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(5586, 5586, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) want its dues, not charity under international commitments for their real structural transformation.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I can assure you that LDCs will also keep their side of the bargain. Our nations do not ask for charity; what we seek are our dues under international commitments,\" she said.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier was addressing opening plenary meeting of the 5th United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDC5: From Potential to Prosperity) at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) here.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The Doha Programme of Action is yet another assurance of hope for the world\'s most vulnerable countries. The international community must renew its commitment for real structural transformation in LDCs,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For graduating LDCs, she said that there should be some incentives for their performance.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"They should enjoy the international support measures for LDCs for an extended period of time. They need enhanced investments and know-how to build their productive capacities,\" she said&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina went on saying that there can be some innovative and transitional financing mechanisms meant for them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, LDCs need sustained support to double their share of global trade, she said, adding ODA targets for LDCs from developed countries deserve to be fulfilled.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister said the International Financial Institutions have the means to support debt sustainability in LDCs.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Climate financing for LDCs should be made flexible and predictable. Technology transfer to LDCs needs to be tangible and meaningful. Our migrant workers need protection for their rights and well-being. We cannot fail the 226 million youth in LDCs,\" she added.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister told the meeting that the pandemic and then the war in Ukraine have dealt a major blow to LDC economies.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The rise in food and fuel price in international markets has caused inflations in most LDCs, she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina said, \"Much of the Bangladesh story owes to international support measures we negotiated for LDCs\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The duty-and-quota-free access we secured from most developed and emerging economies helped our private sector build a solid manufacturing base,\" she said&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister said the patent waivers provided under TRIPS Agreement allowed us to locally meet 98 percent of our pharmaceutical needs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The exemptions under other WTO agreements enabled us to boost agricultural production and combat hunger and malnutrition,\" she said&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She went on saying that the international technical assistance we received helped us make concrete development plans.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Bangladesh, she said that they are dealing with 1.2 million forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar with no immediate solution.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier said, \"I am happy to be with you at this august gathering. I thank the government and the people of Qatar for their generous hospitality. I appreciate the forward-looking words we have just heard,\" she said&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 1974, Sheikh Hasina said that Bangladesh became a member state of UN under the leadership of her father, the country\'s Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the time, Bangladesh, recognised as an LDC, was struggling to rebuild the war-ravaged economy, she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The following year, the premier said that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, along with most of his family members, was brutally assassinated.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"To carry forward his (Bangabandhu) legacy, we vowed that Bangladesh will continue to champion the LDC causes. Bangladesh feels proud to have often acted as an LDC spokesperson in the last five decades. I attended the previous LDC conferences in Brussels and Istanbul,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The prime minister said that they are pleased that Bangladesh qualifies for LDC graduation.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We now look forward to graduating in 2026. Bangladesh is the only LDC among the world\'s 50 largest economies in terms of GDP. Our march towards graduation is also marked by our efforts at just, inclusive and sustainable development,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier said her government has cut down poverty rate from 31.5 to 20% within a decade.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are internationally recognized for disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She continued that Bangladesh\'s social protection measures constitute 16.75% of our total budget.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier said her government distributed about 700 thousand cost-free houses to ensure shelter for all.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We rank top in South Asia in reducing gender disparity. Our literacy rate stands at 75.2%, with near universal primary education enrolment. The average life expectancy of our people is now more than 73 years,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During COVID-19 pandemic, she said her government provided 28 stimulus packages worth 6.15% of Bangladesh\'s GDP.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Our economy proved its resilience by growing at 7.10% even in 2021-22. Per capita income grew three-folds in a decade and has reached USD 2,824. Bangladesh is now a reliable partner in the international supply chain,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier said Bangladesh is a fast growing digital economy and a potential regional hub for connectivity and logistics.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Our next vision is to build a \'Smart Bangladesh\' by 2041,\" Sheikh Hasina said.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President of the conference and Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani delivered opening statement.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, President of UNGA Csaba Korosi, President of the Economic and Social Council Lachezara Stoeva, and Malawi President and Chairperson of the LDC Group Lazarus McCarthy Chakawera also spoke. 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, '2023-03-05 08:40:11', '2023-03-05 08:40:11'),
