br></div><div>The cost of living crisis has seen a huge rise in the popularity of electric blankets as people try to minimise use of their central heating.</div><div><br></div><div>Nine out of the 11 electric blankets, throws and shawls Which? bought from third-party sellers on AliExpress, Amazon, eBay and Wish should not be sold legally in the UK.</div><div><br></div><div>The consumer champion group identified problems with how the products are made, the packaging, markings and instructions.</div><div><br></div><div>Which? found some products with electric wires that could easily be pulled out and others lacked the proper safety standard marks.</div><div><br></div><div>In addition to safety concerns, some of the blankets were incredibly inefficient and did not work properly.</div><div><br></div><div>All those flagged by Which? as having issues have now been removed by the online marketplaces.</div><div><br></div><div>Which? is calling for sites to bear more legally responsibility for allowing unsafe and illegal products to be sold on their platform.</div><div><br></div><div>The current approach puts most of the responsibility on the third-party sellers.</div><div><br></div><div>Sue Davies, head of consumer protection policy at Which? said buying these products cheaply on online marketplaces can put people\'s safety at risk.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The government must urgently act to give online marketplaces greater legal responsibility for unsafe and illegal products sold on their sites so that consumers are no longer put at unnecessary risk of harm,\" she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Last week a Private Member\'s Bill was tabled by Labour MP for Gateshead, Ian Mearns, to implement more regulation in this area.</div><div><br></div><div>The Bill, supported by the charity Electrical Safety First, aimed to \"close a gap in the law\" which has allowed online marketplaces to operate \"without any responsibility\" for ensuring that the products sold via their sites are actually safe.</div><div><br></div><div>Electrical Safety First found \"highly dangerous\" electrical products for sale by third party sellers across major online marketplaces, including Amazon Marketplace, eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Wish.com.</div><div><br></div><div>Boss Lesley Rudd said: \"Households are perpetually being left at risk from products, such as dangerous electric blankets, as people seek to keep heating costs down.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Without changes to the law, people will continue to be left exposed and vulnerable.\"</div><div><br></div><div>AliExpress, Amazon, eBay and Wish.com all said they take safety very seriously and removed the listings that Which? flagged to them.</div><div><br></div><div>None of the third-party sellers of the products provided a comment to Which?. - BBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 13:46:21', '2023-01-30 13:46:21'),
(4861, 4861, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The government is planning to introduce Integrated Traffic Management and Incident Detection System (ITMIDS) in a bid to ensure safer highways, an official said.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The ITMIDS will be undertaken to detect speed and traffic violations and enable traffic flow analysis while the real-time monitoring will be replicated along some of the highway corridor pilots, said Roads and Highways Division (RHD) Additional Chief Engineer Dr Md Abdullah Al Mamun.</div><div><br></div><div>The ITMIDS will coincide with the National Highway Safe Corridor Demonstration Project Sites side by side CCTV, video, and audio feeds, as well as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology.</div><div><br></div><div>The government will introduce the ITMIDS under a multi-sector project, Bangladesh Road Safety Project as RHD, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Bangladesh Police and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) will implement it.</div><div><br></div><div>The project costs US$480.87 million. The World Bank will provide $357.91 million as credit while rest of $122.96 million will come from government treasury.</div><div><br></div><div>Talking to BSS, Dr Mamun said the project is now waiting for approval from Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).</div><div><br></div><div>He informed that the World Bank has already approved $357.91 million of financing to help Bangladesh improve road safety and reduce fatalities and injuries from road crashes in selected high-risk highways and district roads.</div><div><br></div><div>The Road Safety Project will help Bangladesh achieve the Sustainable Development Goals on road safety by 2030, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>He said the objective of the project is to build road safety management capacity and achieve targeted reduction in traffic fatalities and serious injuries in Bangladesh.</div><div><br></div><div>Mamun mentioned that the project comprises four components- multi-sectoral road safety pilot projects, priority road safety investments, technical assistance and contingent emergency response.</div><div><br></div><div>Under the multi-sectoral road safety pilot project, safe-system based road safety pilot projects are designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of multi-sectoral interventions on a high-risk, high-visible section of the network, for the targeted reduction in road deaths over the project period.</div><div><br></div><div>The project aims to enhance coordination between the road agencies (RHD, LGED, and district authorities), Highway and Metropolitan Police, health agencies, and civil society.</div><div><br></div><div>These measures will be independently monitored during the project period to determine the change in road safety outcomes, so that they can be replicated over the wider-geographical area through greater coordination between all stakeholders, and eventually scaled up country-wide.</div><div><br></div><div>These measures will allow reducing disaster-related accidents in vulnerable zones through safer and resilient design features and support the enhancement of emergency services with post-crash care (including for disaster-related emergency events).</div><div><br></div><div>The traffic calming measures and road safety civil works will have a positive impact on congestion reduction and will facilitate NMT travel patterns as three distinct pilot projects will be undertaken.</div><div><br></div><div>Under the Priority Road Safety Investments component, the government will support the expedited implementation of some stand-alone priority activities as per the provisions of the recently enacted Road Transport Act.</div><div><br></div><div>The idea aims to demonstrate quick wins that can be had under infrastructure, vehicle and user safety, and post-crash care, and help establish best-in-class systems.</div><div><br></div><div>The infrastructure improvements, along with improved systems/facilities and templates would likely then help replicate the pilot projects to more corridors, urban areas, and districts.</div><div><br></div><div>The proposed activities will also help reduce disaster-related accidents in vulnerable zones with safer and resilient design features, support the enhancement of emergency services and better assess vulnerabilities (with an improved crash data system).</div><div><br></div><div>Under the Technical Assistance component, the government will focus on technical capacity building and tools for all departments and implementing agencies to enable them to formulate a robust National Road Safety Program with a targeted vision and concrete investment plans in the short, medium, and long term.</div><div><br></div><div>Under the Contingent Emergency Response component, the government will improve the GoBs ability to respond effectively in the event of an emergency in line with WB procedures on disaster prevention and preparedness.</div><div><br></div><div>Following an eligible crisis or emergency, the recipient may request the Bank to reallocate project funds to support emergency response and reconstruction.</div><div><br></div><div>Mamun said the project will support Bangladesh in achieving the road safety targets set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that call respectively for a halving of global road deaths and universal access to safe transport in cities by 2030.</div><div><br></div><div>It will directly help reduce the number of deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes (SDG 3.6), he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The project will also contribute to making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable (SDG 11.2).</div><div><br></div><div>Scaled-up road safety investment in South Asia is an urgent priority and an important focus of the global dialogue on regional and country performance expectations, Mamun added.</div><div><br></div><div>He said the project will contribute primarily to the CPF Focus Area 1 Objective 1.2 Improved transport connectivity, by rehabilitating the entire national highway (NH) and regional highway (RH) networks, and related mass action treatments, especially in high-risk corridors, major and minor junctions, bazaar areas, locations connecting feeder roads to the highways, and at railway crossings in Bangladesh.</div><div><br></div><div>He also said the project is well aligned with all four thematic pillars of the World Bank Group crisis response.</div><div><br></div><div>It is expected to reduce crash-related fatalities and injuries as it will establish a system of mobile emergency medical services accessible through a toll-free number with dedicated ambulances for the transportation of crash victims, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>He said it will also strengthen the emergency departments of district hospitals through triaging protocols and negative pressure isolation rooms for the management of crash victims, reports BSS</div><div><br></div><div>The long-term road safety engagement will support the strengthening of policies, institutions, and investments for resilient, inclusive, and sustainable recovery by rebuilding better and saving lives, Mamun added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 14:24:53', '2023-01-30 14:24:53'),
(4862, 4862, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least 22 people were killed and nearly two dozen injured when a public bus crashed into a truck in the center of Benin, the government on Monday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The president’s director of communications posted on Facebook that first responders had immediately been dispatched to the scene of the crash that occurred near the town of Dassa-Zoume on Sunday.</div><div><br></div><div>“In this painful circumstance, the government expresses its sympathy to the whole nation and presents its deepest condolences to all the grieving families. This tragedy has once again reminded us that safety on our roads remains a constant challenge and urges us to take even stronger actions for a more effective safety of people and goods,” the director said. A crisis unit has been set up for relatives to get information.</div><div><br></div><div>The cause of the crash was not immediately known. An investigation has been opened into the circumstances of the crash, said authorities.</div><div><br></div><div>Images and videos of the crash shared on social chat groups and seen by The Associated Press show the bus in flames and a charred body on the ground as one man tried to put out the fire with a jerry can of water.</div><div><br></div><div>About 21 people had burn injuries to varying degrees, said Benjamin Hounkpatin, the health minister during an interview with state television on Sunday. Speaking outside the hospital in Cotonou where the injured had been taken, he said they were alerted about the crash early evening Sunday and that health staff were doing everything they could.</div><div><br></div><div>“For the people who were burned we can\'t guarantee what will happen to them,” said Hounkpatin.</div><div><br></div><div>Transport accidents occur in Benin due to narrow roads in parts of the country, however, the death toll is not usually so high, according to locals. In July, three people were killed in a crash between a bus and a car near the town of Parakou, according to local media.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div><div><br></div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 15:09:15', '2023-01-30 15:09:15'),
(4863, 4863, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Bangladesh wants to ease manpower recruitment process in Malaysia with a reduced cost through discussion as Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka in February.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“The Malaysian home minister is coming with a big team. It will help make things (related to manpower recruitment) more rationalized. We want to send our workers at a reduced cost,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>He said Bangladesh wants the manpower “cartel” to be dismantled, the recruitment cost reduced, and the rules of recruitment eased.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier, Bangladesh High Commissioner to Malaysia Md Golam Sarwar met with the Malaysian home affairs minister and discussed various issues of mutual interest.</div><div><br></div><div>The high commissioner welcomed the Malaysian minister’s crucial visit to Bangladesh and discussed various aspects of the visit, according to the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.</div><div><br></div><div>As it is his first foreign visit after taking charge as home minister, it is significant for both countries.</div><div><br></div><div>They also discussed recruiting more manpower from Bangladesh in a short time at a low cost.</div><div><br></div><div>High Commissioner Golam Sarwar requested the home minister of Malaysia to legalise the undocumented Bangladeshis in the southeast Asian country on easy terms under the recalibration programme.</div><div><br></div><div>The Malaysian home minister assured the high commissioner that they would look into the matter, according to the High Commission. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 15:16:21', '2023-01-30 15:16:21'),
(4864, 4864, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A 6.1-magnitude earthquake jolted Shaya County of Aksu Prefecture in northwest China\'s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, at 7:49 am on Monday Beijing Time, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC), Xinhua reported.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The epicenter was monitored at 40.01 degrees north latitude and 82.29 degrees east longitude, with a depth of 50 km, the CENC said.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 15:30:00', '2023-01-30 15:30:00'),
(4865, 4865, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Monday signed a Participation Agreement with 49 banks to ensure adequate liquidity for the export-oriented sector.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Earlier the central bank formed ‘The Export Facilitation Pre-financing Fund (EFPFA)’ of Tk10,000 crore to assist the export sector amid the slowdown of global economic growth. The entrepreneurs can borrow from this fund for an interim period before getting foreign buyers\' payment against the order.</div><div><br></div><div>From the newly constituted fund of Tk10,000 crore, exporters will be given loans in local currency. After taking loans in taka, they (exporters) can convert them into foreign currency and open an LC. As a result, it will act as an alternative fund to the export development fund (EDF), where exporters get loans in foreign currency, acting as a drag on the country\'s forex reserves.</div><div><br></div><div>It drew attention after the IMF insisted the EDF of USD $7 billion be counted as encumbered reserves - not as part of the country\'s liquid foreign exchange reserve.</div><div><br></div><div>The executive director and spokesperson of BB Mesbaul Haque told UNB that Governor Abdur Rauf Talukdar had a meeting with the MDs of the banks on Monday. Separate deals were signed with 49 banks in the meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>As per the deal, banks will be able to borrow from this fund at 4 percent interest rate, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>After the meeting, Chairman of Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) and Managing Director of BRAC Bank Salim RF Hossain said that the banks will benefit through the formation of the fund in local currency.</div><div><br></div><div>“We applaud this initiative. We have entered into an agreement with the central bank to avail loans from the Export Facilitation Pre-financing Fund,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>After receiving the export work order from the buyer, entrepreneurs will be given loans from this fund to import the required raw materials for the exporting sector. Loans will be given from this fund at a maximum interest of 4 percent.</div><div><br></div><div>In respect of this loan, no fee or commission can be collected in excess of the charge or commission fixed by the central bank. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-30 16:09:33', '2023-01-30 16:09:33'),
