INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4189, 4189, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Unwanted by Europe\'s elite clubs, Cristiano Ronaldo\'s steep decline has been laid bare by a move to Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr that signals the end of his reign as one of football\'s most feared strikers.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Ronaldo will be officially unveiled by Al Nassr on Tuesday after agreeing a contract that runs until 2025 and is reportedly worth more than 200 million euros.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">But the riches and fanfare that await the 37-year-old in Saudi Arabia are at odds with his reduced status as a fallen star trading on past heroics.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For Ronaldo to be forced to play out what will surely be the final chapter of his glittering career in the football backwater of Saudi Arabia is a damning indictment of his lacklustre form over the last 18 months.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d\'Or winner, heads to the Gulf after a painful year that saw him relegated to the Portugal bench and cut adrift by Manchester United.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His second spell with United imploded in November with his departure by mutual consent, shortly after he criticised boss Erik ten Hag and the club\'s hierarchy in an explosive television interview.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As his relationship with United soured, Ronaldo was linked to a string of Champions League contenders including Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Napoli.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A return to his first club Sporting Lisbon was also rumoured, while there was talk of a move to the MLS to join Inter Miami, part-owned by former United team mate David Beckham.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But none of those deals came to fruition and when United decided his diminishing contribution, coupled with his public displays of dissent, made him a pricey luxury they no longer needed, it was instructive to note the absence of a rush to sign the ageing icon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Coming at the same time as his acrimonious United exit, Ronaldo\'s failed quest to finally win the World Cup underlined his descent to the ranks of football\'s mere mortals.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Tears in Qatar -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a move that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, Ronaldo was left out of the starting line-up for Portugal\'s last 16 thrashing of Switzerland.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And when Portugal suffered a shock 1-0 defeat against Morocco in the quarter-finals, Ronaldo started on the bench, made little impact after his eventual introduction and was last seen trudging down the tunnel in tears after the final whistle.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There was a sting in the World Cup tale for Ronaldo as it was his old sparring partner Lionel Messi who got his hands on the trophy for the first time instead.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The sight of Messi lifting the World Cup after Argentina\'s final victory over France in Qatar will have pained Ronaldo given their long-standing rivalry.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Few would question Ronaldo\'s right to be regarded as one of the all-time greats after winning five Champions League crowns and a combined seven domestic league titles with United, Juventus and Real Madrid.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He is also the record goal-scorer in the Champions League and with the Portuguese national team, who won the 2016 European Championship -- Ronaldo lasted less than half an hour before going off injured in the final against France.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But Messi\'s triumph with Argentina vaulted him into the ranks of football\'s immortals alongside Pele and Diego Maradona, a rarefied air that Ronaldo will never sample without a World Cup victory on his CV.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ronaldo\'s decision to accept the lucrative deal offered in the Middle East rather than play on for a lesser European team made it clear he knows his diminished place in the football hierarchy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah are the new global stars stepping into Ronaldo\'s boots.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Al Nassr hailed Ronaldo\'s signing by claiming the \"history making\" deal would \"inspire future generations\" to be the best version of themselves.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But for the millions who have been captivated by Ronaldo over the last two decades, this version of the superstar is very far from his best. 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, '2023-01-03 05:13:05', '2023-01-03 05:13:05'),
(4190, 4190, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The fourth death anniversary of former Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam is being observed today.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On January 3 in 2019, Syed Ashraf, also the then Public Administration Minister, died at the age of 68 while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bangkok. He had been suffering from lung cancer.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Ashraf was born in Mymensingh in 1952. His father Syed Nazrul Islam was acting President of Mujibnagar Government in 1971 and one of the key organisers of Bangladesh\'s independence struggle.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ashraf took part in the 1971 Liberation War after taking training from Dehradun in India. He was a member of Muktibahini.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ashraf was actively involved in student politics. After the country\'s independence, he became the general secretary of Mymensingh District Chhatra League and also served as Assistant Publicity Secretary of the Bangladesh Chhatra League Central Committee.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On November 3 in 1975, his father Syed Nazrul Islam along with three other national leaders was brutally killed in Dhaka Central Jail. After the incident, Syed Ashraf went to London and organised the Bangladesh Awami League in the UK.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After returning home in 1996, Ashraf was elected a Member of Parliament (MP) from Kishoreganj Sadar constituency. He served as the State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism during 1996-2001. Ashraf was also elected MP in 2001 elections and served as a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Foreign Affairs Ministry.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The former AL general secretary was also elected MP in 2008 elections and served as the Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister. He took over the charge of Public Administration Ministry on July 16, 2015.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Though Ashraf was absent during the 11th national elections, he was elected the lawmaker from Kishoreganj-1 constituency.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He left behind his only daughter while his wife Shila Islam died in October, 2017. 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, '2023-01-03 05:26:02', '2023-01-03 05:26:02'),
(4191, 4191, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">An emotional Brazil began paying its final respects Monday to football legend Pele with a wake at the stadium where he first took the world\'s breath away with his dazzling skill.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Throughout the day, thousands of fans and football dignitaries slowly filed through the Vila Belmiro, home to Pele\'s longtime club, Santos.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">More continued to join the queue as night fell, waiting their turn to walk past the body of \"O Rei\" (The King), lying at the center of the field.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pele\'s coffin was draped in the flags of Santos and Brazil and surrounded by white flowers, including bouquets from the likes of Real Madrid or current Brazil star Neymar, whose father was in attendance.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his wife also sent a wreath, local media reported.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lula\'s office announced earlier that he would attend the wake on Tuesday morning, less than 48 hours after taking office, to \"pay his respects and tribute,\" before a funeral procession and interment later in the day.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pele, a three-time World Cup winner widely considered the greatest footballer of all time, died Thursday at age 82 after a battle with cancer.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who attended the wake with the heads of the South American and Brazilian football confederations, said the sport\'s governing body would ask all member countries to name a stadium in Pele\'s honor.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"Pele is eternal. He\'s a global icon of football,\" he told journalists in Santos, a southeastern port city 75 kilometers (45 miles) from Sao Paulo.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Carlos Mota and his 12-year-old son Bernardo had traveled more than 500 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro to pay tribute to their hero.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"My whole childhood was influenced by what Pele did for Brazil, by his World Cup wins. He was a national idol,\" Mota, 59, told AFP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I\'ve always told my son, there are three indisputable facts: the ball is round, the grass is green and Pele is the greatest of all time.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bernardo clearly took the lesson to heart.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I never saw Pele play, but I\'ve seen the videos. He\'s the greatest player who ever walked the Earth,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Seventy-five-year-old retiree Vera Lucia, who had made the trip from Sao Paulo, was also braving the scorching sun to stand in line, which stretched to two kilometers in the early afternoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I\'m just devastated,\" she said. \"We always loved watching his matches as a family.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Tributes to \'eternal\' star -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele exploded onto the scene at age 15, when he made his professional debut with Santos.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He went on to win the World Cup three times with Brazil, in 1958, 1962 and 1970 -- the only player in history to achieve the feat.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tributes have poured in from around the world since his death, with a Who\'s Who of current and former football greats hailing his genius for the \"beautiful game.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A stream of athletes, politicians, dignitaries and fans are expected in Santos for the wake, though turnout may be dented somewhat by the New Year\'s holiday weekend.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some 7,000 people had filed past the casket by mid-afternoon, according to Brazil\'s TV Globo.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pele\'s coffin was carried into the stadium by pallbearers dressed in black, led by his son Edinho.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The late icon\'s widow, Marcia Cibele Aoki, his third wife, whom he married in 2016, cried before his open casket as she reached out to touch his head. She also placed a rosary in his coffin.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- National mourning -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Other tributes have come in from around Brazil, which held three days of national mourning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio, a giant poster with Pele\'s image bears the word \"eternal.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And Lula\'s inauguration Sunday began with a minute\'s silence in Pele\'s memory.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pele had been in fragile health, suffering from kidney problems and then colon cancer.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But he remained active on social media, cheering on Brazil from his hospital bed in Sao Paulo during the World Cup in Qatar and consoling the pre-tournament favorites when they were eliminated in the quarter-finals, three weeks before his death.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The wake will be followed by a funeral procession Tuesday through Santos, including past the house of Pele\'s mother, 100-year-old Celeste Arantes, who is still alive.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The procession will end at Santos\'s Memorial Cemetery, where a Catholic funeral service will be held before Pele is interred in a special mausoleum. 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, '2023-01-03 05:36:42', '2023-01-03 05:36:42'),
(4192, 4192, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today inaugurated the six-day Police Week-2023.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She opened the police week in person in the capital\'s Rajarbagh Police Lines, after a gap of two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier reviewed the parade of the Bangladesh Police by riding on an open jeep and took the salute.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Different police contingents staged a spectacular parade to mark the police week.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She later handed over Bangladesh Police Medal (BPM) Bravery, President Police Medal (PPM) Bravery, BPM-Service and PPM-Service to 117 police officials for making the police force proud by setting exemplary standards of bravery and commitment endangering their lives in the year 2022.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of them, 15 have received the BPM-Bravery and 25 got the PPM-Bravery while 25 got BPM Service and 50 got the PPM-Service awards.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On her arrival at the venue, the premier was received by Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Public Security Division Senior Secretary Md. Aminul Islam Khan and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Cabinet members, parliament members and senior government officials were present.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the outset of the programme, the national anthem was played. 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, '2023-01-03 05:59:52', '2023-01-03 05:59:52'),
(4193, 4193, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Bachchan, have returned from their New Year vacation. The family of three was spotted at the Mumbai airport in the wee hours of Tuesday. As usual Aishwarya held Aaradhya\'s hand as they walked out towards the parking lot. Her fans came out in defence on social media as some trolls questioned her practice of always holding Aaradhya\'s hand at airports.&nbsp;</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Aishwarya was in her usual black casuals and untied hair as she stepped out with Aaradhya, who was in a pink sweatshirt and black track pants. The mother-daughter duo were seen happily chatting together. Aishwarya did wave goodbye to the paparazzi before getting into her car.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As a paparazzo account shared a video of the Bachchans from the airport, many questioned Aishwarya for why she always hold her hand. Many of her fans took upon themselves to defend her. A fan wrote, “To people commenting and complaining about she holding hands of her daughter should realise that she’s just being protective towards her and every mother on this earth has that affection &amp; feeling towards her child! So what? Don’t pass nasty comments just because she’s a celebrity!” Another wrote, “Judging by the number of paps they face every time they enter the airport of course she’s going to hold her daughter’s hand..a couple of years ago her mum fell due to the rush to get pics of her family..don\'t judge.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Aishwarya saw the release of her period drama Ponniyin Selvan I last year. The second part of Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film franchise is set to hit theatres on April 28. It will feature Aishwarya in a dual role. The multi-starrer also has Vikram, Karthi, Trisha Krishnan, Prakash Raj, Jayaram, Jayam Ravi and Aishwarya Lekshmi, among the ensemble cast.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Abhishek Bachchan was last seen in season two of the thriller web series, Breathe: Into the Shadows. He also had a film release in Dasvi on Netflix. He will now be seen in R Balki\'s Ghoomer, which will also star his superstar father Amitabh Bachchan. 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, '2023-01-03 07:36:31', '2023-01-03 07:36:31'),
(4194, 4194, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday vowed to build a world standard \"Smart Police\" force good at knowledge, science and technology, urging the law enforcing agency to work for upholding people\'s trust and confidence achieved through services.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Our target is to build an efficient and world standard \"Smart Police\" capable in knowledge, science and technology,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The prime minister said this while inaugurating in person the six-day Police Week-2023 in the capital\'s Rajarbagh Police Lines, after a gap of two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She expressed her heartfelt greetings to the police for their pro-people service and asked them to keep up the good deeds.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also urged the law enforcers to ensure maintaining people\'s confidence in police, hoping that the police would be friendly force as envisioned by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier said, “You (police personnel) will serve the people inspired with the utmost humanitarian perspective”.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said her government is set to purchase two Russian helicopters to make the police as a three-dimensional force alongside working to establish a separate aviation wing for it.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We have already taken measures to buy two helicopters from Russia to make the police as three dimensional force and a process is going on to form a separate aviation unit (of it),\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier inspected the parade of the Bangladesh Police by riding on an open jeep and took the salute.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She later handed over Bangladesh Police Medal (BPM) Bravery, President Police Medal (PPM) Bravery, BPM-Service and PPM-Service to 115 police officials for making the police proud by setting exemplary standard of bravery and commitment endangering their lives in the year 2022.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of them, 15 have received the BPM-Bravery and 25 got the PPM-Bravery while 25 got BPM Service and 50 got the PPM-Service awards.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Different police contingents staged a spectacular parade to mark the police week.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On her arrival at the venue, the premier was received by Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Public Security Division Senior Secretary Md. Aminul Islam Khan and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;Cabinet members, parliament members and senior government officials were present.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the outset of the programme, the national anthem was played. 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, '2023-01-03 08:03:47', '2023-01-03 08:03:47'),
(4195, 4195, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Seven people were killed Monday in northern Mexico\'s Ciudad Juarez during a police operation to recapture prisoners who escaped after an attack at their facility, state authorities announced.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gunmen attacked the border city\'s state prison on Sunday at dawn, leaving nearly 20 people dead and allowing the prisoners, which include a gang leader, to flee.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Monday\'s deaths -- two agents from the state prosecutor\'s office and five alleged criminals -- took the total fatalities related to the attack to 26, according to a statement from the Chihuahua Public Security Department.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval had earlier told reporters that ten guards, seven prisoners and two attackers had died in Sunday\'s assault on the prison, which has been attributed to drug traffickers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fourteen inmates and a guard were injured and five attackers were captured, Sandoval said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 25 escapees included Ernesto Alfredo Pinon, known as \"El Neto,\" the leader of a gang allied with the Juarez drug cartel, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pinon was sentenced to more than 200 years in prison in 2010 for kidnapping and murder, according to the Chihuahua state prosecutor\'s office.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The attackers, traveling in armored vehicles, launched the assault when relatives of the inmates were lined up for New Year\'s visits.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ciudad Juarez, which sits across the border from El Paso, Texas, has seen years of violent clashes between security forces and rival drug cartels.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prison itself has seen multiple breakouts of fighting and riots, notably in March 2009 when 20 people died.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mexican detention centers suffer from chronic overcrowding and violence, which has worsened in recent years due to conflict between criminal groups. 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, '2023-01-03 08:25:29', '2023-01-03 08:25:29'),
(4196, 4196, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The High Court on Tuesday granted six months bail to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas, in a case over the clash between police and the party activists in the capital’s Nayapaltan on December 7 last year.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The HC bench of Justice Md Selim and Justice Md Riaz Uddin&nbsp; granted the bail.</div><div><br></div><div>The court also issued a rule asking the government to explain as to why the two BNP leaders should not be granted permanent bail.</div><div><br></div><div>Advocate Joynul Abedin stood for the BNP leaders while Additional Attorney General SM Munir represented the state.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier, on Monday, the High Court fixed Tuesday for hearing the bail petitions of the BNP leaders.</div><div><br></div><div>Lawyer Sagir Hossain Leone filed separate petitions seeking bail for them.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 21, Dhaka Metropolitan Session Judge Asaduzzaman rejected the BNP leaders’ bail petitions for the fourth time.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 9, a team of Detective Branch (DB) of police picked up Fakhrul and Abbas from their homes in separate raids in the capital city.</div><div><br></div><div>Later, they were shown arrested in a case over the clash between police and the party activists in the capital’s Nayapaltan. A Dhaka court sent them to jail rejecting their bail pleas.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 12, a Dhaka court rejected the bail petitions of 224 leaders and activists of BNP, including Fakhrul and Abbas.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 15, the bail petitions of the two BNP leaders were rejected again.</div><div><br></div><div>A Dhaka court ordered to give division facility to them on December 9 and then they were given the division facility from December 13.</div><div><br></div><div>They were accused of instigating, planning and directing an attack on police.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 7, a Swechchasebak Dal leader was killed and around 50 others were injured in a clash between police and the BNP activists in front of the party’s Nayapaltan central office, ahead of its December 10 rally.</div><div><br></div><div>Police filed four cases at Ramna, Shahjahanpur, Motijheel and Paltan police stations against 720 BNP activists and over 2400 unnamed people in connection with the clash with BNP.</div><div><br></div><div>Of the BNP men, 450 were accused in the case filed at Nayapaltan police station, 20 in Motijheel police station case and seven in Shahjahanpur police station case. According to UNB reports</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-03 11:06:51', '2023-01-03 11:06:51'),
(4197, 4197, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The by-election to Gaibandha-5 constituency, which was suspended due to irregularities, will be held on Wednesday.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>On October 12 last year, the Election Commission (EC) suspended the by-election due to ‘rampant irregularities’ on the election day and later the commission fixed January 4 for holding the polls.</div><div><br></div><div>Following the death of Gaibandha-5 lawmaker and Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Fazle Rabbi Miah on July 22, 2022, it became a constitutional obligation to hold election for the parliamentary seat by October 20, 2022. Accordingly it was scheduled for October 12.</div><div><br></div><div>Elections will be monitored through CCTV cameras as before while voting will be held through electronic voting machines(EVMs) from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.</div><div><br></div><div>A three-member committee was formed to look into the election irregularities on October 12.</div><div><br></div><div>Following the recommendations of the committee, the Election Commission took punitive actions against 133 officials including an additional deputy commissioner, five sub-inspectors and returning officer of the election.</div><div><br></div><div>The candidates of the Gaibandha-5 by-election are-Awami League candidate Mahmud Hasan Ripon, Jatiya Party candidate AHM Golam Shaheed Ranju, Bikalpa Dhara candidate Advocate Jahangir Alam, independent candidate Syed Mahbubur Rahman.</div><div><br></div><div>The constituency consists of Saghata and Phulchhari upazila and 339,743 people will exercise their franchise.</div><div><br></div><div>UNB Gaibandha correspondent reports: Election materials including EVMs were distributed for 145 polling centers on Tuesday.</div><div><br></div><div>Returning officer Abdul Motaleb and assistant returning officer Kamrul Islam were present.</div><div><br></div><div>Rab, police, BGB and Ansar members will remain deployed to hold the election peacefully, said Abdul Motaleb. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-03 12:12:18', '2023-01-03 12:12:18'),
(4198, 4198, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA) and Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) have set the US dollar exchange rate for export proceeds at Tk 102.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>BAFEDA and ABB took the decision at a meeting on Sunday and the new rate came into effect on Monday, according to BAFEDA press release.</div><div><br></div><div>However, the exchange rate for inward remittances has been kept unchanged at Tk 107.</div><div><br></div><div>The BAFEDA and the ABB have been fixing the official exchange rates of dollars flowing into the country through the banking channel for different sectors since September 2022. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-03 13:04:24', '2023-01-03 13:04:24'),
(4199, 4199, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Fourty-eight more people were hospitalised with dengue in 24 hours till Tuesday morning.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Of the new patients, 17 were admitted to the hospitals of Dhaka and 31 outside it, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).</div><div><br></div><div>A total of 237 dengue patients, including 135 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country</div><div>So far, DGHS recorded 127 dengue cases and 110 recoveries this year with zero death.</div><div><br></div><div>The country reported 281 deaths from the mosquito-borne disease last year, the highest ever dengue fatalities recorded in a single year in Bangladesh. The previous record of 179 deaths was reported in 2019.</div><div><br></div><div>The DGHS has recorded 62,423 dengue cases and 61,971 recoveries in the past year - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-03 13:53:03', '2023-01-03 13:53:03'),
(4200, 4200, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has said that the electricity, under the agreement with Adani Power, will come to Bangladesh in mid-March, reports BSS.&nbsp;</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"Now we are getting 240 megawatt (MW) power on test basis from Adani power plant and in March 750 MW will be connected to the national grid through Rohonpur,\" he said after inspecting Adani\'s under-construction 1600 MW power plant having two units with 800 MW generation capacity each at Godda, Jhadkhand, India today.</div><div><br></div><div>Nasrul said that Adani group constructed a dedicated transmission line to supply electricity from India to Bangladesh, adding, \"It will be possible to import electricity from mid-March and by June we will get 1,450 MW electricity.\"</div><div><br></div><div>\"We need more electricity to meet the next summer\'s demand, as 1000 MW diesel based power plant would be phased out. We are also looking for alternative sources of fuel and working for uninterrupted power supply at affordable prices,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The state minister said that Bangladesh government has been working with neighbouring countries to ensure power and energy security in this region.</div><div><br></div><div>The Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was signed between Bangladesh Power Development Board and Adani Power (Jharkhand) Limited to import 1496 MW (Net) from Coal Fired Power Generation Facility at Godda District, Jharkhand, India on November, 5, 2017.</div><div><br></div><div>According to Implementation Agreement (IA) the Interconnection and Transmission Facilities should be ready no later than six (6) months prior to the Required COD.</div><div><br></div><div>The dedicated transmission lines were constructed. The PGCB constructed two substations and other transmission works at Chapainawabganj and Bogra in Bangladesh.</div><div><br></div><div>Power Division Secretary Md Habibur Rahman and Chairman of BPDB Md Mahbubur Rahman and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Adani Power Sh. Anil Sardana were present during the inspection.</div><div><br></div><div>Giving update of the power plant, Anil Sardana said that Adani has been constructing the 1600 MW having two units with ultra-super critical technology method coal fired power plant.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Due to the Indian government policy not to export electricity generated by using local coal, we are bringing coal from Australia, South Africa and Indonesia for the plant. Right now coal price is going up that\'s why power tariff is depended on coal price. In future coal price become lower, then power tariff will be downed,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Replying to a question, Anil Sardana said the Adani group is yet to receive money from Bangladesh government without supplying electricity. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-03 14:10:22', '2023-01-03 14:10:22'),
(4201, 4201, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The deadline for VAT exemption on import of soybean oil and palm oil has been extended by four months till April 30, 2023 in order to keep stable the price of such edible oil.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The National Board of Revenue (NB) has issued a notification in this regard on Monday.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier on December 31, 2022, the deadline for VAT exemption on import of such edible oil ended.</div><div><br></div><div>The Ministry of Commerce has recently sent a letter to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) requesting the revenue board to extend the timeframe of VAT exemption on edible oil imports till June 30 this year to keep its price stable during the Holy Month of Ramadan and the Eid Ul Fitr.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>In response, the NBR has taken such decision to extend the timeframe.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier on October 4 last year, the NBR exempted all types of VAT on refined edible oil at production and supply stage to keep the price of soybean oil and palm oil stable considering the price hike of refined and non refined edible oil in international market.</div><div><br></div><div>Prior to that, the NBR on March 16 last year reduced the VAT on non-refined soybean oil and refined palm oil at 5 percent from 15 percent.</div><div><br></div><div>Currently, there is an annual domestic demand for 20 lakh tons of edible oil of which 2 lakh tons is met internally while the rest is being met through import of soybean oil and palm oil. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-03 16:35:01', '2023-01-03 16:35:01'),
(4202, 4202, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, entered the compound that houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem earlier today, prompting condemnations from the US, Palestinians and several Arab countries, including those who have inked peace treaties with Israel.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Any unilateral action that jeopardises status quo of Jerusalem holy sites is unacceptable, a White House National Security Council spokesperson said on Tuesday following the visit that Palestinians labelled as an “unprecedented provocation”.</div><div><br></div><div>“The United States stands firmly for preservation of the status quo with respect to the holy sites in Jerusalem,” the spokesperson said, adding the United States calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to preserve his commitment to the status quo of holy sites.</div><div><br></div><div>Netanyahu issued a statement late on Tuesday claiming he “is committed to strictly maintaining the status quo, without changes, on the Temple Mount [Al-Aqsa Compound].”</div><div><br></div><div>“Under the status quo, ministers have gone up to the Temple Mount in recent years, therefore, the claim that a change has been made in the status quo is without foundation,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Ben-Gvir was seen at the site on Tuesday under heavy security.</div><div><br></div><div>“Our government will not surrender to the threats of Hamas,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement published by his spokesman, after the Palestinian group that governs the besieged Gaza Strip warned that such a move would cross a “red line”.</div><div><br></div><div>Ben-Gvir has long called for greater Jewish access to the holy site, which is viewed by Palestinians as provocative and as a potential precursor to Israel taking complete control over the compound. Leading rabbis forbid Jews from praying on the site.</div><div><br></div><div>Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter after his visit that the site “is open to all and if Hamas thinks that if it threatens me it will deter me, they should understand that times have changed”.</div><div><br></div><div>Ofir Gendelman, who has long served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Arabic-language spokesman, released a video saying that the “situation is completely calm” at the holy site following Ben-Gvir’s departure.</div><div><br></div><div>The visit appears to have been calculated to avoid a direct confrontation with Palestinians, having come early in the morning, and a day after Ben-Gvir had appeared to backtrack from his plans, thereby avoiding a gathering of Palestinians at the site. Source: Al Jazeera&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-03 16:40:24', '2023-01-03 16:40:24'),
(4203, 4203, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Managing Director and CEO of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Shafiul Azim today said he has taken a plan to turn Biman into a \"smart airline\" in \"Smart Bangladesh\" aligning with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina\'s vision.&nbsp;</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"We have made a pledge to make Biman as smart airline in the forthcoming era of \'Smart Bangladesh,\" he told reporters at a briefing on the eve of 51st anniversary of the national flag carrier at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport here.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The Biman chief said that he had taken a plan to first bring Biman into top 10 Asian airlines and gradually to uplift the carrier into top three airlines in Asia.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Azim said that he had already taken some work plan including expansion of routes by optimizing use of its new generation fleet and building skilled human resources at all levels of the airline administration and operational fronts including pilots to realize the goal.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The main focus of the programme is to ensure good governance, accountability and transparency from the topmost to the lowest level of Biman, he said.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Azim said they are continuously taking guidelines from the top level of the government to achieve the goal.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>\"If anyone does good work, he or she will be rewarded. On the contrary, if anyone does anything wrong, he or she will be punished,\" said the Biman\'s top boss.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>He said that Biman would operate this year\'s Hajj flights with its own aircraft. \"We won\'t take any aircraft as lease to operate the hajj flights,\" he said.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Azim said currently Biman Bangladesh airlines successfully conducts \'C\'-check and saves two million US dollar in every \'C\'-check which is an extensive check of individual systems and components for serviceability and function of an aircraft.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Recently, Biman saved a total of Taka 20 crore as it successfully conducted \'C\'-check of a total five Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft at Biman\'s hangar here.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, Azim said that Biman would introduce online feedback services for the passengers and take all necessary measures to maintain flight schedule.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>He said efforts have been taken to make the airline more passenger-friendly and to facilitate more digital services through websites for ticketing.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>\"We have taken work plan to increase capacity of our 24-hour call centers to get complaints of the passengers promptly,\" he added.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Azim said Biman made profit of Taka 436 crore during 2021-22 fiscal year while achieved 77 percent of load capacity surpassing the target of 74 percent by carrying 2.8 million passengers last year.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The current Biman\'s fleet contains 21 aircraft including 18 own planes and operates to 20 international destinations. Source: BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-03 16:43:45', '2023-01-03 16:43:45');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4204, 4204, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Russia has said a new year missile attack that killed at least 89 Russian soldiers happened because troops were using their mobile phones.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine hit a college for conscripts in Makiivka, in the occupied Donetsk area, shortly after midnight on 1 January.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Soldiers\' use of banned phones allowed the enemy to locate its target, the Russian military has now said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While the number of people killed is unverified, it is the largest death toll acknowledged by Russia in the war.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine claims the figure is far higher, saying 400 soldiers were killed in the attack and a further 300 wounded.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia said that at 00:01 local time on New Year\'s Day, six rockets were fired from a US-made Himars rocket system at a vocational college, two of which were shot down.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The deputy commander of the regiment, Lt Col Bachurin, was among those killed, the military of defence said in a statement on Telegram in the early hours of Wednesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A commission is investigating the circumstances of the incident, the statement said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But it is \"already obvious\" that the main cause of the attack was the presence and \"mass use\" of mobile phones by troops in range of Ukrainian weapons, despite this being banned, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"This factor allowed the enemy to locate and determine the coordinates of the location of military personnel for a missile strike.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Officials found guilty in the investigation will be brought to justice, the statement added, and steps are being taken to prevent similar events in future.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia also raised the number of Russian soldiers killed in the attack to 89 - up from 63 - although there is no way of verifying how many soldiers were killed. It is extremely rare for Moscow to confirm any battlefield casualties.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The vocational college was packed with conscripts at the time - men who were among the 300,000 called up in President Vladimir Putin\'s partial mobilisation in September. Ammunition was also being stored close to the site, which was reduced to rubble.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some Russian commentators and politicians have accused the military of incompetence, saying the troops should never have been given such vulnerable accommodation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pavel Gubarev, a former leading official in Russia\'s proxy authority in Donetsk, said the decision to house a large number of soldiers in one building was \"criminal negligence\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"If no-one is punished for this, then it will only get worse,\" he warned.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The deputy speaker of Moscow\'s local parliament, Andrei Medvedev, said it was predictable that the soldiers would be blamed rather than the commander who made the original decision to put so many of them in one place.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Putin signed a decree on Tuesday for families of National Guard soldiers killed in service to be paid 5m roubles (£57,000; $69,000). 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, '2023-01-04 02:27:31', '2023-01-04 02:27:31'),
(4205, 4205, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">If Monday\'s wake for Brazilian football legend Pele was a day of reflection, Tuesday\'s funeral cortege was one of carnivalesque proportions.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 82-year-old, who many regarded as the world\'s best football player, died on 29 December.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His coffin arrived in Santos on Monday, where thousands of mourners came to pay their respects at the ground of his former club - some even queued overnight.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Tuesday, supporters\' club Torcida Jovem gathered outside the Urbano Caldeira stadium ahead of the casket leaving. Fans waved huge black and white banners, the colours of Santos Football Club. Many wore the number 10 shirt that Pele made so famous.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Only Pele, 1,000 goals,\" they repeatedly chanted as people beat drums and danced in the street.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His body was then accompanied for seven kilometres through the streets of Santos while helicopters flew overhead. His coffin was carried on a fire engine, as is traditional in official parades.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It travelled along the sea front and past Pele\'s mother\'s house - she turned 100 last year. There, a relative asked for a minute\'s silence and the party atmosphere hushed immediately as Doña Celeste clutched her hands in prayer.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">These past few days have halted the busy coastal city of Santos.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"He was important for the whole world, for young people too,\" said Marcia Simões, who was standing with her sons Eduardo and Mario at the road leading to Pele\'s burial place. \"I\'m prouder than ever to be from Santos.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That was a feeling echoed by so many mourners - that he was the best of Brazil.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Everyone in Brazil wants to be a football player to imitate him,\" said Thiago Silva, one of the last people in the queue before the wake ended. \"Of course, nobody can.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"My father was a Pele fanatic,\" said Sandra Garcia, who was with 11-year-old Enzo. \"I got really emotional remembering my father - if he was alive, no question he would have been here crying. I grew up praising Pele, talking of him and telling stories about him - so it\'s important to be here.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Even for someone of Enzo\'s young age, Pele was a powerful influence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"No question, he beats Cristiano Ronaldo by a long way,\" he said. \"He\'s the best player of all time over several decades.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Beyond football, Pele united Brazilians by being their ambassador. In a country deeply divided politically and economically - people have only had good things to say about him.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The same could not be said of the country\'s new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who only this week took office for a third term. He arrived to pay his respects shortly before the wake ended and cheers for him competed with calls that he should be in prison.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Lula was released in 2019 after spending 18 months in jail for corruption. His convictions were annulled in 2021.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The coming together of a nation in grief has been a welcome relief for so many in what has been a turbulent few months since the presidential elections.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Pele united all of us,\" said Deofilo de Freitas, waiting in the queue. He was the first one in the line on Monday but wanted another chance to see his idol before he was laid to rest. \"Not only was he the best player in the world, he was a marvellous human being.\" BBC</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 02:43:57', '2023-01-04 02:43:57'),