(5587, 5587, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Pakistan\'s police entered the residence of the country\'s former Prime Minister Imran Khan to arrest him in a case related to the illegal purchase and sale of gifts given by foreign dignitaries while he was in office, official sources and local media reported on Sunday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>An Islamabad court on Tuesday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Khan in connection with the illegal purchase and sale of the gifts.</div><div><br></div><div>A team of Islamabad police, with an arrest warrant, reached the northeastern city of Lahore on Sunday to take Khan into custody, official sources confirmed to Anadolu.</div><div><br></div><div>Footage aired on local broadcaster Geo News showed the policemen standing outside the main entrance of Khan\'s Zaman Park residence as the security and supporters stopped the personnel from entering the residence.</div><div><br></div><div>Khan, the country\'s only premier who was ousted through a no-trust vote in Pakistan\'s 75-year checkered political history, is facing a slew of cases against him, ranging from terrorism to attempted murder and to money laundering.</div><div><br></div><div>Most of the cases, which Khan dubs a \"sham,\" have been lodged after his ouster.</div><div><br></div><div>He was deposed as prime minister after parliament passed a no-confidence vote in April last year. - Anadolu Agency</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-05 09:39:52', '2023-03-05 09:39:52'),
(5588, 5588, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A series of tweets from Basherkella – a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami Twitter account – condemning police action to stop the violence over an Ahmadiyya religious event in Panchagarh town on Friday, has left the minority community shocked and bewildered.&nbsp;</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>On Friday, a protest march against the Ahmadiyya religious event moved towards the Ahmednagar area. As police stopped the procession at Panchagarh Chowrangi intersection, the men started throwing brickbats at the law enforcers, according to reports.</div><div><br></div><div>Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells to disperse them, witnesses said.</div><div><br></div><div>Two men died and scores sustained injuries in the clash. Some journalists covering the violence were among the injured. Shops in Panchagarh town were closed down as violence induced panic among people.</div><div><br></div><div>The angry mob also looted around 20 houses belonging to the Ahmadiyya community located in Ahmednagar.</div><div><br></div><div>Since Friday’s violence, at least eight tweets were posted from the Basherkella account with “police brutality” and “boycott Qadiani (Ahmadiyya)” in the hashtags.</div><div><br></div><div>Calling these tweets a “hate campaign” against the Ahmadiyyas, Amanur Rahman, a university graduate from the community, said that the social media platform is being used to “instigate further attacks”.</div><div><br></div><div>Amanur said that it was even more shocking that such “vitriol” against a minority community was being peddled from an account that has been verified by Twitter.</div><div><br></div><div>According to Amanur, “All these tweets asking people to boycott our community and false portrayal of police action is a clear attempt to glorify the attackers and justify the attack.”</div><div><br></div><div>One of the tweets from the verified Basherkella account lists some renowned local brands, calling them “Qadiani owned” and asks all to boycott their products.</div><div><br></div><div>Another tweet condemns law enforcers: “Taking the Qadianis’ side, Awami-backed police opened fire on anti-Qadiani protest.”</div><div><br></div><div>Shared since March 3, these tweets have been retweeted and interacted with quite massively by followers of the twitter account, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>Basherkella, earned notoriety as a “Jamaat mouthpiece” for staunchly supporting war criminals, propagating religious extremism and often attacking the state machineries through its posts on social media, according to media reports.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-05 10:06:27', '2023-03-05 10:06:27'),
(5589, 5589, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b style=\"\"><i>A massive fire broke out at Balukhali Rohingya camp No-11 in Palongkhali union of Ukhiya upzila on Sunday.</i></b></span><br></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>In-charge of Ukhiya fire service and civil denfece Emdadul Haq said the fire originated in a house of the camp around 2:40 pm, reports UNB.</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>Four units of fire service and local people are working to bring the blaze under control, he said.</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>bnbd24/fas</i></div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-05 10:21:33', '2023-03-05 10:21:33'),