(4866, 4866, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least 59 people have been killed by a suicide bombing that apparently targeted policemen praying in a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The mosque is within the tightly guarded police headquarters area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"Terrorists want to create fear by targeting those who perform the duty of defending Pakistan,\" Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Pakistani Taliban denied involvement after an initial claim by one of its commanders.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The group ended a ceasefire in November, and violence has been on the rise since.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In December it targeted a police station - like Peshawar, in the north-west of the country - leading to the deaths of 33 militants.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A hospital spokesman told the BBC the death toll stood at 59, while 157 people had been injured.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Between 300 and 400 police officers were in the area at the time, Peshawar police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan told local media.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The mosque is in one of the most heavily controlled areas of the city, which includes police headquarters and intelligence and counter-terrorism bureaus.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Sharif said those behind the attack had \"nothing to do with Islam\". He added: \"The entire nation is standing united against the menace of terrorism.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The blast took place around 13:30 (08:30 GMT) during afternoon prayers in the north-western city, near the country\'s border with Afghanistan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A video circulating on social media and verified by the BBC shows that half of a wall caved in. The mosque was covered in bricks and debris as people clambered over the rubble to escape.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hours after the blast, BBC News witnessed a facility full of the injured, many still wearing their police uniforms.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some were covered in burns cream, their skin red with burns from the explosion. Others have broken bones from being hit by falling rubble.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One man said he still could not hear because of the sound of the blast. Another man said he had been rescued after being trapped under the rubble for almost an hour.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister travelled to Peshawar on an emergency visit, where he will be briefed by local officials and visit those wounded by the blast.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">UN Secretary General António Guterres condemned the attack, with his spokeswoman saying: \"It is particularly abhorrent that such an attack occurred at a place of worship.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The attack on the mosque took place at the start of a key week for Pakistani diplomacy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Monday, the president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was due to visit Islamabad - although the trip was cancelled at the last minute because of bad weather.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Tuesday, an International Monetary Fund delegation is meant to visit Pakistan as part of the process to unlock a bailout loan to prevent the country from defaulting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last March, Peshawar was the target of another bombing, which killed dozens in a Shia Muslim mosque in the majority Sunni Muslim country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the capital Islamabad, police issued a high alert and said security at all entry and exit points to the city had been increased. 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, '2023-01-31 02:11:34', '2023-01-31 02:11:34'),
(4867, 4867, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The UK economy will shrink and perform worse than other advanced economies as the cost of living continues to hit households, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IMF said the economy will contract by 0.6% in 2023, rather than grow slightly as previously predicted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It said its new forecast reflected the UK\'s high energy prices and financial conditions, such as high inflation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the UK outperformed many forecasts last year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In its World Economic Outlook update, the IMF, which works to stabilise economic growth, said the UK\'s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would shrink rather than grow by 0.3% this year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It predicted the UK would be the only country - across the world\'s advanced and emerging economies - to suffer a year of declining GDP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, the IMF said in 2024 it expected UK growth to be 0.9%, up from 0.6% previously.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">GDP is a measure for looking at how well, or badly, an economy is doing and in a growing economy, each quarterly GDP will be slightly bigger than the quarter before.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">If a country\'s GDP falls for two quarters in a row, it means it is in recession and it is a sign that its economy is doing badly. Typically when a country is in recession, companies make less money and the number of people unemployed rises.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IMF\'s bleak picture for the UK comes after Mr Hunt warned it was \"unlikely\" that there would be room for any \"significant\" tax cuts in the Spring Budget.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The chancellor, who has been under pressure from some in his party to cut taxes to stimulate the economy, said that a pledge to halve the rate of inflation \"is the best tax cut right now\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Inflation, which is the rate at which prices rise, hit 10.5% in the 12 months to December, close to a 40-year high.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to halve inflation by the end of the year, although some economists have said price rises will slow without government policies, due to commodity prices and shipping costs decreasing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, said inflation is likely to fall rapidly this year as energy prices fall, but has warned a UK recession is still on the cards.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While the IMF has predicted the UK economy to contract, it forecast economic growth of 1.4% in the United States, 0.1% in Germany, 0.7% in France, 0.6% in Italy, 1.8% in Japan and 1.5% in Canada.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Hunt highlighted that Mr Bailey had said that any UK recession was \"likely to be shallower than previously predicted\", but did add the IMF\'s figures \"confirm we are not immune to the pressures hitting nearly all advanced economies\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Short-term challenges should not obscure our long-term prospects - the UK outperformed many forecasts last year, and if we stick to our plan to halve inflation, the UK is still predicted to grow faster than Germany and Japan over the coming years,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Treasury said since 2010, the UK had grown faster than France, Japan and Italy and that since the EU referendum in 2016, it had grown at \"about the same rate as Germany\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Cumulative growth over the 2022-24 period is predicted to be higher than Germany and Japan, and at a similar rate to the US,\" a spokesman said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Economic forecasters are not always 100% right when it comes to predicting the future. The IMF has said its forecasts for growth the following year in most advanced economies like the UK\'s have more often than not been within about 1.5 percentage points of what actually happens.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IMF did not mention Brexit in its report as a factor for the UK not performing as well as others. Today marks three years since the UK left the EU.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It said the rise in central banks across the world putting up interest rates to try to curb inflation and the war in Ukraine continued to \"weigh on economic activity\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But it said China reopening its economy from Covid restrictions \"paved the way for a faster-than-expected recovery\" globally.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Overall, the IMF estimated global inflation passed its peak and will fall from 8.8% last year to 6.6% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024. 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, '2023-01-31 02:29:43', '2023-01-31 02:29:43'),
(4868, 4868, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">US President Joe Biden has ruled out sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, despite renewed calls from Ukrainian officials for air support.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Asked by a reporter on Monday if the US would be providing the planes, Mr Biden replied simply \"no\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His comment comes a day after Germany\'s leader also ruled out sending fighter jets.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine has said it needs the jets to take control of its airspace in its ongoing war with Russia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">F-16 Fighting Falcons are widely considered one of the world\'s most reliable fighter jets and are used by other countries, such as Belgium and Pakistan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They would be a significant upgrade on the Soviet-era fighting jets Ukraine is currently using, which were made before the country declared independence from the USSR more than 30 years ago.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, Mr Biden has repeatedly rebuffed Ukraine\'s pleas for the jets, instead focussing on providing military support in other areas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The US announced last week that it would supply Kyiv with 31 Abrams tanks, with the UK and Germany also pledging similar support.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine\'s Deputy Foreign Minister, Andrii Melnyk, welcomed that announcement but asked allies for the creation of a \"fighter jet coalition\" that would also provide Ukraine with Eurofighters, Tornados, French Rafales and Swedish Gripen jets.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In an interview on Sunday, Germany\'s Chancellor said that it \"seemed frivolous\" to discuss sending other military aid to Ukraine when they had just committed to sending the Leopard 2s.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Olaf Scholz also reiterated to the German newspaper Tagesspiegel that the Nato military alliance was not at war with Russia and that it would \"not allow such an escalation\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Moscow has accused Nato of being an aggressor by proxy and members of the alliance, including the US and Germany, have been reluctant to send military aid that could see the conflict escalate.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The French President, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday echoed this sentiment - saying that while \"nothing is excluded\" when it comes to providing support to Ukraine, it must neither further inflame the situation nor limit France\'s ability to defend itself.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Other EU countries, including the Netherlands, have not yet given a definitive response on whether they will send fighter jets.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, Poland has indicated that it would be prepared to supply fighter jets in co-ordination with Nato. 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, '2023-01-31 02:47:29', '2023-01-31 02:47:29');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4869, 4869, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Two years after Myanmar’s military seized power, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced support Monday for the democratic aspirations of Myanmar’s people and warned that the military’s planned elections amid a crackdown on civilians and political leaders “risk exacerbating instability.”</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the secretary-general strongly condemns all forms of violence in Myanmar as the crisis in the country deteriorates “and fuel serious regional implications.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The army seized power on Feb. 1, 2021, from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, arresting her and top members of her governing National League for Democracy party, which had won a landslide victory for a second term in a November 2020 general election.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Security forces suppressed widespread opposition to the military takeover with lethal force, killing almost 2,900 civilians and arresting thousands more people who engaged in nonviolent protests. The savage crackdown triggered armed resistance in much of the country. The military government has deemed major organizations opposed to army rule to be “terrorist” groups.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The military enacted a new law on registration of political parties, which was published Friday, that will make it difficult for opposition groups to mount a serious challenge to army-backed candidates in a general election scheduled for later this year. It sets minimum levels for parties, including membership levels 100 times higher than in 2020 elections, plus stiff funding requirements.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Guterres “is concerned by the military’s stated intention to hold elections amid intensifying aerial bombardment and burning of civilian houses, along with ongoing arrests, intimidation and harassment of political leaders, civil society actors and journalists,” the U.N. spokesman said. “Without conditions that permit the people of Myanmar to freely exercise their political rights, the proposed polls risk exacerbating instability.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The secretary-general “continues to stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and to support their democratic aspirations for an inclusive, peaceful and just society and the protection of all communities, including the Rohingya,” Dujarric said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Longstanding discrimination against Rohingya Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, including denial of citizenship and many other rights, exploded in August 2017 when Myanmar’s military launched what it called a clearance campaign in northern Rakhine state in response to attacks on police and border guards by a Rohingya militant group. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, where they remain in camps, as troops allegedly committed mass rapes and killings and burned thousands of homes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In January 2020, the International Court of Justice, the U.N.’s top court, ordered Myanmar to do all it could to prevent genocide against the Rohingya. Two days earlier, an independent commission set up by Myanmar’s government concluded there were reasons to believe security forces committed war crimes against the Rohingya — but not genocide.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Guterres welcomed the first-ever resolution on Myanmar adopted by the U.N. Security Council on Dec. 21 demanding an immediate end to violence in the Southeast Asian nation and urging its military rulers to release all “arbitrarily detained” prisoners, including Suu Kyi, and to restore democratic institutions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The resolution calls for the opposing parties to pursue dialogue and reconciliation and urges all sides “to respect human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The secretary-general considers the resolution “an important step and underlines the urgency for strengthened international unity,” Dujarric said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The spokesman said the U.N. special envoy for Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer, will coordinate closely with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the Security Council’s call “to engage intensively with all relevant parties in Myanmar to achieve an end to the violence and to support a return to democracy.” Indonesia took over as ASEAN chair on Jan. 1 from Cambodia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The United Nations is committed to staying in Myanmar and addressing the multiple vulnerabilities arising from the military’s actions since February 2021,” Dujarric said, urging unhindered access to all affected communities.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The secretary-general renews his call for neighboring countries and other member states to urge the military leadership to respect the will and needs of the people of Myanmar and adhere to democratic norms,” the U.N. spokesman said. AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 03:29:32', '2023-01-31 03:29:32'),
(4870, 4870, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Former Twitter employees are expected to testify next week before the House Oversight Committee about the social media platform’s handling of reporting on President Joe Biden\'s son, Hunter Biden.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The scheduled testimony, confirmed by the committee Monday, will be the first time the three former executives will appear before Congress to discuss the company\'s decision to initially block from Twitter a New York Post article on Hunter Biden’s laptop in the weeks before the 2020 election.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Republicans have said the story was suppressed for political reasons, though no evidence has been released to support that claim. The witnesses for the Feb. 8 hearing are expected to be Vijaya Gadde, former chief legal officer; James Baker, former deputy general counsel; and Yoel Roth, former head of safety and integrity.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The hearing is among the first of many in a GOP-controlled House to be focused on Biden and his family, as Republicans wield the power of their new, albeit slim, majority.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The New York Post first reported in October 2020 that it had received from former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, a copy of a hard drive of a laptop that Hunter Biden had dropped off 18 months earlier at a Delaware computer repair shop and never retrieved. Twitter initially blocked people from sharing links to the story for several days.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Months later, Twitter’s then-CEO Jack Dorsey called the company’s communications around the Post article “not great.” He added that blocking the article’s URL with “zero context” around why it was blocked was “unacceptable.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Post article at the time was greeted with skepticism due to questions about the laptop’s origins, including Giuliani’s involvement, and because top officials in the Trump administration had already warned that Russia was working to denigrate Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election. The Kremlin had interfered in the 2016 race by hacking Democratic emails that were subsequently leaked, and fears that Russia would meddle again in the 2020 race were widespread across Washington.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“This is why we’re investigating the Biden family for influence peddling,” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the Oversight committee, said at a press event Monday morning. “We want to make sure that our national security is not compromised.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The White House has sought to discredit the Republican probes into Hunter Biden, calling them “divorced-from-reality political stunts.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nonetheless, Republicans now hold subpoena power in the House, giving them the authority to compel testimony and conduct an aggressive investigation. GOP staff has spent the past year analyzing messages and financial transactions found on the laptop that belonged to the president\'s younger son. Comer has previously said the evidence they have compiled is “overwhelming,\" but did not offer specifics.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Comer has pledged there won’t be hearings regarding the Biden family until the committee has the evidence to back up any claims of alleged wrongdoing. He also acknowledged that the stakes are high whenever an investigation centers on the leader of a political party.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Monday, the Kentucky Republican, speaking at a National Press Club event, said that he could not guarantee a subpoena of Hunter Biden during his term. \"We\'re going to go where the investigation leads us. Maybe there’s nothing there.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He added, “We’ll see.” AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"5\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 03:35:35', '2023-01-31 03:35:35'),