(4206, 4206, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A Missouri inmate was put to death Tuesday for a 2003 killing, becoming what is believed to be the first transgender woman executed in the U.S.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Amber McLaughlin, 49, was convicted of stalking and killing a former girlfriend, then dumping the body near the Mississippi River in St. Louis. McLaughlin’s fate was sealed earlier Tuesday when Republican Gov. Mike Parson declined a clemency request.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">McLaughlin spoke quietly with a spiritual adviser at her side as the fatal dose of pentobarbital was injected. McLaughlin breathed heavily a couple of times, then shut her eyes. She was pronounced dead a few minutes later.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“I am sorry for what I did,” McLaughlin said in a final, written, statement. “I am a loving and caring person.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A database on the website for the anti-execution Death Penalty Information Center shows that 1,558 people have been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in the mid-1970s. All but 17 of those put to death were men. The center said there are no known previous cases of an openly transgender inmate being executed. McLaughlin began transitioning about three years ago at the state prison in Potosi.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The clemency petition cited McLaughlin’s traumatic childhood and mental health issues, which the jury never heard during her trial. A foster parent rubbed feces in her face when she was a toddler and her adoptive father used a stun gun on her, according to the petition. It cited severe depression that resulted in multiple suicide attempts, both as a child and as an adult.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The petition also included reports citing a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, a condition that causes anguish and other symptoms as a result of a disparity between a person’s gender identity and their assigned sex at birth. But McLaughlin’s sexual identity was “not the main focus” of the clemency request, her attorney, Larry Komp, said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 2003, long before transitioning, McLaughlin was in a relationship with Beverly Guenther. After they stopped dating, McLaughlin would show up at the suburban St. Louis office where the 45-year-old Guenther worked, sometimes hiding inside the building, according to court records. Guenther obtained a restraining order, and police officers occasionally escorted her to her car after work.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Guenther’s neighbors called police the night of Nov. 20, 2003, when she failed to return home. Officers went to the office building, where they found a broken knife handle near her car and a trail of blood. A day later, McLaughlin led police to a location near the Mississippi River in St. Louis, where the body had been dumped. Authorities said she had been raped and stabbed repeatedly with a steak knife.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">McLaughlin was convicted of first-degree murder in 2006. A judge sentenced McLaughlin to death after a jury deadlocked on the sentence. Komp said Missouri and Indiana are the only states that allow a judge to sentence someone to death.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A court in 2016 ordered a new sentencing hearing, but a federal appeals court panel reinstated the death penalty in 2021.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“McLaughlin terrorized Ms. Guenther in the final years of her life, but we hope her family and loved ones may finally have some peace,” Parson said in a written statement after the execution.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">McLaughlin began transitioning about three years ago, according to Jessica Hicklin, who spent 26 years in prison for a drug-related killing before being released a year ago. Hicklin, now 43, sued the Missouri Department of Corrections, challenging a policy that prohibited hormone therapy for inmates who weren’t receiving it before being incarcerated. She won the lawsuit in 2018 and became a mentor to other transgender inmates, including McLaughlin. McLaughlin did not receive hormone treatments, however, Komp said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hicklin described McLaughlin as a painfully shy person who came out of her shell after she decided to transition.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“She always had a smile and a dad joke,” Hicklin said. “If you ever talked to her, it was always with the dad jokes.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Bureau of Justice Statistics has estimated there are 3,200 transgender inmates in the nation’s prisons and jails. Perhaps the best-known case of a transgender prisoner seeking treatment was that of Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who served seven years in federal prison for leaking government documents to Wikileaks until President Barack Obama commuted the sentence in 2017. The Army agreed to pay for hormone treatments for Manning in 2015.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice wrote in a court filing that state prison officials must treat an inmate’s gender identity condition just as they would treat other medical or mental health conditions, regardless of when the diagnosis occurred.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The only woman ever executed in Missouri was Bonnie B. Heady, put to death on Dec. 18, 1953, for kidnapping and killing a 6-year-old boy. Heady was executed in the gas chamber, side by side with the other kidnapper and killer, Carl Austin Hall.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nationally, 18 people were executed in 2022, including two in Missouri. Kevin Johnson was put to death in November for the ambush killing of a Kirkwood, Missouri, police officer. Carman Deck was executed in May for killing James and Zelma Long during a robbery at their home in De Soto, Missouri.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another Missouri inmate, Leonard Taylor, is scheduled to die Feb. 7 for killing his girlfriend and her three young children. 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, '2023-01-04 03:05:16', '2023-01-04 03:05:16'),
(4207, 4207, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The Chinese government has suggested that travel restrictions imposed by several countries on Chinese arrivals are politically motivated - and has warned that it may retaliate.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The US, India and the UK are among the nations that have introduced mandatory testing for arrivals from China.</div><div><br></div><div>The country has recently seen a surge in Covid cases following the easing of its strict controls.</div><div><br></div><div>And there are fears that cases and deaths are being vastly underreported.</div><div><br></div><div>China\'s last daily Covid update, on 24 December, reported fewer than 5,000 cases - but some analysts claim the daily caseload is already over two million, and could peak at almost four million this month.</div><div><br></div><div>A lack of data - and China\'s announcement that it was easing curbs on travel from 8 January - led to more than a dozen countries announcing Covid testing on arrivals from China.</div><div><br></div><div>The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged China to share more real-time information and a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry on Tuesday said that Beijing was willing to \"improve communication with the world\".</div><div><br></div><div>However, spokeswoman Mao Ning said the government was \"firmly opposed to attempts to manipulate the epidemic prevention and control measures for political purposes, and will take corresponding measures...according to the principle of reciprocity.\"</div><div><br></div><div>China\'s borders have been largely closed since March 2020 - meaning few foreigners were able to enter and those that did had to undergo rigorous testing and quarantine.</div><div><br></div><div>The European Union\'s disease prevention agency and Australia\'s Chief Medical Officer have both argued that high levels of vaccination and immunity reduce the threat that Covid poses.</div><div><br></div><div>But despite that, countries - including in the EU - have imposed testing for Chinese arrivals.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I think we\'re performing our duty in protecting French people by asking for tests,\" France\'s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Tuesday.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We\'re doing it while respecting the rules of the World Health Organization and we will continue to do it.\"</div><div><br></div><div>The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, has said an overwhelming number of member states favour introducing travel restrictions. Some countries have already introduced their own measures but a decision on whether that will be extended to all EU countries is expected on Wednesday.</div><div><br></div><div>The US has also defended its testing requirements, saying that its approach is based \"solely and exclusively on science\".</div><div><br></div><div>It\'s not the first time that Beijing has been at odds with the international community over the virus. It was first detected in Wuhan in central China in late 2019 and the government resisted attempts to investigate the origins.</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile, China has on Tuesday rejected an offer from the European Union to supply an unspecified number of Covid-19 vaccines to help deal with the surge in cases, saying it has an \"adequate supply\".</div><div><br></div><div>Official data shows China has given more than 3.4 billion doses - the vast majority of which are CoronaVac.</div><div><br></div><div>The government has so far insisted in using only Chinese-made vaccines, which have been proven to be less effective than other Western-developed mRNA vaccines against the Omicron variant. BBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"6\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 03:28:41', '2023-01-04 03:28:41'),
(4208, 4208, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka\'s air quality turned in the ‘unhealthy\' zone on Wednesday morning.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 192 at 8:30 am, the metropolis ranked sixth in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be ‘very unhealthy’, 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;\">Sarajevo’s Bosnia Herzegovina and Ghana’s Accra occupied the first two spots with an AQI of 289 and 258, respectively.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, an AQI between 101 and 150 is considered \'unhealthy\', particularly for sensitive groups.</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;\">As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 03:32:06', '2023-01-04 03:32:06'),
(4209, 4209, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Kannada star Kiccha Sudeep has responded to the criticism that Rashmika Mandanna has been facing ever since she said that she had not watched the hit Kannada film Kantara. He has said that a celebrity\'s life is about getting all the garlands, as well as stones.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Asked if she had watched Rishab Shetty\'s Kantara, Rashmika had told media in November that she did not get the time to watch it. However, a section of people went after her alleging that she forgot her roots; Rishab had directed her debut film Kirik Party.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Asked if her statement was blown out of proportion, Sudeep told IndiaGlitz Telugu in a new interview, “It is what it is. How can you change the world? If you go 15-20 years back, there were news channels interviewing us and all that was pretty new at the time. But if you go to Dr Rajkumar sir’s time, nothing was there except Doordarshan and papers.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He added, \"So, how can you say they were better because now suddenly media is there? It’s wrong (to say that) because of media news everything is going wrong. We should learn to handle it. We should always move on. And once you’re a public figure, there will always be garlands; there will always be eggs, tomatoes and stones also coming at you.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rashmika has not responded to the criticism directly but soon after the chaos, she posted a long note on Instagram about handling negativity. \"A couple of things have been troubling me these last few days or weeks or months or maybe even years now and I think it’s time I address it. I am only speaking for myself – something I should have done years ago. I have been on the receiving end of a lot of hate ever since I started my career. Quite literally a punching bag for a lot of trolls and negativity out there,” she wrote.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“I know that the life I’ve chosen comes with a price – I understand that I’m not everyone’s cup of tea and certainly don’t expect to be loved by every single person out there. That doesn’t mean because you don’t approve of me you can spew negativity instead. Only I know the kind of work I put in, day in and day out to make you all happy. The happiness you feel from the work I put out is what I care about most. I really am trying the best I can to put out things that both you and I are proud of,” she added. 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, '2023-01-04 04:07:59', '2023-01-04 04:07:59'),
(4210, 4210, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland got a formal welcome into the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, taking the two-year seats they won unopposed in June.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a tradition that Kazakhstan started in 2018, the five countries’ ambassadors installed their national flags Tuesday alongside those of other members outside the council chambers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mozambican Ambassador Pedro Comissário Afonso of Mozambique called it “a historic date” and Swiss Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl said she felt “a deep sense of humility and responsibility” as their countries marked their first-ever terms on U.N.’s most powerful body. Malta joined for a second time, Ecuador a fourth and Japan a record 12th.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are permanent, veto-wielding members of the group. Its 10 other members are elected by the 193-nation General Assembly for staggered, two-year terms. They’re allocated by global regions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">To many countries, winning a council seat is considered a signature diplomatic accomplishment that can raise a nation’s global profile and afford small countries a bigger voice than they might otherwise have in the major international peace and security issues of the day.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The council deploys peacekeeping missions, can approve sanctions and speaks out — sometimes — on conflicts and flashpoints, while also surveying such thematic issues as terrorism and arms control. While many matters are perennials on the agenda, council members also can use the platform to spotlight emerging concerns or topics of particular interest to them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Countries often campaign for the council for years. Some 60 nations have never had a seat since the group’s formation in 1946.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The five latest members are replacing India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway. Their terms ended Dec. 31.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The other current two-year members are Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and United Arab Emirates. 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, '2023-01-04 04:12:13', '2023-01-04 04:12:13'),
(4211, 4211, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Public anger has been growing for months in Egypt over a severe dollar crunch and soaring food prices. But for many a money-saving tip from a state body has been the last straw.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">As families have struggled to purchase household staples, an Egyptian government agency praised an alternative, cheap protein source -- \"chicken feet, good for the body and the budget\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The advice drew widespread scorn on social media while lawmaker Karim al-Sadat slammed it as \"divorced from the reality of the crisis\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The anger reflects the hardships of many in the Arab world\'s most populous nation, which recently had to ask for a $3 billion loan programme from the International Monetary Fund.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"The bread I used to buy for one Egyptian pound now costs three,\" said Rehab, 34, at a Cairo bakery, asking not to be named in full.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"My husband makes 6,000 pounds ($242) a month, which used to last us all month but now runs out in 10 days.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">In a country heavily reliant on food imports, prices have also shot up for staples such as cooking oil and legumes, putting the financial squeeze on many of Egypt\'s 104 million people.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Rationing signs in big supermarkets now warn customers they can each purchase only three bags of rice, two bottles of milk and one bottle of oil.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Reda, a 55-year-old civil servant and hospital janitor who provides for her family of 13, said frozen meat had more than doubled in price and is \"no longer an option\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"Even with two salaries, there\'s a lot I just can\'t buy anymore.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">- Scramble for dollars -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Egypt\'s economy was hit hard after Russia\'s invasion of Ukraine last February unsettled global investors and led them to pull billions out of the North African country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The war sent wheat prices spiralling, heavily impacting Egypt, one of the world\'s largest grain importers, and piling pressure on its foreign currency reserves.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">With costs driven up further by soaring global energy prices, official inflation topped 18 percent in November.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The central bank twice devalued the pound last year as the foreign currency crunch saw imported goods worth billions held up at its ports.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Amid the crisis, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi\'s government has been looking for foreign currency where it can.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Starting this month, tourists will have to pay for train tickets in dollars, said Transport Minister Kamel al-Wazir.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Many banks have limited foreign currency withdrawals and tripled credit card charges.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Even the pro-government TV talk show host Amr Adib voiced fury when he urged banks to allow Egyptians abroad to at least \"withdraw enough money to take a taxi to the airport so they can come home\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">- Suez Canal fund -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Egypt has in the past decade tripled its foreign debt to $157 billion. It has $33.5 billion in foreign reserves, of which $28 billion are deposits from its wealthy Gulf allies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The IMF loan programme, worth $3 billion over 46 months, is a drop in the bucket for Cairo whose debt service in 2022-2023 alone amounts to $42 billion.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Ratings agency Moody\'s ranks Egypt as one of the five countries most at risk of defaulting on its foreign debt.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Egypt\'s economy has long been dominated by powerful state and military-led enterprises.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"The Egyptian military, on whose support President Sisi is dependent, is the main beneficiary of the debt policy,\" said Stephan Roll of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">External debt has helped \"to finance major projects in which they could earn significant money, namely large development projects entrusted to military engineers,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">As such, Roll said, Egypt\'s foreign debt policy has served to \"consolidate the authoritarian regime\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Under IMF pressure, Egypt is now seeking to make headway on some long-delayed privatisation schemes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">A recent move to create a sovereign fund tied to the Suez Canal raised public fears that Egypt would lose sovereignty over the waterway, a major source of national pride.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Authorities were quick to reassure Egyptians that the canal is \"not for sale,\" while a fund overseen by Sisi himself aims to leverage the canal\'s revenues to draw in foreign investment.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"When it comes to money, stay out of it,\" Sisi said recently. \"I know how to handle it.\" 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, '2023-01-04 04:47:22', '2023-01-04 04:47:22'),
(4212, 4212, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">US President Joe Biden will host Japan\'s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on January 13, the White House announced Tuesday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"President Biden looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan to the White House on Friday, January 13th to further deepen ties between our governments, economies, and our people,\" the White House said in a statement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The two leaders will talk about ways to address climate change as well as discuss security issues around North Korea, China and Russia\'s invasion of Ukraine, the statement added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Biden will renew his support for Japan\'s presidency of the G7 and its mandate as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, the White House said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kishida warned last summer at a summit with Biden in Japan that China\'s ambition to take back the island of Taiwan could flare into a new conflict. \"Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow,\" the Japanese leader said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last month, Japan\'s government approved a major defense policy overhaul, including a significant spending hike, as it warned China poses the \"greatest strategic challenge ever\" to its security.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In its largest defense shake-up in decades, Japan vowed to increase security spending to two percent of GDP by 2027, reshape its military command, and acquire new missiles that can strike far-flung enemy launch sites. 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, '2023-01-04 04:51:15', '2023-01-04 04:51:15'),
(4213, 4213, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ferry services on the Daulatdia-Paturia route resumed this morning after more than six hours of disruption caused thick fog.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Mohiuddin Russel, Manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) Aricha sector, said ferry services on the Daulatdia-Paturia route were suspended at 3 am due to poor visibility caused by the dense fog.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two ferries were stuck in the middle of the river while twelve others were stranded on both sides of it, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Over 200 small and large vehicles were seen waiting on both sides to cross the river, causing immense suffering for the passengers amidst cold.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ferry services on the route resumed at 9 am when the fog started to clear, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, ferry services on the Aricha-Kazirhat route were suspended at 2:15 am.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Five ferries were stranded on both sides, said an official, adding that the services will resume once visibility improves. 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, '2023-01-04 05:27:42', '2023-01-04 13:02:38'),
(4214, 4214, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Cristiano Ronaldo described himself as a \"unique player\" and insisted his career was not over as he received a thunderous welcome at his new club in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Portuguese superstar, 37, said he had done all he could in Europe and was hungry for a new challenge as he was greeted by fireworks and deafening roars at Al Nassr\'s Mrsool Park stadium.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The five-time Ballon d\'Or winner, with five Champions League titles to his name, signed for an estimated 200 million euros to June 2025 not long after his acrimonious split with Manchester United.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It\'s not the end of my career to come to Saudi Arabia. This is why I change and, to be honest, I\'m really not worried about what people say,\" Ronaldo said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"In Europe my work is done... I had many offers in Europe, many in Brazil, Australia, the US, even in Portugal,\" he added. \"Many clubs tried to sign me but I gave my word to this club.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The packed, 25,000-capacity stadium erupted when Ronaldo, dressed in Al Nassr\'s yellow and blue kit, walked on the pitch, saluting the crowd as fireworks and floodlights flashed around him.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez, wearing the traditional black abaya or all-covering robe worn by most Saudi women, followed at a distance along with Ronaldo\'s children.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I\'m a unique player. It\'s good to come here, I broke all the records there (in Europe) and I want to break a few records here,\" Ronaldo said earlier.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I\'m coming here to win, to play, to enjoy, to be part of the success of the country and culture of the country,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ronaldo joins the nine-time Saudi champions just weeks after his departure from United following a TV interview where he slammed the club and coach Erik ten Hag.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- \'Sportswashing\' -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Al Nassr, the nine-time Saudi league champions, represent a significant drop in standard for the Portuguese forward who spearheaded title-laden campaigns with United, Real Madrid and Juventus.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Oil-rich monarchy Saudi Arabia, which has been snapping up sports assets as part of a drive to soften its austere image, is often accused of \"sportswashing\", or using sport to distract attention from human rights controversies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ronaldo arrives just weeks after the World Cup in neighbouring Qatar, and as Saudi Arabia considers a joint Asia-Africa-Europe bid to host football\'s biggest tournament with Egypt and Greece.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Well before his arrival, supporters carrying yellow \"Ronaldo 7\" flags and blue-and-yellow Al Nassr scarves turned up at the stadium, some of them looking for tickets.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Adam Seddik, an Al Ittihad fan from Jeddah, said he drove 900 kilometres (560 miles) to Riyadh to witness the spectacle.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"His presence will elevate the Saudi league value and its viewership,\" said Seddik.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"He is the greatest player in the world.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Excitement is at fever-pitch over the arrival of Ronaldo, the highest-profile player to come to Saudi Arabia, the Gulf or any country in the Asian confederation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fans queued down the street to buy Ronaldo\'s Al Nassr shirt with his trademark number seven, and Al Nassr\'s Instagram page gained millions of new followers after his signing was made public.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ronaldo\'s signing comes against the backdrop of a Saudi push into sports including golf, boxing, tennis and F1 as well as football, following the takeover of English Premier League club Newcastle United last year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Saudi Arabia, led by de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- Ronaldo\'s contemporary at 37 -- will host upcoming editions of the Asian Games and Asian Winter Games, as well as football\'s men\'s and women\'s Asian Cups. 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, '2023-01-04 05:45:00', '2023-01-04 05:45:00'),
(4215, 4215, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Moderate to severe cold conditions are likely to continue in north, north-western and central parts of the country due to lower difference between day and night temperatures, Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) has said.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the Met office regular bulletin, “Moderate to thick fog may occur over the country during midnight till morning and it may continue till noon at places.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Met office made the forecast at 9 am today for the next 24 hours.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Weather may remain dry with partly cloudy sky over the country while night and day temperatures may remain nearly unchanged over the country, it said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The lowest temperature in the country was recorded in Srimangal, at 9 degree Celsius.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, ridge of Sub-continental high extends up to West Bengal and adjoining area of Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Seasonal low lies over South Bay, extending its trough to North Bay. 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, '2023-01-04 06:18:41', '2023-01-04 06:18:41');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4216, 4216, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Voting to Gaibandha-5 (Saghata-Fulchhari upazila) constituency by-polls began at 8 am today amid tight security as the polling will continue till 4 pm without any break.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A public holiday has been announced in the constituency to enable the voters to exercise their rights to franchise, officials said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 3, 39, 743 voters will cast their votes at 952 booths of 145 centres in all the 17 unions of the upazilas to elect Member of Parliament from the constituency, they said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Deputy Commissioner Oliur Rahman visited some polling centers in the morning to see the polling atmosphere.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During his visit, the voters expressed satisfaction over the polling atmosphere in the centers, saying they are exercising their rights to franchise peacefully.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel along with other law enforcers are patrolling the roads and important places of the constituencies so the voters can cast their votes without any difficulties, said police super Md. Kamal Hossain.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As many as 17 executive magistrates and two judicial magistrates are on duty to hold the by-polls peacefully said, additional district magistrate Jahid Hasan Siddiquee.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mobile and summary courts are also tasked with instantly trying the law violators during the polling, he also said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A number of voters were seen to go to the polling centres to cast their votes with festive mood.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Five candidates are contesting the election race, district election officer said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The candidates are Mahmud Hasan Ripon (Awami League), Zahangir Hossain (Bikolpo Dhara), Nahiduzzaman Nishat (Independent), Syed Mahbubur Rahman (Independent), and Golam Shaheed Ranzu (Jatiya Party).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But, a few days back, independent candidate Nahiduzzaman Nishat at a press conference in Bogura Press Club had announced to withdraw himself from the election race.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The constituency fell vacant due to the death of veteran parliamentarian and deputy speaker of the Jatiya Sangshad Adv. Fazle Rabbi Miah.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Then, on August 24, the election commission announced the by-polls to be held on October 12.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the election schedule, the polling started on October 12, but after noon, due to some irregularities the voting was suspended.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> Later, the election commission rescheduled the by-elections for January 4. 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, '2023-01-04 06:25:10', '2023-01-04 07:11:43'),
(4217, 4217, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Voting in the by-election for Gaibandha-5 constituency, which was suspended due to irregularities, is underway with participation of voters in a festive mood.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Voting started at 8 am and will continue till 4:30 pm. No untoward incident was reported till the filing of this report around 10 am.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">People were seen standing in long queues since morning, ignoring the cold.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The presence of female voters is comparatively higher than their male counterparts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 3,39,743 people are expected to exercise their franchise in 145 polling centres. Of them, 1,70,160 are females and 1,69,583 are male.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">District Election Officer and Returning officer Abdul Motaleb said that of the 145 polling centres, 72 are consider \"important\" while 32 are counted as \"most important\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">All preparations have been taken to hold a smooth, free and fair election, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Elections will be monitored through CCTV cameras as done before.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rab, police, BGB and Ansar members will remain deployed to hold the election peacefully, said Motaleb.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The candidates of the Gaibandha-5 by-election are: Awami League candidate Mahmud Hasan Ripon, Jatiya Party candidate AHM Golam Shaheed Ranju, Bikalpa Dhara candidate Advocate Jahangir Alam and independent candidate Syed Mahbubur Rahman.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The constituency consists of Saghata and Phulchhari upazilas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On October 12 last year, the Election Commission (EC) suspended the by-election due to “rampant irregularities” on the election day and later the commission fixed January 4 for holding the polls.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Following the death of Gaibandha-5 lawmaker and Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Fazle Rabbi Miah on July 22, 2022, it became a constitutional obligation to hold election for the parliamentary seat by October 20, 2022. Accordingly it was scheduled for October 12.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A three-member committee was formed to look into the election irregularities on October 12 last year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Following the recommendations of the committee, the Election Commission took punitive actions against 133 officials including an additional deputy commissioner, five sub-inspectors and returning officer of the election. 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, '2023-01-04 07:10:46', '2023-01-04 07:10:46'),
(4218, 4218, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A petition has been filed with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking stay on the High Court order granting bail to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas, in a case over the clash between police and the party activists in Dhaka\'s Nayapaltan on December 7 last year.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Additional Attorney General SM Munir said the government filed the petition with the Appellate Division bench concerned this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division will hear the petition after 2 pm.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, on Tuesday, the High Court granted six months\' bail to Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Mirza Abbas, in the case. The HC bench of Justice Md Selim and Justice Md Riaz Uddin granted the bail.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The court also issued a rule asking the government to explain why the two BNP leaders should not be granted permanent bail.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On December 21, Dhaka Metropolitan Session Judge Asaduzzaman rejected the BNP leaders’ bail petitions for the fourth time.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On December 9, a team of Detective Branch (DB) of police picked up Fakhrul and Abbas from their homes in separate raids in the capital.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, they were shown arrested in a case over the clash between police and the party activists in the capital’s Nayapaltan. A Dhaka court sent them to jail rejecting their bail pleas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On December 12, a Dhaka court rejected the bail petitions of 224 leaders and activists of BNP, including Fakhrul and Abbas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On December 15, the bail petitions of the two BNP leaders were rejected again.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A Dhaka court ordered to give division facility to them on December 9 and then they were given the division facility from December 13.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They were accused of instigating, planning, and directing an attack on police.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On December 7, a Swechchasebak Dal leader was killed and around 50 others were injured in a clash between police and the BNP activists in front of the party’s Nayapaltan central office, ahead of its December 10 rally.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police filed four cases at Ramna, Shahjahanpur, Motijheel and Paltan police stations against 720 BNP activists and over 2400 unnamed people in connection with the clash with BNP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of the BNP men, 450 were accused in the case filed at Nayapaltan police station, 20 in a case filed at Motijheel police station and seven in a case filed at Shahjahanpur police station. 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, '2023-01-04 07:27:17', '2023-01-04 07:27:17'),
(4219, 4219, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the next election will he held as per the constitution of the country and her government is ready to welcome election observers.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The next election will be held as per the constitution,” she said while four MPs of the British All-Party Parliamentary Group called on her at her office.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The MPs are- Rushanara Ali, Jonathan Reynolds Mohammed Yasin and Tom Hunt.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed the reporters after the call on.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He quoted the PM as telling the delegation that the Election Commission in the country is very much independent.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We follow your Westminster type of democracy. We do not have any problem if election observers come,\" she was quoted as saying.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said that Awami League as a political party has its long tradition of fighting for the restoration of  democracy from the clutches of military rulers in the past. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said that the military rulers used to grab the state power using guns and then got into politics after forming political parties. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hasina urged the British MPs to take initiative to stop Russia-Ukraine war. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said that as a result of sanctions and counter sanctions countries like Bangladesh have been suffering in many ways. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said that foodgrains, essentials and edible oils used to come from Ukraine. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“But due to the war import of these items is being hindered resulting in price hike of these items,\" said the premier.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She urged the UK entrepreneurs to make investment in the 100 economic zones across the country. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We will welcome the UK investment  there,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The British MPs expressed their satisfaction over the unprecedented infrastructural development of Bangladesh. They praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for this development, according to the press secretary.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Specially they highly appreciated the development in the connectivity including Metro Rail, Padma Bridge and Bangabandhu Tunnel,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The MPs think that these infrastructures will be very helpful for the development of Bangladesh, he said </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Terming Britain as the development partner of Bangladesh they said that their country wants to work with Bangladesh for its development. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They said that Bangladeshi diaspora in the UK is very much hard working, and they are  contributing to the British economy. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They also said that the UK will work with Bangladesh on climate change issue.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They also discussed about the next general elections in Bangladesh, Ihsanul added. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The PM appreciated British support to Bangladesh in climate change issues.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said that the government is serious about the climate change problem and it has started the adaptation and mitigation progammres with its own resources. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had started the process initially with tree plantation along the coastal belt and construction of multipurpose cyclone sheltera by training 75,000 volunteers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hasina expressed her gratitude to the late Queen Elizabeth II saying that she always gave special attention to Bangladesh as guardian of the commonwealth nations. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also conveyed her regards to the British PM Rishi Sunak.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ambassador-at-Large M Ziauddin, Principal Secretary M. Tofazzel Hossain Miah and British High Commissioner Robert Chatterton Dickson 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, '2023-01-04 08:08:13', '2023-01-04 08:08:31'),