(5590, 5590, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The partial collapse of a building following an explosion in Science Lab area that claimed three lives is not an act of sabotage but an accident, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq on Sunday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>“No evidence of sabotage was found on the spot and the explosion might have occurred for different reasons. The law enforcement agencies are investigating it,” he said while talking to reporters after visiting the spot.</div><div><br></div><div>“We’ll form a committee to probe the explosion and the probe body will take opinions from fire service officials and experts and submit a report,” he added.</div><div><br></div><div>Replying to a question about whether the law enforcers found any sign of splinter or destructive elements, the DMP chief said, “They have not found any mark of splinter or destructive elements yet.”</div><div><br></div><div>Three people were killed and 12 others injured when a building partially collapsed following an explosion and subsequent fire in Dhaka\'s Science Lab area on Sunday morning.</div><div><br></div><div>The deceased were identified as Tushar, Shafikuzzaman, and Abdul Mannan.</div><div><br></div><div>Tushar and Shafikuzzaman were computer operators, and Abdul Mannan was an office assistant in a company that has its office on the building’s second floor.</div><div><br></div><div>They succumbed to their injuries at Popular Medical College and Hospital, said Md Shahidullah, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of DMP’s Ramna Division.</div><div><br></div><div>Five of the injured identified as Ayesha Akter Asha, Hafizur Rahman, 34, Zahur Ali, 60, Akbar Ali, 52 and Syed Ashrafuzzaman, 35.</div><div><br></div><div>Of them, Ayesha received 38% burn injuries, Hafizur eight percent, Zahur with 44 percent, Akbar with 37% and Ashrafuzzaman received six percent injuries. They were taken to burn unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.</div><div><br></div><div>Nine others injured are receiving treatment at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.</div><div><br></div><div>They are Nurunnabi, 27, Tajuddin, 35, Mehedi Hasan, 25, Zakir Hossain Jewel, 26, Kamal, 40, Kabir Hossain, 25, Rabeya Khatun, 23 and Tamanna, 22 and an unidentified man aged about 25.</div><div><br></div><div>The three-storey building collapsed partially after the explosion at around 10:52 am that also triggered a fire.</div><div><br></div><div>Anwarul Islam, from Fire Service and Civil Defense Headquarters Media Cell, said that four units of fire service were working on the spot.</div><div><br></div><div>The fire was brought under control at around 11:13 a.m. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-05 10:48:54', '2023-03-05 10:48:54'),
(5591, 5591, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>BNP senior leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy warned on Sunday that the situation will turn more complex if the government tries to take BNP to the next elections without a caretaker administration.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Speaking at a human chain programme, he also asked the government to forget the dream of holding the 12th parliamentary election like those in 2014 and 2018.</div><div><br></div><div>“BNP was taken to the elections in 2018, but this time it is impossible to get the party to the election without a caretaker government in place. If you try to make this impossible task possible very easily, then things will only get complicated,” the BNP leader said.</div><div><br></div><div>He also said it may not be possible to get some BNP leaders to the election by luring them as no one will board the boat with cracks in the bottom only to drown.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>‘People don\'t jump into the river where there is no water.&nbsp; Now people say that if we had known earlier, we would not have boarded your broken boat.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Projonmo 71, a pro-BNP platform, arranged the human chain programme at the Jatiya Press Club, demanding the unconditional release of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Volunteer Affairs Secretary Mir Sarafat Ali Sapu and other detained leaders and activists.</div><div><br></div><div>Gayeshwar, a member of the BNP standing committee, said people actually did not vote for the boat, the election symbol of Awami League, but police managed some votes for it through manipulation. “Keep it in your mind whether the police will manage that vote for you again.”</div><div><br></div><div>He said the ruling party knows very well that it has no ability to win a credible election.</div><div><br></div><div>“Abandon your desire to stay in power through vote rigging amid famine, misrule and plundering of public money. Go to the people with confidence that you have carried out development activities,” the BNP leader said.</div><div><br></div><div>He, however, said the government will not be able to hold a stage-managed election this time with the help of a neighbouring country and different law enforcement agencies and by keeping BNP leaders and activists, including party senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, in jail.</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader categorically said the people of Bangladesh and the political parties will not go to the polling station if Sheikh Hasina stays in power. “No acceptable election can be held under her,” reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>He also urged the government to think twice about whether its lackeys and brokers will be able to protect it in the face of public wrath.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>So, I say, step down in time and make arrangements so that people participate in the election and cast their votes, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas&nbsp;</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-05 11:26:25', '2023-03-05 11:26:25'),