(4871, 4871, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The air quality of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka continued to be in the \'very 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 291 at 8:45 am today (January 31, 2023), Dhaka ranked first in the list of cities with the worst air.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pakistan’s Karachi and Myanmar’s Yangon occupied the second and third spots in the list, with AQI scores of 191 and 189, 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;\">Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies. 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, '2023-01-31 04:29:14', '2023-01-31 04:29:14'),
(4872, 4872, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The overall number of Covid-19 cases around the world has now crossed 675 million, with a sudden surge of cases in Asia and some other parts of the world.</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 675,013,547 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,760,663 this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The US has recorded 104,183,562 Covid-19 cases so far, while 1,132,719 people have died from the virus in the North American country, both highest counts around the world.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">India on Monday reported 80 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total number of infections to 4,46,82,719.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The country also saw two new Covid-related deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the number of deaths to 530,740, according to the health ministry\'s website.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, Canada has renewed its number of total Covid-19 cases and deaths to 4,550,256 and 50,380, respectively, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said on Monday.</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 11 more Covid-19 cases in 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 2,037,543, 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 29,442 as no new fatalities were reported. 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, '2023-01-31 04:34:28', '2023-01-31 04:34:28'),
(4873, 4873, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has said it arrested two fugitives on death row, who were sentenced by the International Crimes Tribunal for committing crimes against humanity in 1971, from Dhaka\'s Dakkhinkhan and Savar\'s Ashulia area on Monday.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The convicts were identified as Naqib Hossain Adil Sarkar and Mokhlesur Rahman Mukul.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">ASP Imran Khan of RAB headquarters media wing said they nabbed them after separate drives on Monday night.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The RAB official, however, did not elaborate, saying that details would be given later at noon today. 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, '2023-01-31 04:55:00', '2023-01-31 04:55:00'),
(4874, 4874, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The outlook for the global economy is growing slightly brighter as China eases its zero-COVID policies and the world shows surprising resilience in the face of high inflation, elevated interest rates and Russia\'s ongoing war against Ukraine.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That\'s the view of the International Monetary Fund, which now expects the world economy to grow 2.9% this year. That forecast is better than the 2.7% expansion for 2023 that the IMF predicted in October, though down from the estimated 3.4% growth in 2022.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IMF, a 190-country lending organization, foresees inflation easing this year, a result of aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and other major central banks. Those rate hikes are expected to slow the consumer demand that has driven prices higher. Globally, the IMF expects consumer inflation to decelerate from 8.8% last year to 6.6% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A big factor in the upgrade to global growth was China’s decision late last year to lift anti-virus controls that had kept millions of people at home. The IMF said China’s “recent reopening has paved the way for a faster-than-expected recovery.’’</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IMF now expects China\'s economy — the world’s second-biggest, after the United States — to grow 5.2% this year, up from its October forecast of 4.4%. Beijing\'s economy eked out growth of just 3% in 2022 — the first year in more than 40, the IMF noted, that China has expanded more slowly than the world as a whole. But the end of virus restrictions is expected to revive economic activity in 2023.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IMF\'s 2023 growth outlook improved for the United States (forecast to grow 1.4%) as well as for the 19 countries that share the euro currency (0.7%). Europe, though suffering from energy shortages and higher prices resulting from Russia\'s invasion of Ukraine, proved “more resilient than expected,’’ the IMF said. The European economy benefited from a warmer-than-expected winter, which held down demand for natural gas,</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia\'s economy, hit by sanctions after its invasion of Ukraine, has proved sturdier than expected, too: The IMF\'s forecast foresees Russia registering 0.3% growth this year. That would mark an improvement from a contraction of 2.2% in 2022. And it\'s well above the 2.3% contraction for 2023 that the IMF had forecast for Russia in October.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The United Kingdom is a striking exception to the IMF\'s brighter outlook for 2023. It has forecast that the British economy will shrink 0.6% in 2023; in October, the IMF had expected growth of 0.3%. Higher interest rates and tighter government budgets are squeezing the British economy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“These figures confirm we are not immune to the pressures hitting nearly all advanced economies,’’ Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said in response to the IMF forecast. “Short-term challenges should not obscure our long-term prospects — the U.K. outperformed many forecasts last year, and if we stick to our plan to halve inflation, the U.K. is still predicted to grow faster than Germany and Japan over the coming years.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IMF noted that the world economy still faces serous risks. They include the possibility that Russia\'s war against Ukraine war will escalate, that China will suffer a sharp increase in COVID cases and that high interest rates will cause a financial crisis in debt-laden countries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The global outlook has been shrouded in uncertainty since the coronavirus pandemic struck in early 2020. Forecasters have been repeatedly confounded by events: A severe if brief recession in early 2020; an expectedly strong recovery triggered by vast government stimulus aid; then a surge in inflation, worsened when Russia\'s invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago disrupted world trade in energy and food.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Three weeks ago, the IMF’s sister agency, the World Bank, issued a more downbeat outlook for the global economy. The World Bank slashed its forecast for international growth this year by nearly half — to 1.7% — and warned that the global economy would come “perilously close’’ to recession. 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, '2023-01-31 05:22:59', '2023-01-31 05:22:59'),
(4875, 4875, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Lionel Messi won the World Cup because the sparkling solid gold trophy picked him to lift it, the Argentine star said in a radio interview aired on Monday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 35-year-old inspired his country to World Cup glory last month by scoring two goals and a penalty in the South Americans\' shoot-out triumph over previous holders France following a thrilling 3-3 draw in Qatar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The cup called out to me, it told me: come and grab me, now you can touch me,\" Messi told the Argentine Urbana Play radio station.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I saw it sparkling in that beautiful stadium and I didn\'t hesitate\" to kiss it, he added, referring to the stunning Lusail Stadium in Doha, where the final was played.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Messi finally lifted the trophy in his fifth and final World Cup tournament, having lost in the 2014 final to Germany.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also played in three losing Copa America finals before finally clinching that trophy in 2021.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"After so much suffering and lost finals, God kept it for me,\" said Messi of the World Cup.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He thus became the first Argentina captain since Diego Maradona in 1986 to lift the World Cup.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I would have liked Maradona to hand me the cup, so he could at least see Argentina champions.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Maradona died of a heart attack two years ago.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"From up above he gave me strength, as did so many people who love me.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many people expected Messi to retire, at least from international duty, after the Qatar triumph but he decided to continue so he could take to the field with his teammates as world champions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, he admitted that the end was close after a glory-laden career that saw him also win four Champions League titles and 10 La Liga crowns with Barcelona, and a Ligue 1 trophy with Paris Saint-Germain, as well as the Ballon d\'Or a record seven times.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"That\'s it, there\'s nothing left, I\'ve achieved everything with the national team, with Barcelona, individually,\" he said. 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, '2023-01-31 05:30:20', '2023-01-31 05:30:20'),
(4876, 4876, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved Bangladesh\'s US$4.7 billion loan proposal during a board meeting on Monday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh will get about $3.3 billion under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and about $1.4 billion under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), said a press release here today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">IMF’s ECF/EFF approval has enabled the immediate disbursement of about $476 million as the first of the seven instalments slated over 42 months. The remaining amount will be in six equal instalments of $704 million each.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 42-month program will help preserve macroeconomic stability, protect the vulnerable, and foster inclusive and green growth. Reforms will focus on creating fiscal space to enable greater social and developmental spending; strengthening the financial sector; modernizing policy frameworks; and building climate resilience.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">IMF said Bangladesh’s robust economic recovery from the pandemic has been interrupted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, leading to a sharp widening of Bangladesh’s current account deficit, depreciation of the Taka and a decline in foreign exchange reserves.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The authorities have taken on a comprehensive set of measures to deal with these latest economic disruptions. The authorities recognize that in addition to tackling these immediate challenges, long-standing structural issues and vulnerabilities related to climate change will also need to be addressed to accelerate growth, attract private investment, enhance productivity, and build climate resilience,” it added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IMF-supported program under the ECF/EFF arrangements will help preserve macroeconomic stability and prevent disruptive adjustments to protect the vulnerable, while laying the foundations for strong, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable growth.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The concurrent RSF arrangement will supplement the resources made available under the ECF/EFF to expand the fiscal space to finance climate investment priorities identified in the authorities’ plans, help catalyze additional financing, and build resilience against long-term climate risks.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">IMF Deputy Managing Director (DMD) Antoinette Monceau Sayeh said, “Since independence, Bangladesh has made steady progress in reducing poverty and significant improvements in living standards. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent Russia’s war in Ukraine interrupted this long period of robust economic performance. Multiple shocks have made macroeconomic management challenging in Bangladesh.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While confronting challenges resulting from the global headwinds, the authorities need to accelerate their ambitious reform agenda to achieve a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable growth, she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In this regard, she said, substantial investment in human capital and infrastructure will be needed to achieve Bangladesh’s aspiration to reach upper-middle income status by 2031 and meet the Sustainable and Development Goals (SDGs).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said the authorities recognize these challenges and also the need to tackle climate change issues, which expose the economy to large risks that could threaten macroeconomic stability.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ECF/EFF arrangement will protect macroeconomic stability and rebuild buffers, while helping to advance the authorities’ reform agenda, she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said, “The implementation of the domestic revenue mobilization strategy that relies on both tax policy and revenue administration reforms will allow increasing social, development and climate spending sustainably. Fiscal reforms to strengthen the management of public finance, investment, and debt will improve spending efficiency, governance, and transparency.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Reducing financial sector vulnerabilities, strengthening oversight, enhancing governance and the regulatory framework, and developing capital markets will help mobilize financing to support growth objectives.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She mentioned that structural reforms to create conducive environment to expand trade and foreign direct investment, deepening the financial sector, developing human capital, and improving governance to enhance the business climate are needed to lift growth potential.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Access to RSF will provide financing to support Bangladesh’s climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts. The RSF reforms will complement reforms under the ECF/EFF by improving climate investment potential, strengthening institutions and enhancing climate-spending efficiency to build resilience and catalyze additional official and private finance,” she added. 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, '2023-01-31 06:00:18', '2023-01-31 06:00:18'),
(4877, 4877, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter operating profits plunged nearly 70 percent, the biggest drop in more than eight years, as the global economic slowdown dealt a blow to electronics and chips sales.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The South Korean tech giant said operating profits for the October to December period slumped to 4.3 trillion won ($3.4 billion), a 69 percent drop from a year earlier.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The drop is in line with the estimate Samsung released earlier this month and marks the company\'s worst decline in quarterly profits since the third quarter of 2014.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The business environment deteriorated significantly in the fourth quarter due to weak demand amid a global economic slowdown,\" Samsung said in a statement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sales fell eight percent to 70.46 trillion won from the same period the previous year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Samsung singled out weak demand for memory chips, saying the sector had been hit hard \"as prices fell and customers continued to adjust inventory amid deepening uncertainties in the external environment\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The firm is the flagship subsidiary of the giant Samsung Group, by far the biggest of the family-controlled conglomerates that dominate business in Asia\'s fourth-largest economy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The fourth-quarter drop is the second consecutive margin squeeze for Samsung, which saw a 31 percent fall in operating profits in the third quarter year-on-year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For the full year, Samsung reported 43.38 trillion won in operating profit and a record-high annual revenue of 302.23 trillion won.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- \'Heavy blow\' -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Until the second quarter of 2022, Samsung, along with other tech companies, significantly benefited from strong demand for electronic devices -- as well as chips that power them -- during the pandemic.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But the global economy is now facing multiple challenges, including soaring inflation, rising interest rates and higher energy costs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Global memory chip revenue dropped 10 percent last year, as electronic equipment manufacturers \"started to deplete memory inventory they had been holding in anticipation of stronger demand,\" according to tech research firm Gartner.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Consumers also began to reduce spending, with PC and smartphone demand suffering, and then enterprises starting to reduce spending in anticipation of a global recession, all of which impacted overall semiconductor growth,\" said Andrew Norwood, VP Analyst at Gartner.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The macroeconomic uncertainties are expected to persist in 2023, Samsung said, adding: \"the Company anticipates demand to begin recovering in the second half.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Samsung was dealt a heavy blow with deteriorating external factors, like weaker demand and rising costs,\" Samsung Electronics vice chairman Han Jong-hee said during CES 2023 in Las Vegas earlier this month, according to the Yonhap News Agency.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I think this difficult business environment will continue this year as a prolonged economic slowdown and risks in supply chains increase uncertainties.\" AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"18\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 06:33:19', '2023-01-31 06:33:19'),