(4220, 4220, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Myanmar\'s military government will release 7,012 prisoners under an amnesty to mark the country\'s independence day, state broadcaster MRTV reported on Wednesday, as the junta chief praised some countries for maintaining support for his nation.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The Southeast Asian country has faced international isolation and Western-led sanctions since the military seized power from a democratically elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi nearly two years ago.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I want to say thank you to some international and regional countries and organisations and individuals who positively cooperated with us... in the midst of all the pressure, criticisms and attacks,\" Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech to mark Myanmar\'s 75th independence day.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We are closely working with neighbouring countries such as China, India, Thailand, Laos and Bangladesh. We will work together for border stability and development,\" Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech at a parade in the capital Naypyitaw, complete with flag-waving civil servants, marching soldiers, tanks and a flypast by military jets.</div><div><br></div><div>Myanmar has been in chaos since the army took power from Suu Kyi\'s government on Feb 1, 2021, detaining her and other officials and responding to pro-democracy protests and dissent with brutal force, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.</div><div><br></div><div>While street protests are now rare after bloody crackdowns, the military is involved in almost daily clashes with minority ethnic forces and insecurity has spread to swathes of the country as members of a so-called People\'s Defence Force have taken up arms to fight for a return to democracy.</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile, Suu Kyi was recently convicted of five counts of corruption and jailed for seven more years, wrapping up a marathon of trials condemned internationally as a sham designed to keep the junta\'s biggest threat at bay amid widespread domestic resistance to its rule.</div><div><br></div><div>Suu Kyi is being held in a jail in Naypyitaw in solitary confinement and the military insist she has received due process by an independent court.</div><div><br></div><div>Authorities typically release some prisoners to mark the day when Myanmar declared independence from British rule.</div><div><br></div><div>MRTV said the latest amnesty would not include those convicted of murder and rape, or jailed for charges related to explosives, unlawful association, weapons, drugs, natural disaster management and corruption.</div><div><br></div><div>It was not immediately clear if any political detainees would be freed.</div><div><br></div><div>The United States, the European Union and countries such as Britain and Canada, have imposed sanctions on Myanmar\'s military and individuals deemed to have helped the junta come to power.</div><div><br></div><div>In a further rebuke, the UN Security Council last month adopted its first resolution on Myanmar in 74 years, demanding an end to violence and for the junta to free all political detainees.</div><div><br></div><div>Referring to international pressure, Min Aung Hlaing hit out at what he said were \"disruptions from countries and organizations who want to intervene in Myanmar\'s internal affairs.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Still, the junta has maintained some international support. The UN Security Council remains split over how to deal with the Myanmar crisis, with China and Russia arguing against strong action. They also abstained from last month\'s vote on a resolution, along with India.</div><div><br></div><div>Thailand also hosted regional talks last month to discuss the crisis, including rare international appearances by junta ministers, even as several key members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, vocal in their criticism of the junta, did not attend.</div><div><br></div><div>ASEAN is leading diplomatic peace efforts and Myanmar\'s generals have been barred from the bloc\'s high-profile gatherings for failing to honour promises to start talks with opponents linked to Suu Kyi\'s ousted government. - Reuters&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 09:52:59', '2023-01-04 09:52:59'),
(4221, 4221, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A petition has been filed with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking stay on the High Court order granting bail to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas, in a case over the clash between police and the party activists in Dhaka\'s Nayapaltan on December 7 last year.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Additional Attorney General SM Munir said the government filed the petition with the Appellate Division bench concerned this morning.</div><div><br></div><div>The Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division will hear the petition after 2 pm.</div><div>Earlier, on Tuesday, the High Court granted six months\' bail to Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Mirza Abbas, in the case. The HC bench of Justice Md Selim and Justice Md Riaz Uddin granted the bail.</div><div><br></div><div>The court also issued a rule asking the government to explain why the two BNP leaders should not be granted permanent bail.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 21, Dhaka Metropolitan Session Judge Asaduzzaman rejected the BNP leaders’ bail petitions for the fourth time.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 9, a team of Detective Branch (DB) of police picked up Fakhrul and Abbas from their homes in separate raids in the capital.</div><div><br></div><div>Later, they were shown arrested in a case over the clash between police and the party activists in the capital’s Nayapaltan. A Dhaka court sent them to jail rejecting their bail pleas.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 12, a Dhaka court rejected the bail petitions of 224 leaders and activists of BNP, including Fakhrul and Abbas.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 15, the bail petitions of the two BNP leaders were rejected again.</div><div><br></div><div>A Dhaka court ordered to give division facility to them on December 9 and then they were given the division facility from December 13.</div><div><br></div><div>They were accused of instigating, planning, and directing an attack on police.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 7, a Swechchasebak Dal leader was killed and around 50 others were injured in a clash between police and the BNP activists in front of the party’s Nayapaltan central office, ahead of its December 10 rally.</div><div><br></div><div>Police filed four cases at Ramna, Shahjahanpur, Motijheel and Paltan police stations against 720 BNP activists and over 2400 unnamed people in connection with the clash with BNP, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand. of the BNP men, 450 were accused in the case filed at Nayapaltan police station, 20 in a case filed at Motijheel police station and seven in a case filed at Shahjahanpur police station.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 10:03:45', '2023-01-04 10:03:45'),
(4222, 4222, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the next election will be held as per country\'s constitution while four MPs of the British All-Party Parliamentary Group called on her.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"The next election will be held as per the constitution,\" Prime Minister\'s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim quoted the premier as saying while briefing reporters after the call on at Prime Minister\'s Office (PMO).</div><div><br></div><div> Four British MPs are - Rushanara Ali, Jonathan Reynolds, Mohammed Yasin and Tom Hunt.</div><div><br></div><div>According to the press secretary, the prime minister said the Election Commission of Bangladesh is very much independent.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We follow your Westminster type of democracy. We don\'t have any problem if election observer comes,\" she told the British MPs.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina mentioned that Awami League (AL), as a political party, has a long tradition of fighting for the restoration of the democracy from the military rulers in the past.</div><div><br></div><div>She said the military rulers used to grab the state power using guns and then descended to politics after forming political parties.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina urged the British MPs to take initiative to stop Russia-Ukraine war, saying that as a result of sanction and counter sanction, countries like Bangladesh are suffering in many ways.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that foodgrains, essentials and edible oils used to come from Ukraine. \"But due to the war, importing of those items are being hindered resulting in its price hike,\" she added.</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister urged the UK entrepreneurs to come up with the investment in the 100 economic zones in Bangladesh.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We will welcome the UK investment there,\" she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The British MPs expressed their satisfaction over the unprecedented infrastructural development of Bangladesh as they praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for this development.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Especially, they highly appreciated the development of the connectivity including construction of Metro Rail, Padma Bridge and Bangabandhu Tunnel,\" the press secretary said.</div><div><br></div><div>The British parliament members think that these infrastructures will be very helpful for the development of Bangladesh.</div><div><br></div><div>Terming Britain as the development partner of Bangladesh, they said Britain wanted to work with Bangladesh for its development.</div><div><br></div><div>They mentioned that Bangladeshi diaspora in the UK is very much hard-working, and they are contributing to the British economy.</div><div><br></div><div>The British lawmakers also said that the UK will work with Bangladesh on climate change issue.</div><div><br></div><div>They also discussed the next general elections in Bangladesh, Ihsanul Karim added.</div><div><br></div><div>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appreciated British support to Bangladesh in climate change issue.</div><div><br></div><div>She said the government is serious about the climate change issue and it has started taking adaptation and mitigation programmes with its own resources.</div><div><br></div><div>She, in this regard, said that Bangabandhu had started the process initially by tree plantation in the coastal belt areas and construction of multipurpose cyclone shelter with providing training to 75,000 volunteers.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina expressed her gratitude to the Queen Elizabeth II saying that she always gave special attention to Bangladesh as a guardian of the commonwealth nations.</div><div><br></div><div>She also conveyed her regards to the British prime minister.</div><div><br></div><div>Ambassador-at-Large M Ziauddin, PM\'s Principal Secretary M Tofazzel Hossain Miah and British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Chatterton Dickson were present, reports BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 11:05:50', '2023-01-04 11:40:17'),
(4223, 4223, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Delhi\'s minimum temperature on Wednesday morning plunged to 4.4 degrees Celsius - the season\'s lowest -- making the national capital colder than Dharamsala, Nainital and Dehradun.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>A dense layer of fog lowered visibility to 200 metres, affecting the movement of road and rail traffic. At least 19 trains to Delhi were delayed by one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half hours due to the foggy weather, a Railways spokesperson said.</div><div><br></div><div>The India Meteorological Department (IMD) shared satellite images that showed a thick layer of fog over the Indo-Gangetic plains and adjoining central and eastern parts of the country.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Fog/low cloud layer persists over north and central parts of India, covering large parts of the country and causing \'cold day\' to \'severe cold day\'. (A) cold wave (was) recorded over isolated pockets of Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan,\" an IMD official said.</div><div><br></div><div>The Palam observatory at the Indira Gandhi International Airport logged a visibility level of 200 metres at 5.30 am.</div><div><br></div><div>According to the weather office, \'very dense\' fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, 51 and 200 metres is \'dense\', 201 and 500 metres \'moderate\', and 501 and 1,000 metres \'shallow\'.</div><div><br></div><div>With frosty winds from the snow-clad Himalayas barrelling through the plains, the Safdarjung observatory, Delhi\'s primary weather station, saw the minimum temperature plummet to 4.4 degrees Celsius from 8.5 degrees a day ago.</div><div><br></div><div>Delhi\'s minimum temperature was lower than that of Dharamsala (5.2 degrees), Nainital (6 degrees) and Dehradun (4.5 degrees).</div><div><br></div><div>The Delhi Ridge weather station near Delhi University recorded a cold wave with a minimum temperature of 3.3 degrees Celsius, the lowest in the capital on Wednesday.</div><div>Coldwave conditions are predicted in the national capital during the next three days and the mercury may drop to 4 degrees, the IMD has forecast.</div><div><br></div><div>The cold snap is expected to strain power grids and pose challenges to homeless people.\'Cold day\' conditions had gripped Delhi on Tuesday with the maximum temperature dropping five degrees below normal at many places in the national capital, including Lodhi Road, Palam, Jafarpur and Mayur Vihar.</div><div><br></div><div>A cold day is when the minimum temperature is less than or equal to 10 degrees Celsius below the normal and the maximum temperature is at least 4.5 degrees Celsius below the normal. A severe cold day is when the maximum is 6.5 degrees Celsius or more below the normal.</div><div><br></div><div>The IMD has predicted dense to very dense fog and cold day conditions over northwest India during the next four to five days.</div><div><br></div><div>Coldwave conditions are likely to continue over northwest India during the next two days and the intensity will decrease thereafter, it said.</div><div><br></div><div>In the plains, the Met office declares a cold wave if the minimum temperature dips to four degrees Celsius or when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below and is 4.5 notches below normal.</div><div><br></div><div>A severe cold wave is when the minimum temperature dips to two degrees Celsius or the departure from the normal is more than 6.4 degrees Celsius. Source: zeenews.india.com&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 11:30:16', '2023-01-04 11:30:16'),
(4225, 4225, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today asked the police officials to remain alert against recurrence of arson-terrorism and ill-attempt to hinder country\'s economic progress.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"Remain alert so none can impede the economic development of Bangladesh, none can dare to do arson-terrorism again and none can interrupt the security of people\'s life,\" she said.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The premier said this while addressing the high officials of Bangladesh Police at the Prime Minister\'s Office (PMO) here on the occasion of Police Week-2023.</div><div><br></div><div>She said it\'s alright that anyone will stage agitation and movement, but it will have to be done with people\'s participation.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>\"If any destructive activity is perpetrated there, appropriate measures have to be taken,\" she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina said today\'s achievement of Bangladesh didn\'t come in any way, rather the government has done it.</div><div><br></div><div>\"This development of the country didn\'t come in any way, we have to give labour, have to do work and have to formulate plan for it,\" she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She also said the government has brought a massive change in Bangladesh as the outcome of its development activities.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister said, \"In Bangladesh, we not only tell it, rather the entire world acknowledge it (development of the country).\"</div><div><br></div><div>She said they have kept rolling the economic wheel of Bangladesh and done it very successfully facing Covid-19 and war (Ukraine-Russia) as well as maintaining economic policy strictly.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>With many others, Bangladesh Police also has huge contribution to this development, she said, adding that, \"So, none can disrupt this progress.\"&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Public Security Division Senior Secretary Md. Aminul Islam Khan also spoke.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun delivered the welcome address, while Additional IGP Kamrul Hasan gave the vote of thanks.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier also heard some high police officials.</div><div><br></div><div>A documentary on Bangladesh Police was screened. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 11:38:18', '2023-01-04 11:38:18'),
(4226, 4226, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Natural remedies can be helpful when it comes to not feeling cold in winter. While not as severe as the flu, coming down with a cold can make basic day-to-day activities more challenging.&nbsp;</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>☼ Practice prevention</div><div><br></div><div>One of the best ways to manage a cold is to avoid getting sick in the first place. While it’s impossible to avoid ever catching a cold, there are a few things you can do to minimize your risk, like</div><div><br></div><div>Protect your immune system by staying healthy. Exercise regularly.&nbsp;</div><div>Eat healthy foods - especially dark green leafy vegetables. And take good care of your mental health.</div><div><br></div><div>Wash your hands with soap and water.</div><div>Avoid touching your face. Cold viruses can live on your hands for up to 24 hours and they can enter your body through your nose, mouth, and eyes.</div><div>Stay away from people who are sick.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>☼. Stay hydrated</div><div><br></div><div>Proper hydration can help your body fight infection. To ensure you’re staying hydrated, try to:</div><div><br></div><div>Drink lots of fluids. This can include water, decaffeinated tea, juice (but skip anything with too much sugar), and soup.</div><div><br></div><div>Avoid beverages that dehydrate you - like sodas, alcohol, or coffee.</div><div><br></div><div>☼ Set yourself reminders to drink water.</div><div>Fill up a water bottle in the morning and make sure to sip it throughout the day.</div><div><br></div><div>☼ Get some good rest</div><div><br></div><div>Fighting an illness can take a toll on your body. Giving your body the rest it needs can help your immune system fight off the cold virus. Here are a few ways to let your body naturally heal itself:</div><div><br></div><div>Put the smartphone down. Give your brain a break by setting the device aside.</div><div><br></div><div>Take a nap.</div><div>Read a lighthearted book.</div><div><br></div><div>☼ Ease your sore throat</div><div><br></div><div>A sore throat can be a constant irritation when you have a cold. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to soothe it.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Make your own honey, lemon, and ginger cough drops. There are several recipes available online - find one that works for you.</div><div><br></div><div>Sip warm tea with honey and lemon.</div><div>Gargle with warm saltwater.</div><div><br></div><div>Drink warm, clear broth.</div><div>Enjoy a cold treat like a fresh fruit ice pop.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Reduce congestion</div><div>When mucus builds up in your nasal passages and lungs, it causes congestion and a general feeling of stuffiness.&nbsp; - Thrive</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 12:18:56', '2023-01-04 12:18:56'),
(4227, 4227, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">It was used to build the Great Wall of China and Spain\'s mediaeval Alhambra Palace -- and now earth is back in vogue as a building material.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Climate change has spurred renewed interest in the ancient technique which sees polluting concrete swapped where possible for earth.</div><div><br></div><div>For centuries, mud and clay were an abundantly available way to put a roof over one\'s head, but earth\'s environmental credentials are behind its modern-day resurgence.</div><div><br></div><div>\"A kilo of cement emits a kilo of CO2. Whereas a kilo of earth emits none,\" Xavier Chateau of the Navier Laboratory at the French National Centre for Scientific Research said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"If we could reduce by 25 percent the volume of cement consumed globally it would be equivalent to negating the impact on the climate of all air transport,\" he estimated.</div><div><br></div><div>Known as rammed earth construction, the practice dates at least as far back as the Neolithic era.</div><div><br></div><div>It involves compacting certain soils into a mold, of sorts, to make building blocks or build up whole walls, layer by layer.</div><div><br></div><div>More than two billion people across some 150 countries live in buildings made of earth, according to a 2006 guide on earth building by French authors Hugo Houben and Hubert Guillaud.</div><div><br></div><div>Advocates say it can help reduce reliance on concrete, which accounts for about eight percent of global CO2 emissions.</div><div><br></div><div>Earth also has a high thermal capacity by self-regulating its humidity, is fireproof, non-toxic and can be completely recycled.</div><div><br></div><div>But it has downsides too, not least the cost, given the need to find builders qualified in ancient techniques.</div><div><br></div><div>- \'Earth concrete\' hybrid -</div><div><br></div><div>Confronted with flooding, earth-constructed buildings need protection, as earth also has its weaknesses.</div><div><br></div><div>A four-storey rammed earth building crumpled in France\'s southeastern Rhone region in November, while a house collapsed in the nearby department of Isere on December 22, according to local press reports.</div><div><br></div><div>Often substances such as lime or straw can be added to the earth to stabilise it and bolster its durability.</div><div><br></div><div>French building material firm Saint-Gobain is experimenting with a hybrid system of \"earth concrete\", combining excavated earth from construction sites, steel industry waste and hemp.</div><div><br></div><div>But purists see it as verging on heresy, in a country due to complete a 9,000-seat concert coliseum north of Paris next year using recycled excavated earth.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It\'s not the same material at all,\" complains architect Paul-Emmanuel Loiret, who manages La Fabrique outside Paris where blocks and bricks of compressed earth are made from construction rubble.</div><div><br></div><div>Urging a \"complete and rapid decarbonisation\" of construction, he complained that EU laws \"impose on us materials 10 to 20 times more durable than those which we need.\"</div><div><br></div><div>But, said Chateau: \"In Africa, in Burkina Faso or Malawi, it\'s become a kind of artisanal savoir-faire to stabilise raw earth with cement at the foot of the building to solve the problem of water\" encroachment.</div><div><br></div><div>- \'Huge demand\' -</div><div><br></div><div>Austria has Europe\'s only factory to date making low-energy prefab homes using rammed earth methods.</div><div><br></div><div>The site, in the western village of Schlins on the Liechtenstein border, creates foundations, floors and walls using chalk, clay, chopped straw, lime or gravel.</div><div><br></div><div>A machine pounds the earth which is compacted into a vast casing to produce 40-metre (130-foot) long walls.</div><div><br></div><div>Once dried and cut to size, the blocks are sent off to be assembled.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Given the ecological challenge and the problem of energy, huge demand is emerging for this material,\" said environmentalist, entrepreneur and former potter Martin Rauch, who built the factory.</div><div><br></div><div>Architect Sami Akkach who works with Rauch said they use earth from the surrounding area, building and excavation sites.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It must contain clay, gravel, angular rather than round so it really sticks,\" Akkach said.</div><div><br></div><div>Rauch has several earth-constructed buildings to his name, including his home whose exterior walls include terracotta designed to act as a brake on rain and erosion, a throwback to ancient methods used in Saudi Arabia.</div><div><br></div><div>He says the factory boasts Europe\'s longest earthen wall -- at 67 metres -- and he believes the demand is there for more projects using rammed earth.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The problem is there are not enough artisans and people are still too afraid of this natural material,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>He added that hopefully people will realise that \"earth structures will last for centuries, if they are built correctly.\" - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div><div><br></div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 12:32:04', '2023-01-04 12:32:04'),
(4228, 4228, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The government will import 100,000 metric tons (MT) of rice from the international market.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase, in a meeting with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair, approved two separate proposals in this regard.</div><div><br></div><div>According to one proposal, placed by the Food Ministry, the Directorate General of Food will import 50,000 MT of non-Basmati boiled rice from M/S Bagadiya Brothers Pvt. Ltd., India at a cost of Tk 210.35 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>The supplier was selected through open international tender and each metric ton of rice will cost $393.19 while previous price of similar rice was $443.05.</div><div><br></div><div>Under another proposal of the same ministry, the Directorate General of Food will import the remaining 50,000 MT of non-Basmati boiled rice from M/S Agrocorp International Pte. Ltd, Singapore at a cost of Tk 213.40 crore.</div><div><br></div><div>The supplier was selected through open international tender and each metric ton of rice will cost $397. 03 while the previous price of similar rice was $393.19. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 12:38:53', '2023-01-04 12:38:53'),
(4229, 4229, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Pakistan\'s government has ordered shopping centres and markets to close early every day as the country faces an economic crisis.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Defence minister Khawaja Asif says the measures will save the South Asian nation around 62bn Pakistani rupees ($274.3m; £228.9m).</div><div><br></div><div>Pakistan generates most of its power using imported fossil fuels.</div><div><br></div><div>Global energy prices jumped last year, putting further pressure on the country\'s already dwindling finances.</div><div><br></div><div>To pay for those energy imports the country needs foreign currency, especially US dollars.</div><div><br></div><div>The Pakistan government had $11.7bn of foreign currencies available last month after its reserves fell by about 50% last year. - BBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 12:58:31', '2023-01-04 12:58:31'),
(4230, 4230, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Flight operations at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka were disrupted as thick fog covered the city on Wednesday.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>An international flight has been diverted to Hyderabad in India and operations of seven others were delayed due to heavy fog, Group Captain Kamrul Islam, executive director of the airport, told UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>However, no flight was suspended, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>Flights of seven airlines-- Jazeera Airlines, US Bangla Airlines, Air Arabia Airlines, Fly Dubai Airlines, Qatar Airways, Oman Air and Indigo Airlines—were delayed due to dense fog.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier on Tuesday morning, two international flights carrying passengers from Qatar and Saudi Arabia headed for Dhaka airport made emergency landings at Sylhet Osmani International Airport due to dense fog. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 13:14:56', '2023-01-04 13:14:56'),
(4231, 4231, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Wednesday increased exchange rate of a US dollar by Tk 1 to Tk 100.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Now, those who will buy dollars from the central bank will have to pay Tk100 for each US dollar.</div><div><br></div><div>The central bank increased the dollar price within a month. Earlier, the central bank fixed exchange rate of US dollar at Tk 99 on December 5.</div><div><br></div><div>It says that the price of the dollar has been increased in line with the market price.</div><div><br></div><div>Central bank spokesperson Masbaul Haque told UNB that the dollar price has been increased to match the market price and it is part of regular initiative. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 13:58:37', '2023-01-04 13:58:37'),
(4232, 4232, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Italy brings good news for Bangladesh manpower sector as the country will take 82 thousand day labourers from Bangladesh, according to media reports.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Alfredo Mantovano, secretary of Italian Prime Minister, confirmed the news to media.</div><div><br></div><div>A final gazette might be published in this regard within a few days.</div><div><br></div><div>Expatriates, living in Italy, see the decision issued by the Italian government as a great opportunity.</div><div><br></div><div>The government of the country will take 82,705 workers from various countries within 2023.</div><div><br></div><div>The workers will be taken on the permanent and seasonal basis for developing agriculture, transport, tourism, shipbuilding industry, mechanics and manufacturing sectors.</div><div><br></div><div>A year ago, Italy gave 69 visas under various categories. According to experts, getting visas&nbsp; this year will be more tough than previous due to issuing maximum number of visas.</div><div><br></div><div>Thirty three countries including Bangladesh, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Mishore, El Salvador, Pakistan, India and Tunisia will be given the visas.</div><div><br></div><div>Forty four thousand workers, recently, will get visas under agriculture and temporary jobs while 38, 705 will get under permanent sponsor categories, according to reports.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div><div><br></div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 15:00:10', '2023-01-04 15:00:10');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4233, 4233, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Donald Trump on Wednesday called for far-right Republicans to end their blocking of the party\'s candidate to become US House speaker, after a damaging split prevented Kevin McCarthy from securing the role.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"It\'s now time for all of our great Republican House Members to vote for Kevin, close the deal and take victory,\" Trump posted on social media.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>\"Republicans, do not turn a great triumph into a giant and embarrassing defeat.\" - AP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 16:01:59', '2023-01-04 16:01:59'),
(4234, 4234, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Nineteen people have been killed in twin car bombings in central Somalia claimed by Al-Shabaab, a local militia commander in the Hiran region said.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"Nineteen people, including members of the security forces and civilians, died in the blasts,\" said Mohamed Moalim Adan, a leader of a community militia allied with the government in Mahas, the district where the attacks took place.</div><div><br></div><div>The attack, blamed on Al-Shabab extremist fighters, took place in the Hiran region of central Somalia, where a major offensive was launched last year against the Al-Qaeda-linked group.</div><div><br></div><div>“The terrorists, after having (been) defeated, resorted to desperately targeting civilians, but this will not stop the will of the people to continue defeating them,” said Osman Nur, a police commander in Mahas.</div><div><br></div><div>“They have killed innocent civilians in the explosions,” he added.</div><div>Witnesses said the blasts occurred near a restaurant not far from a district administration building in Mahas.</div><div><br></div><div>“I saw the dead bodies of nine civilians including women and children, this was a horrible attack,” said one witness, Adan Hassan.</div><div><br></div><div>Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has declared “all-out war” against Al-Shabab, which has been waging a bloody insurgency against the fragile internationally-backed federal government for 15 years.</div><div><br></div><div>In July, local clan militias known as “Macawisley” launched a revolt against Al-Shabab in parts of central Somalia, and Mohamud sent in troops in September to support the fight-back.</div><div><br></div><div>In recent months, the army and the militias have retaken swathes of territory in the central states of Galmudug and Hirshabelle (where Hiran is located) in an operation backed by US air strikes and an African Union (AU) force known as ATMIS.</div><div><br></div><div>But the insurgents have frequently retaliated with bloody attacks, underlining their ability to strike at the heart of Somali towns and military installations despite the offensive.</div><div><br></div><div>Although forced out of the country’s main urban centers around 10 years ago, Al-Shabab remains entrenched in vast swathes of rural central and southern Somalia.</div><div><br></div><div>On October 29, 121 people in the capital Mogadishu were killed in two car bomb explosions at the education ministry, in the deadliest attack in the troubled Horn of Africa nation in five years.</div><div><br></div><div>Eight civilians died on November 27 in a 21-hour siege at a hotel in Mogadishu popular with politicians and government officials.</div><div><br></div><div>A triple bombing in October in the city of Beledweyne, the capital of Hiran, left 30 people dead including local officials.</div><div><br></div><div>And at least 21 people were killed in a siege of a Mogadishu hotel in August that lasted 30 hours before security forces were able to overpower the militants inside. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 16:06:21', '2023-01-04 16:06:21'),
(4235, 4235, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">President Abdul Hamid on Wednesday urged the police as well as the people of all classes and professions of the country to build a social movement against drugs.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>He made the call as chief guest at a function organised at Bangabhaban on the occasion of \'Police Week 2023\'.</div><div><br></div><div>Calling the spread of drugs a big problem for the country, Hamid said it is a duty to protect the future generation from addiction.</div><div><br></div><div>“So, the police must follow a zero tolerance policy against drugs,” Hamid said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Lately it is seen that children and teenagers are committing various types of crimes. Many times, they are organised in various areas as juvenile gangs and commit heinous crimes,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Asking Bangladesh Police to be more active in suppressing juvenile crimes, the President requested parents, guardians and families to play a responsible role in this regard.</div><div><br></div><div>Stating that there is no alternative to increasing the police\'s skills and capabilities to face the growing challenge of cyber crime, the President said police must be ahead to face the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution. Bangladesh Police should be proactive in suppressing crimes through the incorporation and use of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data.</div><div><br></div><div>\"With the rapid development of information technology in this era of globalisation, the type and nature of crimes is also changing. Nowadays, cyber crime, financial crime and cyber bullying are spreading widely along with traditional crimes. Cyber space is becoming unsafe especially for women,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Hamid said that it has become easier to provide quick service to people through the National Emergency Service 999.</div><div><br></div><div>He also said that setting up desks for women and children, freedom fighters, disabled people in police stations is also a big step forward.</div><div><br></div><div>Online services like Online Police Clearance, Online GD, E-Traffic Prosecution and technical services are made available to the public through apps like BD Police Help Line, Hello City, Report to RAB and Hello SB are also a major development.</div><div><br></div><div>The President asked to take the initiative to launch more technology-based public-facing services to increase public trust and confidence in the police.</div><div><br></div><div>Hamid said that the government has implemented various programmes for the development and modernisation of Bangladesh Police. Increase in manpower, development of physical infrastructure, formation of new specialised units and modern training at home and abroad have been arranged to increase the capacity of the police, which will make the overall activities of the police more dynamic, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Through these series of activities, the Bangladesh Police Force should be developed to be suitable for the developed Bangladesh of 2041, he added, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, he also said that the police should acquire the ability to face contemporary challenges through research and innovation in various fields.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 16:18:22', '2023-01-04 16:18:22'),
(4236, 4236, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked expatriate Bangladeshis not to send money (to the country) via hundi, a cross-border money transfer method that bypasses the legal banking system.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"I would like to request those who use hundi to stop it and instead send the money (to the country) directly via banking channels,\" she said, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>Prime Minister said this while meeting with the leaders of Awami League\'s different overseas chapters at her office.</div><div><br></div><div>She said the government is now setting up 100 economic zones in the country and the expatriates can invest in these under joint venture.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Those who want to do business can make investments there. If anyone- can bring foreign partners to invest here, it would be even better,\" she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The government is now setting up 100 economic zones in the country and the expatriates can invest in these under joint venture. Those who want to do business can make investments there. If anyone can bring foreign partners to invest here, it would be even better, she added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 16:29:57', '2023-01-04 16:29:57'),
(4237, 4237, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka- Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal has said that discipline was maintained at the voting centers during the Gaibandha-5 by-election.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>He said this while talking to journalists after monitoring the by-election to Gaibandha- 5 through CCTV cameras at Election Commission Bhaban in the capital’s Agargaon on Wednesday.</div><div><br></div><div>He said the EC has nothing to be satisfied or dissatisfied over the low voter turnout as it is their (voters) right to cast vote.</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, asked whether the CCTV cameras will be used during the 12th parliamentary elections, he said CCTV cameras have important role in holding fair election but no decision has been taken yet in this regard.</div><div><br></div><div>He appreciated the role of district administration and&nbsp; police saying that they performed their duties with professionalism.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-04 16:52:09', '2023-01-04 16:52:09'),
(4238, 4238, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">\"This is the toughest operation I\'ve ever seen. The enemy has thrown its strongest assault at Bakhmut. We haven\'t seen troops like this before,\" the Ukrainian commander tells us.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Commander Skala, as he wants to be called, is controlling the Ukrainian operation to defend the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region from an underground chamber off a nondescript street. It is one of the main command centres the Ukrainian military has set up in the city, and few journalists have been here.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A tall, hefty man with sparkling eyes, he watches a live feed from a drone hovering outside the eastern edge of the city on a big screen in the centre of the room.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One of the battalion\'s units is trying to spot the location of Russian positions, to aid another unit which has just gone out to defend eastern approaches to Bakhmut under attack.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In addition to Russian armed forces, mercenaries from the private paramilitary Wagner group have been sent in their thousands to front lines around Bakhmut.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Wagner soldiers openly advance under fire towards us even if they\'re littering the land with their bodies, even if out of 60 people in their platoon only 20 are left. It\'s very difficult to hold against such an invasion. We weren\'t prepared for that, and we\'re learning now,\" Commander Skala says.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Some weeks ago, we lost positions on the eastern approaches to the city because the enemy was constantly storming us with assaults. We moved to secondary front lines to save our soldiers,\" he adds.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are trying to work smartly and get those positions back. Sometimes you have to withdraw to attack the enemy properly.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has said Ukrainians have turned every house in Bakhmut into a fortress, and that there were now \"500 lines of defence\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia has been using all its might to try to take Bakhmut - a battle considered critical for the country after it lost ground in Ukraine in recent months, being pushed out of Kherson in the south and the Kharkiv region in the north-east. Capturing Bakhmut is also important to further Russia\'s aim to control the whole of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Throughout our conversation with Commander Skala, muffled explosions can be heard from above ground. The second you step outside, the sound is loud enough to make your heart pound - the terrifying whistle of shells flying in followed by the deafening boom of the impact.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And the sound never stops as the bombs keep falling.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One resident described it as \"the end of the world\" and there are moments when it feels like that.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bombs have ripped through the middle of apartment blocks, blown away the facades of buildings and created craters by the side of streets. It was hard to find a window in Bakhmut that was intact. The ground is littered with broken glass and debris.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This was once a quiet, ordinary town in the east, known for its sparkling wine. Now, it\'s become a byword for war and Ukraine\'s resistance.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It lies at a vital road intersection, but over the months, the battle here has gained a symbolic importance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently called it the \"fortress of our morale\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bakhmut used to be home to just over 70,000 people before the war. Just a tenth of its residents - mostly elderly or poor - remain.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While the streets are largely empty, we see dozens of civilians in an aid centre, known here as a \"resilience centre\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It has power, and wi-fi provided by Elon Musk\'s Starlink satellite system. Volunteers distribute small packets of food, medicines and other basic supplies. A wood-burner in the centre keeps the room warm.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is a lifeline for the people in Bakhmut.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many sit huddled around electrical points, trying to charge up their phones.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">What\'s remarkable is that even when shells land just a few hundred metres from the centre, people don\'t flinch. It\'s as if they\'ve become numb, running from bombs every day.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Trauma is visible on many faces though.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Why don\'t you leave, we asked Anatolay Suschenko, who was standing in a queue for some food.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I have nowhere to go. I\'m alone. Who would want to take an 86-year-old?\" he said. \"Here, at least sometimes when soldiers throw away food or soup, I find it and eat it. And I get free bread. In my whole life, I\'ve never seen anything like this. All the windows of my house have been blown off, and the gate has been destroyed.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">People have different reasons to stay. Olha Tupikova sits in the corner of the room with her 13-year-old daughter Diana.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I think everywhere in Ukraine is equally dangerous. Some of our neighbours left and died elsewhere. Here we have a house. We have cats and dogs. We can\'t leave them,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Our roof has 21 holes and the garage has nine. I mend them every time, and try to repair the windows too. Normally the holes are caused by shrapnel, but lately we\'ve had stones flying in too, making holes that are the size of a head.\" 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, '2023-01-05 03:04:07', '2023-01-05 03:04:07'),