(5592, 5592, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Police in Pakistan said officers on Sunday attempted to arrest former prime minister Imran Khan, who is battling several legal cases as he pressures the government for early elections, reports NDTV.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Officers from Islamabad arrived at Mr Khan\'s home in Lahore, which was surrounded by hundreds of his supporters, but were unable to find him.</div><div><br></div><div>\"A team of Islamabad police has arrived in Lahore to arrest Imran Khan to comply with the court orders,\" Islamabad police said in a tweet.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Imran Khan is reluctant to surrender -- the Superintendent of Police had gone into the room but Imran Khan was not present there.\"</div><div><br></div><div>The arrest warrant was issued after Mr Khan failed to appear before the court in a corruption case on February 28.</div><div><br></div><div>Imran Khan is accused of failing to declare gifts received during his time in office, or the profit made from selling them.</div><div><br></div><div>Government officials must declare all gifts but are allowed to keep those below a certain value.</div><div><br></div><div>Imran Khan later spoke to party workers in his Zaman Park house in Lahore, where police remained outside.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I am being summoned in fake cases and the nation should know about them,\" he said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It will be a bad omen for the country if the nation does not stand against the corrupt rulers.\"</div><div><br></div><div>The vice chairman of Khan\'s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, told reporters in Lahore: \"We have received the notice from Islamabad police -- the notice does not contain any order for the arrest.\"</div><div><br></div><div>\"We will consult our lawyers and follow the legal process\".</div><div><br></div><div>Pakistan\'s courts are often used to tie up lawmakers in tedious and long-winding proceedings that rights monitors have criticised for stifling political opposition.</div><div><br></div><div>Imran Khan, who was shot during a rally last year, has attempted to disrupt politics in the South Asian nation since he was forced out of office in a no-confidence vote in April.</div><div><br></div><div>He has been pushing for early polls due no later than October by holding protests, pulling out of parliament and dissolving the two provincial assemblies his party controls in a bid to force the government\'s hand.</div><div><br></div><div>The nation of more than 220 million is in dire economic straits with runaway inflation, scant foreign exchange reserves and stalling bailout talks with the IMF.</div><div><br></div><div>To pull the country out of its spiral, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is battling to revive the next tranche of a $6.5 billion loan deal sketched with the International Monetary Fund in 2019.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-05 13:52:00', '2023-03-05 13:52:00'),
(5593, 5593, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his heartfelt congratulations to 22nd president-elect of Bangladesh Md Shahabuddin.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>In a congratulatory message to Mohammad Shahabuddin recently, the Indian Prime Minister said, “On behalf of the Government and the people of India, I wish to extend warmest congratulations to you on your election as the President of the People\'s Republic of Bangladesh.”</div><div><br></div><div>“Your contribution as a freedom fighter and experience as a jurist brings great value to this high office,” said Narendra Modi in the message.</div><div><br></div><div>The Prime Minister said that the two countries have a unique bilateral relationship which is firmly rooted in countries’ shared sacrifices and is nurtured by vibrant cultural and people-to-people ties.</div><div><br></div><div>“As a close friend of Bangladesh, we remain steadfast in our commitment to further deepen this multifaceted partnership for the benefit of the people of both our countries. I am confident that under your visionary leadership our engagement will continue to grow from strength to strength,” the Indian premier added.</div><div><br></div><div>He wished the president-elect good health and success. According to UNB reports.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-05 13:55:38', '2023-03-05 13:55:38'),
(5594, 5594, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Condemning the communal violence in Panchagarh centring a religious event of the Ahmadiyya, BNP on Sunday alleged that the government has created the incident with evil motives.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>“A very extreme communal incident took place in Panchagarh. Two people were killed while shops and houses were looted and set on fire. Our question is why the government kept silent on such a controversial issue?” said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir</div><div><br></div><div>He questioned why the government gave permission to hold such an event without taking necessary security measures.</div><div><br></div><div>“Why did the police play the role of a silent spectator when the attack was made (on Ahmadiyya)? Why were they not able to resist it? The government has created the communal problem and discord. We think they have done it with very ulterior motives,” the BNP leader said.</div><div><br></div><div>Fakhrul made the comments while talking to reporters after a meeting between the liaison committee of the BNP and Ganatantrik Bam Oikya at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office.</div><div><br></div><div>He alleged that when the people of the country waged a democratic movement to restore their rights and when people and the political parties started taking to the streets against the unusual price hikes in all essentials, then the government created such a communal incident to mislead people and divert their attention to a different direction.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“They want to foil the democratic movement through such incidents and diversion.”</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader said their party thinks the government is fully responsible for the communal incident in Panchagarh. “They (govt) must be held accountable for it.”</div><div><br></div><div>He also demanded the government identify those responsible for the incident and mete out exemplary punishment to them.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier, on Friday, two people were killed and at least 50 others including policemen were injured in the clash between a section of Muslim devotees and police over devotees’ demand for the closure of an Ahmadiyya community’s event in Panchagarh district town.</div><div><br></div><div>Later on Saturday, a vested interest group spread rumours in different parts of the district town and on social media saying that some Ahmidyya community members slaughtered two Muslims.</div><div><br></div><div>Following the rumours, some young people equipped with sticks and sharp weapons blocked roads, carried out arson attacks, and looted shops and houses of the Ahmadiyya community. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-05 14:04:38', '2023-03-05 14:04:38'),