(4878, 4878, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>According to the new order, the retail tariff was raised at different levels of consumers. The tariff was raised for lower level consumers by an average 5 percent to Tk 4.14 per unit (each kilowatt hour) from Tk 3.94 per unit. Bulk tariff was raised by 8.06 percent to Tk 6.70 from Tk 6.20 per unit.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Enhancement in bulk tariff means, the distribution companies will purchase electricity by an increased rate of Tk 0.50 per unit from Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) while enhancement in retail tariff means, consumers will have to pay enhanced rate for using electricity.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier on January 13, the government raised the electricity tariff by 5 percent at the retail level with effect from January 1.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At that time, the average tariff for all consumers went up by Tk 0.36 to Tk 7.49 from Tk 7.13.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On November 21, the bulk power tariff was hiked by 20 percent to Tk 6.20 per kilowatt hour by Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) with effect from December 1.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The government recently amended the BERC Act empowering the Power Division to raise power, gas and petroleum fuel by administrative power any time it wants.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Applying that amended Act, the new gazette notification was issued on January 30 to raise the electricity tariff at bulk and retail levels, bypassing the authorities of the energy regulator.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, energy experts believe the tariff enhancement decision came in compliance with the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that recently approved $4.5 billion in loan to Bangladesh. 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, '2023-01-31 07:15:33', '2023-01-31 07:15:33'),
(4879, 4879, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Actor Shah Rukh Khan spoke about the sequel of his latest release Pathaan, directed by Siddharth Anand. During a media interaction on Monday, Siddharth also reacted when people asked for Pathaan 2. Talking about working with Shah Rukh, Siddharth said it was a ‘gift’ to direct the actor.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sidharth also spoke about how the controversy that Pathaan faced ahead of its release affected the film\'s team. He said that their \'last two months were a little stressful, to be honest, because of the whole environment\'. The filmmaker added that everyone supported them and people came in huge numbers on the first day of the film\'s release to watch it.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As quoted by news agency ANI, Siddharth said, \"Just like every filmmaker, I also had a wish list to once work with Shah Rukh Khan. I think you have to earn a Shah Rukh Khan film, I think it was my journey which I completed and that is when I got a gift to direct Shah Rukh Khan. Pathaan aayi hai, hit hui hai. Uske baad kya banayege (Pathaan has been released, and it has been a hit. What will we make after that?\". While fans screamed Pathaan 2, Siddharth replied, \"Insha allah (God willing)\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shah Rukh said, \"This is a big day for us, my family. We haven\'t experienced this happiness in a while. Whenever he (Siddharth Anand) wants me to do Pathaan 2, I\'ll do it. If they want to make a sequel, it\'ll be my honour to do it.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pathaan is on a record-breaking run at the domestic and international box office as it collected ₹542 crore gross worldwide in just five days. Helmed by Siddharth, Pathaan was released on January 25. It also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham in the lead roles. Actor Salman Khan also has an extended cameo as Tiger in the film.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is the fourth installment in the YRF Spy Universe and is Shah Rukh\'s comeback film after Zero (2018). The film has created history as it has overtaken SS Rajamouli\'s Baahubali 2 and Yash-starrer KGF 2 to become the fastest film to enter ₹200 crore club. It collected ₹429 crore gross worldwide in four days, said production banner Yash Raj Films (YRF) on Sunday. 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, '2023-01-31 07:40:44', '2023-01-31 07:40:44'),
(4880, 4880, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thusday asked the Muslim Ummah to collectively stand beside the Palestinians.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier made this call when the ambassadors and high commissioners of seven OIC member states, who are stationed in Dhaka, paid a joint courtesy call on her at her office here in the city.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The seven foreign diplomats are Algerian Ambassador Rabah Larbi, Malaysian High Commissioner Haznah Md Hashim, Maldivian High Commissioner Shiruzimath Sameer, Oman’s ambassador Abdul Ghaffar Bin Abdul Karim Al-Bulushi, Palestinian Ambassador Yousef SY Ramadan, Saudi Arabian Ambassador Essa Yousef Essa Alduhailan and UAE Ambassador Abdullah Ali Abdullah Khaseif Alhmoudi.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">PM\'s Speech Writer Md Nazrul Islam briefed reporters after the meeting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hasina said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman supported Palestine and following this she herself has been standing beside the Palestinians.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Muslim Ummah should collectively stand by the Palestinians,\" she was quoted as saying.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The foreign diplomats highly appreciated the leadership of the prime minister for the last 14-year development and stability of Bangladesh, particularly for tackling the Covid-19 pandemic successfully.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They wished that the people of Bangladesh stay well and remain happy under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina. So, they (envoys) as members of Muslim Ummah are happy and proud of it, they said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They mentioned that some seven million Bangladeshi people are working in the Middle East countries, making a huge contribution to the economies of the host countries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They hoped that the progress of Bangladesh would continue under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina and wished her success in the next general election.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In this context, the PM said a neutral election commission was constituted through enactment of a new law and she wants that the election will be fair.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said if the people vote for her, she would come to power again and otherwise not as she believes in the power of the people.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She has been working not for her rather for the country and its people, the PM said, adding that her goal is to make the socio-economic uplift of the people of the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier said the government is working to ensure houses for all the homeless and landless people. Now in the final phase, some 40,000 houses are being constructed. Nobody will remain homeless and landless after distribution of these 40,000 abodes, she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">PM’s International Relation Affairs Adviser Prof Dr Gowher Rizvi, Ambassador-at-large Mohammad Ziauddin and PM’s Principal Secretary M Tofazzel Hossain Miah were present. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 08:05:41', '2023-01-31 08:05:41'),
(4881, 4881, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has launched digital passes for litigants, citing security issues.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Supreme Court administration issued a notification in this regard this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">No plaintiff can enter the Appellate Division Bench and the area adjacent to the bench without showing the entry pass, reads the notification.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Litigants can enter the Appellate Division by collecting this pass from the Supreme Court website.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One can get the digital pass by scanning the QR code or typing in the entry date, case number, plaintiff\'s name and mobile phone number, and National ID number in the website menu.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later the pass can be printed by clicking on the registration button.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The litigants can enter the Appellate Division by showing the printed copy or screenshot or downloaded copy of this pass, added the notification. 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, '2023-01-31 08:25:58', '2023-01-31 08:25:58'),
(4882, 4882, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Appellate Divisson of the Supreme Court (SC) today has given Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami two mounts to prepare a brief statement of an appeal filed by the party against a High Court (HC) verdict that declared the registration of the party with Election Commission “illegal”.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A three-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lawyer Joynal Abedin Tuhin and Advocate Matiur Rahman Akanda represented Jamaat-e-Islami while Barrister Tanya Amir appeared for the writ petitioner during the proceedings.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Barrister Taniya Amir said the apex court in its order said the appeal of Jamaat-e-Islami would be defaulted (dismissed) if the party did not submit the brief statement within eight weeks.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Advocate Matiur Rahman Akanda said as per the court order, Jamaat-e-Islami will take part in the hearing and it is expected that the party will get back its registration.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In August, 2013, the High Court declared Jamaat’s registration illegal following a writ petition filed in 2009 by Bangladesh Tariqat Federation’s Secretary General Rezaul Haque Chandpuri and 24 others.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the petition, they said Jamaat was a religion-based political party and it did not believe in the independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, Jamaat-e-Islami filed the appeal with the apex court challenging the HC verdict. 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, '2023-01-31 09:04:04', '2023-01-31 09:04:04');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4883, 4883, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A rescue and recovery operation was continuing in Pakistan after a suicide bombing at a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar killed at least 92 people, most of them police officials.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Muhammad Asim, a spokesperson for the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that at least 170 people were also injured in the blast a day earlier.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The vast majority of those killed were police officers. Fifty-two wounded people remained in hospital, with six in a critical condition, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Bilal Faizi, the chief rescue official, said rescue teams were still working at the site where more people could still be trapped. The suicide bombing caused the roof of the mosque to collapse, and rescuers have had to remove mounds of debris to recover many of the bodies, authorities said.</div><div><br></div><div>Reporting from Peshawar, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder said the operation had largely shifted to recovery.</div><div><br></div><div>“There has been a ceremonial send-off to those policemen who lost their lives, also funerals taking place across the province, because these policemen came from several districts - so there is mourning across the province,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile, questions have grown over how the attacker was able to access the heavily fortified area, which includes the headquarters of the provincial police force and a counterterrorism department, while wearing a suicide vest.</div><div><br></div><div>That followed “credible intelligence reports” on January 21 that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) planned a wave of attacks in Peshawar and the wider Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Hyder reported.</div><div><br></div><div>Authorities have not determined who was behind the bombing, although shortly after the explosion Sarbakaf Mohmand, a TTP commander, claimed responsibility for the attack in a post on Twitter. Source: Al Jazeera&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 09:41:31', '2023-01-31 09:41:31'),
(4884, 4884, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said the 15th amendment to the constitution strengthened the country\'s democracy and empowered people to choose public representatives by stopping the path of grabbing state power illegally.</b></span><br></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>\"Stability is prevailing in the country due to bringing 15th amendment to the constitution and continued democratic process for a long time. So, now, no unelected person can capture state power illegally,\" she said.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>She was speaking at the oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected Mayor of Rangpur City Corporation (RpCC) and its ward councilors, including those from reserved seats for women at her office here.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The prime minister said the apex court had declared illegal to grab state power by issuing martial law after violating the country\'s constitution that has ensured the voting and democratic rights of the Bangladeshi people.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>\"We have strengthened the country\'s democracy by bringing (15th) amendment to the constitution following the declaration (the apex court verdict). This democracy is meant to reinforce the power of people\'s strength and empower people to decide who will or won\'t go to power,\" she said.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>But, the people\'s empowerment has become a matter of heart burning for a section of so-called intellectuals as they never come to power through the people\'s vote, she said, adding that so, they repeatedly try to hamper the democratic process.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>\"They, who were never elected by people\'s vote and fear to face the masses, have inner burning due to this reason,\" she added.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The prime minister reminded all that the Awami League (AL) government was the only government which handed over power peacefully after completion of its 1999-2001 tenure in Bangladesh\'s history.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>She however mentioned that the transparent ballot box and preparing voter lists with photographs had been introduced in accordance with the proposal of the Awami League led grand alliance to hold elections in a free and fair manner.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>She also said the then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia had prepared a voter list with 1.23 crore fake voters to hold a farcical election.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The Election Commission (EC) has been constituted through a search committee following a law enacted by her government that has made it more transparent and accountable, she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The government has also given complete financial independence to the commission as it can present the nation a free and fair election, she added.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The prime minister administered the oath to new RCC Mayor Mostafizar Rahman Mostafa, while newly elected councillors were sworn-in by LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Md Tazul Islam.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>State Minister for the LGRD and Cooperatives Ministry Swapan Bhattacharjee was present on the dais while Secretary Muhammad Ibrahim moderated the function.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Jatiya Party-backed candidate Mostafa won the mayoral race for the second consecutive term in the Rangpur City Corporation elections held on 27 December.</div><div><br></div><div>Highlighting her government\'s measures to eliminate Monga and famine from the northern region, sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh has changed massively in the last 14 years and there was no food crisis (Monga) in the northern region.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The prime minister said her government is giving home to the homeless and landless people free of cost following the footsteps of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>\"The Father of the Nation has given the country independence. None will remain homeless and landless in the Mujib\'s Bangla,\" she said.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>She mentioned that 40,000 more houses are being built, expressing her hope that there would be no homeless people after distributing those houses.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>She also briefly described her government efforts to make the entire Bangladesh well-connected in terms of communications, saying her government has built required bridges across the country that include Padma Bridge and Bangabandhu Bridge on the River Jamuna.</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister said due to massive development of communications, the produced goods of the southern and northern regions are now reaching every corner of Bangladesh including the capital city at the quickest possible time.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>She said her government has built the Teesta Bridge over the Dharola River and the Gangachara Bridge and required roads alongside taking other measures as the Monga never comes back to the northern region.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The prime minister said they have brought a revolution in building communication networks across the country which helps the countrymen be economically solvent.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>She asked the newly elected RpCC mayor and councillors to devote themselves to serving the people and work for their betterment irrespective of party affiliation.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>In this connection, she said they have developed the Rangpur City Corporation like the other ones despite the mayor belonging to another party, adding her party works for the people\'s welfare without any political consideration, reports BSS</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister said her government is now in hot pursuit to build a developed, prosperous and Smart Bangladesh by 2041 by cashing in on the opportunity of being a Digital Bangladesh.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 10:17:06', '2023-01-31 10:17:06'),