(4239, 4239, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Two days of voting are in the books, and the US House of Representatives isn\'t any closer to electing a Speaker.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In fact, the chamber may be farther away. Kevin McCarthy, who has served as the party\'s House majority leader for four years, has 20 Republicans standing between him and the gavel - and they aren\'t budging.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Matt Gaetz, one of those so-called \"Never Kevins\", described Mr McCarthy as a \"desperate guy\" and said his request was simple: \"For him to drop out of the race.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr McCarthy, for his part, pushed for the House to adjourn until Thursday, guaranteeing a third day of voting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I don\'t think a vote tonight will make a difference,\" he said, insisting that progress was being made. \"But a vote in the future will.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With that in mind, here are three ways that future vote could turn out:</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">1. Kevin McCarthy prevails</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The current strategy from Kevin McCarthy appears to be to fight a war of attrition. His supporters will keep placing his name in nomination until those in opposition get tired of voting against him. Doing the same thing but expecting different results may be the definition of madness, but it may also be their only option until they can figure out what the recalcitrant Republicans really want.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">If Mr McCarthy is able to craft some sort of deal, he would almost certainly have to offer more power and influence to his opponents, allowing them to declare victory.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The challenge for him is that any further concessions will ultimately weaken his hold on power, making it more likely that he could be unseated when the really tough fights - on things like the budget and raising the debt ceiling - take place later in the year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr McCarthy could also hope that Democrats tire of the fight and stop showing up for the speaker votes, lowering the margin necessary for Mr McCarthy to win a majority. At least so far, however, Democrats appear to be relishing the Republican chaos.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And already, some Republicans - like Ken Buck of Colorado - are hinting that Mr McCarthy should step aside for alternative candidate, like his deputy, Steve Scalise of Louisiana.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">2. Kevin McCarthy gives up</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Surrender has to be considered a possible, even likely, outcome for Mr McCarthy after two days of failure. At some point, the rank-and-file Republicans who are currently supporting Mr McCarthy may decide the best move is to give the hardline Republicans their scalp and try to move on. And if even a few of them break ranks, the floodgates could open.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We\'re starting to get some open conflict on the floor as well as behind closed doors,\" Mr Buck, who has voted for Mr McCarthy all six times, said on Wednesday afternoon. \"We have to choose a speaker and move forward.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Scalise, the Republicans\' chief vote-counter, is perhaps the choice best positioned to be a candidate acceptable to both the conservative hardliners and the rest of the House Republicans. He is considered a staunch, southern conservative and has literally bled for the party, having been seriously wounded in the 2017 attack on Republican members of Congress during a baseball practice. The biggest obstacle at the moment is that he doesn\'t seem to want the job.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Other possibilities include firebrand congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana, the head of the conservative Republican Study Committee. Neither seems capable of unifying the entire party behind him, however. (Byron Donalds of Florida was the nominee of the anti-McCarthy Republicans three times on Wednesday, but the novice congressman has been more of a vessel for ant-McCarthy sentiment than a serious candidate.)</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">3. The two parties agree on compromise candidate</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Democrats and Republicans in the Ohio state House of Representatives joined together on Tuesday to reject a more conservative speaker and elect a moderate compromise candidate. Could such a thing happen in the US House of Representatives, as well?</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There\'s been plenty of such speculation, as Mr McCarthy\'s predicament became clearer in recent days. Some of that has been fanned by his supporters as a warning for conservative hard-liners to fall in line, but some of it is real.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Don Bacon, a centrist Republican from Nebraska, has previously expressed an openness to working with Democrats to elect a compromise speaker if Mr McCarthy fails. Fred Upton, a former Republican congressman from Michigan with moderate credentials, has expressed an openness to presenting himself as a coalition pick (there is no requirement that a speaker has to be a current member of Congress). And there\'s been some talk of sweeteners for Democrats, like rule changes that would allow them to introduce legislation or more committee power.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">All of this would require a sizeable number of Democrats to go along with the plan, which in today\'s sharply divided partisan environment seems unlikely in the extreme. And any Republican who works with Democrats will instantly be persona non grata among most conservatives.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Given that the House is already in uncharted territory by modern standards, however, no options are too far-fetched at this point. 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, '2023-01-05 03:08:16', '2023-01-05 03:08:16'),
(4240, 4240, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Amazon aims to shed more than 18,000 roles as it cuts costs, the technology giant\'s boss says.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Affected workers will be informed from 18 January, chief executive Andy Jassy said in a note to staff.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The cuts amount to around 6% of the firm\'s roughly 300,000-strong corporate workforce.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In November Amazon said it was starting a round of layoffs but did not give a figure of how many jobs it would cut.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support,\" Mr Jassy said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He added: \"Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr Jassy did not specify where affected employees were located, but he said the firm would communicate with organisations that represent employees \"where applicable in Europe\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also said the \"majority of role eliminations\" would be in the Amazon Stores operations and its People, Experience, and Technology team.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two months ago the firm said it would focus on reducing expenses in its annual review of business operations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Amazon had already introduced a hiring freeze and halted some of its warehouse expansions, warning it had over-hired during the pandemic.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It has also taken steps to shut some parts of its business, cancelling projects such as a personal delivery robot. 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, '2023-01-05 03:12:10', '2023-01-05 03:12:10'),
(4241, 4241, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A night of new year rioting and attacks on emergency services in Berlin and other cities has shocked Germans and prompted calls for a ban on fireworks and firecrackers.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Forty-one police officers were hurt in the capital alone and there were dozens of attacks on firefighters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mayor Franziska Giffey has called a youth summit, condemning the violence as \"absolutely unacceptable\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Several figures highlighted the migrant background of many of the youths.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But the Berlin mayor insisted the issue was more to do with the social environment in which young Berliners had grown up: \"We\'re not talking about immigration labels but about what went wrong in the social flashpoints.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was not just Berlin that witnessed violence. There were reports of rockets, firecrackers and even a starting pistol being fired at emergency vehicles in cities including Hamburg, Bonn, Dortmund and Essen.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police said of the 145 arrests made during the Berlin riots that the majority were men, 45 were German while 27 were of Afghan nationality and 21 were Syrians.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The revelations fed into a broader debate, and leading conservative figure Jens Spahn spoke of \"unregulated migration, failed integration\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some commentators questioned whether breaking down the suspects\' nationalities was helpful. Germany\'s press code makes clear that ethnic or religious background should only be reported where there is legitimate public interest.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Government integration commissioner Reem Alabali-Radovan called for perpetrators to be judged on their actions and \"not according to their presumed origins, as some are now doing\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that while a debate had to take place on the background to the riots, it should not be used to stir up \"racist resentment\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But she told the Funke newspaper group that Germany\'s major cities had a significant issue with \"certain young men with a migration background, who hold our state in contempt, commit acts of violence and who can hardly be reached via education and integration programmes\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Part of the problem is thought to have stemmed from the brief lifting of a ban on sales of fireworks and firecrackers over the new year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After a two-year halt on sales during the Covid pandemic to prevent hospitals coming under further pressure, authorities said pyrotechnics would be allowed between 6pm on New Year\'s Eve and 6am on New Year\'s Day. One of the police unions said sales should be banned completely in future.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Berlin district of Neukölln was worst-hit by the violence and local mayor Martin Hikel spoke of conditions similar to a civil war, with rescue workers being lured into ambushes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He told the newspaper Die Welt that the violence was less about migration issues and more to do with socially disadvantaged areas. He warned of the risk of moving towards a situation similar to that in suburban areas of France.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Neukölln\'s integration commissioner Güner Balci said those who took part in the attacks came from a small group of \"absolute losers\". In some inner city areas facing major social issues, she said children and young people were growing up witnessing domestic violence as part of their daily lives. 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, '2023-01-05 03:15:12', '2023-01-05 03:15:12'),
(4242, 4242, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant is to be flown to Mumbai by air ambulance to undergo surgery after being injured in a car crash last week.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Pant has been receiving treatment at Max Hospital in Dehradun.</div><div><br></div><div>The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said the 25-year-old will also have \"subsequent procedures for ligament tears\".</div><div><br></div><div>Police said Pant\'s car flipped over twice and caught fire after he \"dozed off\" and lost control.</div><div><br></div><div>In a statement, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said: \"The Board will make every effort to aid and expedite the recovery process of Rishabh and will provide him with all the support he needs during this period.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Pant crashed on 30 December between Mangalaur and Nursan, close to his hometown of Roorkee in the northern state of Uttarakhand.</div><div><br></div><div>Reports in India said the Delhi Capitals player suffered injuries to his head, back and leg. BBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 03:21:32', '2023-01-05 03:21:32'),
(4243, 4243, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sent a frigate armed with the country\'s latest Zircon hypersonic missile on a trans-ocean cruise in a show of force as tensions with the West escalate over the war in Ukraine.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Russia touts that the Zircon missile can evade any Western air defenses by flying at an astounding 7,000 miles per hour (11,265 km/h).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Here is a glance at the ship and its weapons.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Commissioned by the navy in 2018 following long trials, the Admiral Gorshkov is the first ship in the new series of frigates which were designed to replace the aging Soviet-built destroyers as a key strike component of the Russian navy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Armed with an array of missiles, the ship is 130-meters (427-feet) long and has a crew of about 200.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 2019, it circled the world oceans on a 35,000-nautical mile journey.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Admiral Gorshkov has served as the main testbed for the latest Russian hypersonic missile, Zircon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In recent years, the Zircon has undergone a series of tests, including being launched at various practice targets. The military declared the tests successful and Zircon officially entered service last fall.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Zircon is intended to arm Russian cruisers, frigates and submarines and could be used against both enemy ships and ground targets. It is one of several hypersonic missiles that Russia has developed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Putin has hailed Zircon as a potent weapon capable of penetrating any existing anti-missile defenses by flying nine times faster than the speed of sound at a range of more than 1,000 kilometers (over 620 miles).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Putin has emphasized that Zircon gives the Russian military a long-range conventional strike capability, allowing it to strike any enemy targets with precision.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia\'s hypersonic weapons drive emerged as the U.S. has been working on its own Conventional Prompt Global Strike capability that envisions hitting an adversary’s strategic targets with precision-guided conventional weapons anywhere in the world within one hour.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Putin heralded Zircon as Russia\'s answer to that, claiming that the new weapon has no rival, giving Russia a strategic edge.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Months before ordering the invasion of Ukraine, Putin put the U.S. and its NATO allies on notice when he warned that Russian warships armed with Zircon would give Russia a capability to strike the adversary\'s “decision-making centers” within minutes if deployed in neutral waters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking via video link during Wednesday\'s sendoff ceremony, Putin again praised Zircon as a “unique weapon” without an “equivalent for it in any country in the world.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In response, the Pentagon said it is monitoring the ship, and did not think it presented a threat that could not be countered.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We are aware of the reports regarding the Russian launch of a frigate, the Admiral Grorshkov. We will continue to routinely monitor its activities as we maintain awareness of our operating environment,\" said Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Roger Cabiness. \"While we do not comment on specific capabilities or speculate on hypotheticals, the Department of Defense remains confident in our ability to deter our adversaries and defend United States national security interests at any time, in any place.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia has already commissioned the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles for some of its ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles that constitute part of Russia’s strategic nuclear triad. Putin has hailed the Avangard\'s ability to maneuver at hypersonic speeds on its approach to target, dodging air defenses.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Russian military has also deployed the Kinzhal hypersonic missiles on its MiG-31 aircraft and used them during the war in Ukraine to strike some priority targets. Kinzhal reportedly has a range of about 1,500 kilometers (about 930 miles).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin on Wednesday that the Admiral Gorshkov will patrol the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean, but didn’t give further details.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shoigu said the Admiral Gorshkov\'s crew will focus on “countering the threats to Russia, maintaining regional peace and stability jointly with friendly countries.” He added the crew will practice with hypersonic weapons and long-range cruise missiles “in various conditions.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some military experts say a single, hypersonic missile-armed warship is no match for the massive naval forces of the U.S. and its allies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But others noted that the frigate\'s potential deployment close to U.S. shores could be part of Putin\'s strategy to up the ante in the Ukrainian conflict.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“This is a message to the West that Russia has nuclear-tipped missiles that can easily pierce any missile defenses,” pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergei Markov wrote in a commentary. 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, '2023-01-05 03:37:26', '2023-01-05 03:37:26'),
(4244, 4244, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">President Joe Biden intends to visit the U.S.-Mexico border — his first since taking office — in connection with his meeting next week in Mexico City with the leaders of Mexico and Canada.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“That’s my intention, we’re working out the details now,” Biden told reporters Wednesday during a trip to Kentucky.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Biden said upon his return to the White House that he hoped to see “what\'s going on” at the border and also planned to make remarks about border security on Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There have been large increases in the number of migrants at the border even as a U.S. public health law remains in place that allows American authorities to turn away many people seeking asylum in the United States. Republican leaders have criticized the president for policies that they say are ineffective on border security and they have questioned why he has not made a trip there yet.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The increased focus from Biden on the border also comes as the president prepares for a 2024 reelection bid. His sole declared potential rival, Donald Trump, rose to the top of the GOP ranks by animating the party\'s base voters with his hardline stances on immigration.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But there was some praise Wednesday after the news.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“I’m pleased President Biden will finally visit our southern border - which has been completely surrendered to the cartels, smugglers, and human traffickers,” tweeted Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., among those most critical.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Among the complaints on border security by Republicans is the amount of fentanyl coming into the U.S. via Mexico. A 2022 report from a bipartisan federal commission found that fentanyl and similar drugs are being made mostly in labs in Mexico from chemicals shipped primarily from China.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And fentanyl and other lab-produced synthetic opioids now are driving an overdose crisis deadlier than any the U.S. has ever seen. But drug control advocates and experts say an anti-drug policy that relies on tighter border security is dangerous and likely futile. It\'s too easy to move in small, hard-to-detect quantities.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Drug trafficking and immigration are among the top talking points at the summit Monday and Tuesday when Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are hosted by Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Early in his presidency, Biden put Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of the White House effort to tackle the migration challenge at the border and work with Central American nations to address central causes of the problem. She visited El Paso, Texas, in June 2021 and was criticized for choosing a location too far from the epicenter of border crossings that straining federal resources. The number of migrants crossing the border has only risen.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For now, the Supreme Court has for now kept in place Trump-era restrictions, often known as Title 42 in reference to a 1944 public health law, after Biden acted to end them and Republicans sued in response.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Title 42 was invoked to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but there always has been criticism that the restrictions were used as a pretext by then-President Donald Trump to seal off the border.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Biden also has yet to lay out any systemic changes to manage an expected surge of migrants should the health restrictions end. And the president is limited in what he can do without immigration law changes. But in Congress, a bipartisan immigration bill was buried shortly before Republicans assumed control of the House.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Biden made his comment about the upcoming visit during a stop in Kentucky at a highway bridge that is receiving federal dollars under the bipartisan infrastructure law.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Trump visited the U.S. side of the border as president several times times, including one trip to McAllen, Texas, where he claimed Mexico would pay for the border wall.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">American taxpayers ended up covering the costs. Mexican leaders had flatly rejected the idea when Trump pressed them early on. \"NO,” Enrique Peña Nieto, then Mexico’s president, tweeted in May 2018. “Mexico will NEVER pay for a wall. Not now, not ever. Sincerely, Mexico (all of us).”&nbsp; 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, '2023-01-05 03:49:48', '2023-01-05 03:49:48'),
(4245, 4245, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Deepika Padukone was spotted with Ranveer Singh at Mumbai airport recently as the two left for her birthday vacation. The actor will celebrate her 37th birthday on January 5. In 2007, Deepika made her acting debut with Farah Khan\'s Om Shanti Om, which also featured Shah Rukh Khan. Before she became one of the highest-paid actors in Bollywood, Deepika was a model, and was seen in many TV commercials in the 2000s.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One of the first ads that featured Deepika was for a toothpaste brand. The 2004 ad saw her dancing in the bathroom along with an animated Close-Up toothpaste. Over the next few years, along with walking the ramp at fashion shows for some of the biggest designers in the country, Deepika Padukone was also grabbing attention with her TV commercials for brands like Limca. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The actor was seen dancing in the rain and jumping in puddles of muddy water on the road in a Limca ad. She drank from a bottle of Limca almost the entire time in the commercial.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another old ad showed Deepika promoting a Chennai-based clothing store called Naihaa. The commercial showed her as a modern woman with a career in the corporate world, who is still connected to her Indian roots. She meets a prospective groom in the ad, who seemed as impressed with her.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Before modelling, Deepika, the elder daughter of Indian badminton legend Prakash Padukone, was a national-level badminton player. After years of modeling, Deepika became an actor. It’s been 15 years since Deepika joined films with Om Shanti Om, in which she played a movie star as well as an actor hired to impersonate this aforementioned movie star.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since then she has worked with some of the most-acclaimed directors of Bollywood – from Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela, Bajirao Mastani, Padmaavat) to Shoojit Sircar (Piku). Deepika was last seen in Gehraiyaan (2022), which also featured Ananya Panday and Siddhant Chaturvedi. The film was directed by Shakun Batra, and backed by Karan Johar. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She will next be seen with Shah Rukh Khan in Pathaan, which is set to be released on January 25. She also has Fighter with Hrithik Roshan, among other upcoming projects. 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, '2023-01-05 04:26:37', '2023-01-05 16:31:18');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4246, 4246, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka\'s air quality backed to the ‘very unhealthy\' zone on Thursday morning.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 201 at 8:20 am, the metropolis ranked second in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be ‘very unhealthy’, 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;\">Ghana’s Accra occupied the first spot with an AQI of 202 and India’s Delhi and Mumbai ranked the third and fourth position respectively.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, an AQI between 101 and 150 is considered \'unhealthy\', particularly for sensitive groups.</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;\">As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 04:29:49', '2023-01-05 04:29:49'),
(4247, 4247, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The overall number of global Covid-19 cases is gradually nearing 667 million, with the sudden surge of the virus’ sub-variant in Asia. </b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to latest global data, the total case count mounted to 666,603,048 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,703,798 this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The US has recorded 102,963,370 cases so far, while 1,120,040 people have died from the virus in the country, both highest counts around the world.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">India reported 141 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, taking the caseload to 44,680,402.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With no deaths reported across the country during this period, India’s Covid death toll remained static at 530,707.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, France has registered 39,356,184 Covid-19 cases so far, occupying the third position, while 162,377 people have died in the country, as per the Worldometer. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday that the agency is “concerned about the risk to life in China” amid the coronavirus’ explosive spread across the country and the lack of outbreak data from the Chinese government, reports AP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency recently met with Chinese officials to underline the importance of sharing more details about Covid-19 issues including hospitalisation rates and genetic sequences, even as the pandemic continues to recede globally since it began in late 2019.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The WHO said Chinese scientists have now shared more than 770 sequences, with omicron subvariants BA.5 and its descendants accounting for more than 97% of all local infections. Globally, BA.5 variants comprise about 68% of all sequences.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China reported 9,308 Covid cases in the last 24 hours till Thursday morning, taking the caseload to 461,825. With one more death, the country’s death toll stands at 5,259.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Covid-19 in Bangladesh</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh registered 21 more Covid-19 cases in 24 hours till Wednesday morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With the new numbers, the country\'s total caseload rose to 2,037,208, 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 29,440 as no new fatalities were reported.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The daily case test positivity fell to 0.62 percent from Tuesday\'s 0.74 percent as 3,404 samples were tested during the period.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The mortality and recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.59 per cent, respectively, it added. 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, '2023-01-05 04:47:09', '2023-01-05 14:18:38'),
(4248, 4248, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Three types of fungi that cause serious lung infections and were once thought to be confined to certain regions of the United States are now widespread.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 1955, Histoplasma fungi grew mainly in Midwest soil and in parts of the East and South, and that’s where histoplasmosis infections mainly occurred. But Medicare records from 2007 through 2016 indicate that 47 states and Washington, D.C., had cases of histoplasmosis above a certain threshold, researchers report November 11 in Clinical Infectious Diseases.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">These fungi are now “a lot more common than we think they are,” says Andrej Spec, an infectious diseases doctor and mycologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Doctors using maps from the 1950s and ’60s may fail to diagnose infections in patients who live outside of the fungi’s historical borders. Such missed or delayed diagnoses can have deadly consequences.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Spec and colleagues drew updated maps for Histoplasma cases and for two other fungi whose ranges have expanded, probably because of climate change.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Coccidioidomycosis cases, caused by Coccidioides fungi, have spread from their 1955 roots in the Southwest to 35 states, Medicare records indicate. Coccidioides includes fungi that cause valley fever (SN: 11/29/21). Wildfires have been linked to a rise in valley fever cases in recent years (SN: 4/13/21). </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Like Histoplasma, Blastomyces was primarily found in the Midwest and East in 1955. But from 2007 through 2016, 40 states reported blastomycosis cases above a certain threshold, the researchers found.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When diagnosing infections, doctors are taught to look for horses, not zebras, meaning tests typically focus on common infectious organisms, not rare ones, Spec says. “We’ve talked about these [fungi] as zebras … but they’re not zebras. They’re Clydesdales. Clydesdales aren’t the most common horse you’ll see, but they’re still horses.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He hopes the updated maps encourage doctors to test for the fungi more often in patients with lung infections. SN</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"5\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 04:58:39', '2023-01-05 16:29:49'),
(4249, 4249, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Relationships that we cherish in life have a deep impact on our lives. From our mental health to the physical and the emotional one, relationships have a lot to affect. Relationships that are dysfunctional and unhealthy can break our mental strength to any extreme, while emotionally intimate and safe relationships can heal us from all kinds of trauma. </b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Addressing this, Psychologist Nicole LePera shared her own experience with relationships - “I didn’t know how to communicate, how to work through issues (repair), and how to meet my own needs let alone the needs of another. After almost 10 years in my relationship, I see relationships as an incredible place to practice these skills. And to heal from our past.” </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nicole further added that intimacy and romance are completely different, and healthy relationships can span out of friendship and family as well. “I also want to note that emotional intimacy isn’t just for romantic relationships. We can have emotional intimacy with friends as well as family,” she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Emotional connection: Our brains and nervous systems are wired to attach themselves to other human beings. Hence, when we find a good relationship, we tend to let it impact us. HT</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"24\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 05:04:02', '2023-01-05 14:18:58'),
(4250, 4250, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A bomb cyclone smashed into California on Wednesday, bringing powerful winds and torrential rain that was expected to cause flooding in areas already saturated by consecutive storms.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Authorities issued ominous warnings of threats to life and property for a vast stretch of the most populous US state, focused around San Francisco and Sacramento.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Forecasters said gusts of up to 70 miles (110 kilometers) an hour and intense rain could pummel the region through Wednesday, with the downpour continuing into Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meteorologists at the National Weather Service said there could be \"widespread flooding, roads washing out, hillsides collapsing, trees down, widespread power outages, immediate disruption to commerce, and the worst of all, likely loss of human life.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency \"to support response and recovery efforts,\" while San Francisco established an Emergency Operations Center.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bars and restaurants were shuttered as the city girded for the storm, with local media showing flooded roads, and reports of long delays on public transport.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dozens of flights in and out of the city were cancelled or delayed, while around 60,000 homes were without power, according to the PowerOutage.us website.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thousands of sandbags were distributed to residents fearful of flooding.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"We\'re very worried about it,\" Deepak Srivastava told CBS in San Francisco.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"(I) just spent all day putting sandbags in front of the garage at every entering point and we\'re just crossing our fingers and hoping we won\'t have more damage.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">City officials said they were working around the clock to try to help people prepare.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We\'ve been working very hard to source sandbags from wherever we can in northern California,\" said Rachel Gordon, of the city\'s public works department.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But she warned residents need to take the storm seriously.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"If you don\'t have to be out in San Francisco, please don\'t be out on the roads.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The intense rain was brought about by a combination of a bomb cyclone -- a sudden steep drop in air pressure -- and an atmospheric river, where moisture-laden air is drawn in from the oceans.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Up to four inches (10 centimeters) of rain were expected in the Bay Area, with double that amount over nearby hills.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Sierra Nevada mountain range was forecast to get up to four feet (1.2 meters) of snow.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- \'Several storms\' -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The downpours come on top of a series of storms that have brought near-record rainfall over recent weeks.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On New Year\'s Eve, parts of northern California were lashed by a storm that caused landslides and power outages, as levees were breached and roadways were flooded.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At least one person is known to have died after being trapped in a submerged car.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">San Francisco recorded almost 5.5 inches (14 centimeters) of rain on December 31, the city\'s second wettest day in recorded history.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The waterlogging caused by those previous storms would exacerbate the danger of this one, meteorologist Matt Solum told AFP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"This storm alone without the previous storms would cause localized flooding concerns and rock slides and mudslide concerns,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"But with the recent wet conditions, a lot of the rainfall that\'s already fallen has already saturated the ground so any additional rainfall is going to run off instead of soak into the ground.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While it is difficult to draw a straight line to this storm from human-caused climate change, scientists say a warmer planet brings more unstable weather, with more ferocious storms as well as longer, hotter dry periods.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The western United States is in the grip of a decades-long drought, with below-average precipitation leaving river and reservoir levels worryingly low.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Solum said while any rain is helpful in alleviating the drought -- a long-term issue -- these back-to-back storms can be destructive because there is nowhere for the water to go.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It\'s just the compounding impact of all the storms is what\'s going to be the most impactful,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Typically, we don\'t see this many series of storms with this much heavy rain.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And there is more to come.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It\'s definitely going to continue,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are expecting another one over the weekend. And then another several storms potentially for next week. And even possibly the following week as well.\" 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, '2023-01-05 05:26:31', '2023-01-05 05:26:31'),
(4251, 4251, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Ansu Fati snatched an extra-time winner for Barcelona in a thrilling 4-3 victory over third-tier Intercity in the Spanish Cup round of 32 on Wednesday.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The minnows from Alicante nearly embarrassed Barcelona with former La Masia youth player Oriol Soldevila scoring a superb hat-trick to force extra-time, before Fati\'s deflected strike settled the tie.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ronald Araujo headed home after just four minutes from youngster Pablo Torre\'s corner, making it look like Barca would breeze into the last 16.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Uruguayan defender made a lively comeback from the thigh injury which kept him from starting for his country at the World Cup, also clearing an effort off the line.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ferran Torres and Ousmane Dembele spurned opportunities for the visitors before Intercity struck a shock equaliser, with Soldevila netting from close range after the ball was nodded into his path from a corner.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dembele executed a fine chip to put Barcelona back in front when he was sent through in the 66th minute.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Intercity levelled again when Soldevila produced a fine header to beat Inaki Pena but Raphinha stroked home Jordi Alba\'s low cross to restore Barcelona\'s lead.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However Soldevila completed a remarkable hat-trick against his former side after a Marcos Alonso slip-up to force extra-time.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Substitute Fati came close at the start of the additional period and then fired Barcelona ahead with a deflected strike which looped home in the 104th minute, and it proved decisive.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It was the magic of the cup,\" Araujo told Movistar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It will serve us to learn from, the cup is like this, we know that.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Elsewhere Atletico Madrid earned a 2-0 win at second-tier Real Oviedo with goals from Marcos Llorente and talented youngster Pablo Barrios, while Sevilla also racked up a big win.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jorge Sampaoli\'s side, struggling in La Liga, thrashed Linares 5-0, including a hat-trick for Moroccan World Cup hero Youssef En-Nesyri.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mateu Lahoz\'s controversial refereeing in Barcelona\'s draw with Espanyol in La Liga on Saturday made headlines, and he continued in the same vein by sending off Sampaoli for dissent early in the first half.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Second division Alaves won 1-0 against La Liga side Real Valladolid, who had Zouhair Feddal dismissed in the first half to give themselves an uphill struggle.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Real Mallorca needed extra-time to beat Pontevedra 2-0, while Real Sociedad progressed to the last 16 with a 1-0 win at UD Logrones. 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, '2023-01-05 05:49:55', '2023-01-05 05:49:55'),