(5595, 5595, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday sought increased energy particularly Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Qatar to meet the energy demand amid the Ukraine war.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>She made the request during a meeting with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, held on the sidelines of the United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDC5) in Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) here in Doha.</div><div><br></div><div>Now Bangladesh is importing some 40 containers of energy that means 1.8-2.5 MTA, said Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen while briefing reporters after the meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>“We want your help. Bangladesh faces energy problems due to the Ukraine war. I want more…. I will renew the contract. I want more LNG,” the PM was quoted.</div><div><br></div><div>In response, the Emir of Qatar asked how much Bangladesh wants. Then he was told that Bangladesh wants another MTA that means 16-17 containers. He said his energy minister would meet the Bangladesh PM to discuss it before she leaves Qatar.</div><div><br></div><div>“I want to help you. Qatar will always come to help Bangladesh,” he was quoted as saying.</div><div><br></div><div>Hasina invited the Emir of Qatar to visit Bangladesh and then Sheikh Tamim said he would visit Bangladesh this year.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier said Bangladesh is setting up 100 economic zones and different countries are making investment there. Qatar can also invest in those economic zones, she added.</div><div><br></div><div>About the Bangladeshi workers in Qatar, Sheikh Hasina told the Qatar Emir to take care of them as some workers are losing their jobs here now.</div><div><br></div><div>In response, Sheikh Tamim said he always wants the welfare of Bangladesh and Bengali people.</div><div><br></div><div>In a separate meeting with UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner at the Bilateral Meeting Room of the QNCC, the prime minister asked the UNDP to take lead so that the countries who are graduating from LDCs would not lose all international benefits entitled for LDCs at a time.</div><div><br></div><div>She said those who are graduating from the LDCs are being punished by withdrawing all types of facilities and benefits. UNDP should do some processing so that the country will not lose all benefits at a time.</div><div><br></div><div>“We should be rewarded for our good performance, but you are giving punishment. UNDP should take a lead,” the PM was quoted as telling him.</div><div><br></div><div>The UNDP administrator praised Bangladesh for its development, particularly the development of its rural economy and ensuring the urban facilities in the rural areas as well as its digitalisation.</div><div><br></div><div>He said the way Sheikh Hasina is building digital and smart Bangladesh is becoming a new model.</div><div><br></div><div>In a meeting with Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Doreen Bogdan-Martin at the QNCC, PM Hasina sought technical assistance to ensure cyber security.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Rebeca Grynspan met the Bangladesh Prime Minister separately in the QNCC.</div><div><br></div><div>In the meeting, the PM sought support of the UNCTAD to expand and diversify the trade of Bangladesh, and raise the production capacity of the country.</div><div><br></div><div>The PM also attended the LDC5 High-level Luncheon on Investment and partnership at the Exhibition Hall of QNCC. According to UNB reports</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div><div><br></div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-05 16:42:56', '2023-03-05 16:42:56'),
(5596, 5596, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A Special Court in Dhaka on Sunday framed charges against former Bangladesh national team cricketer Al-Amin Hossain in a case filed over torturing his wife for dowry.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Judge Mafroja Pervin of Dhaka Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-8 framed the charges rejecting the discharge petition submitted by the accused.</div><div><br></div><div>As a result, a trial in the case has formally begun against Al-Amin.</div><div>The tribunal also set April 9 for recording the testimonies of the witnesses.</div><div><br></div><div>The special Public Prosecutor read out the charges and asked the accused whether he is guilty or not. The accused pleaded not guilty and asked for justice.</div><div><br></div><div>On September 1 last year, cricketer Al-Amin\'s wife Israt Jahan lodged a complaint with Mirpur Model police station against him over torturing her for dowry. Later, police registered a case, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>Al-Amin demanded Tk 20 lakh as dowry from his wife and used to beat her as she disagreed to pay the amount, according to the case statement.</div><div><br></div><div>He also drove her out of the house with their two children on August 25, it said.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-05 16:48:30', '2023-03-05 16:48:30'),