(4885, 4885, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Bangladesh national men\'s cricket team may have its head coach position filled soon as Chandika Hathurusingha is set to return. However, an official confirmation is yet to come.&nbsp;</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>This follows Cricket New South Wales confirming Hathurusingha\'s departure from his assistant coach role. Recent media speculation has been fueled by reports of an agreement between Chandika and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) following the resignation of Russell Domingo as head coach.</div><div><br></div><div>Cricket New South Wales on Tuesday confirmed that Chandika left his role as an assistant coach, and the Australian team said that he is “desired to seek a coaching role internationally”.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>However, they did not disclose where Chandika may take on a new role.</div><div><br></div><div>Nazmul Hasan, the president of the BCB, stated during a recent visit in Sylhet that the board plans to appoint a new coach in February before the home series against England. However, he kept the identity of the next head coach of the Bangladesh national team a secret.</div><div><br></div><div>Last month, Domingo resigned as the head coach for both Test and ODI cricket. Sridharan Sriram, a former Indian cricketer, served as a technical consultant for the T20 World Cup last year and has been in discussions with the BCB regarding continuing in that role, which the BCB also hopes to keep.</div><div><br></div><div>Before his sudden departure following a disappointing South Africa tour in 2017, Chandika served as the head coach of Bangladesh\'s cricket team starting in 2014. During his tenure, the team started its celebrated winning streak in ODIs at home, including series victories against India, Pakistan, and South Africa. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 10:34:12', '2023-01-31 10:34:12'),
(4886, 4886, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Superstar Shah Rukh Khan thanked fans Monday after his new film \"Pathaan\" smashed Indian box office records following its release last week, bringing hope to Bollywood after a spate of weak showings.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"Pathaan\" recorded the highest-ever box office collections for a Hindi film for its opening and second day in India, and raked in 2.5 billion rupees ($30 million) in its first five days, trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted Sunday.</div><div><br></div><div>Its international ticket sales soared past one billion rupees ($13.7 million) in just three days, according to Yash Raj Films, which produced the movie.</div><div><br></div><div>It comes after glitzy Hindi-language Bollywood films struggled at the box office following the reopening of Indian cinemas about a year ago after a pandemic hiatus.</div><div><br></div><div>The release of \"Pathaan\", 57-year-old Khan\'s first movie in four years, had been highly anticipated.</div><div><br></div><div>Khan, popularly known as \"King Khan\", has a huge fan following around the world. The film also features Bollywood star Deepika Padukone and action hero John Abraham.</div><div><br></div><div>In recent months, \"Pathaan\" and other Bollywood films -- particularly those starring actors from India\'s Muslim minority such as Khan -- have been criticised by Hindu right-wingers on social media, with activists calling for boycotts.</div><div><br></div><div>Hardline Hindu groups had called for \"Pathaan\" to be banned because Padukone wore a saffron-coloured bikini -- a colour associated with their religion -- in one of the film\'s songs.</div><div><br></div><div>But Khan thanked fans for showering love on the movie and \"bringing life back to cinema\", supporting the film \"in spite of the fact that there might have been things that could have curtailed the happy release\".</div><div><br></div><div>\"I just want to say there is so much love from all sides and we can never show enough gratefulness,\" he said at a press interaction in Mumbai.</div><div><br></div><div>Videos shared on social media have shown fans in Indian cinemas dancing and cheering during the film.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The unprecedented celebratory success of \'Pathaan\' I think speaks volumes about where we are headed as the Hindi movie industry,\" theatre chain owner Akshaye Rathi told AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Here we are back to the old school way of celebrating cinema in theatres as a community viewing experience.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Last year, films from southern India, such as Telugu-language \"RRR\", dominated box office takings.</div><div><br></div><div>\"RRR\" has also been feted internationally, winning a Golden Globe for best song and scoring an Oscar nomination in the same category. Source: AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 10:51:44', '2023-01-31 10:51:44'),
(4887, 4887, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq said a three-tier security has been taken in and around the Ekushey Book Fair venue.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The DMP commissioner said this while talking to reporters&nbsp; after visiting the book fair venue at Suhrawardy Udyan on Tuesday afternoon.</div><div><br></div><div>He said there is no specific threat to anyone centering the&nbsp; book fair.</div><div>“However, if any author or publisher feels insecurity, we will keep a close eye on him/her,” he added.</div><div><br></div><div>CCTV cameras have been installed at the fair venue.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, 1500 police personnel will be deployed to ensure the overall security of the fair, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>He added that they have made special arrangements so that visitors can easily enter the book fair. There will be separate gates for entering and exiting the fair and the visitors will be checked by the archway and metal detectors, added the DMP chief.</div><div><br></div><div>There will be parking arrangements at the fair venue , he said.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 12:17:13', '2023-01-31 12:17:13'),
(4888, 4888, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A fire broke out at Mongla Export Processing Zone (EPZ) area in Khulna district on Tuesday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Ardesh Ali, senior station officer of Mongla EPZ Fire Service control room said the fire broke out at the VIP-1 factory inside the EPZ around 3:30 pm and spread soon.</div><div><br></div><div>On information, seven firefighting units rushed to the spot and are trying to extinguish the blaze, reports UNB</div><div><br></div><div>There were so many plastic and flammable materials inside the factory, which made the work of&nbsp; fire fighters difficult, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Monirul Islam, officer-in-charge of Mongla Police Station, said the fire might have originated from an electric short circuit.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 13:08:11', '2023-01-31 13:08:11'),
(4889, 4889, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">After the fatal shooting of a six-year-old girl in India last year, her parents made a choice few in the country do - donating her organs. Despite being expected to surpass China this year as the world\'s most populous nation, India is 62nd in the global donation league table. The BBC travelled to Rome, where a campaign sparked three decades ago by another child\'s gun death could show how progress can be made.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Rolly Prajapati was sleeping peacefully last April in the home she shared with her five brothers and sisters in suburban Delhi. In the next room, her parents were preparing dinner when they heard a loud bang and a scream.</div><div><br></div><div>When they went into the room, Rolly cried out for her parents before falling unconscious.</div><div><br></div><div>It was only when they saw blood trickling out of her right ear that they realised something awful had happened: a stray bullet had entered the family\'s home in Noida and hit her.</div><div><br></div><div>Rolly was rushed to hospital and, shortly after, declared brain dead. Police in Noida have told the BBC there is \"no clear suspect\" but they are continuing to investigate.</div><div><br></div><div>After days of agonising, her parents made a decision few in India have done before: to donate her organs. Rolly became the youngest donor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.</div><div><br></div><div>Her father Harnarayan Prajapati explained that the decision to donate a child\'s organs was not always straightforward.</div><div><br></div><div>He said: \"I didn\'t know what to do. I kept thinking through the night. I told the [doctor] that we needed more time to think.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Eventually we decided to go ahead, thinking \'if my daughter\'s organs could save someone\'s life, then we should do it\'.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We think that our daughter is alive inside the young recipients - our daughter will live on this way.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Both of Rolly\'s kidneys were transplanted to Dev Upadhyaya, 14, whose parents told the BBC it was \"a miracle to us\" that he received the organs.</div><div><br></div><div>They had been waiting four years for a transplant and said their \"life has been changed\" because Rolly\'s kidneys had \"given new life\" to Dev.</div><div><br></div><div>Rolly\'s liver went to a six-year-old boy, her heart valves to children aged one and four, and her corneas helped restore sight to two adults aged 35 and 71.</div><div><br></div><div>Rolly\'s death has parallels with the story of Nicholas Green.</div><div><br></div><div>The seven-year-old was on holiday in Italy with his family in September 1994 when the car he was travelling in was shot at in a suspected case of mistaken identity.</div><div><br></div><div>His parents, Maggie and Reg, made the decision to donate Nicholas\'s organs. Reg has dedicated much of his life since to a campaign to encourage more organ donation.</div><div><br></div><div>In 1993, the year before Nicholas was shot, 6.2 people per million donated an organ in Italy - by 2006 the figure had reached 20 per million.</div><div><br></div><div>This was partly due to the country moving to an opt-out system in 1999, which makes all adults potential donors unless they say otherwise. But bringing the idea of the lifesaving potential of donating into the minds of ordinary people was perhaps the most important factor.</div><div><br></div><div>L\'effetto Nicholas - the Nicholas effect - is clear to see. The hope is that a similar transformation will take place in India.</div><div><br></div><div>At the forefront of this is Dr Deepak Gupta, who has travelled to Rome to meet Reg and other experts from the organ donation community.</div><div><br></div><div>It was Dr Gupta who first spoke about the option of organ donation to Rolly\'s parents - they, like many in the country, had never heard of it.</div><div><br></div><div>He used Nicholas\'s example to show Mr Prajapati, who is illiterate, the possible impact of donating.</div><div><br></div><div>One person dies in India from a head injury every three minutes, according to the Lancet Neurology Commission, and so, as Dr Gupta says, there is \"a lot of potential for donors\".</div><div><br></div><div>On average, between 700 and 800 people have donated organs each year since 2000 in India, which has more than 1.4 billion people.</div><div><br></div><div>Dr Gupta has conducted a survey which shows that factors such as religion and the attitudes of older family members can discourage donation.</div><div><br></div><div>But since Rolly\'s death last April, there have been more organ donations at AIIMS in Delhi than in the previous five years combined.</div><div><br></div><div>India has seen 846 donations in 2022, more than ever before, according to figures from the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation. Dr Gupta describes it as a \"turning point\".</div><div><br></div><div>He said: \"I\'m pretty confident - I\'m a neurosurgeon and so confidence lives in my veins and the blood - and I believe we all are born with the ability to change.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I believe I am just a very small droplet in the ocean who is trying to bring a change for people.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Each time Reg, 94, returns to Italy from his home in Los Angeles, he meets some of Nicholas\'s recipients - on this trip, he met two women bound together by the transformative effect of donation.</div><div><br></div><div>Shana Parisella\'s brother Davide was killed in a car crash in March 2013, and his heart was transplanted to Anna Iaquinta.</div><div><br></div><div>Nine years after the operation, Anna decided to search for her donor\'s family and formed a strong bond with Shana, who she says is like a sister to her.</div><div><br></div><div>Shana, who has driven 140km from Fondi to Rome, said it was a dream to meet a \"great man\" who was \"an example for everyone\".</div><div><br></div><div>Anna said: \"It\'s not easy for the person that receives the heart because you have a lot of thoughts and you kind of feel bad because on their side there\'s a lot of pain. But on your side there\'s a lot of joy, so it\'s kind of like two different emotions.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I\'m really lucky that her family was so happy to meet me and, for them, it\'s the biggest surprise and the biggest present.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The biggest gift of their life was to meet me. And for me just to be OK and to be with them, it\'s my way of saying thank you, but thank you is never enough.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Nothing will ever be enough for having received life.\" Source: BBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 13:23:17', '2023-01-31 13:23:17'),
(4890, 4890, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The lack of graves for Muslims in Berlin has been an issue for decades, as more space is needed to accommodate more graves.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The umbrella associations established by Muslims operating in Germany\'s capital demanded that the Berlin state government must find an urgent solution to the problem about cemeteries where Muslims are buried with Islamic methods.</div><div><br></div><div>While the number of Muslims who want to be buried in Germany is increasing, the first generation Muslims who came to the country as workers prefer to be buried in the countries they came from, especially Türkiye.</div><div><br></div><div>However, a majority of the second and third generation Muslims in Germany want to be buried in the country they live in, as the relatives who will visit their graves and pray for them after they die live in that country.</div><div><br></div><div>Recently, the capacity of Gatow Cemetery, which is located in the westernmost borough of Berlin, has started to fill up.</div><div><br></div><div>Murat Gul, the president of the Islamic Federation of Berlin, told Anadolu that he received a letter from authorities saying that there will be no empty places in the cemetery and no burial will be allowed as of the end of March.</div><div><br></div><div>He also pointed out that a similar situation was experienced in 2018, and in 2021, bodies of 20 Muslims were kept waiting in Berlin during the New Year\'s holiday as there was no vacancy in the Gatow Cemetery.</div><div><br></div><div>The problem was solved temporarily then, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>According to Gul, more than 300,000 Muslims live in Berlin, and their numbers will be rising in the coming years, reports Anadolu Agency.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The children and grandchildren of the first generation want to be buried here. It is a human right for the state to ensure that people are buried according to their religion. We want a permanent solution. This problem must be solved urgently,\" he added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 14:09:54', '2023-01-31 14:09:54'),