(4252, 4252, '<div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>As Muslim ummah, we put so much importance of Quran for every Muslims because of its divine revelation. The Quran is the word of Allah SWT. Hence, it has divine guidance for all Muslims.</b></div></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The laws laid on the holy Quran are the word of Allah SWT and by following it, you will attain paradise.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Revelation of the Quran </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Quran is the last holy scripture from Allah SWT. It contains the word of Allah. The Quran was verbally revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by angel Gabriel in the holy Islamic month of Ramadan, in 609CE.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was revealed to Prophet Muhammad over 23 years. Muslims believe the Quran is holy scripture that hasn’t been altered, unlike other religious scriptures. This ensures the importance of the Quran.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The holy Quran is the everlasting miracle of Allah’s last Prophet, Muhammad (PBUH). The Quran is the only guidance you require if you’re a believer.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Allah SWT stated in the holy Quran –</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">إِ<b>نَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُون </b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Indeed, We have sent down the Reminder, and indeed, we of it (are) surely Guardians.” </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">–       Surah I Hijr; Verse 9 </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">What is meant by the word ‘Quran’?</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ‘Quran’ comprises Allah’s texts that have been penned in Arabic, and in Arabic, it means recitation. All Muslims around the world, irrespective of their language and country, must carry out the recitation of the Quran.   </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Miracle of the Holy Quran</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Quran consists of various principles of ethics and deeds that will help all Muslims to achieve bliss and peace of mind. The importance of the Quran in our life cannot be emphasized enough. It acts as a complete guide on how to lead our day-to-day life.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The meaning and words of the Holy Quran literary offer a lot of miracles. Prophet Muhammad PBUH stated that –</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> “Every Prophet was given miracles because of which people believed, but what I have been given, is Divine Inspiration which Allah has revealed to me. So I hope my followers will outnumber the followers of the other Prophets on the Day of Resurrection.” </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">–       Sahih al-Bukhari 4981</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">We will witness the miracle of the Holy Quran until doomsday. Many verses of the Holy Quran states the miracle of the Quran. As mentioned in the Quran –</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> “O Prophet,˺ “If ˹all˺ humans and jinn were to come together to produce the equivalent of this Quran, they could not produce its equal, no matter how they supported each other.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Irrespective of how much science develops, it can never contradict the holy Quran. Rather, the development of science would help you to understand, interpret and explain the Quran more easily.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Badiuzzaman Said Nusri said –</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"> “As time gets older, the Quran gets younger; the realities it contains become apparent more brightly.” </div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Holy Quran prophesized numerous miraculous aspects that came to fruition later. Things happened exactly as it was mentioned within the Quran.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Few definitions of the holy Quran are as mentioned below –</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> “The All-Wise Qur’an, which makes known to us our Sustainer, is the pre-eternal translator of the great Book of the Universe” </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Marriage is a Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad PBUH </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Marriage is an indisputable commandment for all Muslims. It is a sacred union between a man and his wife. There are many verses within the Holy Quran that encourage single men and women to get married, given that they are capable.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Marriage is not limited to only brothers and sisters who are single. Even if you’re divorced, you may still get married again.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Quoting the following verse from the Holy Quran –</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> “Marry the single people from among you and the righteous slaves and slave-girls. If you are poor, Allah (SWT) will make you rich through His favor; and Allah (SwT) is Bountiful, All-Knowing.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">–       Surah An Nur; Verse 32</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the aforementioned verse, Allah SWT commanded Muslims to marry men or women who are righteous and single. Also, we should not hesitate to marriage, even if we are not wealthy enough. Allah SWT will provide barakah and rizq (blessings and provision).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> “But let them who find not [the means for] marriage abstain [from sexual relations] until Allah enriches them from His bounty. And those who seek a contract [for eventual emancipation] from among whom your right hands possess – then make a contract with them if you know there is within them goodness and give them from the wealth of Allah which He has given you.” </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">–       Surah An Nur; Verse 33 </div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"7\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 07:01:52', '2023-01-05 14:20:00'),
(4253, 4253, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Patients, most of them elderly, are lying on stretchers in hallways and taking oxygen while sitting in wheelchairs as COVID-19 surges in China’s capital Beijing.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Chuiyangliu hospital in the city’s east was packed with newly arrived patients on Thursday. By midmorning beds had run out, even as ambulances continued to bring those in need.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hard-pressed nurses and doctors rushed to take information and triage the most urgent cases.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The surge in severely ill people needing hospital care follows China abandonment of its most severe pandemic restrictions last month after nearly three years of lockdowns, travels bans and school closures that weighed heavily on the economy and prompted street protests not seen since the late 1980s.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It also comes as the the European Union on Wednesday “strongly encouraged” its member states to impose pre-departure COVID-19 testing of passengers from China.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Over the past week, EU nations have reacted with a variety of restrictions toward travelers from China, disregarding an earlier commitment to act in unity.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Italy — where the pandemic first exacted a heavy toll in Europe in early 2020 — was the first EU member to require coronavirus tests for airline passengers coming from China, but France and Spain quickly followed with their own measures. That followed the imposition by the U.S. of a requirement that all passengers from China show a negative test result obtained in the previous 48 hours before departure.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China has warned of “countermeasures” if such policies were to be imposed across the bloc.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Still, World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday he was concerned about the lack of outbreak data from the Chinese government.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China has sought to get more of its elderly population vaccinated, but those efforts have been hampered by past scandals involving fake medications and previous warnings about adverse reactions to the vaccines among older people.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China’s domestically developed vaccines are also considered less effective than the mRNA jabs used elsewhere. 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, '2023-01-05 07:05:11', '2023-01-05 07:05:11'),
(4254, 4254, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">- Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today asked the police officials to remain alert against recurrence of arson-terrorism and ill-attempt to hinder country\'s economic progress.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Remain alert so none can impede the economic development of Bangladesh, none can dare to do arson-terrorism again and none can interrupt the security of people\'s life,\" she said.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier said this while addressing the high officials of Bangladesh Police at the Prime Minister\'s Office (PMO) here on the occasion of Police Week-2023.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said it\'s alright that anyone will stage agitation and movement, but it will have to be done with people\'s participation.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"If any destructive activity is perpetrated there, appropriate measures have to be taken,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina said today\'s achievement of Bangladesh didn\'t come in any way, rather the government has done it.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"This development of the country didn\'t come in any way, we have to give labour, have to do work and have to formulate plan for it,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also said the government has brought a massive change in Bangladesh as the outcome of its development activities.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister said, \"In Bangladesh, we not only tell it, rather the entire world acknowledge it (development of the country).\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said they have kept rolling the economic wheel of Bangladesh and done it very successfully facing Covid-19 and war (Ukraine-Russia) as well as maintaining economic policy strictly.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With many others, Bangladesh Police also has huge contribution to this development, she said, adding that, \"So, none can disrupt this progress.\"&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Public Security Division Senior Secretary Md. Aminul Islam Khan also spoke.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun delivered the welcome address, while Additional IGP Kamrul Hasan gave the vote of thanks.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier also heard some high police officials.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A documentary on Bangladesh Police was screened.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Prime Minister said Bangladesh needs to face different problems induced by the global crisis, natural calamities and man-made disasters like arson violence and other destructive activities.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mentioning that law and order is the most important issue for a country, she said \"The police will have to carry out their responsibility to keep the law and order under control.\"&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The head of government extended her thanks to the police as the force has also contributed to this success of the country, particularly in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She again asked the police to be careful so that none can interrupt this progress.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She added, \"There might be many things - anyone may belong to any party, opinion or creed, but you will have to pay a special attention so that none can destroy or obstruct any work and interrupt our ongoing progress in any sector for the sake of the country\'s interest and development and the welfare of the people.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier said her government formulated the Perspective Plan 2021-2041 and targeted to make the country as \'Smart Bangladesh\' by 2041 by equipping the country\'s people with technology and latest knowledge.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We\'ll build the country as a developed, prosperous sonar Bangladesh,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina said police played a significant role in the development journey of Bangladesh as the law enforcement agency tackled many manmade disasters and militancy and thus helped continue the country\'s progress.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"If the law and order is maintained properly, the country will surely go further towards development and we will be able to reach our desired goals,\" she said.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Prime Minister asked all the members of Bangladesh Police to work sincerely in maintaining the law and order and finally help fulfill the target of building a \'Smart 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, '2023-01-05 07:18:14', '2023-01-05 07:18:14'),
(4255, 4255, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) today predicted that mild cold wave sweeping over Rajshahi, Pabna, Dinajpur, Panchagarh, Nilphamari, Jashore, Chuadanga and Kushtia districts may continue until tomorrow morning.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Mild cold wave is sweeping over the districts of Rajshahi, Pabna, Dinajpur, Panchagarh, Nilphamari, Jashore, Chuadanga and Kushtia and it may continue,\" the met office said in its 24 hours weather forecast commencing from 9am today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Due to differences of day and night temperature, moderate to severe cold feeling condition is likely to persist in north, north-western and central part of the country during the period, it also said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the release, weather may remain dry with partly cloudy sky over the country while moderate to thick fog may occur over the country from midnight to tomorrow morning and it may continue till noon at different places.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Night temperature may remain nearly unchanged and day temperature may rise slightly over the country during the period.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The country\'s highest temperature on Wednesday was recorded 28.2 degrees Celsius at Teknaf in Chattogram division while today\'s minimum temperature was 9.0 degrees Celsius at Jashore in Khulna division. </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The sun sets at 5:25pm today and rises at 6:43am tomorrow in the capital. 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, '2023-01-05 07:43:30', '2023-01-05 14:21:14'),
(4256, 4256, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"> Arabia has offered services to seven million Umrah pilgrims from around the world in 2022.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah allowed people with tourist visas to perform Umrah during their stay in the country for the first time last year, reports Al Arabiya News.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ministry also released 13 awareness guides, including Umrah comprehensive guide, for pilgrims in 14 different languages that facilitated pilgrims of all religious, medical, and procedural information before their arrival in the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Citizens of 49 countries, who applied for tourist visas online and upon their arrival at airports, were also facilitated with service.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It also facilitated pilgrims with all types of visas – instant visa on arrival, family visa, personal visa, and Schengen, UK and US visa holders, which were all issued electronically.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, the Umrah visa had been extended from 30 to 90 days.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ministry launched “Nusuk platform,” which includes 121 services to book and design the Umrah program and issue visas electronically to all countries, as per the media report.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This platform has allowed five countries – Britain, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Kuwait – for the quick issuance of online visas through the Saudi Visa Bio smartphone application of the Saudi Foreign Ministry.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A comprehensive insurance service for the pilgrims was also launched last year to cover the health emergencies, accidents and cancelling or delaying flights. 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, '2023-01-05 08:22:08', '2023-01-05 14:21:57');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4257, 4257, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Iran warned France on Wednesday of consequences after satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published cartoons depicting supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Tehran deemed to be insulting.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The weekly had published dozens of cartoons ridiculing the highest religious and political figure in the Islamic republic as part of a competition it launched in December in support of the three-month-old protest movement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"The insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response,\" tweeted Iran\'s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We will not allow the French government to go beyond its bounds. They have definitely chosen the wrong path,\" he added, without spelling out the consequences.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later on Wednesday, Iran\'s foreign ministry said it had summoned French ambassador Nicolas Roche.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"France has no right to insult the sanctities of other Muslim countries and nations under the pretext of freedom of expression,\" foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Iran is waiting for the French government\'s explanation and compensatory action in condemning the unacceptable behaviour of the French publication,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Seen by supporters as a champion of freedom of speech and by critics as needlessly provocative, Charlie Hebdo\'s style is controversial even within France.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">But the country was united in grief when in January 2015 it was targeted in a deadly attack by Islamist gunmen who claimed to be avenging the magazine\'s decision to publish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- \'Not last word\' -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The issue contained a variety of sexual images depicting Khamenei and fellow clerics. Other cartoons pointed to the authorities\' use of capital punishment as a tactic to quell the protests.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It was a way to show our support for Iranian men and women who risk their lives to defend their freedom against the theocracy that has oppressed them since 1979,\" Charlie Hebdo\'s director Laurent Sourisseau, known as Riss, wrote in an editorial.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">All the cartoons published \"have the merit of defying the authority that the supposed supreme leader claims to be, as well as the cohort of his servants and other henchmen,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nathalie Loiseau, a French MEP and former minister loyal to President Emmanuel Macron, described Iran\'s response as an \"interference attempt and threat\" to Charlie Hebdo.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Let it be perfectly clear: the repressive and theocratic regime in Tehran has nothing to teach France,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price, asked about the row, told reporters that the United States stood \"on the side of freedom of expression\" whether \"that\'s in France, whether that\'s in Iran, whether that\'s anywhere in between\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Khamenei, the successor of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is appointed for life. Above day-to-day politics, criticism of him is prohibited inside Iran.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Khomeini in 1989 famously issued a religious decree, or fatwa, ordering Muslims to kill the British author Salman Rushdie for what he deemed the blasphemous nature of \"The Satanic Verses\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many activists blamed Iran last year when the writer was stabbed at an event in New York but Tehran denied any link.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Iranian regime has been shaken by three months of protests triggered by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd who was arrested for allegedly violating the country\'s strict dress code for women.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It has responded with a crackdown that Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights said has killed at least 476 people in protests, which Iranian officials generally describe as \"riots\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Charlie Hebdo published the caricatures in a special edition to mark the anniversary of the deadly attack on its Paris office, which left 12 people dead, including some of its best known cartoonists.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Eight years later, religious intolerance has not said its last word,\" its director said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It continues its work in defiance of international protests and respect for the most basic human rights.\" 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, '2023-01-05 08:38:38', '2023-01-05 08:38:38'),
(4259, 4259, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A mild cold wave is sweeping across Rajshahi, Pabna, Dinajpur, Panchagarh, Nilphamari, Jashore, Chuadanga and Kushtia districts and it may continue, Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) said this morning.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Temperature between 8 to 10 degree Celsius is considered a mild cold wave, 6 to 8 degrees Celsius a moderate cold wave and less than 6 degree Celsius, a severe cold wave.</div><div><br></div><div>The lowest temperature in the country was recorded at 9 degrees Celsius in Jashore in 24 hours till 6 am today. The highest temperature was recorded at 28.2 degrees Celsius in Teknaf.</div><div><br></div><div>Weather may remain dry with partly cloudy skies over the country.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, night temperature may remain nearly unchanged and day temperature may rise slightly over the country.</div><div><br></div><div>Moderate to thick fog may occur over the country during midnight till morning and it may continue till noon at places.</div><div><br></div><div>The ridge of sub-continental high extends up to West Bengal and adjoining Western part of Bangladesh. Seasonal low lies over south Bay, extending its trough to North Bay. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 09:45:27', '2023-01-05 09:45:27'),
(4260, 4260, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The World Health Organization criticised China\'s \"very narrow\" definition of Covid deaths on Wednesday, warning that official statistics were not showing the true impact of the outbreak.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>There is growing concern over China\'s steep rise in Covid infections since Beijing last month abruptly lifted years of hardline restrictions, with hospitals and crematoriums quickly overwhelmed.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We still do not have complete data,\" WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told reporters.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We believe that the current numbers being published from China under-represent the true impact of the disease in terms of hospital admissions, in terms of ICU admissions, and particularly in terms of deaths.\"</div><div><br></div><div>China has only recorded 22 Covid deaths since December and has dramatically narrowed the criteria for classifying such fatalities -- meaning that Beijing\'s own statistics about the unprecedented wave are now widely seen as not reflecting reality.</div><div><br></div><div>Ryan pointed out that the definition Beijing is using \"requires a respiratory failure\" associated with a Covid infection for a fatality to be registered as a Covid death.</div><div><br></div><div>\"That is a very narrow definition,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>- Testing travellers \'understandable\' -</div><div><br></div><div>EU countries have also echoed the WHO\'s concern that Chinese data on Covid infections was insufficient.</div><div><br></div><div>As countries grapple with the best response to the surge in cases, a crisis meeting of European Union experts said Wednesday that EU countries were \"strongly encouraged\" to demand Covid tests from passengers coming from China.</div><div><br></div><div>The meeting was held to coordinate a joint EU response to the sudden inflow of visitors as Beijing lifts its \"zero-Covid\" policy which had largely closed the country off to international travel.</div><div><br></div><div>The experts also recommended that passengers to and from China wear face masks, that EU countries conduct random tests on arrivals and test wastewater from flights from China, according to a statement issued by the Swedish presidency of the EU.</div><div><br></div><div>WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had earlier told reporters that the organisation\'s officials had held high-level talks in recent weeks with counterparts in China.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We continue to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalisation and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing,\" Tedros said.</div><div><br></div><div>He reiterated that the UN health agency understood why some countries were introducing fresh Covid curbs on visitors from China.</div><div><br></div><div>\"With circulation in China so high and comprehensive data not forthcoming... it is understandable that some countries are taking steps they believe will protect their own citizens,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The United States -- which will require negative tests from most travellers from China starting Thursday -- praised the role of the WHO and said Washington\'s own precautions were due to the lack of transparency from Beijing.</div><div><br></div><div>The UN body is \"in the best position to make an assessment\" due to its contact with Chinese officials, State Department spokesman Ned Price said.</div><div><br></div><div>- \'Most transmissible\' subvariant -</div><div><br></div><div>Outside of China, many experts have their attention on the US and Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, which has been detected in 29 countries so far.</div><div><br></div><div>Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO\'s Covid-19 technical lead, said it was \"the most transmissible subvariant that has been detected yet.\"</div><div><br></div><div>However there is no indication as yet that XBB.1.5 -- which has been spreading rapidly in the northeastern United States -- causes more severe disease than other types of Covid.</div><div><br></div><div>The upsurge in XBB.1.5 cases, Van Kerkhove said, underlined how important it was \"to continue surveillance for Covid-19 around the world.\"</div><div><br></div><div>\"There were more than 13 million Covid cases reported to the WHO last month alone, she said, \"and we know that that\'s an underestimate because surveillance has declined.\"</div><div><br></div><div>There were also 15 percent more Covid deaths globally last month than the month before, she said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Every week, approximately 10,000 people die of Covid-19, that we are aware of,\" Tedros said. \"The true toll is likely much higher.\" - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 10:56:16', '2023-01-05 10:56:16'),
(4261, 4261, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The deeply riven US House of Representatives was engulfed in crisis for a second day running Wednesday as fresh rounds of voting failed to produce a winner in the race for speaker.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Conservative hardliners have been blocking establishment pick Kevin McCarthy in a humiliating standoff that has paralyzed the lower chamber of Congress since it flipped to narrow Republican control after the new year.</div><div><br></div><div>Some 20 Republicans denied McCarthy a majority in three drawn-out votes on Wednesday -- forcing another overnight adjournment with little to show for the drama -- after the rebels had spent Tuesday blocking the California congressman\'s path to the gavel.</div><div><br></div><div>Republican infighting, described by Democratic President Joe Biden as \"embarrassing for the country,\" has made the 2023 speakership race the first in a century to require multiple rounds of voting.</div><div><br></div><div>The stalemate has left the chamber unable to swear in members, fill committees, adopt rules for legislating or negotiate a path through the paralysis.</div><div><br></div><div>The House adjourned until noon on Thursday after the sixth indecisive ballot, allowing the Republicans a few precious hours to regroup and settle on a new strategy before going back into the fray.</div><div><br></div><div>McCarthy -- who has raised millions of dollars to elect right-wing lawmakers -- dragged his party back to a 222-212 House majority in last year\'s midterms after four years in the wilderness.</div><div><br></div><div>The 57-year-old former entrepreneur has long coveted the opportunity to replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi, something of an icon in US politics who held the gavel in the last Congress.</div><div><br></div><div>But McCarthy\'s speaker bid has opened a troubling rift within the House Republicans, with centrists referring to the hard-right faction leading the charge against him as the \"Taliban 20.\"</div><div>- \'Embarrassing defeat\' -</div><div><br></div><div>The standoff sparked frantic behind-the-scenes negotiations as McCarthy\'s allies sought to cut a deal with his conservative detractors that could also win the approval of moderates.</div><div><br></div><div>US media reported that the rival sides were in talks about setting up a \"negotiating group\" to hash out their differences, made up of four McCarthy allies and four representatives of the renegade Republicans.</div><div><br></div><div>McCarthy meanwhile told reporters in Congress he planned to stay in the race and had spoken to his biggest VIP backer, Donald Trump, who was still supporting his candidacy.</div><div><br></div><div>The former president duly called for an end to the McCarthy blockade, warning the renegade Republicans not to \"turn a great triumph into a giant and embarrassing defeat.\"</div><div><br></div><div>The comments didn\'t move the needle at all on the House floor and were curtly dismissed by normally staunch Trump ally Lauren Boebert, who said her \"favorite president\" had things backwards.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that, sir, you do not have the votes and it\'s time to withdraw,\" she said.</div><div><br></div><div>No House business can take place without a speaker, the chamber\'s presiding officer who is second in line to the presidency, meaning lawmakers-elect have to continue voting until someone wins a majority.</div><div><br></div><div>Should McCarthy, who has lost every round so far to Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, ultimately decide to pull out, the two parties are likely to start casting around for a \"unity\" candidate -- a consensus Republican willing to work across the aisle.</div><div><br></div><div>- \'A desperate guy\' -</div><div><br></div><div>The Republicans will first consult their own ranks though, where two McCarthy loyalists -- incoming House majority leader Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan, a darling of the right -- look like the most viable alternatives.</div><div><br></div><div>Some of McCarthy\'s detractors have taken issue with specific political positions, but many others have just indicated broad distaste for his candidacy.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Every single Republican in Congress knows that Kevin does not actually believe anything. He has no ideology,\" Florida congressman Matt Gaetz recently wrote of McCarthy.</div><div><br></div><div>The former delicatessen owner has already given away the store to his conservative opponents, agreeing to changes in the way the House does business, to stop opposing far right candidates in open primaries and to lower the threshold of support needed to oust a speaker.</div><div><br></div><div>But not one of them has shown signs of wavering so far.</div><div><br></div><div>Boebert and Gaetz held talks with McCarthy after a brief early evening adjournment but Gaetz told reporters afterwards that the would-be speaker was \"a desperate guy whose vote share is dropping\" while Boebert predicted \"increased opposition coming Kevin\'s way.\" - AFP </div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 11:05:06', '2023-01-05 16:17:41'),
(4262, 4262, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Evacuation orders and advisories are in place in parts of northern California as a major storm slams into the coast.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Regions that have been hit by wildfires in the past were among the first places to be told to evacuate due to concerns about flooding and landslides.</div><div><br></div><div>California\'s governor has declared a state of emergency for the storm - the second to drench the state in a week.</div><div><br></div><div>Forecasters say it will form into a bomb cyclone, a type of explosive storm, and will probably kill people.</div><div><br></div><div>Northern California, which saw a deadly levee breach over the weekend, is expected to be hardest-hit.</div><div><br></div><div>The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a flood watch and high wind warning for the entire Bay Area in northern California, saying that wind gusts were expected to down trees and cause power outages</div><div><br></div><div>It warned that the North Fork Dam was compromised and water would overtop its spillway by Thursday morning. The NWS urged anyone in low-lying areas beneath the dam to \"move to higher ground immediately\" - BBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 11:11:22', '2023-01-05 11:11:22'),
(4263, 4263, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">In a fresh attack on Gen (retd.) Qamar Javed Bajwa, Pakistan\'s ousted prime minister Imran Khan has alleged that the former army chief wanted to have him murdered and impose a state of emergency in the country.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, made the startling allegation during an interview with private Bol News channel in Lahore.</div><div><br></div><div>Khan, 70, had been at loggerheads with Bajwa ever since his ouster from power in April by a no-confidence motion.</div><div><br></div><div>He suffered bullet injuries in the right leg on November 3 when two gunmen fired a volley of bullets at him and others standing on a container-mounted truck in the Wazirabad area, some 150-km from Lahore, where he was leading the long march to press for snap polls.</div><div><br></div><div>Imran Khan said he was being told by many to stop levelling allegations against Bajwa as he has retired, but he could not cover up the crimes that Gen Bajwa had committed, the Dawn newspaper reported, quoting the channel\'s Lahore bureau chief.</div><div><br></div><div>According to the report, Khan, in the as-yet unaired interview, claimed that Bajwa \"wanted me dead\".</div><div><br></div><div>Khan has attacked Gen (retd.) Bajwa in the past. Bajwa is now the main target of Khan who not only sees him as the sole reason for all his failures in the government but also alleges that the retired general had toppled his government as part of a US conspiracy.</div><div><br></div><div>Last month, Khan accused Bajwa of playing a \"double game\" against his government and said that he committed a \"big mistake\" by extending the tenure of then military chief in 2019.</div><div><br></div><div>Gen Bajwa, 61, retired on November 29 after getting a three-year extension in 2019 by the then Prime Minister Khan, who turned out to be the biggest critic of the Pakistan Army.</div><div><br></div><div>The powerful Army, which has ruled the coup-prone country for more than half of its 75 plus years of existence, has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.</div><div><br></div><div>Khan, the former cricketer-turned-politician, is the only Pakistani prime minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.</div><div><br></div><div>He had alleged that the no-confidence vote was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China, and Afghanistan. The US has denied the allegations. - PTI</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 11:17:22', '2023-01-05 11:17:22'),
(4264, 4264, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>With mercury dropping to several degrees below freezing point in Kashmir, videos showed ice flowing out of water pipelines in Valley and large parts of Dal lake in Srinagar were frozen on Thursday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>In some areas locals resorted to setting up fires under the frozen pipelines to melt the water supply.</div><div><br></div><div>Kashmir is under the grip of \'Chilla-i-Kalan\', the 40-day harsh winter which begins on December 21 and ends on January 30. This period is marked by frequent snowfall and several water bodies across the Valley being frozen.</div><div><br></div><div>Minimum temperature in the Valley remains sub-zero for last one month.</div><div>Today minimum temperature in Srinagar was minus 6.4 degrees Celsius. Pagalgam in South Kashmir was the coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir with a temperature of minus 9.2 degrees Celsius. The ski resort resort of Gulmarg recorded a temperature of minus 7. 5 degrees Celsius.</div><div><br></div><div>Qazigund and Kupwara recorded low temperatures of minus 6.2 degrees Celsius</div><div><br></div><div>Over the next few days, the region will continue to face dry weather and colder night. According to the India Meteorological Department snowfall is expected on Sunday and Monday.</div><div><br></div><div>A less harsh cold wave continues after the 40-day harsh winter, with a 20-day cold period called \'Chillai-Khurd\' (small cold) and a 10-day-long \'Chillai-Bachha\' (baby cold). - NDTV</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 11:57:01', '2023-01-05 11:57:01'),
(4265, 4265, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The 21st session of the 11th Parliament, also known as winter session, began on Thursday afternoon with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>President Abdul Hamid started addressing the Jatiya Sangsad during the maiden session of 2023 as per the Article 73(2) of the Constitution.</div><div><br></div><div>Later, there will be a discussion over a thanksgiving motion on the President’s speech in the House during the session.</div><div><br></div><div>The House went into the session after a recess of 59 days as the 20th session of the current parliament was prorogued on November 06 last.</div><div><br></div><div>On December 19, the President convened the 21st session, exercising the power bestowed upon him as per the Clause (1) of Article 72 of the constitution. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 12:41:07', '2023-01-05 12:41:07'),
(4266, 4266, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Police in a drive last night arrested district Jamaat ameer Abdul Karim in connection with a subversive case filed under Special Power Act.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Officer-in-Charge of Sadar Model Thana Shah Kamal Akand said the case was filed on October 22 last year. On information, a team of police conducted a raid at his residence in Maharaja Street and arrested him.</div><div><br></div><div>Abdul Karim, 60, was produced before a court this noon. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 13:28:51', '2023-01-05 13:28:51'),
(4267, 4267, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>President M Abdul Hamid called all concerned for further integrated efforts to build an exploitation-free society by entirely eradicating corruption, terrorism, drugs and militancy from the country.</b></span><br></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The President made the call as he addressed the New Year\'s (2023) first session of the 11th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) here this evening.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The head of the state termed the parliament as the focal point of people\'s expectations and said, \"People are the source of all power. All public representatives must give priority to the public interests.\"</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>He also asked all to work together with the spirit of Liberation War to build a \'Sonar Bangla\' which will be free from hunger and poverty envisioned by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;As per the parliamentary practice, the current session is the maiden one of the New Year, where the President addresses the House every year. Subsequently, detailed discussions would take place on his speech with the participation of lawmakers.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>In his speech, the President highlighted the development and success of the government in various fields, including economic development, communication, electricity, agriculture, education, health, rule of law, women empowerment and information technology.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Abdul Hamid praised the Prime Minister\'s strong leadership in implementing various mega projects, including metro rail, the construction of the tunnel under Karnaphuli River and Padma Bridge with government\'s own funding, fighting against COVID-19, providing humanitarian aid to the vulnerable Rohingyas and facing climate change affects.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Referring to Bangabandhu\'s foreign policy dictum, \"Friendship to all, malice towards none\", the President said the government, based on this, is working tirelessly to strengthen diplomatic ties with neighbouring countries, expand trade and labour market under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The Prime Minister\'s strong leadership in providing humanitarian aid to the vulnerable Rohingya people, empowering women and tackling climate challenges is being acclaimed globally,\" he added.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Talking about the impact of the ongoing global economy and politics, the President said the entire world is passing through a difficult time.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>He said the present government was able to successfully deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and maintain economic dynamism, but the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has slowed down this ongoing progress. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 13:44:43', '2023-01-05 13:44:43'),
(4268, 4268, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>American multinational technology company Intel has launched a plethora of new desktop processor models as part of its 13th Gen line-up.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>According to GSM Arena, a tech news-related website, joining the existing six unlocked K-series models are sixteen new locked models, six of which are low-power variants for OEMs.</div><div><br></div><div>The top of the ten basic variations is the Core i9-13900, which keeps the 13900K\'s core and thread count but reduces all clock speeds, with boost clocks lowering by up to 200MHz.</div><div><br></div><div>Although boost power is only down by 34W to 219W, the base clocks are also lower, resulting in a lower 65W base power. If you intend to operate at maximum turbo speeds, you will still need robust cooling. -&nbsp; ANI</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 13:53:53', '2023-01-05 13:53:53'),
(4269, 4269, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Bangladesh\'s Liton Das reached a unique height by becoming the highest-ranked batter for his country in the ICC Test rankings.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>He indeed broke his own record as he moved to 11th position from 12th as per the latest rankings released by the International Cricket Council (ICC) today. He has now 702 rating points, 14 less than No. 10 batter New Zealand\'s Daryl Mitchell.</div><div><br></div><div>Since Bangladesh has had no Test matches scheduled in the recent time, it will be tougher for him to break into the top 10 for the first time by any Bangladeshi batter.</div><div><br></div><div>However, by moving to 11, he went past the stars like Usman Khawaja, Virat Kohli, David Warner.</div><div><br></div><div>After the Mirpur Test against India last week, Liton rose to the 12th position in the ranking among Test batters. He came to this position once before in June this year.</div><div><br></div><div>Liton could not break his previous record in rating points even though he moved beyond that position and came close to the top 10. His rating was 724 in June this year. This is the highest rating of any Bangladeshi batter till now.</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile, Bangladesh\'s Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan have moved down two steps in the ICC\'s latest Test batting rankings as Mushfiqur is in 22nd position and Shakib is at 42nd.</div><div><br></div><div>Marnus Labuschagne of Australia is at the top of the Test batting rankings with 925 rating points. His compatriot Steven Smith is at two and Pakistan\'s Babar Azam at three. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 14:41:45', '2023-01-05 14:41:45'),
(4270, 4270, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will address the nation tomorrow evening marking the completion of the fourth year of the current tenure of the Awami League government.&nbsp;</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>\"The Prime Minister will deliver her speech at 7.30pm on Friday to mark the completion of the government\'s fourth year in office in present term,\" PM\'s Assistant Press Secretary MM Emrul Kayas told BSS.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Her speech will be broadcast by Bangladesh Television, Bangladesh Betar and private TV channels and radio stations.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina was sworn-in as the Prime Minister for the fourth time, third in a row, on January 7 in 2019 after her party Bangladesh Awami League secured a landslide victory in the general election held on December 30 in 2018. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 15:32:30', '2023-01-05 15:32:30'),
(4271, 4271, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Thai authorities said Thursday that travellers from China could enter the kingdom without pre-departure coronavirus tests, hoping their return would be a shot in the arm for the country\'s tourism sector recovery.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>China has experienced a surge in infections and its hospitals and crematoriums have been inundated after Beijing last month wound back tight restrictions.</div><div><br></div><div>The United States, Canada, Japan and France are among the countries that have imposed new rules requiring travellers from China to provide negative Covid tests as concerns grow over the spike in cases.</div><div>But Thai authorities on Thursday said all countries should be treated the same.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Thailand does not require Covid test results from tourists from any country,\" Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters on Thursday following a meeting between health, tourism and transportation officials.</div><div><br></div><div>China was the largest source of foreign tourists for Thailand before the pandemic, with almost 11 million arrivals in 2019, according to government data.</div><div><br></div><div>Tourism accounted for nearly 20 percent of national income before the pandemic, and tough border restrictions at the height of the health crisis took a toll on hotels, restaurants and tour operators across the country. - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 15:55:06', '2023-01-05 15:55:06'),
(4272, 4272, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>President Vladimir Putin told Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan he was open to dialogue with Ukraine if Kyiv accepts territories occupied by Moscow as Russian, the Kremlin said Thursday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>\"Putin again confirmed Russia\'s openness to serious dialogue on the condition of Kyiv authorities fulfilling the well-known and repeatedly voiced requirements of taking into account the new territorial realities,\" the Kremlin said in a statement.</div><div><br></div><div>Erdogan had called for peace talks in the phone call with Putin, his office said earlier.</div><div><br></div><div>Russian troops occupy large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.</div><div><br></div><div>The Kremlin claims it has annexed the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions despite not controlling them in their entirety.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The Russian side emphasised the destructive role of Western states, pumping the Kyiv regime with weapons and military equipment, providing it with operational information and targets,\" the statement added.</div><div><br></div><div>The leaders also discussed the implementation of a landmark grain deal, brokered by the UN with the help of Turkey, to unblock Ukrainian grain.</div><div><br></div><div>The Kremlin said the pair discussed \"the unblocking of food and fertiliser supplies from Russia\" and the need for \"the removal of all barriers to Russian exports.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Russia briefly exited the deal in October after a drone attack on its Black Sea Fleet. It re-entered the deal within days but officials have complained of restrictions on Russian products.</div><div><br></div><div>Putin sent troops to Ukraine in Febuary last year.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-05 16:15:51', '2023-01-05 16:15:51'),
(4273, 4273, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Russian military’s top brass came under increasing scrutiny Wednesday as more details emerged of how at least 89 Russian soldiers, and possibly many more, were killed in a Ukrainian artillery attack on a single building.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The scene last weekend in the Russian-held eastern Ukrainian town of Makiivka, where the soldiers were temporarily stationed, appears to have been a recipe for disaster. Hundreds of Russian troops were reportedly clustered in a building close to the front line, well within range of Ukraine’s Western-supplied precision artillery, possibly sitting close to an ammunition store and perhaps unwittingly helping Kyiv’s forces to zero in on them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was one of the deadliest single attacks on the Kremlin’s forces since the war began more than 10 months ago and the highest death toll in a single incident acknowledged so far by either side in the conflict.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine’s armed forces claimed the Makiivka strike killed around 400 Russian soldiers housed in a vocational school building. About 300 more of them were wounded, officials alleged. It wasn\'t possible to verify either side\'s claims due to the fighting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Russian military sought to blame the soldiers for their own deaths. Gen. Lt. Sergei Sevryukov said in a statement late Tuesday that their phone signals allowed Kyiv’s forces to “determine the coordinates of the location of military personnel” and launch a strike.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Emily Ferris, a research fellow on Russia and Eurasia at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told The Associated Press it is “very hard to verify” whether cellphone signaling and geolocation were to blame for the accurate strike.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She noted that Russian soldiers on active duty are forbidden from using their phones — exactly because there have been so many instances in recent years of their being used for targeting, including by both sides in the Ukraine war. The conflict has made ample use of modern technology.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also noted that blaming the soldiers themselves was a “helpful narrative” for Moscow as it helps deflect criticism and steer attention toward the official cellphone ban.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to move the conversation along, too, as he took part via video link in a sending-off ceremony Wednesday for a frigate equipped with the Russian navy’s new hypersonic missiles.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Putin said the Zircon missiles that the Admiral Gorshkov frigate was carrying were a “unique weapon,” capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and with a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). Russia says the missiles can\'t be intercepted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, away from the battlefields, France said Wednesday it will send French-made AMX-10 RC light tanks to Ukraine — the first tanks from a Western European country — following an afternoon phone call between French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The French presidency didn\'t say how many tanks would be delivered and when. The NATO member has given Ukraine anti-tank and air defense missiles and rocket launchers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later Wednesday, President Joe Biden confirmed that the U.S. is considering sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine. The Bradley is a medium armored combat vehicle that can carry about 10 personnel, or be configured to carry additional ammunition or communications equipment.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Pentagon has already provided Ukraine with more than 2,000 combat vehicles, including 477 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles and more than 1,200 Humvees.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The weekend Makiivka strike seemed to be the latest blow to the Kremlin’s military prestige as it struggles to advance the invasion of its neighbor.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But Ferris, the analyst, said “there should be a bit of caution around leaning too heavily on this (attack) as a sign of (the) Russian army’s weakness.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As details of the strike have trickled out in recent days, some observers detected military sloppiness at the root of so many deaths.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">U.K. intelligence officials said Wednesday that Moscow’s “unprofessional” military practices were likely partly to blame for the high casualties.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Given the extent of the damage, there is a realistic possibility that ammunition was being stored near to troop accommodation, which detonated during the strike, creating secondary explosions,” the U.K. Defense Ministry said on Twitter.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the same post, the ministry said the building struck by Ukrainian missiles was little more than 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from the front line, within “one of the most contested areas of the conflict,” in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The Russian military has a record of unsafe ammunition storage from well before the current war, but this incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia’s high casualty rate,” the update added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Russian Defense Ministry, in a rare admission of losses, initially said the strike killed 63 troops. But as emergency crews searched the ruins, the death toll mounted. The regiment’s deputy commander was among the dead.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That stirred renewed criticism inside Russia of the way the broader military campaign is being handled by the Ministry of Defense.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Vladlen Tatarsky, a well-known military blogger, accused Russian generals of “demonstrating their own stupidity and misunderstanding of what’s going on (among) the troops, where everyone has cellphones.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Moreover, in places where there’s coverage, artillery fire is often adjusted by phone. There are simply no other ways,” Tatarsky wrote in a Telegram post.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Others blamed the decision to station hundreds of troops in one place. “The cellphone story is not too convincing,” military blogger Semyon Pegov wrote. “The only remedy is not to house personnel en masse in large buildings. Simply not to house 500 people in one place but spread them across 10 different locations.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unconfirmed reports in Russian-language media said the victims were mobilized reservists from the region of Samara, in southwestern Russia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Institute for the Study of War saw in the incident further evidence that Moscow isn’t properly utilizing the reservists it began calling up last September.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Systemic failures in Russia’s force generation apparatus continue to plague personnel capabilities to the detriment of Russian operational capacity in Ukraine,” the think tank said in a report late Tuesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ferris, of the Royal United Services Institute, said the Makiivka strike shows the Russian army is more interested in growing its number of troops, not in training them in wartime skills.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“That’s really how Russia conducts a lot of its warfare — by overwhelming the enemy with volume, with people,” she said. \"The Kremlin view, unfortunately, is that soldiers’ lives are expendable.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a grinding battle of attrition, Russian forces have pressed their offensive on Bakhmut in Donetsk despite heavy losses. The Wagner Group, a private military contractor owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire businessman with close ties to Putin, has spearheaded the Bakhmut offensive.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">U.S. intelligence officials have determined that convicts Wagner pulled from prisons accounted for 90% of Russian casualties in fighting for Bakhmut, according to a senior administration official who requested anonymity to discuss the finding.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The White House said last month that intelligence findings showed Wagner had some 50,000 personnel fighting in Ukraine, including 40,000 recruited convicts. The U.S. assesses that Wagner is spending about $100 million a month in the fight. 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, '2023-01-06 05:56:00', '2023-01-06 05:56:00');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4274, 4274, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The sun wasn’t yet up in Culiacan when David Téllez and his family began making their way to the city’s airport for a return flight to Mexico after their vacation. But not long after they set out they encountered the first crude roadblock, an abandoned vehicle obstructing their way.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Téllez turned to social media to find out what was going on and saw that Sinaloa’s state capital, a stronghold of the cartel by the same name, was filled with roadblocks and gunfire.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It would be hours before Mexico’s defense secretary would confirm that the military had captured Ovidio Guzmán, a son of the notorious former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, in a pre-dawn operation north of the city.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Just like that, Culiacan was thrust into a day of terror unlike any its residents had experienced since October 2019 — the last time authorities tried to capture the young Guzmán.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has railed against his predecessors’ aggressive efforts to capture drug lords, but his administration bagged the high-profile cartel figure just days before hosting U.S. President Joe Biden, and at least in the short term locals were paying the price.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Culiacan residents posted video on social media showing convoys of gunmen in pickup trucks and SUVs rolling down boulevards in the city. At least one convoy included a flatbed truck with a mounted gun in the back, the same kind of vehicle that caused chaos and mayhem in the 2019 unrest.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">All entrances to the city were blocked and similar acts were playing out in other parts of Sinaloa.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rev. Esteban Robles, spokesman for the Roman Catholic diocese in Culiacan, said that “there is an atmosphere of uncertainty, tension,” and that those who could were staying inside their homes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“A lot of the streets are still blocked by the cars that were burned,” Robles said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Culiacan municipal government warned: “Don’t leave home! The safety of Culiacan’s citizens is the most important.” Schools, local government and many private businesses closed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Oscar Loza, a human rights activist in Culiacan, described the situation as tense, with some looting at stores. On the south side of the city, where Loza lives, people reported convoys of gunmen moving toward a military base, but Loza said streets around his house were eerily quiet. “You don’t hear any traffic,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Téllez pressed on trying to get his family back to Mexico City, circumventing several more abandoned vehicles blocking roads and eventually making it to the airport.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There the family hurriedly checked in for their flight before employees of an airport restaurant urged them to shelter in a bathroom. Gunmen were arriving at the airport to prevent authorities from flying Guzmán out.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Juan Carlos Ayala, a Culiacan resident and Sinaloa University professor who studies the sociology of drug trafficking, said Ovidio Guzmán was an obvious target at least since 2019.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Ovidio’s fate had been decided. Moreover, he was identified as the biggest trafficker of fentanyl and the most visible Chapos leader.” Asked how locals were reacting to the arrest, Ayala said “People have differing views, but I think the majority are with them\" — the Sinaloa cartel.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That may be because of the money the cartel brings to the region, but also because locals know that even after federal troops withdraw, the cartel will still be there. As bad as it is, the cartel has ensured relative stability, if not peace.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Guzmán was indicted by the United States on drug trafficking charges in 2018. According to both governments, he had assumed a growing role among his brothers in carrying on their father\'s business, along with long- time cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard confirmed that the government had received a request in 2019 from the United States for Guzmán’s arrest for purposes of extradition. He said that request would have to be updated and processed, but he added that first an open case in Mexico awaits Guzmán.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ismael Bojorquez, director of the local news outlet Riodoce, which specializes in coverage of the area’s drug trafficking, said the violent reaction had to do with the president’s less aggressive stance toward organized crime.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“They (cartels) have taken advantage of these four years to organize themselves, arm themselves, strengthen their structures, their finances,” he said. “I believe there are more weapons than three years ago. All of organized crime’s armies have strengthened, not just the Chapitos, and this is the price that society is paying for this strategy of the federal government.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At Culiacan’s airport, a Mexican military flight was able to spirit Guzmán away to Mexico City. Téllez’s commercial flight waited for its chance to take off as two large military planes landed with troops as did three or four military helicopters, and marines and soldiers began deploying along the perimeter of the runway.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When the airline flight was finally preparing to accelerate, Téllez heard gunshots in the distance. Within 15 seconds the sound was suddenly more intense and much closer, and passengers threw themselves to the floor, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He did not know the plane had been hit by gunfire until a flight attendant told them. No one was injured, but the plane hastily retreated to the terminal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Samuel González, who founded Mexico’s special prosecutor’s office for organized crime in the 1990s, said Guzmán’s capture was a “gift” ahead of Biden’s visit. The Mexican government “is working to have a calm visit,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He called the shots that hit the commercial airliner “without a doubt an act of international terrorism” and suggested it could lead to very serious discussions between the two governments about the implications of these actions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By evening, Téllez remained in the terminal. The government had shut down the airport, as well as airports in Los Mochis and Mazatlan for security reasons.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Asked if the attempt to capture Guzmán was worth another day of tension and uncertainty in Culiacan, Téllez said, “If they caught him, it was worth it.” 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, '2023-01-06 06:00:54', '2023-01-06 06:00:54'),
(4275, 4275, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Opponents of the largest lithium mine planned in the U.S. urged a federal judge in Nevada on Thursday to vacate the U.S. government\'s approval of the project until it completes additional environmental reviews and complies with all state and federal laws.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">U.S. District Judge Miranda Du said after a three-hour hearing in Reno that she hoped to make a decision “in the next couple months” on how to proceed in the nearly two-year-old legal battle over the Bureau of Land Management\'s approval of the mine Lithium Nevada Corp. plans near the Nevada-Oregon line.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lawyers for the company and the Bureau of Land Management insisted the project complies with U.S. laws and regulations. But they said that if Du determines it does not, she should stop short of vacating the agency\'s approval and allow initial work at the site to begin as further reviews are initiated.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lawyers for a Nevada rancher, conservation groups and Native American tribes suing to block the mine said that should not occur because any environmental damage would be irreversible.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dozens of tribe members and other protesters rallied outside the downtown courthouse during the hearing, beating drums and waving signs at passing motorists.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Du has refused twice over the past year to grant temporary injunctions sought by tribal leaders who say the mine site is on sacred land where their ancestors were massacred by the U.S. Cavalry in 1865.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lithium Nevada and the Bureau of Land Management say the project atop an ancient volcano is critical to meeting the growing demand for lithium to make electric vehicle batteries — a key part of President Joe Biden’s push to expedite a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy through a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“It is the largest known lithium deposit of its kind,” Laura Granier, a lawyer representing the company, told Du Thursday. “Our nation and the world will suffer if this project is delayed further.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Opponents say it will destroy dwindling habitat for sage grouse, Lahontan cutthroat trout, pronghorn antelope and golden eagles, pollute the air and create a plume of toxic water beneath the open-pit mine deeper than the length of a football field.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We need a smart energy future that transitions our economy from fossil fuels to renewables without sacrificing rare species in the process,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of the Western Watersheds Project, which also petitioned in September for protection of a tiny nearby snail under the Endangered Species Act.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Bureau of Land Management fast-tracked the project’s approval during the final days of the Trump administration. The Biden administration continues to embrace it as part of the president’s clean energy agenda.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Demand for lithium is expected to triple by 2030 from 2020. Lithium Nevada says its project is the only one on the drawing board that can help meet the demand.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Will Falk, a lawyer for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, said that “in this rush for lithium in Nevada, the BLM went way too fast in permitting this mine.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Roger Flynn, a lawyer for the Western Mining Action Project representing several environmental groups, said the agency wants the project to move forward even though it botched the environmental reviews it was determined to complete before ex-President Donald Trump left office.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Meanwhile, there will be this immediate, permanent massive environmental damage,” Flynn said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thursday\'s hearing marked the first on the actual merits of the lawsuit filed in February 2021. It will set the legal landscape going forward after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling in Arizona that voided federal approval of a copper mine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That potentially precedent-setting decision raises questions about the reach of the Mining Law of 1872 and could have a bearing on disposal of waste rock at the lithium mine in the high desert about 200 miles (321 kilometers) northeast of Reno.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In addition to the cultural and environmental concerns about the potential effects, the new 9th Circuit ruling halting the Arizona mine in July was a focus of Thursday\'s hearing. Du told lawyers on both sides she was interested in \"the extent to which (that case) controls the outcome of this case.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The San Francisco-based appellate court upheld the Arizona ruling that the Forest Service lacked authority to approve Rosemont Copper\'s plans to dispose of waste rock on land adjacent to the mine it wanted to dig on a national forest southeast of Tucson.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The service and the Bureau of Land Management long have interpreted the Mining Law of 1872 to convey the same mineral rights to such lands.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 9th Circuit agreed with U.S. Judge James Soto, who determined the Forest Service approved Rosemont\'s plans in 2019 without considering whether the company had any mining rights on the neighboring lands. He concluded the agency assumed under mining law that Rosemont had “valid mining claims on the 2,447 acres it proposed to occupy with its waste rock.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Leilani Doktor, a Justice Department lawyer for the Bureau of Land Management, said the Forest Service and the BLM are under “different regulatory schemes.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Each step of the way, BLM followed its own regulations,” she 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, '2023-01-06 06:16:11', '2023-01-06 06:16:11'),
(4276, 4276, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday paid rich tributes and offered prayers at the mausoleum of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman here in Gopalganj district.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Accompanied by her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, the premier this morning offered Fateha and joined a munajat (prayer) seeking eternal peace of the departed souls of Father of the Nation and other martyrs of August 15, 1975 carnage.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister paid the glowing tributes to Bangabandhu by placing a wreath at his mausoleum.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After laying the wreath, she stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of profound respect to the memory of the great architect of the independence, who was brutally killed by some disgruntled army men on the dreadful night of August 15, 1975 along with most of his family members.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Family members of the prime minister were present at that time.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier reached Tungipara this morning by road after crossing the Padma Bridge.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She is scheduled to stay here tonight. 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, '2023-01-06 06:19:19', '2023-01-06 06:19:19'),
(4277, 4277, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Colombia is the first Latin American country to meet FIFA president Gianni Infantino\'s request to name a stadium after Pele.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Infantino on Monday said world football\'s governing body would ask all countries to name a stadium after the Brazilian icon, widely regarded as the greatest footballer of all time, who died last week after a long battle with illness.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">And late on Wednesday, the governor of Colombia\'s southern Meta department, Juan Guillermo Zuluaga announced on Twitter that a stadium in the city of Villavicencio \"will be called BELLO HORIZONTE \'REY PELE\'.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"Future generations must know who this world football icon was,\" said Zuluaga.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The 15,000 capacity stadium inaugurated in 1958 was previously called simply Bello Horizonte, which means \"beautiful skyline\" in Spanish.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">It is the home of modest second division Colombian side Llaneros.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Pele died on December 29 aged 82 following a long battle with colon cancer.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">He was buried on Tuesday in Santos, the city where he played most of his football career and made his name.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">While attending Pele\'s wake, Infantino said he would ask all FIFA\'s member federations to pay tribute to Pele by renaming a stadium after the three-time World Cup winner.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Colombia was beaten to the stadium move by Cape Verde, whose prime minister Jose Ulisses Correia e Silva had announced earlier on Wednesday the renaming of the national stadium in the capital Praia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The northeastern Brazilian city of Maceio has since 1979 had a stadium called \"Rei Pele\" (King Pele) although it is commonly known as the Trapichao. 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, '2023-01-06 06:25:47', '2023-01-06 06:25:47'),
(4278, 4278, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Half of the Earth\'s glaciers, notably smaller ones, are destined to disappear by the end of the century because of climate change, but limiting global warming could save others, according to a new study.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The findings, published in the journal Science on Thursday, provide the most comprehensive look so far at the future of the world\'s 215,000 glaciers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The authors emphasized the importance of restricting greenhouse gas emissions to limit the consequences from glacier melt such as sea level rise and depletion of water resources.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">To help orient policy makers, the study looked at the impact of four scenarios on glaciers, where global mean temperature change is 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), 2.0C, 3.0C and 4.0C.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Every degree increase produces more melt and loss,\" said Regine Hock of the University of Oslo and University of Alaska Fairbanks, a co-author of the study.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"But that also means if you reduce the temperature increase, you can also reduce that mass loss,\" Hock told AFP. \"So in that sense, there is also a little bit of hope.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Even if global temperature rise is limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels -- the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement -- the researchers estimated that 49 percent of the world\'s glaciers would vanish by the year 2100.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That would represent about 26 percent of the world\'s glacier mass because the smallest glaciers would be those first impacted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Global mean temperature is currently estimated to be increasing by 2.7C which would result in a near-complete loss of glaciers in Central Europe, Western Canada and the continental United States and New Zealand.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Regions with relatively little ice like the European Alps, the Caucasus, the Andes, or the western US, they lose almost all the ice by the end of the century almost no matter what the emission scenario is,\" Hock said. \"So those glaciers, they\'re more or less doomed.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- \'Up to the policy makers\' -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under the worst-case scenario -- global temperature rise of 4.0C -- giant glaciers such as those in Alaska would be more affected and 83 percent of glaciers would disappear by the end of the century.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Glacier loss would also exacerbate sea level rise.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The glaciers that we are studying are only one percent of all ice on Earth,\" said Hock, \"much less than the Greenland ice sheet and the Antarctic ice sheet.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"But they have contributed to sea level rise almost just as much as the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet together in the last three decades,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Warming of 1.5C would lead to an increase in average sea levels of nine centimeters while temperatures 4.0C higher would cause 15 centimeters of sea level rise.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It doesn\'t sound very much, nine centimeters up to 15 centimeters,\" Hock said, \"but it\'s not global sea level that is that much of a concern.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It\'s mostly associated storm surges,\" she said, which have the potential to cause \"a lot more damage.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The disappearance of glaciers will also have an impact on water resources because they provide freshwater for some two billion people.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The glaciers compensate for the loss of water in summer when it\'s not raining much and it\'s hot,\" Hock said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The study\'s projections, which are more pessimistic than those of UN climate experts, were reached through observations of the mass of each glacier through the decades and computer simulations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Despite the alarming findings, Hock said \"it is possible to reduce the mass loss by human action.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"If it happens is of course a different question,\" she said. \"If that happens is of course up to the policy makers.\" 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, '2023-01-06 06:38:42', '2023-01-06 06:38:42'),
(4279, 4279, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Dasun Shanaka led from the front with a record half-century and two wickets in Sri Lanka\'s series-levelling 16-run win over India in the second Twenty20 international on Thursday.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shanaka hit an unbeaten 56 off 22 balls laced with two fours and six sixes to steer Sri Lanka to 206-6 after being invited to bat first in Pune.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bowlers led by Kasun Rajitha kept down India to 190-8 despite a threatening 91-run sixth-wicket stand between Suryakumar Yadav (51) and Axar Patel (65).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Captain Shanaka turned up with his medium-pace bowling for the 20th over to send back Axar and Shivam Mavi, who hit 26 off 15 balls, and take the series into the decider on Saturday in Rajkot.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"They took the game away from us but still we managed to hold our nerve,\" said Shanaka, who was named man of the match for his all-round show.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Really good to defend the total, especially against India in these conditions.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shanaka\'s batting set up victory as he tore into the Indian attack with his fifty off 20 balls the fastest by a Sri Lankan batsman in the T20 format.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He beat two stalwarts of Sri Lankan cricket, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, both of whom got fifties in 21 balls.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shanaka raised his fifty with a six and put on an unbeaten 68-run stand with Chamika Karunaratne.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kusal Mendis, who hit 52 off 31 balls, put together 80 runs with opening partner Pathum Nissanka, who made 33, to lay the foundations for the winning total.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- \'No-ball is a crime\' -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh was guilty of bowling five of the seven no balls in the innings.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"You can have a bad day but you shouldn\'t be going away from basics,\" said India skipper Hardik Pandya.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"In this situation it\'s very difficult. In the past as well he\'s bowled no-balls. It\'s not about blaming him or being too hard on him but a no-ball in any format is a crime.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mendis reached his fifty off 27 deliveries with a cracking six, but Yuzvendra Chahal broke through to get Mendis trapped lbw and Sri Lanka lost three more wickets.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Charith Asalanka, a left-hand batsman, hit 37 off 19 balls before falling to tearaway quick Umran Malik, who got Wanindu Hasaranga for a duck on the next ball.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shanaka, who had hit 45 in his team\'s two-run opening loss, then made the innings his own as he helped Sri Lanka get 77 runs from the final five overs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sri Lankan bowlers came roaring with Rajitha getting two wickets including Ishan Kishan (2) and Shubman Gill (5) in the second overs of the Indian reply.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">India kept losing wickets with Pandya out for 12 and Deepak Hooda falling for nine as they looked in deep trouble at 57-5 in the 10th over.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But the left-handed Axar raised Indian hopes with three straight sixes off Hasaranga in a 26-run 14th over and Suryakumar soon joined the onslaught.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Axar, coming in at number seven, raised his fifty in 20 balls with a six and Suryakumar also reached his half-century with a hit over the fence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mavi took on the bowlers after Suryakumar\'s departure but the asking rate got too much as Shanaka bowled the last over and dismissed Axar and then Mavi off the final ball. 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, '2023-01-06 07:04:48', '2023-01-06 07:04:48'),
(4280, 4280, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka\'s air quality continued to be in the ‘very unhealthy\' zone on Friday morning.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 209 at 9:20 am, the metropolis ranked third in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be ‘very unhealthy’, 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;\">China’s Wuhan and Pakistan’s Lahore occupied the first two spots with an AQI of 256 and 246, respectively.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, an AQI between 101 and 150 is considered \'unhealthy\', particularly for sensitive groups.</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;\">As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-06 07:11:33', '2023-01-06 07:11:33'),
(4281, 4281, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Friday or Jummah is an important day of the week for Muslims. The literal meaning of Jummah (Friday) is congregation. On the day of Jummah Muslims offer Jummah prayer and for this prayer, special time is taken. The day of Jummah has many religious significances and virtues associated with it. Jummah prayer is obligatory for every man except the sick, child, slave and woman.&nbsp;</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the day of Jummah Muslims gathered I mosque in order to offer Friday prayer. Importance of Jummah is stated in one of hadith of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): “There is an hour on Friday and if a Muslim gets it while offering Salat and asks something from Allah Almighty, then Allah will definitely fulfill his demands and Prophet Muhammad (SAW) pointed out the shortness of that particular time with his hands.” (Bukhari)</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The importance of Friday (Jummah) can be understood by the fact that there is a complete Surah in the Holy Quran named after the day of Jummah. Allah Almighty says in the Holy Quran in these words: “O you who believe! When the call is proclaimed for Jummah (Friday prayer), come fast to the remembrance of Allah”(Quran, 62: 9). As we also mentioned above that Muslims gather on Friday in mosques to pray Jummah prayer collectively in the congregation. Before starting the prayer the orator delivers a speech, which is called “Friday Sermon” or“Khutbah”.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The orator admonishes people and gives lessons about religious matters and affairs in Friday sermon. In another hadith Holy Prophet (SAW) said: “The best day the sun rises over is Friday; on it Allah created Adam. On it, he was made to enter paradise, on it he was expelled from it, and the Last Hour will take place on no other day than Friday.”(At-Tirmidhi)</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some facts about the Day of Jummah</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Friday or Jummah is considered the most important days of the week also known as the master of the week. Below we will discuss some virtues and facts about the day of Jummah or Friday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the day of Jummah Muslim offer the congregational prayer which is an obligatory act in Islam and one of the greatest gatherings of Muslims.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The day of Jummah includes an hour during which all supplications are accepted. Abu Hurairah (RA) narrated that the Messenger of Allah Holy Prophet (PBUH) said: “On the day of Jummah is an hour during which Allah Almighty gives to a Muslim servant standing in prayer whatever he asks for.” (Muslim)</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is forbidden to fast on this day unless one observes fast a day before or after it. Holy Prophet (PBUH) said: “None of you should observe fast on Friday unless he observes fast a day before or after it.” (Al-Bukhari)</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One should give charity on the day of Jummah (Friday) because giving charity during this day is more virtuous than any other day.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One should do good deeds on the virtuous day of Friday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sins are expiated on the day of Jummah. Holy Prophet (SAW) said in hadith: “Whoever takes a bath on a Friday and does it well, and purifies himself and does it well, and puts on his best clothes, and puts on whatever Allah decrees for him of the perfume of his family, then comes to the mosque and does not engage in idle talk or separate (pushing between) two people; he will be forgiven for (his sins) between that day and the previous Friday.”(Ibn Majah)</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When walking to attend the Friday sermon, a Muslim gets the reward of both praying Qiyaam(i.e., the night prayer) and fasting a full year.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hell is fired-up during every day of the week except Friday, as a mark of honor and respect for the day of Jummah.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Listening to the Khutbah or Friday Sermon before the Jummah prayer is highly bounteous and obligatory for every Muslim.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Every one of us should send lots of Durood on Prophet Muhammad (SAW). It is the most superior way of getting closer to Almighty Allah.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One should recite Surah Al-Kahf on the day of Jummah.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Make lots of Duas on this blessing day of Friday (Jummah) as Allah (SWT) will surely grant them. But we must remember that Allah Almighty accepts those Duas which are best for us.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In short, the day of Jummah or Friday is the blessed day of the week we should try to spend it the way Allah Almighty mentioned in the Holy Quran and also we should try to perfect our Friday prayers according to Sunnah ways of Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"7\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-06 07:16:55', '2023-01-06 07:16:55'),