(4891, 4891, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>UN expert said on Tuesday (Jan 31), Bangladesh must step up efforts to strengthen regulation of the migrant recruitment system to protect migrant workers against exploitation and abuses.&nbsp;</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“Recruitment currently imposes exorbitant high costs on many migrants, creating debt bondage, much of which are imposed by “middlemen” who are used to recruit workers,” said Felipe González Morales, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, in a statement at the end of a 10-day official visit to Bangladesh.</div><div><br></div><div>He said “I was informed of the de facto high migration costs that are often borne by aspirant migrant workers who are desperate to go abroad and work.</div><div><br></div><div>Intermediaries/middlemen exploit these situations by imposing fees as high as 3,000 USD for a migrant to get access to work abroad, he said adding that many of these aspirant workers have to sell their properties or take on loans that become excessive, leading to debt bondage.</div><div><br></div><div>“Once they arrive at their country of destination, most of the money they try and earn often has to be used to service these loans resulting in migrant workers being left with little to support themselves and their families.”</div><div><br></div><div>He said the exploitation of aspirant migrant workers begins even before they set foot at their place of employment overseas. “I observed that there are many cases such as these and urge the Government to strengthen the protection of migrant workers, particularly those who are in situations of vulnerabilities, including the poor and illiterate.”</div><div><br></div><div>Addressing a warping up press conference at Westin Hotel on Tuesday afternoon, González Morales urged authorities to protect the rights of migrant workers at all stages of migration, including pre-departure, during employment abroad and upon their return.</div><div><br></div><div>The Special Rapporteur commended the Government for actions taken to curb these challenges, but said there was still a need to regulate, closely monitor and enhance the recruitment system to ensure effective protection for migrants, including better access to justice.</div><div><br></div><div>The expert noted the stark difference in skilled migration schemes channeled through Government-to-Government initiatives, which yield more beneficial results for migrants due to more robust regulation and oversight.</div><div><br></div><div>“It is the lower-skilled migrants who are often subject to vulnerable situations, including exploitation, as they are often poor, lack education and without access to information that can help inform their decisions and enhance their migration experiences,” González Morales said.</div><div><br></div><div>He welcomed the establishment of a database of aspiring migrant workers as well as better regulation of middlemen, including requirement for registration. González Morales emphasised that responsibility for migrant workers equally falls on countries of destination.</div><div><br></div><div>“These countries must do their part in ensuring strong protection for migrant workers, particularly women who are disproportionately at risk of human rights violations when they are hired as domestic workers,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>“Destination countries - most of them in the Middle East - must also take an active role in investigating and sanctioning perpetrators of human rights violations against Bangladeshi migrant workers.” “At the same time, Bangladesh should continue reinforcing its consular services”, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 14:54:55', '2023-01-31 14:54:55'),
(4892, 4892, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The United States and its allies will impose further sanctions on Myanmar on Tuesday, marking the two-year anniversary of the coup with curbs on energy officials and members of the junta, among others.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Washington will impose sanctions on the Union Election Commission, mining enterprises, energy officials and current and former military officials, according to a Treasury Department statement seen by Reuters.</div><div><br></div><div>It marks the first time the United States has targeted Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) officials under the current Myanmar sanctions program, a Treasury spokesperson said.</div><div><br></div><div>Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom also announced sanctions on Tuesday.</div><div><br></div><div>Myanmar\'s top generals led a coup in February 2021 after five years of tense power-sharing under a quasi-civilian political system that was created by the military, which led to a decade of unprecedented reform.</div><div><br></div><div>The country has been in chaos since, with a resistance movement fighting the military on multiple fronts after a bloody crackdown on opponents that saw Western sanctions re-imposed.</div><div><br></div><div>Tuesday\'s US move will target the managing director and deputy managing director of the state-owned MOGE, which is the junta\'s single largest revenue generating state-owned enterprise, according to the Treasury statement.</div><div><br></div><div>Human rights advocates have called for sanctions on MOGE, but Washington has so far held back from designating the state-owned enterprise.</div><div><br></div><div>Also among those that will be designated by Washington was the Union Minister of Energy, Myo Myint Oo, who Treasury said represents Myanmar\'s government in international and domestic energy sector engagements and manages the state-owned entities involved in the production and export of oil and gas.</div><div><br></div><div>Mining Enterprise No 1 and Mining Enterprise No 2, both state-owned enterprises, as well as the Union Election Commission, are also set to be hit with sanctions by the United States.</div><div><br></div><div>The military has pledged to hold an election in August this year. On Friday, the junta announced tough requirements for parties to contest the election, including a huge increase in their membership, a move that could sideline the military\'s opponents and cement its grip on power.</div><div><br></div><div>The rules favour the Union Solidarity and Development Party, a military proxy stacked with former generals, which was trounced by Aung San Suu Kyi\'s National League for Democracy (NLD) party in 2015 and 2020 elections.</div><div><br></div><div>The NLD in November described the election as \"phoney\" and said it would not acknowledge it. The election has also been dismissed as a sham by Western governments.</div><div><br></div><div>Washington will also target former and Myanmar military officials, the Treasury said, accusing the Air Force of continuing to launch air strikes using Russian-made aircraft against pro-democracy forces that have killed civilians.</div><div><br></div><div>Canada targeted six individuals and prohibited the export, sale, supply or shipment of aviation fuel in its action on Tuesday, while Australia targeted members of the junta and a military-run company.</div><div><br></div><div>The United Kingdom designated two companies and two individuals for helping supply Myanmar\'s air force with aviation fuel used to carry out bombing campaigns against its own citizens, reports Reuters&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement, \"The junta must be held to account for their brutal crackdown on opposition voices, terrorising air raids and brazen human rights violations.\"&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 16:27:46', '2023-01-31 16:27:46'),
(4893, 4893, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier has denied that playing Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar all together in the same side has a negative impact on the team\'s balance, as the Brazilian was ruled out of Wednesday\'s match at Montpellier.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>PSG said Neymar is suffering from muscle fatigue and received treatment as he sat out training on Tuesday while the rest of his team-mates prepared for the trip south following Sunday\'s 1-1 draw at home to Reims in Ligue 1.</div><div><br></div><div>Neymar scored the opening goal against Reims but PSG conceded an equaliser deep into stoppage time as their lead over second-placed Lens remained three points.</div><div><br></div><div>PSG have won just one of four league games this month but Galtier rejected suggestions the presence of Neymar, Mbappe and Messi was hurting the team\'s stability.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We have at PSG three incredibly strong attacking players -- Kylian, Leo and Ney, with 55 goals and 34 assists since the start of the season,\" Galtier said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"To say that we have to leave one of them out to be balanced is a mistake. We\'ve been able to play well and be solid with all of three of them.\"</div><div><br></div><div>PSG face a run of six games in 19 days including the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Bayern Munich on February 14.</div><div><br></div><div>\"January hasn\'t been good and everyone needs to have it in their heads that February will be better,\" added Galtier.</div><div><br></div><div>He confirmed the club was in talks to sign Morocco winger Hakim Ziyech from Chelsea but said no deal had yet been completed.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We will comment on the transfer window when it is closed,\" said Galtier.</div><div><br></div><div>\"As for whether one, two or three players might come in, based on what I have read, the club is working hard... but I\'m not going to comment on potential arrivals or departures.</div><div><br></div><div>\"If there are no arrivals, there are no arrivals.\" - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-31 16:31:52', '2023-01-31 16:31:52'),
(4894, 4894, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Just before she left for school on the afternoon of 16 September last year, nine year-old Zin Nwe Phyo was thrilled to be given a new pair of sandals by her uncle.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She made him a cup of coffee, put on the shoes and headed off to school, a 10-minute walk away in the village of Let Yet Kone in central Myanmar. Shortly afterwards, her uncle recalls, he saw two helicopters circling over the village. Suddenly they started shooting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Zin Nwe Phyo and her classmates had just arrived at the school and were settling down with their teachers, when someone shouted that the aircraft were coming their way.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They began running for cover, terrified and crying out for help, as rockets and ammunition struck the school.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We did not know what to do,\" said one teacher, who had been inside a classroom when the air strikes began. \"At first I did not hear the sound of the helicopter, I heard the bullets and bombs hitting the school grounds.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Children inside the main school building were hit by the weapons and began running outside, trying to hide,\" said another teacher. With her class she managed to hide behind a big tamarind tree.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"They fired right through the school walls, hitting the children,\" said one eyewitness. \"Pieces flying out of the main building injured children in the next building. There were big holes blown out of the ground floor.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Their attackers were two Russian-made Mi-35 helicopter gunships, nicknamed \"flying tanks\" or \"crocodiles\" because of their sinister appearance and protective armour. They carry a formidable array of weapons, including powerful rapid-fire cannon, and pods that fire multiple rockets, which are devastating to people, vehicles and all but the strongest buildings.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the two years since Myanmar\'s military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi\'s elected government, air strikes like this have become a new and deadly tactic in a civil war that is now a brutal stalemate across much of the country, conducted by an air force which has in recent years grown to about 70 aircraft, mostly Russian and Chinese-made.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It\'s hard to estimate how many have died in such air attacks because access to much of Myanmar is now impossible, making the conflict\'s true toll largely invisible to the outside world. The BBC spoke to eyewitnesses, villagers and families over a series of phone calls to find out how the attack on the school unfolded.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The firing continued for around 30 minutes, eyewitnesses said, tearing chunks out of the walls and roofs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Then soldiers, who had landed in two other helicopters nearby, marched in, some still shooting, and ordered the survivors to come out and squat on the ground. They were warned not to look up, or they would be killed. The soldiers began questioning them about the presence of any opposition forces in the village.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Inside the main school building three children lay dead. One was Zin Nwe Phyo. Another was seven-year-old Su Yati Hlaing - she and her older sister were being brought up by their grandmother. Their parents, like so many in this region, had moved to Thailand to seek work. Others were horribly injured, some missing limbs. Among them was Phone Tay Za, also seven years old, crying out in pain.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The soldiers used plastic bin liners to collect body parts. At least 12 wounded children and teachers were loaded on to two trucks commandeered by the military and driven away to the nearest hospital in the town of Ye-U. Two of the children later died. In the fields skirting the village, a teenage boy and six adults had been shot dead by the soldiers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is a country that has long been at war with itself. The Burmese armed forces have been fighting various insurgent groups since independence in 1948. But these conflicts were low-tech affairs, involving mainly ground troops in an endless tussle for territory in contested border regions. They were often little different from the trench warfare of a century ago.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was in 2012 in Kachin state - just after the air force had obtained its first Mi-35 gunship - that the military first used aerial weapons extensively against insurgents. Air strikes were also used in some of the other internal conflicts which kept burning throughout Myanmar\'s 10-year democratic interlude, in Shan and Rakhine states.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, since the February 2021 coup, the army has suffered heavy casualties in road ambushes carried out by the hundreds of so-called People\'s Defence Forces, or PDFs - volunteer militias that were established after the junta crushed peaceful protests against the coup.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">So it has been forced to rely on air support - bombing by aircraft suitable for ground attack; or air mobile operations like the one at Let Yet Kone, where gunships blast targets before soldiers arrive to kill or capture any opposition forces they find. 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, '2023-02-01 02:35:49', '2023-02-01 02:35:49'),
(4895, 4895, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">In August, Donald Trump was deposed for a lawsuit where he\'s accused of inflating property values.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">In a video released by the New York Attorney General\'s Office on Tuesday, the former president invoked the Fifth Amendment over and over again.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Trump denies wrongdoing and has called the civil probe a witch hunt.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution,\" Mr Trump said in a statement last summer. 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, '2023-02-01 02:43:27', '2023-02-01 02:43:27'),
(4896, 4896, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A Washington DC householder has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of a 13-year-old child who he suspected of breaking into cars.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jason Michael Lewis, 41, turned himself in to Washington police on Tuesday. He is accused of shooting the teenager at around 04:00 on 7 January.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to arrest documents, as he was being shot, Karon Blake shouted, \"I am sorry, please don\'t\" and \"I\'m a kid, I\'m a kid.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Lewis is black, as was the teenager.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He is an employee with the city\'s Department of Parks and Recreation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Washington Post reports that he has been placed on leave from his $75,000 (£60,000) per year job.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The shooting took place in Brookland, a neighbourhood in the north-east of the city that has undergone rapid gentrification in recent years, like other parts of the US capital.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to an affidavit, Mr Lewis left his home with his legally owned gun after saying he heard noises and fearing that someone was trying to get inside his home.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Lewis then encountered a group of young people who were apparently trying to break into cars, Washington Metropolis Police Chief Robert Contee III said in a news conference.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Hey, what are y\'all doing?\" he shouted at them, according to the affidavit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He fired once with a Smith &amp; Wesson .40-calibre handgun at the fleeing getaway vehicle, investigators say.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The affidavit adds that CCTV cameras on Mr Lewis\' property recorded Karon running as Mr Lewis continued firing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After Mr Lewis opened fire, the boy collapsed having shouted: \"I\'m a kid, I\'m a kid.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Lewis told police that Karon ran towards him after he fired at the getaway vehicle. A witness told investigators that he \"charged\" at Mr Lewis.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chief Contee said Karon could have been running towards the getaway vehicle and perhaps did not realise that Mr Lewis was the person who had just opened fire.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Lewis called police to report that he had \"shot a juvenile male who ran toward him\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police body camera footage shows that he was on the ground \"performing chest compressions\" in an effort to save the boy\'s life when officers arrived.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Karon - who attended the nearby Brookland Middle School - was pronounced dead in hospital from multiple gunshot wounds.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A lawyer for Mr Lewis said his client was \"distraught\" and \"maintains his innocence\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"While this is certainly a tragedy, once all the facts are heard, I believe that a jury will find that there was no crime here,\" said lawyer Lee Smith. 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, '2023-02-01 02:49:50', '2023-02-01 02:49:50');
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(4897, 4897, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Bangla language has always been at the forefront of our national identity. Amar Ekushey Boi Mela (Book Fair) is a significant part of Bangladesh’s history, culture and literature. Every year, the book fair is held in the month of February. It is the biggest book fair in the country where publishers display and sell printed books under diverse categories.&nbsp;</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This fair offers great opportunities for the readers to meet their favourite writers, poets, novelists, and publishers face-to-face. Besides serving as a platform to encourage readers to read and buy books, the Boi Mela also works as a monthlong cultural hub – showcasing the diversity of Bangladesh. Let’s look into the history of the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chittaranjan Saha was born in the Noakhali district in 1927. His publishing house Punthighar Prokashoni, located at Banglabazar in Dhaka, was burnt down in 1971. Chittaranjan Saha left Dhaka after March 26. He took shelter in Agartala and then moved to Calcutta (Kolkata) during the Liberation War.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the Liberation War, many prominent writers, artists, and journalists from Bangladesh had to stay in Calcutta as refugees. During that period, Chittaranjan arranged a meeting with some of the most prominent litterateurs residing in Calcutta. They decided to write and publish about the injustice and war in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). Thus, Muktodhara was born.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In February, 1972, Chittaranjan Saha laid a mat under the tree in front of the Bangla Academy building and put on display about 32 (33 according to some sources) books as a homage to the Language Movement martyrs of 1952.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Though Chittaranjan Saha initiated the Boi Mela from a humble beginning, according to some sources, he was not the first person who started selling books at Bangla Academy premises in February. Ruhul Amin Nizami of Standard Publishers started displaying Russian books. Those books were very popular at that time for their rich content and affordable prices.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Though Chittaranjan Saha is recognised as the initiator of Ekushey Boi Mela, the root of the book fair goes deeper.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The first book fair in then East Pakistan was held in 1965. The initiative was taken by Sardar Jainuddin, who was born in 1918 in Pabna.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">In 1965, he started displaying some children’s books on the ground floor of the Dhaka University Library. At that time, he was working on a project for UNESCO regarding children’s books.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>HOW DID EKUSHEY BOOK FAIR GET THE OFFICIAL TITLE?</b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Though the book fair event was organized for several years, it had no definite title or clear format. It was known as the ‘Annual Book Fair’ or ‘Dhaka Book Fair.’ Later in 1984, the book fair was embraced permanently with the spirit of February 21. Manjure Mawla – the then director general of Bangla Academy – tried to organize the book fair with the title ‘Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela’ in 1983. However, the event was moved to the following year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">A guideline was prepared for the book fair and the first ever ‘Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela’ took place in 1984. Since then, the book fair has had its official title.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>DURATION AND VENUE OF AMAR EKUSHEY GRANTHA MELA</b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the initial years, the book fair was arranged for a very short duration. It was held for a week – from the 15th to the 21st of February. During this time, there was a special discount on Bangla Academy books.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, the book fair was held for 21 days – from February 1 to 21. However, the duration of the book fair was once reduced to 14 days. But as per the demand of the publishers, the duration of the book fair was extended again to 21 days.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As the Boi Mela got wide acceptance, it was extended from 21 days to the whole month of February. It also lasts for 29 days in leap years. In 2013 or 2014, there was a demand to extend the duration of the fair to March 26. However, this demand was not considered.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The venue of the fair has also gone some through changes. In the very beginning, there were few publishers. The book fair events were organised inside Bangla Academy. During the fair, the publishers’ stalls were separated by making partitions on the ground and walls. As the years passed by, the book fair became hugely popular, and many publishers showed interest to join the Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 2012, the number of publishers participating in the book fair was 425. Due to a large number of publishers and crowds, the Ekushey Boi Mela was extended to Suhrawardy Udyan near Bangla Academy in 2014. As a result, the fair has expanded considerably. 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, '2023-02-01 03:10:17', '2023-02-01 03:10:17'),
(4898, 4898, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Winter weather brought ice to a wide swath of the United States on Tuesday, canceling more than 1,700 flights nationwide and snarling highways. At least two people died on slick roads in Texas and two law officers in the state were seriously injured, including a deputy who was pinned under a truck, authorities said.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As the ice storm advanced eastward on Tuesday, watches and warnings stretched from the western heel of Texas all the way to West Virginia. Several rounds of mixed precipitation — including freezing rain and sleet — were in store for many areas through Wednesday, meaning some regions could be hit multiple times, the federal Weather Prediction Center warned.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Emergency responders rushed to hundreds of auto collisions across Texas and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott urged people to stay off the roads.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Authorities said one person in Austin was killed in a predawn pileup Tuesday. A 45-year-old man also died Monday night after his SUV slid into a highway guardrail near Dallas in slick conditions and rolled down an embankment, according to the Arlington Police Department.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">More than 900 flights to or from major U.S. airport hub Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and more than 250 to or from Dallas Love Field were canceled or delayed Tuesday, according to the tracking service FlightAware. At Dallas-Fort Worth, more than 50% of Tuesday’s scheduled flights had been canceled by Tuesday afternoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dallas-based Southwest Airlines canceled more than 560 flights Tuesday and delayed more than 350 more, FlightAware reported.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">About 7,000 power outages in Texas were reported as of late Tuesday morning, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said following a briefing in Austin on the worsening conditions. He emphasized the outages were due to factors such as ice on power lines or downed trees, and not the performance of the Texas power grid that buckled for days during a deadly winter storm in 2021.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fleets of emergency vehicles were fanned out among 1,600 roads impacted by the freeze.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Texas, a sheriff’s deputy who stopped to help the driver of an 18-wheeler that went off an icy highway on Tuesday was hit by a second truck that pinned him beneath one of its tires, according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. About 45 minutes after the crash on State Highway 130, the deputy was freed from the wreckage and taken to a hospital, where he was in surgery Tuesday afternoon, officials said. The deputy is expected to survive, officials said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In another wreck, a Texas state trooper was hospitalized with serious injuries after being struck by a driver who lost control of their vehicle, said Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The roadways are very hazardous right now. We cannot overemphasize that,” Abbott said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As the ice and sleet enveloped Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis-Shelby County Schools announced that it will cancel classes Wednesday due to freezing rain and hazardous road conditions. The school system has about 100,000 students. The University of Memphis said it would announce plans for Wednesday classes by 6 a.m. tomorrow.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Arkansas, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency Tuesday because of the ice storm. In her declaration, Sanders cited the “likelihood of numerous downed power lines” and said road conditions have created a backlog of deliveries by commercial drivers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One of the main thoroughfares through Arkansas — Interstate 40 — was ice-coated and “extremely hazardous” in the Forrest City area on Tuesday, according to the city’s fire department.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The department responded to two bad wrecks and about 15 other crashes Tuesday morning, Division Chief Jeremy Sharp said by telephone. In many of the crashes, the drivers pick up speed on the highway but run into trouble when they reach a bridge, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“They hit the ice and they start wrecking,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“When I-40 shuts down like that, that can be hours of waiting,” said John Gadberry, who lives in Colt, Arkansas, not far from the highway. “I-40 is usually one of the first things that freezes over due to its slight elevation.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By late Tuesday morning, I-40 was cleared and traffic had resumed, the Arkansas Department of Transportation announced. The interstate connects Little Rock, Arkansas, to Memphis, Tennessee.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The storm began Monday as part of an expected “several rounds” of wintry precipitation through Wednesday across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Marc Chenard.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Generally light to moderate freezing rain resulting in some pretty significant ice amounts,” Chenard said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We’re expecting ice accumulations potentially a quarter inch or higher as far south as Austin, Texas, up to Dallas over to Little Rock, Arkansas, towards Memphis, Tennessee, and even getting close to Nashville, Tennessee,” according to Chenard.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The flight disruptions follow Southwest’s meltdown in December that began with a winter storm but continued after most other airlines had recovered. Southwest canceled about 16,700 flights over the last 10 days of the year, and the U.S. Transportation Department is investigating.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The weather service has issued a winter storm warning for a large swath of Texas and parts of southeastern Oklahoma and an ice storm warning across the midsection of Arkansas into western Tennessee.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A winter weather advisory is in place in much of the remainder of Arkansas and Tennessee and into much of Kentucky, West Virginia and southern parts of Indiana and Ohio.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Schools and colleges in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas planned to close or go to virtual learning Tuesday. 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, '2023-02-01 03:16:53', '2023-02-01 03:16:53'),
(4899, 4899, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The government has sought a revision to the power purchase agreement (PPA) it signed with Adani Power Ltd for importing electricity from its thermal power plant in Jharkhand, India.&nbsp;</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), the government agency tasked with overseeing the development of the country’s power sector, has already sent a letter to the Indian company in this regard, according to officials familiar with the deal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It seems the price of coal to be purchased as fuel for the project has emerged as the prime bone of contention.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We have sent a letter to the Adani Group following a request we received in relation to opening LCs (in India) to import the coal that will be used as fuel for the 1,600 MW plant in Jharkhand,” a highly-placed official of BPDB told UNB, in return for anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since practically all the power generated by the plant located in the Godda district of Jharkhand state will be exported to Bangladesh, Adani Power requires a demand note from BPDB that it can present to Indian authorities before opening LCs against the coal import.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The cost incurred to import the coal, including transport from port to plant, will ultimately be borne by Bangladesh, with the price factored into the PPA\'s tariff structure.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Adani Power recently sent a request for BPDB to issue the demand note, where the coal price is quoted at $400 per metric ton (MT) - far above what BPDB officials believe it should be given the present state of the international market.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“In our view, the coal price they have quoted ($400/MT) is excessive - it should be less than $250/MT, which is what we are paying for the imported coal at our other thermal power plants,\" the official said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The same sources also said Bangladesh’s stance on the issue was communicated to Adani Power officials during the visit of a delegation led by State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid to the site of the power plant, that took place in the first week of January.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Publicly however, the state minister gave no indication of any such issue during the visit, instead telling reporters that Bangladesh would start importing the power generated by one of the two units at the plant, some 750 MW, from March.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The subsequent letter counts as BPDB’s formal request for the PPA to be reviewed and tariff structure to be adjusted before it can start importing the electricity, officials said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">No discounts, please?A number of BPDB officials told UNB it was the absence of a provision for discounts on the purchase of coal in the PPA signed with Adani Power, that allowed the Indian firm to quote such a steep bill for the coal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The absence of such a provision is all the more notable since it was made mandatory in the PPAs for thermal power plants signed with other independent power producers, domestic or foreign. In these PPAs, the price of coal to be purchased as primary fuel was kept as “pass-through”.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The PPA with Adani Power was signed in November 2017, in Dhaka. Then-Power Division Joint Secretary Faizul Amin, BPDB secretary at the time Mina Masuduzzaman and Adani’s Business Development President Kandarp Patel signed two documents - the PPA and an Implementing Agreement - on behalf of their respective sides.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Interestingly, reports in Bangladeshi media from the time suggest the agreement had to be rushed through in the end, on the insistence of the Indian company. A date proposed by the Power Division had to be brought forward, reported Energy and Power magazine, as the Indian company ‘was insisting to sign the deal earlier’.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Most of the top and senior officials of the Power Division were unable to attend, the report adds. Did this rush to sign ‘ahead of schedule’ in the end cause the absence of the discount provision to be missed?</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Incidentally the coal for the project, it is now known, will be purchased from the Adani-owned Carmichael mine in Queensland, Australia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Normally, the price of coal is calculated on the basis of the Newcastle Price Index, with purchases of high quantities or with higher calorific values enabling the buyer to avail discounts of upto 55 percent on the bulk value.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For example, the provision is present in the PPA for the 1320 MW Payra power plant, a Bangladesh-China&nbsp; joint venture where BPDB is benefiting from discounts on coal purchases. The amount of coal required to operate these plants typically runs into the millions of tonnes.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The annual requirement of coal for the Godda plant is estimated to be 7-9 million tonnes. But given the omission of a discount provision, Bangladesh will ultimately end up paying Adani Power Tk 20-22 per unit of electricity, once all the hidden costs are piled on top of the tariff.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Compare that to the price it pays for the electricity bought from coal-fired plants in Bangladesh, which is below Tk 12 per unit,\" the senior BPDB official said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He and others insist that if Adani doesn’t agree to adjust the pricing mechanism for coal in the PPA, it would be simply unviable for Bangladesh to import power from the Godda power plant.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As per Power Division documents seen by UNB, Bangladesh would be paying Adani Power an estimated $23.87 billion, equivalent to almost Tk 240,000 crore (considering US dollar exchange rate at Tk 100), over the 25-year life cycle of the plant, if the PPA remains unchanged.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Adani Power’s investment in the plant, including transmission lines till the Bangladesh border, have been estimated at around $2.1 billion. 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, '2023-02-01 03:49:29', '2023-02-01 03:49:29'),
(4900, 4900, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>The air quality of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka continued to be in the \'unhealthy\' zone this morning.</b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 168 at 9:15 am today (February 1, 2023), Dhaka ranked 11th in the list of cities with the worst air.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Kazakhstan\'s Astana, Pakistan’s Karachi and Mongolia\'s Ulaanbaatar occupied the first three spots in the list, with AQI scores of 229, 195 and 190, respectively.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants — Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing 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, '2023-02-01 04:20:11', '2023-02-01 04:20:11'),