(4282, 4282, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to run during Orthodox Christmas, a move quickly dismissed by war-battered Kyiv and its allies.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Putin\'s directive to his troops was announced days after Moscow suffered its deadliest reported loss of the invasion, and as Ukraine\'s supporters pledged to send armoured vehicles and a second Patriot air defence battery to aid Kyiv.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Both nations celebrate Orthodox Christmas and the Russian leader\'s order came following ceasefire calls from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia\'s spiritual leader Patriarch Kirill, a staunch Putin supporter.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Taking into account the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, I instruct the defence minister of the Russian Federation to introduce... a ceasefire along the entire line of contact between the sides in Ukraine,\" said a Kremlin statement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It will run from midday Friday (0900 GMT), until the end of Saturday (2100 GMT), the Kremlin said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kyiv quickly denounced the move.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia \"must leave the occupied territories -- only then will it have a \'temporary truce\',\" Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter. \"Keep hypocrisy to yourself.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">US President Joe Biden was equally dismissive of Putin\'s announcement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches\" on December 25 and on New Year\'s Day, he said. \"I think he\'s trying to find some oxygen.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly wrote on Twitter: \"A 36 hour pause of Russian attacks will do nothing to advance the prospects for peace.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Orthodox Christmas -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since the invasion began on February 24 last year, Russia has occupied parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, but Kyiv has reclaimed swathes of its territory and this week claimed a New Year\'s strike that killed scores of Moscow\'s troops.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After votes that were internationally branded as farces, Russia annexed the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions -- despite not fully controlling them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Putin is open to dialogue with Ukraine if Kyiv recognises \"the new territorial realities\", said the Kremlin, in a summary of his telephone conversation with Erdogan Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The Russian side emphasised the destructive role of Western states, pumping the Kyiv regime with weapons and military equipment, providing it with operational information and targets,\" it added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 76-year-old Patriarch Kirill has given his blessing to Russian troops fighting in Ukraine and delivered heavily anti-Western and anti-Kyiv sermons throughout the conflict.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kirill made his ceasefire appeal \"so that Orthodox people can attend services on Christmas Eve and on the day of the Nativity of Christ\", he said on the church\'s official website Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Kremlin\'s decision to send troops into Ukraine resulted in many clerics who had continued to remain loyal to Kirill turning away from Moscow.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In May, the Moscow-backed branch of Ukraine\'s Orthodox Church severed ties with Russia, citing his lack of condemnation of the fighting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- More arms for Ukraine -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">News of Putin\'s ceasefire order came as Germany and the United States pledged to provide additional military aid for Kyiv, with Biden saying the promised equipment comes at a \"critical point\" in the war.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Washington and Berlin said in a joint statement that they will respectively provide Kyiv with Bradley and Marder infantry fighting vehicles.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And \"Germany will join the United States in supplying an additional Patriot air defence battery to Ukraine,\" the statement said, doubling the number of the advanced systems that have been promised to Kyiv.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Germany\'s Chancellor Olaf Scholz has faced renewed calls to deliver Leopard light tanks, long sought by Kyiv, after French President Emmanuel Macron announced the delivery of French-made AMX-10 RC light tanks to Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Macron\'s announcement on Wednesday made France the first Western country to announce the delivery of such weapons to Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">- Worst single loss -</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Putin\'s ceasefire order came a day after Moscow lifted its reported toll in its worst single reported loss from a Ukrainian strike to 89 dead.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine\'s military strategic communications unit has said nearly 400 Russian soldiers died in the town of Makiivka in eastern Ukraine, held by pro-Russian forces. Even Russian commentators have said the death toll may be far higher than the Kremlin\'s figures.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The deadly Makiivka strike came after months of discontent within Russia towards the military following a series of battlefield defeats and a hugely unpopular mobilisation drive. 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, '2023-01-06 07:50:34', '2023-01-06 07:50:34');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4283, 4283, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Seventy-five years after the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide came into force, one of its glaring failures has been not recognising the 1971 Bangladesh genocide and the 2017 genocide against the Rohingyas in Myanmar.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This not only saddens us in Bangladesh, it also upsets many who have followed large scale massacre of human beings in various parts of the post-colonial world.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Polish Jewish refugee lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the word “genocide” in 1943 to describe the killing and destruction of people. The word is derived from the Greek “genos” (people, tribe or race) and the Latin “cide” (killing) against the backdrop of the Holocaust, that Winston Churchill said was a “crime without a name”. But Churchill’s double-standards remained the enduring feature of Western standpoint on how they look at a genocide or large scale engineered deaths.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Churchill, the British “hero” who guided the Allies to victory in World War II and who attacked Hitler and the Nazis over the Jewish Holocaust, has been held responsible for triggering the Bengal famine that led to 3 million deaths in what was then undivided Bengal, the largest province of British India.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Madhusree Mukerjee, whose “Churchill’s Secret War” created waves and rattled many a British colonial apologist, has gone on record to equate Hitler’s extermination of 10 million Jews with Churchill’s presiding over the death of three million Bengalis through a famine orchestrated by policies linked to the British war effort.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On December 9, 1948, the international community formally adopted a definition of genocide within the 1948 Convention – essentially enshrining the message of “never again” in international law.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rachel Burns of the York University questions whether the convention has achieved what it set out to do and focused on three of its key areas of failure.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">·&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;First, the very application of the term “genocide” is applied too slowly and cautiously when atrocities happen.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">·&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Second, the international community fails to act effectively against genocides.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">·&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Third, too few perpetrators are actually convicted of their crimes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Burns points to the many genocides that have occurred since the 1948 Convention and its ratification in 1951, and then points to the only three that have been legally recognised – and led to trials – under the convention: Rwanda in 1994, Bosnia (and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre), and Cambodia under the 1975-9 Pol Pot regime.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Burns refers to the widespread killing and displacement of Yazidi by IS and of Rohingyas in Myanmar which are ongoing and recognised by the UN as a whole, but are yet to be officially recognised as genocides by some individual states. Similarly, 13 years after atrocities took place in the Sudanese region of Darfur, criminal investigations continue but no official charges of genocide have been made under the convention.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Political scientist Adam Jones names the genocides committed under Saddam Hussein against the Kurds in 1988-91 in Iraq, and the genocide committed by West Pakistan forces against Bangladeshis in 1971.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“And the list of ‘genocides’ that might fall under the UN definition is frighteningly long. The International Criminal Court is investigating several states in which human rights violations and war crimes ‘may’ have occurred,” says Rachel Burns.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As a passionate and patriotic Bangladeshi, I would like to argue that the UN should prioritize recognising the 1971 East Pakistan genocide against Bengalis for three reasons:</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The number of people killed in then East Pakistan by Pakistani forces (regular army and collaborators) between March and December 1971 far exceeds the numbers of victims of the three genocides recognised by the UN. Nearly 3 million Bengalis of all faiths were massacred by the Pakistani forces. In comparison, 1.5 to 2 million deaths occurred at the hands of the murderous Khmer Rouge but these deaths were over a four year period between 1975 and 1979. Between 500000 to 650000 Tutsis were massacred by Hutus during the Rwandan civil war between April and August 1994. And the Balkan genocide casualty toll never crossed six digits.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The genocide in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was not just limited to random killings but involved both targeted murders (of intellectuals to leave behind a brain deficit) and also largescale rapes (nearly 300,000) of Bengali women as well as arson.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This genocide was carried out by the Pakistan army – and not by militias – which has since been designated by US and NATO as an “useful ally in the war against terror”.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A recognition of the 1971 East Pakistan genocide by the UN is not only important for the global body to regain its credibility and effectiveness but also to expose a military institution which is seen as of much strategic value in the West.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The West has been fooled, somewhat willfully, into believing that the Pakistan army is useful in fighting terror in Afghanistan. There is enough evidence now to suggest that the Pakistani generals were always running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. They were allowing US and NATO a springboard for anti-Taliban operations but were also allowing Taliban safe shelter, training and weapons in Pakistan, without which the Taliban would have never survived, let alone emerge victorious to take over the country.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The least the West, especially the US (which is very vocal about human rights violations in Bangladesh now), can do is to take the initiative to officially recognise the 1971 East Pakistan genocide. They should stop fooling their own citizens and taxpayers about the role of the Pakistani army in the war against terror.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By recognising the 1971 genocide, they can hold the Pakistan army accountable for denying Bengalis the right to life during the Liberation War. Recognition of both 1971 East Pakistan genocide and the 2017 Rohingya genocide will help call out and expose two evil military institutions who threaten democracy and dignity of life in our part of the world. It is high time the West stops chasing phantoms and does its bit to punish mass murderers in our region. Otherwise, their sermons on human rights just ring hollow.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Seventy-five years after the UN Convention, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel’s “never again” for genocide remains “a prayer, a promise, a vow” but also a frequent reality. And their frequent recurrence owes much to how many genocides have gone unrecognised and unpunished.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tarana Halim, an actress and lawyer, is a former Bangladeshi minister. She is now president of Bangabandhu Sanskritic Jote, a front for cultural movement against radicalism. She is also a member of Awami League central committee. 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, '2023-01-06 08:16:37', '2023-01-06 08:16:37'),
(4284, 4284, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least 15 passengers were injured as a bogie of an intercity train derailed at Bhairab Railway Station in Kishoreganj on Friday morning.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The bogie of the Kishoreganj-bound intercity Egarosindhur Train from Dhaka came off the tracks at Bhairab station while the engine of the train was being changed at 9:30am, Station Master Md Nur Nabi said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">At least 15 passengers were injured as the window glasses and floors of three bogies broke down following the derailment, Egarosindhur Train attendant Sohel said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The scale of the damage means it will be some time before passengers get things back up and running as normal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"We will work to speedily make our repairs to get the train back on track as a salvage train arrives from Akhaura,\" the station master said. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-06 09:06:54', '2023-01-06 09:06:54'),
(4285, 4285, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Quantum Foundation observed the first \"Total Fitness Day\" in Bangladesh Friday to sensitise people about \"total – physical, mental, social and spiritual – fitness\" to help them lead a happy and healthy life.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The foundation organised a special awareness session at the capital\'s Jatiya Press Club, where it arranged body balance tests, meditations, yogas, exercises, and discussions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also, the foundation organised such sessions in open spaces in different parts of the country. Some volunteering organisations promoting fitness and wellness also observed the day.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hundreds of people from different professions, including artists, journalists and students, celebrated the day joining programmes at more than 120 parks in Dhaka and other district towns in the morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">From now on, Quantum will mark the first Friday of January every year as Total Fitness Day. This year\'s theme of the day was \"healthy body, peaceful mind, busy happy life.\" 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, '2023-01-06 09:23:32', '2023-01-06 09:23:32'),
(4286, 4286, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">As COVID-19 rips through China, other countries and the World Health Organization are calling on its government to share more comprehensive data on the outbreak. Some even say many of the numbers it\'s reporting are meaningless.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Without basic data like the number of deaths, infections and severe cases, governments elsewhere have instituted virus testing requirements for travelers from China. Beijing has said the measures aren\'t science-based and threatened countermeasures.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of greatest concern is whether new variants will emerge from the mass infection unfolding in China and spread to other countries. The delta and omicron variants developed in places that also had large outbreaks, which can be a breeding ground for new variants.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Here\'s a look at what\'s going on with China\'s COVID-19 data:</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chinese health authorities publish a daily count of new cases, severe cases and deaths, but those numbers include only officially confirmed cases and use a very narrow definition of COVID-related deaths.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China is most certainly doing their own sampling studies but just not sharing them, said Ray Yip, who founded the U.S. Centers for Disease Control office in China.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The nationwide tally for Thursday was 9,548 new cases and five deaths, but some local governments are releasing much higher estimates just for their jurisdictions. Zhejiang, a province on the east coast, said Tuesday it was seeing about 1 million new cases a day.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">If a variant emerges in an outbreak, it\'s found through genetic sequencing of the virus.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since the pandemic started, China has shared 4,144 sequences with GISAID, a global platform for coronavirus data. That\'s only 0.04% of its reported number of cases — a rate more than 100 times less than the United States and nearly four times less than neighboring Mongolia.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">So far, no new variants have shown up in the sequences shared by China. The versions fueling infections in China “closely resemble” those that have been seen in other parts of the world since July, GISAID said. Dr. Gagandeep Kang, who studies viruses at the Christian Medical College of Vellore in India, agreed, saying there wasn’t anything particularly worrisome in the data so far.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">That hasn\'t stopped at least 10 countries — including the U.S., Canada, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, the U.K., France, Spain and Italy — from announcing virus testing requirements for passengers from China. The European Union strongly encouraged all its member states to do so this week.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Health officials have defended the testing as a surveillance measure that helps fill an information gap from China. This means countries can get a read on any changes in the virus through testing, even if they don’t have complete data from China.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We don’t need China to study that, all we have to do is to test all the people coming out of China,” said Yip, the former public health official.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Canada and Belgium said they will look for viral particles in wastewater on planes arriving from China.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“It is like an early warning system for authorities to anticipate whether there’s a surge of infections coming in,” said Dr. Khoo Yoong Khean, a scientific officer at the Duke-NUS Centre for Outbreak Preparedness in Singapore.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chinese officials have repeatedly said they are sharing information, pointing to the sequences given to GISAID and meetings with the WHO.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But WHO officials have repeatedly asked for more — not just on genetic sequencing but also on hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern this week about the risk to life in China.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Data remains essential for WHO to carry out regular, rapid and robust risk assessments of the global situation,” the head of the U.N. health agency said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Chinese government often holds information from its own public, particularly anything that reflects negatively on the ruling Communist Party. State media have shied away from the dire reports of a spike in cremations and people racing from hospital to hospital to try to get treatment as the health system reaches capacity. Government officials have accused foreign media of hyping the situation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Khoo, noting that South Africa’s early warning about omicron led to bans on travelers from the country, said there is a need to foster an environment where countries can share data without fear of repercussions. AP/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, '2023-01-06 09:35:18', '2023-01-06 09:35:18'),
(4287, 4287, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">An Australian woman rescued from a squalid Syrian detention camp faced court Friday on charges linked to her former husband\'s role within the Islamic State group.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mariam Raad was repatriated in October as part of a humanitarian mission to free Australian women and children from the notorious camps at Al-Hol and Roj.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The women were in most cases the wives of vanquished IS fighters, who said they were forced or tricked into following their husbands to Syria.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Australian police, who arrested Raad on Thursday, allege the 31-year-old knew her former husband, Muhammad Zahab, was a high-profile IS recruiter and that she had \"willingly travelled to the conflict region\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Raad has been charged with travelling to parts of Syria that were controlled by IS -- a crime under Australian law -- and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She was granted bail after a brief hearing on Friday morning and will return to court in March.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Her bail conditions included surrendering her passport as well as a ban on watching \"propaganda\" for any \"terrorist organisation\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Raad returned to Australia alongside three other women and 13 children.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After being repatriated, Raad settled in Young, a small town about 370 kilometres (229 miles) west of Sydney. 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, '2023-01-06 09:56:31', '2023-01-06 09:56:31'),
(4288, 4288, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Referring to the killing of a Bangladeshi in the US, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Friday said Bangladesh does not want any hate crime anywhere in the world.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The Bangladeshi community there (US) are alleging it to be a hate crime,” Momen told reporters about the death of a Bangladeshi expatriate after being shot by the police at Cambridge in Massachusetts of the US on Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, he inaugurated the three-day \"Peace Run Bangladesh\" by lighting the peace torch at the Suhrawardy Udyan premises in the capital on Friday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We want to stop racism, communal violence and establish peace in the world,” Momen said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Regarding the Bangladesh visit of US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, Momen said it is very good news that he is coming. \"He is like a policymaker in this area. We welcome him.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Donald Lu became Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs on September 15, 2021.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We’ve a very good relationship with the US. We have multifaceted engagements with the US. There will be talks on different issues when he (Donald Lu) comes.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also hoped Donald Lu’s visit will help strengthen the good relationship between the two countries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Replying to a question from the reporters on the US sanctions on Rab, the minister said bilateral relation is not determined by a single issue.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The US is our biggest consumer and our biggest investor. With engagements on many areas, we don\'t have to worry about just one issue. We both have common values and principles.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said the US wants a democratic system and Bangladesh also wants a democratic system.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The US wants to uphold human rights. We want, too. Three million people of Bangladesh have sacrificed their lives for human rights, justice and democracy,” he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We will talk about many things. It is open. Many issues will be discussed,\" he said. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-06 10:55:29', '2023-01-06 10:55:29'),
(4289, 4289, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Eight 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; \">However, no fatalities were reported during this period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also, the DGHS did not not report any dengue death in the first five days of this year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The country recorded 281 dengue deaths in 2022 – the highest on record after the 179 deaths recorded in 2019.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 212 dengue patients, including 99 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The DGHS has recorded 215 dengue cases and three recoveries so far this year. It recorded 62,423 cases and 61,971 recoveries last year. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"6\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-06 11:05:04', '2023-01-06 11:05:04'),
(4290, 4290, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">More than $16 billion is needed to help Pakistan recover from devastating floods that submerged a third of the country last year, and to better resist the impact of climate change, the United Nations said Thursday.</span><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a bid to meet the towering needs, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host an international conference in Geneva next week.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The one-day event will gather high-level representatives from dozens of countries, including several heads of state and government, who have yet to be named.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">While not strictly a pledging conference, UN and Pakistani representatives said Thursday that it aimed to mobilise support as the country deals rebuilds after the massive floods that left more than 1,700 people dead and affected over 30 million others.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The needs are around $16.3 billion,\" Knut Ostby, the UN Development Programme\'s representative in Pakistan, told reporters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking by video from Islamabad, Syed Haider Shah, who heads the UN division in Pakistan\'s foreign ministry, said his country hoped to cover half that amount through its own \"domestic resources\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"For the rest, we are looking at the donor support,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"This is a pivotal moment for the global communities to stand with the people of Pakistan,\" said Khalil Hashmi, the country\'s UN envoy in Geneva, while stressing that the conference would be the beginning of a multiyear process\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A previous appeal for $816 million to help the victims of Pakistan\'s cataclysmic monsoon floods has so far resulted in less than half that amount.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Yet the situation remains dire months after the monsoon rains ended, with flood waters still not receded in some parts of southern Pakistan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Millions of people remain displaced, and while many have begun returning home, Ostby noted that they were returning to damaged or destroyed homes and mud-covered fields that cannot be planted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The number of people facing food insecurity had doubled to 14.6 million, he</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Geneva, Pakistan is due to present a document laying out a wide-ranging strategy aimed at a climate-resilient recovery and reconstruction.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pakistan, with the world\'s fifth-largest population, is responsible for just 0.8 percent of global greenhouse emissions but is also one the most vulnerable countries to extreme weather caused by climate change.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"What is unique about this conference is that it is both mobilising support for the immediate response to the disaster... but it also comes at a time where the world is realising that this is a global issue,\" Ostby said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It has to be tackled with global solidarity.\" AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-06 11:34:06', '2023-01-06 11:34:06'),
(4292, 4292, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today called upon the pro-democratic and rule of law-believing political parties and organizations not to&nbsp; &nbsp;instigate the propaganda being hatched on the social media to hinder the country’s constitutional process.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“I am urging the political parties and organisations, believing in democracy and the rule of law, not to favour and provoke any weird idea that can impede the country’s constitutional process,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier also sought countrymen’s vigil so none can snatch away the people’s rights as she made a televised address to the nation marking the fourth year completion of Awami League (AL) government’s current tenure.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She asked all to remain alert as the anti-liberation forces, power grabbers, looters of people’s wealth and parasites are out to create instability to capture power from backdoor and impede democratic process while the national election will be held at the yearend or beginning of the next year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“They have hired intellectuals and statement mongers at home and abroad in an attempt to mislead the people by giving false and fabricated information on social media. So, don’t be misled by their falsehood,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister hoped a free, fair, neutral, peaceful and competitive election will be held, saying her government will provide all required cooperation to the Election Commission (EC) to this end.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said her government has enacted a law for the first time to form an election commission through a search committee and gave the commission complete economic freedom to hold&nbsp; a free, fair election.&nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina, also President of the AL, said her party is pro-people and believes in people’s power, adding, “The AL will continue its noble duty of building the country if voted to power. Otherwise, we will stand in general people’s queue. But, we will continue to serve&nbsp; the people whatever our position is.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier, as well, alerted all as none can create any anarchic situation and damage lives and properties of the masses in the name of movements.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She however termed the five years tenure of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government in Bangladesh’s history as ignominious as they assumed power through farcical election in 2001.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">“The countrymen have never witnessed&nbsp; &nbsp; such misrule of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government establishing the culture of murder-disappearance, rape, looting, communalism and militancy that set a milestone,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After completion of the tenure, they tried to cling to power instead of handing over it peacefully and attempted to hold a farcical election with 1.23 crore fake voters, she said. “But they failed to do so due to the people\'s uprising,” she added.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The AL assumed power after winning two-third seats in the national election held on December 29 in 2008, she continued.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina said the AL government has been running the country for 14 years in a row since 2009 after being elected through people’s mandate and the country has progressed much during the period.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also described her government’s measures to ensure country’s development in every sector such as communication, education, health, investment, industrialisation, agriculture, generating employments and giving people the social protection.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“You (the people) will compare what we could give the country and its people for the last 14 years,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister said the people are now getting the benefit of her government’s long term plans referring to the “Vision 2021”, “Vision 2041” and “Delta Plan-2100”.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said they have built “Digital Bangladesh” alongside achieving other targets including transformation of Bangladesh into a developing country in line with the “Vision 2021”.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Our country has progressed a lot. But, we have to march further ahead. Our target is to achieve a developed and prosperous Bangladesh. Our next target is to build a ‘Smart Bangladesh’ after making a ‘Digital Bangladesh’,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said her government has taken measures to prepare the youths with proper training as worthy for the fourth industrial revolution.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As part of the initiative of transforming Bangladesh into a “Smart Bangladesh”, she said her government is working to ensure use of robotics, official intelligence, nano-technology, genetic engineering and digital devices in making smart government, smart people, smart industries and business establishments, health, education, commerce and agriculture.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;“Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman wanted to build a “Sonar Bangla” free from exploitation and deprivation. Let’s to fulfil his dream by building a happy-prosperous and non-communal Bangladesh,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier went on saying that the target of the “Vision 2041” is to establish Bangladesh as a developed and prosperous country in the world map while the Delta Plan 2100 is aimed at ensuring Bangladesh’s sustainable growth.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The image of Bangladesh has become brighter from brighter in the world for the last 14 years. No one considers Bangladesh as a country of flood, drought and disaster. Bangladesh is now a country of promising economy and role model for development,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Bangladesh has played a vital role in different international forums as it is an active member of over two dozens of the United Nations organisations and elected member of the UN Humanitarian Council for the fifth time, she said.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh established an emblem ensuring peaceful co-existence with the neighbouring countries referring to enclave exchange with India implementing land boundary agreement and achieving rights on 118813 square kilometres of marine areas from India and Myanmar maintaining friendly relations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We have set a starry example of humanity at the globe by sheltering 12 lakh of Rohingyas,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister however greeted the countrymen at home and abroad on completion of the fourth year of her government’s current tenure and wished them Happy New Year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina said they have made unimaginable development of Bangladesh including making the country self-reliant in food production, signing CHT Peace Treaty, Ganges Treaty, initiating the trial of the Bangabandhu killing case and jail killing case after rescinding the indemnity ordinance following getting the scope of running the state in 1996 after 21 years through people’s mandate.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister said her government assumed power for the second time in 2009 and since then they have been running the state for the last 14 years in a row.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In her address, she presented comparative statistics between the developments carried out by her government and the BNP-Jamaat alliance government and said where Bangladesh was 16 years back and what is its position now in the socio-economic indexes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The per capita income, poverty rate, GDP growth, GDP size and budget was respectively 500 USD,&nbsp; 41.5 percent, 5.4 percent, 60 billion USD and TK 61,057 crore during the FY 2005-6 and now it stands at 2824 USD, 8.1 percent (before Corona virus pandemic) 460.75 billion USD and TK 6,78, 064 crore, she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The foreign currency reserve was 3 billion US Dollar&nbsp; in FY 2005-06 while it increased to 48 billion US Dollar&nbsp; in mid of 2021 and now it declined to 34 billion US Dollar&nbsp; due to increase of import expenses because of the global economic recession and increased inflation rate steaming from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But, the current reserve is enough to meet import related expenses, she also said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The power generation capacity in the last year of the BNP-Jamaat alliance was only 3,600 MW which is now increased to 25,826 MW , she said, adding that the AL government has reached electricity to every house.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said a revolution has been made in the communication system in the last 14 years by building bridges on the major rivers including the Padma, Jamuna, Teesta, Payra, Meghna and Gomoti, constructing flyovers such as Hanif Flyover, Tejgaon-Moghbazar-Malibagh Flyover and Kamlapur-Shahjahanpur Flyover in Dhaka, Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Flyover and Bahadderhat Flyover in Chattogram, inaugurating Dhaka Metro Rail, aimed at building uninterrupted rail and road communications in the riverine Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The South Asia’s first underwater tunnel named “Bangabandhu Tunnel” in Chattogram will be opened soon while the work is progressing to complete the construction of country’s first nuclear power plant at Ishwardi in Pabna, she said, adding that Bangabandhu Satellite-1 was launched to the orbit in 2018.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also mentioned that 100 bridges and 100 roads were opened in last November and December respectively, saying 718km highways have been made four lanes and above since 2009 to 2022 while 13,303 bridges were built or rebuilt and 21,267 metre culvert was constructed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She added: “The greatest and largest achievements of the country including establishing an independent and sovereign Bangladesh have been attained at the hand of Bangladesh Awami League and the Awami League government,” UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'news desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-06 15:48:01', '2023-01-06 15:48:01'),
(4294, 4294, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Moderate to thick fog may occur in the country from midnight to tomorrow morning, said Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>\"Moderate to thick fog may occur over the country from midnight to tomorrow morning and it may continue till noon,\" said a BMD bulletin.</div><div><br></div><div>Mild cold wave is also sweeping over Rajshahi division and the districts of Faridpur, Madaripur, Kishoregonj, Dinajpur, Nilphamari, Panchagarh, Jashore, Chuadanga, Kushtia, Satkhira and Barishal and it may abate from some places.</div><div><br></div><div>Night and day temperature may rise slightly over the country.</div><div><br></div><div>As the difference of temperatures between day and night is limited, moderate to severe cold likely to be felt across the country, the bulletin said.</div><div><br></div><div>Country\'s maximum temperature on Friday was recorded 26.7 degrees Celsius at Teknaf of Chattogram division, while the minimum temperature today was 8.4 degrees Celsius at Chuadanga of Khulna division.</div><div><br></div><div>The sun sets at 05.26pm today and rises at 06.43am tomorrow in the capital. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 08:13:59', '2023-01-07 08:13:59'),
(4295, 4295, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The US House of Representatives elected GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California as speaker in a dramatic 15th vote, after a contentious four days and 14 failed votes - the longest the chamber has gone leaderless in a century.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Despite making numerous concessions to win over a bloc of far right Republicans over the week, which narrowed his opposition from 20, a group of a half dozen holdouts either voted against McCarthy or voted “present,” denying him the majority he needed to win in the 14th vote.</div><div><br></div><div>In a dramatic showdown on the House floor, McCarthy personally confronted GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado. Both dropped their opposition by voting present but it wasn’t enough to change the outcome.</div><div><br></div><div>Support for McCarthy dwindled over the first three days of voting from 203 votes on Tuesday to 200 by the 11th vote on Thursday, falling far short of the number needed to win the speakership. He needs support from more than half of the lawmakers who cast their ballots. With 222 Republicans in the House, he can only afford to lose a handful of votes.</div><div><br></div><div>All 212 Democrats have unanimously backed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies for each vote, except the 12th vote in which one member was out for a minor surgery.</div><div><br></div><div>The last vestiges of a once fierce opposition to McCarthy’s House speakership by far-fight Republicans melted away shortly after midnight, when the last key holdouts voted “present” instead of casting ballots for another candidate.</div><div><br></div><div>Republican Reps. Eli Crane and Andy Biggs, both of Arizona, Matt Rosendale of Montana and Bob Good of Virginia all dropped their opposition to McCarthy in the 15th and final vote of the week by all voting “present” instead.</div><div><br></div><div>A vote of “present,” while not an explicit endorsement, made it easier for McCarthy to win the majority of votes cast by effectively removing one former opposition vote.</div><div><br></div><div>The switches came after a remarkable confrontation following the 14th vote between McCarthy and Gaetz, who appeared to have decided at the last minute to pull his support from the party leader.</div><div><br></div><div>After days of failed votes and high-tension negotiations, McCarthy won 216 votes while all 212 Democrats voted unanimously for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Six Republicans voted “present,” including Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado. Source: CNBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 08:24:52', '2023-01-07 08:24:52'),