(4901, 4901, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ukraine will hold a summit with the European Union in Kyiv this week, the government announced Tuesday, as it expressed hope the conference will bring the war-battered nation closer to EU membership almost a year after Russia launched its invasion.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kyiv also announced it expects to receive up to 140 modern battle tanks from its Western allies, and the prospect of more advanced weapons for Ukraine came from the United States.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In his evening address to the nation, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was hopeful the summit, which will take place in the Ukrainian capital on Friday, will reflect a high \"level of cooperation and progress\" with the 27-member bloc, which Kyiv has long sought to join.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are waiting for news for Ukraine,\" Zelensky said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Announcing the summit earlier Tuesday, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said: \"The fact that this summit will be held in Kyiv is a powerful signal to both partners and enemies.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine gained EU candidacy status in June last year, several months after Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops rolling into Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">No details were provided on who would be attending the summit on the European Union side.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Weapons \'breakthrough\' -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that a dozen countries had promised more than one hundred tanks after Germany and Washington signed off on the deliveries last week.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"These are Leopard 2, Challenger 2, M1 Abrams,\" added the foreign minister without specifying a timeline for the deliveries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The decision to supply the weapons came after weeks of diplomatic wrangling and was seen as a breakthrough in the West\'s backing for Ukraine in its fight to win back territory from Russian forces.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Now Zelensky is urging the West to supply fighter jets and long-range missiles.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he will be discussing the new requests for advanced weaponry with Zelensky.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We\'re going to talk,\" Biden told reporters, speaking the morning after he answered with an emphatic \"no\" when asked at the White House whether he favoured sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that a US defense company, General Atomics, has offered to sell Kyiv two Reaper MQ-9 drones for a dollar as it prepares for an expected Russian offensive.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under the deal, Kyiv would have to spend about $10 million to ship the aircraft to Ukraine, and about $8 million each year for maintenance, the Journal said, citing a letter from General Atomics to a Ukrainian diplomat.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There was no immediate comment on the report from Washington.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu meanwhile announced that his country would send 12 more Caesar truck-mounted howitzers to Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Alongside other Western-supplied mobile cannons, the Caesar was credited last year with helping Ukraine strike targets deep behind Russian lines, undermining Moscow\'s offensive.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- \'Razing Bakhmut\' -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Despite the flows of Western weapons, Russia has recently claimed gains in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Its defence ministry announced it had \"liberated\" the village of Blagodatne north of Bakhmut.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Blagodatne lies on a highway leading towards Bakhmut, and its announced capture comes not long after Ukraine conceded it had given up the nearby salt-mining town of Soledar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">AFP journalists around 150 kilometres (93 miles) south of Bakhmut heard sporadic shelling coming from Vugledar, which both Moscow and Kyiv have said is seeing an uptick in fighting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It\'s very tense, the more time passes the worse, worse and worse it gets,\" said Oleksandr, a 45-year-old Ukrainian serviceman operating a mortar near Vugledar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Tuesday, Kyiv said a 12-year-old boy and 70-year-old man were killed during Russia\'s latest barrage in Bakhmut, which Moscow has been seeking to seize for months in some of the heaviest fighting of the war.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The Russians are razing Bakhmut to the ground, killing everyone they can get their hands on,\" said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the region\'s governor.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile Human Rights Watch on Tuesday accused Ukraine of using banned anti-personnel landmines against invading Russian forces, saying almost 50 civilians, including five children, had been wounded.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine\'s defence ministry insisted the army upholds its treaty obligations against mines, but will not comment on the types of weapons used until the war ends.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And international tensions remained high with the US State department on Tuesday accusing Russia of not complying with New START, the last remaining arms control treaty. It urged Moscow to return to compliance by allowing inspection activities on its territory, which Moscow suspended in August, citing what it said was American obstruction of Russian checks. 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, '2023-02-01 04:54:42', '2023-02-01 04:54:42'),
(4902, 4902, '<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bolder;\">Voting in the by-polls to the six parliamentary seats — left vacant after BNP MPs resigned — began this morning.</span></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The six constituencies are: Thakurgaon-3, Bogura-4 and 6, Chapainawabganj-2, 3 and Brahmanbaria-2.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Voting began at 8:30 am and will continue till 4:30 pm, said SM Asaduzzaman, Joint Secretary of the Election Commission.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being used in the by-elections. However, no CCTV cameras have been installed in the polling centers, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Forty aspirants are vying in the 6 constituencies for MP post.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 22,55,217 people are expected to exercise their franchise in 867 polling centers.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Voting underway for by-polls to 6 JS seats left vacant after BNP MPs’ resignation&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, the government on Tuesday announced a public holiday on Wednesday in the election areas on the occasion of the by-elections.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier on December 10, 2022 at a public rally, parliamentarians of BNP announced their resignation from the JS. The next day, on December 11, Chapainawabganj-2 lawmaker Md Aminul Islam, Bogura-4 lawmaker Md. Mosharraf Hossain, Bogura-6 lawmaker Golam Mohammad Siraj, and Thakurgaon-3 lawmaker Zahidur Rahman resigned from the parliament.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two other BNP lawmakers — Advocate Abdus Sattar of Brahmanbaria-2 constituency and Harun-or-Rashid of Chapainawabganj-3 — resigned from the parliament 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, '2023-02-01 05:34:19', '2023-02-01 05:34:19'),
(4903, 4903, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Shab-e-Qadr Persian phrase meaning \'the night of power\' or \'the night of respect\'; the most blessed of all the nights of the year according to Islam. In the Holy quran and hadith it is referred to as Lailatu\'l-Qadr; in Bangladesh it is commonly known as \'Shab-e-Qadr\'.&nbsp;</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In this night, five verses of Al-Alaq, the first surah (chapter) of the Quran was revealed. About Shab-e-Qadr the Quran says: it is the night in which the Quran was revealed; it is better than a thousand months; during this night the angels including Jibra\'il descended with the permission of their Lord; there is peace all night long.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The precise date of Shab-e-Qadr is unknown except that, according to the Quran, it falls in ramadan. According to the prophetic tradition it is an odd-numbered night among the last seven or ten days of the month, that is, the 21st, 23rd, or 25th, or any of the 25th, 27th or 29th night of Ramadan. However, most Muslim scholars believe that Shab-e-Qadr is the 27th night of Ramadan, which is also the view generally held in Bangladesh. This blessed night is a great mercy of Allah to the Muslims, for by praying in this single night they can get the reward of prayer done in more than a thousand months.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Prophet (Sm) asked the believers to pray a lot in this night. If a believer prays throughout this night all his past sins are forgiven. Shab-e-Qadr is observed with great religious fervour in Bangladesh. Pious Muslims, who do not wish to miss the special benefits of this night, start their devotions from the 21st night of Ramadan. Most Muslims, however, observe it only on the 27th.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the time of Isha\' prayer, people assemble at mosques, with many staying till midnight to pray. Women pray at home. The day following Shab-e-Qadr is an official holiday in Bangladesh. To mark the occasion radio and television broadcast special programmes and the newspapers and periodicals publish special features. [MA Quasem]</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"7\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-01 06:11:50', '2023-02-01 06:11:50'),
(4904, 4904, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">An Iranian couple in their 20s have been given jail sentences totalling 10 years after posting a video of themselves dancing in the street.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They were reportedly convicted for promoting corruption, prostitution and propaganda.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The video showed them dancing by Tehran\'s Azadi (Freedom) Tower.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Authorities are handing heavy sentences to people seen to be involved in protests after the death of a woman who was detained by morality police.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The couple did not link their dance to the ongoing protests in Iran.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A source has confirmed to BBC Monitoring that the couple\'s arrest came after they posted the video to their Instagram accounts, which have a combined following of nearly two million.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Anti-government protests - labelled \"riots\" by Iran\'s regime - swept across the country after Mahsa Amini, 22, died in police custody in September last year. She was arrested in Tehran for allegedly violating the rule requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Astiazh Haqiqi, 21, and her fiance Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, 22, are said to be convicted of \"promoting corruption and prostitution, colluding against national security, and propaganda against the establishment\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The family home of Ms Haqiqi, who lists her profession as a fashion designer, was raided before the arrest.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is unclear how long the sentence is for each of the separate convictions they are facing. They have each been sentenced to a total of 10 and a half years - a combined sentence for the charges.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">If their verdicts are upheld, they will have to serve the longest one of those sentencing terms.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to reports, they were also handed a two-year ban on using social media and leaving the country. 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, '2023-02-01 06:24:09', '2023-02-01 06:24:09'),
(4905, 4905, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Comilla Victorians made remarkable history in Tuesday\'s Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match, succeeding in their chase of a target surpassing 200 runs and defeating the Khulna Tigers in Sylhet.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Khulna Tigers put up a strong score with contributions from Tamim Iqbal and Shai Hope, scoring 95 and 91 runs respectively, setting a total of 210 for 2 wickets.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, the highlight of the match was Johnson Charles from the Comilla Victorians, who scored an impressive century with 107 runs and 11 sixes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Comilla started off on the backfoot with early losses from Litton Das and Imrul Kayes while chasing a big target, but a crucial third-wicket partnership between Mohammad Rizwan and Johnson Charles of 122 runs sealed a fantastic victory for the Victorians. Rizwan made a significant contribution of 73 runs with 4 sixes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Comilla achieved their chase with 7 wickets in hand and 10 balls to spare, marking their sixth consecutive win and moving up to third place in the points table with 6 wins in 9 matches.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the other hand, Khulna suffered their seventh loss in 9 matches and currently sit in sixth place with a mere 4 points.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Sylhet phase of the BPL has come to a close and the tournament will now move to Dhaka, starting on February 3rd. 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, '2023-02-01 06:44:46', '2023-02-01 06:44:46'),
(4906, 4906, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Voting in the by-polls to the six parliamentary seats — left vacant after BNP MPs resigned —is going on amid some stray incidents today.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Voting began at 8:30 am and will continue till 4:30 pm, said SM Asaduzzaman, Joint Secretary of the Election Commission.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The six constituencies are: Thakurgaon-3, Bogura-4 and 6, Chapainawabganj-2, 3 and Brahmanbaria-2.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being used in the by-elections. However, no CCTV cameras have been installed in the polling centers, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Forty aspirants are vying in the 6 constituencies for MP post.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Chapainawabganj, a chase and counter-chase happened between supporters of two candidates at the District Ideal High School Centre around 9 am.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A scuffle took place between the supporters of independent candidate Samiul Haque Liton and Awami League backed candidate Abdul Wadud at the polling station -- triggering a chase and counter-chase, said Additional Superintendent of Chapainawabganj Police, Abul Kalam Shaheed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, police brought the situation under control. A crude bomb was seized from the spot.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Voting in the by-election for Brahmanbaria-2 (Sarail-Ashuganj) constituency was going on peacefully amid low voter turnout till filing of this report around noon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Abu Asif Ahmed, an expelled leader of BNP and an independent candidate, still remains missing since Friday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By-polls to 6 JS seats underway amid stray incidents&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some 1,100 police have been deployed at the polling stations while four platoons of BGB members, nine teams of RAB, nine mobile teams of police, and four striking teams were also performing their duties to maintain the law and order situation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 22,55,217 people are expected to exercise their franchise in 867 polling centers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, the government on Tuesday announced a public holiday on Wednesday in the election areas on the occasion of the by-elections.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier on December 10, 2022 at a public rally, parliamentarians of BNP announced their resignation from the JS. The next day, on December 11, Chapainawabganj-2 lawmaker Md Aminul Islam, Bogura-4 lawmaker Md. Mosharraf Hossain, Bogura-6 lawmaker Golam Mohammad Siraj, and Thakurgaon-3 lawmaker Zahidur Rahman resigned from the parliament.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two other BNP lawmakers — Advocate Abdus Sattar of Brahmanbaria-2 constituency and Harun-or-Rashid of Chapainawabganj-3 — resigned from the parliament 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, '2023-02-01 07:38:14', '2023-02-01 07:38:14'),
(4907, 4907, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A newly discovered comet will make its closest approach to our planet on Wednesday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Astronomers say the object\'s journey toward us took around 50,000 years.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Photographs captured by astronomers show a distinct green hue around the body of the comet.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But those expecting a brilliant streak of emerald in the sky will be disappointed. Its brightness is right at the threshold of what is visible to the naked eye.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Astronomers discovered the comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) last March at the Palomar Observatory in California.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It will make its closest approach to Earth at around 41 million km (26 million miles) away this Wednesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The object originates in the Oort cloud, a collection of icy bodies at the edge of the Solar System.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">To find it, Massey suggests first searching for the pole star, which is always in the same place in the sky.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">You can identify the pole star by looking directly north and locating a star that hangs distinctly by itself.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">You can then use free planetarium software online to determine where the comet will be moving in relation to the pole star on the night you\'re looking at it.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The best time to view it will be in the early hours of Thursday morning when the Moon has set.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At that time the comet should appear just to the right of the pole star.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A green appearance for comets is not uncommon and is usually the result of breakdown of a reactive molecule called dicarbon - two carbon atoms joined together by a double bond.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Such colour is better picked up by digital cameras, which are more sensitive to colour. BBC</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"18\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-02-01 07:44:43', '2023-02-01 07:44:43');