(4296, 4296, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Awami League (AL)\'s newly-elected National Committee, Central Working Committee and Advisory Council led by party President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Saturday) paid rich tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahmanin Tungipara of Gopalganj district.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Awami League President Sheikh Hasina along with her party leaders paid homage to the Father of the Nation by placing wreath at his mausoleum.</div><div><br></div><div>They offered Fateha and joined a munajat (prayer) seeking eternal peace of the departed souls of the Father of the Nation and other martyrs of August 15, 1975 carnage.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina was re-elected President of Bangladesh Awami League - the country\'s oldest political party - for the 10th consecutive term, while Obaidul Quader was also re-elected as General Secretary for the third times in the 22nd National Council held on December 24. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 10:08:10', '2023-01-07 10:08:10');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(4297, 4297, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ten soldiers and 19 suspected criminals were killed in an operation to arrest a son of jailed drug trafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Mexico’s government said Friday, with a dramatic shootout sowing terror at an airport.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Thousands of soldiers retook control of the Sinaloa cartel stronghold of Culiacan, which resembled a war zone after furious gunmen went on the rampage to try to free their boss.</div><div><br></div><div>Ovidio Guzman was captured in the northwestern city on Thursday and flown to Mexico City before being transferred to the high-security Altiplano prison in central Mexico from which “El Chapo” escaped in 2015.</div><div><br></div><div>The 32-year-old, nicknamed “El Raton” (The Mouse), had allegedly helped to run his father’s operations since the former Sinaloa cartel boss was extradited to the United States in 2017.</div><div><br></div><div>A colonel who commanded an infantry battalion was among those killed after his team came under attack following the arrest, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval told reporters.</div><div><br></div><div>Another 35 soldiers sustained gunshot wounds and were taken to hospital, while 21 gunmen were arrested.</div><div><br></div><div>Sandoval said a civilian airliner that was about to take off from Culiacan International Airport, as well as two Mexican Air Force aircraft, were hit as cartel henchmen tried to free Ovidio Guzman.</div><div><br></div><div>The military planes “had to make an emergency landing” after receiving “a significant number of impacts,” said Sandoval.</div><div><br></div><div>No injuries resulted from the plane attacks and Culiacan airport resumed operations on Friday.</div><div><br></div><div>The United States had issued a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Ovidio Guzman’s capture. It accuses him of being a key player in the Sinaloa cartel founded by his father.</div><div><br></div><div>The arrest came as Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador prepared to welcome his US counterpart Joe Biden for a North America leaders’ summit next week where security is expected to be high on the agenda.</div><div><br></div><div>The drug trafficker’s detention was “not an insignificant accomplishment by Mexican authorities,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.</div><div><br></div><div>“And we’re certainly grateful for that,” he said, adding that the United States would keep working “in lockstep” with Mexico, notably to tackle trafficking of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.</div><div><br></div><div>Mexico denied that the United States had been involved in the operation to catch Ovidio Guzman.</div><div><br></div><div>“We act autonomously, independently. Yes there is cooperation and there will continue to be, but we make the decisions as a sovereign government,” Lopez Obrador told reporters.</div><div><br></div><div>He said calm had returned to Culiacan, where security forces removed dozens of stolen and burnt out vehicles scattered throughout the city of 800,000 people.</div><div><br></div><div>Videos on social media Thursday showed passengers and Aeromexico airline employees ducking behind counters as gunfire rang out at Culiacan airport.</div><div><br></div><div>Cartel gunmen set cars and trucks ablaze at several intersections in the city, and authorities reported 19 roadblocks.</div><div><br></div><div>El Chapo is serving a life sentence in the United States for trafficking hundreds of tons of drugs into the country over the course of 25 years.</div><div><br></div><div>However, his cartel remains one of the most powerful in Mexico, accused by Washington of exploiting an opioid epidemic by flooding communities in the United States with fentanyl, a synthetic drug about 50 times more potent than heroin.</div><div><br></div><div>Ovidio Guzman and one of his brothers are accused of overseeing nearly a dozen methamphetamine labs in Sinaloa as well as conspiring to distribute cocaine and marijuana, according to the US State Department.</div><div><br></div><div>Ovidio Guzman also allegedly ordered the murders of informants, a drug trafficker and a Mexican singer who refused to perform at his wedding, it said.</div><div><br></div><div>He was captured briefly once before in 2019, but security forces freed him after his cartel waged an all-out war in response.</div><div><br></div><div>His release prompted sharp criticism of Lopez Obrador, who said the decision was made to protect civilians’ lives.</div><div><br></div><div>Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard has played down the prospects of a fast-track extradition, saying Ovidio Guzman was expected to face legal proceedings in Mexico.</div><div><br></div><div>Mexico has registered more than 340,000 murders since the government controversially deployed the army to fight drug cartels in 2006, most of them blamed on criminal gangs. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 10:23:47', '2023-01-07 10:23:47'),
(4298, 4298, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A severe cold wave has gripped many parts of northern India, with temperatures plummeting to -6C (21F) in Indian-administered Kashmir.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Water pipelines have frozen in some parts of Kashmir, road transport has been severely affected and supply chains have been disrupted, making it hard for local communities to meet their daily needs.</div><div><br></div><div>India\'s capital Delhi has also been reeling under a severe cold wave. Some areas of Delhi have recorded temperatures as low as 2.2C. The cold snap has been particularly hard for Delhi\'s homeless people who mostly sleep on pavements.</div><div><br></div><div>Dropping temperatures and dense fog have also disrupted train schedules. Several trains have been running late - sometimes by six to 10 hours - in northern India, throwing people\'s travel plans into chaos.</div><div><br></div><div>The cold wave has also been causing serious health issues, especially in Delhi which also sees severe pollution levels during winter months.</div><div><br></div><div>The north-western state of Rajasthan has also been witnessing a severe drop in temperatures. Farmers there said it has affected their work and harvests. The holy city of Amritsar has also been engulfed in dense fog in the past few days. Transport services, including trains and buses, have been badly hit. Source: BBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 11:20:10', '2023-01-07 11:20:10'),
(4299, 4299, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A 6-year-old student shot and wounded a teacher at his school in Virginia during an altercation inside a first-grade classroom Friday, police and school officials in the city of Newport News said.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>No students were injured in the shooting at Richneck Elementary School, police said. The teacher — a woman in her 30s — suffered life-threatening injuries. Her condition had improved somewhat by late afternoon, Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said.</div><div><br></div><div>“We did not have a situation where someone was going around the school shooting,” Drew told reporters, later adding that the gunshot was not an accident.</div><div><br></div><div>Drew said the student and teacher had known in each other in a classroom setting.</div><div><br></div><div>He said the boy had a handgun in the classroom, and investigators were trying to figure out where he obtained it. The police chief did not provide further details about the shooting or what happened inside the school.</div><div><br></div><div>Joselin Glover, whose son is in fourth grade, told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper she got a text from the school stating that one person was shot and another was in custody.</div><div><br></div><div>“My heart stopped,” she said. “I was freaking out, very nervous. Just wondering if that one person was my son.”</div><div><br></div><div>Carlos, her 9-year-old, was at recess. But he said he and his classmates were soon holed up in the back of a classroom.</div><div><br></div><div>“Most of the whole class was crying,” Carlos told the newspaper.</div><div>Parents and students were reunited at a gymnasium door, Newport News Public Schools said via Facebook.</div><div><br></div><div>The police chief did not specifically address questions about whether authorities were in touch with the boy’s parents, but said members of the police department were handling that investigation.</div><div><br></div><div>“We have been in contact with our commonwealth’s attorney (local prosecutor) and some other entities to help us best get services to this young man,” Drew said.</div><div><br></div><div>Newport News is a city of about 185,000 people in southeastern Virginia known for its shipyard, which builds the nation’s aircraft carriers and other US Navy vessels.</div><div><br></div><div>Richneck has about 550 students who are in kindergarten through fifth grade, according to the Virginia Department of Education’s website. School officials have already said that there will be no classes at the school on Monday.</div><div><br></div><div>“Today our students got a lesson in gun violence,” said George Parker III, Newport News schools superintendent, “and what guns can do to disrupt, not only an educational environment, but also a family, a community.” - AP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 12:16:02', '2023-01-07 12:16:02'),
(4300, 4300, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Though we cannot reverse the process of ageing, we can definitely slow it by having certain foods daily. You can flaunt youthful skin in your 40s and 50s by having healthy fruits and vegetables, recommended by an expert, India Today reported.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>According to Nutritionist Lovneet Batra, five foods that can slow the process of ageing and give you youthful-looking skin:</div><div><br></div><div>Papaya</div><div>The papaya\'s enzyme papain makes it an all-time favourite in skincare routine for its anti-ageing benefits, mentioned the expert. \"This fruit is rich in antioxidants, such as lycopene which may defend against the visible signs of ageing,\" she wrote.</div><div><br></div><div>Pomegranate</div><div><br></div><div>Pomegranate contains a compound called punicalagins. This enzyme may help preserve collagen in the skin and thus, it is great for slowing down the signs of ageing, since collagen maintains the elasticity of the skin.</div><div><br></div><div>Yogurt</div><div><br></div><div>\"Yogurt has probiotics which help in cultivating the good bacteria in your gut. The lactic acid in yogurt helps to diminish fine lines by shrinking and tightening pores. Rich in riboflavin or vitamin B12, yogurt keeps the skin glowing and hydrated while aiding the cell regeneration and growth,\" wrote Lovneet Batra.</div><div><br></div><div>Green Leafy Vegetables</div><div>The chlorophyll in green leafy vegetables increased collagen in the skin, which again contributes to anti-ageing factors.</div><div><br></div><div>Tomatoes</div><div><br></div><div>Tomatoes contain a high level of lycopene that helps the skin fight against sun damage. \"Also, they are an excellent source of vitamin C that help stimulate collagen production,\" the expert added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 13:01:27', '2023-01-07 13:01:27'),
(4301, 4301, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Israel\'s new hard-right government announced Friday that it will withhold some Palestinian Authority revenues in response to its move to seek \"consequences\" from the United Nations for the Israeli occupation.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The decision was taken at the first security cabinet meeting of the new government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which is regarded as the most right-wing in Israel\'s history.</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister\'s office said the cabinet was acting in \"response to the Palestinian Authority\'s decision to wage political and legal war against the State of Israel\".</div><div><br></div><div>Last week, at the PA\'s request, the UN General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice to consider consequences for Israel over its occupation of Palestinian territories, a day after the Netanyahu government took office.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The General Assembly voted 87-26 with 53 abstentions on the resolution, with Western nations split but virtually unanimous support in the Islamic world,</div><div><br></div><div>\"The current government will not sit idly by in the face of this war and will respond as necessary,\" Netanyahu\'s office said.</div><div><br></div><div>It said around $40 million of the tax receipts it withheld from the PA would be used to compensate \"families of victims murdered in Palestinian terrorist attacks\".</div><div><br></div><div>It said it would also withhold a sum equivalent to the amount spent in 2022 on \"payments made by the PA to terrorists and their families\", without specifying how much.</div><div><br></div><div>The PA has long made monthly payments to the families of Palestinians killed in clashes with the Israeli security forces or while carrying out attacks against Israeli targets.</div><div><br></div><div>Under past peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel collects customs duties and other tax revenues on the PA\'s behalf, which it has often used as a bargaining counter with the Palestinian leadership in the past.</div><div><br></div><div>The cabinet also ordered a \"moratorium on Palestinian construction plans in Area C,\" the largest part of the occupied West Bank which falls under Israeli administrative and security control.</div><div><br></div><div>The Palestinian foreign ministry said the Israeli reprisals were a \"reflection of the Netanyahu government\'s racist colonial platform against our people\" and \"a flagrant violation of Israel\'s obligations as an occupying power\".</div><div><br></div><div>It said they would \"not discourage our people and our leadership from continuing the struggle... to provide international protection for our people and to put an end to Israel\'s continued impunity\".</div><div><br></div><div>The Islamist rulers of Gaza, Hamas, condemned the \"punitive measures\" and called on the Palestinian Authority \"not to give in\" to Israeli pressure. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 13:26:27', '2023-01-07 13:26:27'),
(4302, 4302, '<div><br></div><div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least nine people including the assistant proctor of the Chittagong University have been injured in a clash between two factions of the Bangladesh Chhatra League of Chittagong University (CU) unit.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Dr. Shahidul Islam, assistant proctor of the university and eight BCL activists were injured in the clash that erupted between two BCL factions- “Sixty Nine” and “VX” -in front of Suhrawardy Hall at around 12 am Friday.</div><div><br></div><div>Police and the proctorial body brought members the situation under control at around 1 am, said Dr. Robiul Hasan Bhuiyan, Proctor of CU.</div><div>“Discussion is being held between the two groups to resolve the matter,” he added.</div><div><br></div><div>Md. Ataul Gani, a doctor at the university’s medical center, said the&nbsp; injured assistant proctor was given primary treatment.</div><div><br></div><div>One of the injured was sent to the Chittagong Medical College and Hospital for advanced treatment.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Pradip Chakraborty Durjoy, leader of the VX group and vice president of CU BCL, said, “Members of ;Sixty Nine’ threw bricks at us. We retaliated against their attack.”</div><div><br></div><div>Previously, just a day before this clash, another clash erupted between the members of the same groups following a spat on the shuttle train.</div><div><br></div><div>On Thursday night, three BCL men were injured in the clash in the railway station area. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 13:43:02', '2023-01-07 13:43:02'),
(4303, 4303, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A total of 34 names in 27 categories have been named for the ‘National Film Award-2021’ this year.&nbsp;</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The cabinet committee on ‘National Film Award Affairs’ has recently approved the names of winners for the award.</div><div><br></div><div>However, the authority concerned is yet to announce the date and venue where the awards will be handed over to the recipients.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Though the film award is given in 28 categories every year, the number now stands at 27 as no one was found in the ‘best dance director’ category.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>A total of 21 full length films, 17 short films and seven documentary films were submitted for the national award-2021. Of them, 34 were selected for the awards.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Actors Siam Ahmed and Mir Sabbir Mahmud have jointly been named for the best actor award in principal in Mridha Bonam Mrida and Raat Jaga Phool films.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, actresses Azmeri Haque Badhon and Tasnova Tamanna jointly bag the best actress award for principal roles in Rehana Maryam Noor and Nonajoler Kabbo films.</div><div><br></div><div>The best film award will jointly go to Matia Banu Shuku and Rezwan Shahriar Sumit for their Laal Moroger Jhuti and Nonajoler Kabbo films.</div><div><br></div><div>The best short film award will be given to Aka Reza Ghalib for Dhor and best documentary film award to Kawsar Chowdhury for Boddhobhumite Ekdin.</div><div><br></div><div>Apart from this, Sumit will receive the best director award for his Nonajoler Kabbo film while the best supporting actor and actress awards will go to Fazlur Rahman Babu and Shampa Reza for their performance in Nonajoler Kabbo and Padmapuran films respectively.</div><div><br></div><div>Abdul Mannan Joyraj will be awarded the best villain award for the Laal Moroger Jhuti.</div><div><br></div><div>The awards for best comedian actor, child and special award in the child actor category will go to Probash Kumar Bhattacharya Milon, Afifa Tabassum and Jannatul Mawa Jhilik for their roles in Mridha Bonam Mridha, Rehana Maryam Noor and Ja Hariye Jay movies respectively.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Dolly Johur and Ilias Kanchan will jointly get the lifetime achievement award.</div><div><br></div><div>Sujoy Shyam will get the best music director award for song Juboti Konnar Mon, best singer (male and female) award will go to Abdullah Al Mortuza Muhin and Chandana Mazumdar for songs Sonate Esechi and Dekhle Chobi Pagol Hobi in Padmapuron film.</div><div><br></div><div>Late Gazi Mazharul Anwar will be given the best lyrist award for Antore Antor Jhala while the best composer award will go to Sujoy Shyam for the same film.</div><div><br></div><div>The best story writer award will go to Rezwan Shahriar Sumit for Nonajoler Kabbo, the best screenplay award to Nurul Alam Atik for Laal Moroger Jhuti and the best dialogue award to Tauquir Ahmed for Spurlinga.</div><div><br></div><div>Samir Ahmed will get the best editor award for Laal Moroger Jhuti, the best art director award to Shihab Nurun Nabi for Nonajoler Kabbo.</div><div><br></div><div>The best cinematographer award will jointly be given to Syed Kashef Shahbazi, Suman Kumar Sarkar, Mazharul Islam Raju for Laal Moroger Jhuti. The best sound director award will go to Shoaib Talukdar for the Rehana Maryam Noor film.</div><div><br></div><div>The best costume designer award will be awarded to Kachhrin Farid for Nonajoler Kabbo while the best makeup artiste award will jointly go to Md Farukh, Md Farhad Reza Milon for Laal Moroger Jhuti. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'Entertainment Desk', '[\"13\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 14:00:35', '2023-01-07 14:00:35'),
(4304, 4304, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The winter air is drier and so it leached moisture from the skin. If you don’t follow a regime your skin will definitely feel dry and irritated. Make these few conscious changes in your daily self care to avoid while gamut of skin sensitivity issues.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Here are some tried and tested tips by the experts to nourish your skin through winter:</div><div><br></div><div>Use oil-based cleansers/body wash</div><div><br></div><div>As the first step of your winter routine, include almond or argan-based oil body wash in your body care regime. Such oil-based body wash acts as a double cleanser for your dry skin. It gives your skin that extra hydration, smoothening, and nourishment it requires in winter.</div><div><br></div><div>Use thick moisturizers day and night</div><div><br></div><div>Moisturizers are a must in winter. Skin needs moisturizing, as much as your body needs hydration. Use thick moisturizers that contain emollients like shea butter and avocado oil. Apply moisturizers on exposed skin like ankles, hands, and neck to prevent dryness and chicken skin. For better results use moisturizer before going to bed.</div><div><br></div><div>Scrub that dead skin once a week</div><div><br></div><div>People with dry skin should use a scrub at least once a week to get rid of the flaky skin. A cream-based scrub is gentle on the skin and doesn’t damage the skin. Almond powder and walnut shell are two excellent exfoliators but don’t damage the ingredients we swear by for the skin because of the fine size of crystals used in the scrub.</div><div>Use body oil to keep your skin nourished</div><div><br></div><div>Body oils are extremely good for winter, they take the moisturization to next level, especially if you have dry skin. And if you have oily skin, use dry oil. They are extremely nourishing and absolutely non-sticky. Use lighter oils that have ingredients such as argan, macadamia and buriti, and almond oil. Body oil is suitable for all skin types and gives an extremely satisfying level of moisturization and nourishment to your skin.</div><div><br></div><div>Eat healthy and keep yourself hydrated</div><div><br></div><div>It’s not enough to apply moisturizer if you don’t keep yourself hydrated. Drinking water is essential for everyone, especially those who have dry and dehydrated skin. Include seasonal veggies and fruits in your diet with nutrients your body needs during this time of the year. Source: Hindustan Times</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 14:14:19', '2023-01-07 14:14:19'),
(4305, 4305, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Kantara actor Kishore Kumar G has said that Yash\'s KGF Chapter 2 isn\'t his \'type of cinema\'. He also said that he doesn\'t like to watch \'something that is mindless\'.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Actor Kishore Kumar G, who garnered praises for his film Kantara, has said that he hasn\'t watched KGF Chapter 2 as it is not his \'type of cinema\'. In a recent interview, Kishore also said that he would watch a small film that is based on a serious subject and isn\'t successful rather than something which is mindless.</div><div><br></div><div>Kantara, directed by Rishab Shetty, explores the possibility of the coexistence of faith and rationality, the conflict between nature and development, and other themes. Set in a fictional village, Kantara follows a Kambala champion (Rishab), who comes to loggerheads with an upright Forest Range officer, Muralidhar (Kishore). Kantara has earned over ₹500 crore worldwide at the box office.</div><div><br></div><div>Speaking with India Today, Kishore said, “I don’t know If is right or wrong but I haven’t watched KGF 2. It is not my type of cinema. It is a personal choice. I would rather watch a small film that is not successful but deals with something serious than something that is mindless.”</div><div><br></div><div>Yash tasted phenomenal success with KGF Chapter 2. The film also starred Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon. Directed by Prashant Neel, the film was released in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada languages.</div><div><br></div><div>The film gathered positive responses from the audience and collected over ₹500 crores at the Indian box office post Covid-19 pandemic. Yash was seen on the big screen with the cool and rugged avatar of Rocky Bhai. The actor in the movie carries an angry young man\'s charm to the screen.</div><div><br></div><div>Incidentally, Hombale Films is the production house behind both Kantara and KGF Chapter 2. Hombale Films was also behind the 2018 film KGF Chapter 1 starring Yash.</div><div><br></div><div>Speaking with news agency PTI recently, Vijay Kiragandur, the founder of Hombale Films, had said, “We were able to beat some records that we created, like Kantara became the highest-grossing film in Karnataka. For KGF 2 the footfalls were six crore and for Kantara, it was about two-and-half to three crore.”</div><div><br></div><div>Talking about the third part of KGF, he had said, “There are plans to make KGF 3. Currently, Prashant is busy with Salaar and once he has completed the movie then he will work on the script (for KGF 3). He has a storyline... It can happen next year or after that.\" - Hindustan Times&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'Entertainment Desk', '[\"13\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 14:38:34', '2023-01-07 14:38:34'),
(4306, 4306, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a highly anticipated new drug designed to slow cognitive decline in patients in mild and early stages of Alzheimer\'s disease.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The FDA approval of the drug, Leqembi, also known as lecanemab, comes just days after the regulatory agency was harshly criticized in a congressional report for its green-lighting of another Alzheimer\'s drug, Aduhelm.</div><div><br></div><div>And it was granted despite trial results showing the monoclonal antibody treatment carries risks of brain swelling and bleeding.</div><div>Both drugs were approved through an accelerated process that allows the FDA to fast-track approval of drugs for serious conditions where there is an unmet medical need.</div><div><br></div><div>Leqembi and Aduhelm, which were jointly developed by Japan\'s Eisai and Biogen of the United States, \"represent an important advancement in the ongoing fight to effectively treat Alzheimer\'s disease,\" the FDA said in a statement.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Alzheimer\'s disease immeasurably incapacitates the lives of those who suffer from it and has devastating effects on their loved ones,\" Billy Dunn of the FDA\'s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research said in a statement.</div><div><br></div><div>Leqembi, Dunn said, is \"the latest therapy to target and affect the underlying disease process of Alzheimer\'s, instead of only treating the symptoms of the disease.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Approximately 6.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer\'s, which is characterized by memory loss and declining mental acuity.</div><div><br></div><div>Preliminary data from a trial of Leqembi was released in September and found it slowed cognitive decline in Alzheimer\'s patients by 27 percent.</div><div>The phase three trial involved nearly 1,800 people, divided between those given the drug and given a placebo, and ran over 18 months.</div><div><br></div><div>The complete trial data, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, raised concern about the incidence of \"adverse effects\" including brain bleeds and swelling.</div><div><br></div><div>The results showed that 17.3 percent of patients administered the drug experienced brain bleeds, compared with nine percent of those receiving a placebo.</div><div><br></div><div>And 12.6 percent of those taking the drug experienced brain swelling, compared with just 1.7 percent of those in the placebo group.</div><div><br></div><div>Deaths were reported at approximately the same rate in both arms of the trial of the drug.</div><div><br></div><div>- $26,500 a year -</div><div><br></div><div>In Alzheimer\'s disease, two key proteins, tau and amyloid beta, build up into tangles and plaques, known together as aggregates, which cause brain cells to die and lead to brain shrinkage.</div><div><br></div><div>Leqembi, which is administered intravenously once every two weeks, works by targeting amyloid.</div><div><br></div><div>In the trial, patients receiving Leqembi had a statistically significant reduction in brain amyloid plaque compared to the placebo arm, which had no reduction of amyloid beta plaque.</div><div><br></div><div>Biogen and Eisai previously brought Aduhelm to market, but there was significant controversy over whether it worked, and its approval in 2021 led to three high-level resignations in the FDA.</div><div><br></div><div>A US congressional investigation said the accelerated approval process for Aduhelm, the first drug approved in decades to treat Alzheimer\'s, was \"rife with irregularities\" and criticized both the agency and Biogen.</div><div><br></div><div>The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen set an \"unjustifiably high price\" for Aduhelm of $56,000 a year, the congressional report said.</div><div><br></div><div>Eisai said Leqembi would be priced initially at $26,500 per year and estimated that 100,000 Americans could be receiving the drug by three years from now.</div><div><br></div><div>Joanne Pike, president and CEO of the Alzheimer\'s Association, welcomed the approval of Leqembi but expressed concern that its high cost could put it out of reach of most Americans, particularly if it is not covered by Medicare, the government health insurance program for the elderly, reports AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>\"People living with this fatal disease today do not have time to wait for a miracle drug or cure,\" Pike said in a statement.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 14:44:19', '2023-01-07 14:44:19'),
(4307, 4307, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Filled with sadness and hopes of a victorious 2023, hundreds of Ukrainian refugees celebrated their first Christmas since fleeing the Russian invasion at a contemporary theater in Warsaw.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The celebrants at the Nowy Teatr, a former truck repair workshop, were among the 1.5 million Ukrainians who have settled in Poland since the war began — the highest number for any country.</div><div><br></div><div>Almost all were women as most Ukrainian men of recruitment age are not allowed to leave.</div><div><br></div><div>They spoke of the pain of marking the family holiday separated from husbands and sons.</div><div><br></div><div>“How can one feel?” said Svitlana Borysova, a hairdresser, before breaking down in tears.</div><div><br></div><div>Helped by friends, Borysova left Ukraine in the first days of the war with her two children, aged three and six, but had to leave her 21-year-old son behind.</div><div><br></div><div>Olena Sigitova, who came to the dinner with her 10-year-old daughter Daryna, said: “We feel sad but there are new friends, new opportunities.”</div><div><br></div><div>“At least we are not alone,” she said, wearing a paper crown typical of Polish Christmas celebrations for the Three Kings feast day.</div><div><br></div><div>The Christmas Eve meal was organized by the Ukrainian House in Warsaw — a non-governmental group that has helped refugees settle in Poland.</div><div><br></div><div>“The main goal is to give warmth, a sense of home,” Myroslava Keryk, head of the organization, told AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>The meal included popular Ukrainian dishes such as borscht beetroot soup as well as vareniki, a type of dumpling, and kutia — a wheat grain pudding.</div><div><br></div><div>Many wore brightly embroidered Ukrainian shirts.</div><div><br></div><div>About 500 people attended the dinner, which also featured typical Ukrainian carols and words of support for the soldiers defending their country.</div><div><br></div><div>“The most important thing for everyone this year is victory. We dream about it to be able to calm down and think about the future,” Keryk said.</div><div><br></div><div>Several of the women said childcare duties meant they had difficulty finding steady work but that their children were settling in and beginning to learn Polish in kindergartens and schools.</div><div><br></div><div>Sigitova, from Dnipro in eastern Ukraine, said she found it difficult to make time for Polish classes and was grateful to the host family who has put her and her daughter up since the beginning of the war.</div><div><br></div><div>“They said we can count on them as long as we need,” said Sigitova, whose husband is in the army.</div><div><br></div><div>Borysova said that during the first three months in Poland she barely left the house.</div><div><br></div><div>“I was so afraid, panicking,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Since then, she has been working as a hairdresser in people’s homes, unable to find more settled work because of having to look after her children.</div><div><br></div><div>But Natalia Golomsha, who attended the dinner with her eight-year-old son Marko, said she had managed to find a full-time job in a company that helps Ukrainian children study in Poland.</div><div><br></div><div>“I was helped a little by my friends, my contacts, but also by the desire and ability to adapt to the conditions,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Kateryna Krahmalova, a university researcher from Kyiv, said she had also found work and had the advantage of already speaking Polish, reports AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>“The main thing is that my loved ones are with me, so my home is where they are,” she said.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 14:51:34', '2023-01-07 14:51:34'),
(4308, 4308, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least five people have died and 10 are missing after an overcrowded boat carrying migrants and refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia to Italy sank.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The boat sank off of Louata, in the Sfax region, a Tunisian judicial official said on Saturday. Another 20 people were rescued by the Tunisian coastguard.</div><div><br></div><div>The coastline of Sfax has become a major departure point for people fleeing poverty in Africa and the Middle East for a shot at a better life in Europe.</div><div><br></div><div>More than 25,000 people have died or went missing trying to cross the Mediterranean since 2014, according to data collected by the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project.</div><div><br></div><div>In recent months, hundreds have drowned off the Tunisian coast, with an increase in the frequency of attempted crossings from Tunisia and Libya towards Italy.</div><div><br></div><div>In light of an unprecedented economic and financial crisis in Tunisia, more than 18,000 Tunisians travelled by boats to Europe in 2022, according to rights group Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights.</div><div><br></div><div>Soaring inflation and food shortages have compounded unrest amid the North African country’s continuing political crisis. Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has been threatening democratic institutions, sending the economy into a tailspin.</div><div><br></div><div>While the number of crossings in the central Mediterranean rises, Italy’s right-wing government has approved new measures to fine charities who rescue asylum seekers at sea and impound their ships if they break new rules, possibly putting thousands of people’s lives in danger.</div><div><br></div><div>Since Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took office in October, the government has targeted the activities of sea rescue charities, accusing them of facilitating the work of people traffickers amid a surge in arrivals. The charities dismiss the allegations.</div><div><br></div><div>At least 102,000 asylum seekers disembarked in Italy in 2022, according to interior ministry data, compared with about 66,500 in the same period last year. - Al Jazeera&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 15:00:01', '2023-01-07 15:00:01'),
(4309, 4309, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A mild cold wave is sweeping parts of the country&nbsp; and it may continue for two or three days , said Bangladesh Metrological Department.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Omar Faruk, a meteorologist of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), said temperatures in most parts of the country decreased over the past few days.</div><div><br></div><div>Dhaka recorded 11.5 degree Celsius — lowest this season — this morning, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>“The situation may continue for the next two-three days in the country, he predicted adding that the situation mayl improve from January 11-12.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“A mild cold wave is sweeping Rajshahi division, Faridpur, Madaripur, Kishoregonj, Dinajpur, Nilphamari, Panchagarh, Jashore, Chuadanga, Kushtia, Satkhira&nbsp; and Barishal districts and it may continue, said a bulletin of BMD.</div><div><br></div><div>The Met office made the forecast at 6 pm today for the next 24 hours.</div><div><br></div><div>Weather may remain dry with partly cloudy sky over the country, it said.</div><div><br></div><div>Moderate to thick fog may occur over the country from midnight till morning and it may continue at places till noon.</div><div><br></div><div>Night and day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>Due to reduced difference between day &amp; night temperature, feelings of moderate to severe cold condition is likely over the country, it added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 15:08:52', '2023-01-07 15:08:52'),
(4310, 4310, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Public hearing on retail power tariff hike proposals will begin at 10 am on Sunday in the city\'s BIAM Auditorium.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) will hold the hearing on the proposals submitted by 6 state-owned power distribution entities to raise about 20 percent power tariff at the retail level.</div><div><br></div><div>It was said by the commission in a notice that the hearing will continue until 5 pm and if all stakeholders could not complete their submissions, then the hearing will continue for the second day on Monday (January 9) too.</div><div><br></div><div>All the six state-owned power distribution bodies which submitted their respective proposals on raising retail power tariff in subsequent of the bulk power tariff hike are—Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB), Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (Desco), Northern Electricity Supply Company PLS (Nesco), West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited (WZPDCL).</div><div><br></div><div>They have placed almost an identical proposal to raise retail power tariff by about 20 percent.</div><div><br></div><div>They moved to submit their proposals following the BERC’s decision to hike the bulk power tariff by 19.92 percent with effect from December 1.</div><div><br></div><div>As per the latest statistics, the financial loss of state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), the principal organisation in power sector and also the single buyer of electricity from private sector power plants, is likely to increase by Tk 18,094 crore in one year.</div><div><br></div><div>According to BPDB’s own latest estimates, the financial loss will cross Tk 48,000 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal from Tk 29,915 crore in the fiscal year 2021-22, an increase of almost 67%.</div><div><br></div><div>Sources said the BPDB’s revenue deficit has further increased due to its purchase of electricity at higher price and sale at lower price, the hike in petroleum fuel prices and also the price escalation of US dollars.</div><div><br></div><div>Officials said the recent 19.92 percent hike in the bulk tariff may help the BPDB to reduce its loss by only Tk 5,000 crore while a huge revenue deficit will remain a big burden.</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, the bulk power tariff hike puts pressure on power distribution companies to submit their retail tariff hike proposal to the BERC to cover their own revenue gaps.</div><div><br></div><div>The retail power tariff was last raised in March, 2020 by BERC after holding a public hearing.</div><div><br></div><div>Through an announcement, the BERC had raised the power tariff on a weighted average by 5.3 percent at retail level with effect from March 1, 2020.</div><div><br></div><div>As per that decision, the retail power tariff was increased from Tk 6.77 to Tk 7.13 per unit (each kilowatt-hour).</div><div><br></div><div>Officials said the Power Division is under tremendous pressure from the Finance Ministry to raise power tariff in bulk and retail to cover its huge financial losses.</div><div><br></div><div>The recent commitment of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide a $4.5 billion loan has increased the pressure as the donor agency has tagged a condition to decrease subsidy in the power sector and raise power tariff to cover the losses, said a Power Division official. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 15:12:02', '2023-01-07 15:12:02'),
(4311, 4311, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that the Awami League government will lend all sorts of cooperation to lessen the sufferings of the people due to the economic recession emerging from the coronavirus pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“The Awami League government will do whatever is needed to ease the pain of the common people,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The Prime Minister said this while giving her introductory speech at the first joint meeting of the newly elected Awami League National Committee, Central Working Committee and Advisory Council on Saturday.</div><div><br></div><div>She presided over the meeting that took place at the Tungipara Awami League office in Gopalganj district, the birthplace of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.</div><div><br></div><div>Hasina said that the Awami League government, the party, its leaders and activists are always beside the distressed people.</div><div><br></div><div>“Our aim is to ensure a better life for the people of this country, and we will work tirelessly to materialise that aim,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She also said that Awami League and its leaders and activists are pledge-bound for that.</div><div><br></div><div>The Prime Minister said that Bangladesh is advancing towards socioeconomic development and changes are taking place in the socioeconomic status of the people of Bangladesh. </div><div><br></div><div>“We have been able to ensure food for people up to the grassroots level. We are providing homes for the homeless and landless people. No one will be homeless, landless and addressless in the land of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that due to the coronavirus and the Ukraine-Russia war the whole world plunged into an economic recession. </div><div><br></div><div>“But by the grace of Almighty we have been able to continue the wheels of the economy till now in the country,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She briefly described various development activities of the government for overall advancement of the country as well as ensuring social safety net programmes. </div><div><br></div><div>The Prime Minister said that due to the war the government has to buy various items like edible oil, fuel, sugar, lentils, wheat and corn at higher prices to provide those to the poor, lower income people at fair prices. </div><div><br></div><div>She also mentioned that the government is providing various essential food items totally free to the people across the country.</div><div><br></div><div>“We are spending a huge amount of money in this regard just to lessen the burden of the common people whatever the price of those items in the world market,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She again urged all to utilise their arable lands to produce something no matter whatever the quantity is.</div><div><br></div><div>“Many countries are suffering from food crisis, many countries want to procure food items from us, we can also provide the food if we can utilise our lands properly,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, she also said that the Awami League government will lend all kinds of support to produce foods in the country.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-07 15:48:14', '2023-01-07 15:49:04'),
(4312, 4312, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>Jashore and Chuadanga districts recorded the lowest temperature in Bangladesh, at 7.8 degree Celsius, in 24 hours till this morning as a mild cold wave is sweeping across the country.</b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chuadanga has been recording the lowest temperatures for the third consecutive day, said Rakibul Hasan, officer-in-charge of Chuadanga\'s local meteorological office.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“This situation will remain for a day or two. The temperature may drop further,” he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dhaka recorded 12.3 degree Celsius during this period.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A mild to moderate cold wave is sweeping over Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions and the districts of Tangail, Faridpur, Manikganj, Jashore, Chuadanga, Satkhira and Kushtia and it may continue, Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) said this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, moderate to thick fog may occur over the country from midnight to morning, and it may continue till noon at places.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Night temperature may remain nearly unchanged and day temperature may rise slightly over the country. Due to the reduced difference between day and night temperature, moderate to severe cold conditions are likely over the country, it added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Weather may remain dry with temporary partly cloudy skies over the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A biting cold spell has also continued to sweep across Kurigram. The district recorded 8.6 degree Celsius temperature in 24 hours till this morning, said Kurigram\'s Rajarhat Agricultural Meteorological Office\'s Meteorological Observer Tuhin Miah.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Due to the downtrend in the temperature, the people of char areas of 16 rivers including Brahmaputra, Dharla, Teesta and Dudhkumar are facing difficulties.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also, the number of diarrhoea and pneumonia patients – mostly children and the elderly – is increasing in hospitals of Kurigram, said Kurigram General Hospital’s resident physician Dr Shahinur Rahman Shipon. - UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-01-08 07:53:07', '2023-01-08 07:53:07');