(5597, 5597, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">China will increase military spending by more than 7% this year, while warning of \"escalating\" threats.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was announced at the National People\'s Congress (NPC), a rubber-stamp parliament, which is due to confirm President Xi Jinping\'s third term.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Beijing\'s military budget - around $225bn (£186bn) - is still dwarfed by that of the United States, which is four times greater.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But analysts believe China downplays how much it spends on defence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Outgoing Premier Li Keqiang told the NPC that \"external attempts to suppress and contain China are escalating\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The armed forces should intensify military training and preparedness across the board,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was also announced at the meeting that China would pursue a reduced economic growth target of about 5% this year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Two Sessions, as the meetings are known, are an annual affair.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But this year\'s sessions are particularly significant as delegates are expected to reshape several key Communist Party and state institutions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This week\'s NPC meeting will also formalise Mr Xi\'s leadership of the country, as he will be elected president of China and head of the armed forces.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He secured his position in the echelons of Chinese power in October last year, when the Communist Party re-elected him as their leader for a third term.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The increase in military spending comes as Mr Xi is navigating worsening ties with the US over the Ukraine war and the recent spy balloon saga, even as he warms his embrace of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">US officials have also repeatedly warned that China may invade Taiwan in the coming years. China has held ever-growing displays of military force in the air and seas around Taiwan, including the firing of ballistic missiles.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China sees self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be under Beijing\'s control.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The NPC will also unveil the new premier, China\'s equivalent of a prime minister who traditionally oversees the economy and administrative aspects of governance.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Li Qiang, one of Mr Xi\'s most trusted colleagues, is expected to assume the role. 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, '2023-03-06 03:25:09', '2023-03-06 03:25:09'),
(5598, 5598, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Thousands of people have been left without shelter after a massive fire broke out in a crowded Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The blaze, which broke out on Sunday, engulfed some 2,000 shelters at a camp known as Cox\'s Bazar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hundreds of people have now returned to the area to see what they can salvage from the ruins.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is estimated around 12,000 people, most of whom escaped violence in neighbouring Myanmar, are now homeless.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The cause of the fire is not yet known and no casualties have been reported.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The blaze started at about 14:45 local time (08: 45 GMT) and quickly tore through the bamboo-and-tarpaulin shelters, an official said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Some 2,000 shelters have been burnt, leaving about 12,000 forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals shelterless,\" Mijanur Rahman, Bangladesh\'s refugee commissioner, told AFP news agency.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The blaze was brought under control within three hours but at least 35 mosques and 21 learning centres for the refugees were also destroyed, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Photos are now emerging that show the extent of the devastation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hrusikesh Harichandan, from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told the BBC there had been \"massive damage\" to the camp.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said basic services such as water centres and testing facilities had also been affected.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"My shelter was gutted. [My shop] was also burnt,\" Mamun Johar, a 30-year-old Rohingya man, told AFP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The fire took everything from me, everything.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thick black clouds were seen rising above Camp 11, one of many in the border district where more than a million Rohingya refugees live.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The camps, overcrowded and squalid, are vulnerable to fires.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Between January 2021 and December 2022, there were 222 fire incidents in the Rohingya camps including 60 cases of arson, according to a Bangladesh defence ministry report released last month.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In March 2021, at least 15 people were killed and some 50,000 were displaced after a huge fire tore through a camp in the settlement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The refugee camp, said to be the world\'s largest, houses people who fled from Myanmar following a military crackdown against the Rohingya ethnic minority.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Rohingya are Muslims in largely Buddhist Myanmar, where they have faced persecution for generations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The latest exodus of Rohingya escaping to Bangladesh began in August 2017, after Myanmar\'s military brutally retaliated when a Rohingya insurgent group launched attacks on several police posts.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many of those who lived there can be seen picking through the charred area, where only metal struts and singed corrugated roofing remains. BBC</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 03:36:16', '2023-03-06 03:36:16'),
(5599, 5599, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has asked for forgiveness from the families of the 57 victims of this week\'s train crash.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a Facebook message, Mr Mitsotakis said that \"in the Greece of 2023... two trains heading in different directions cannot run on the same line and no-one notice\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Protests have continued for days.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Clashes with police were reported on Sunday as thousands joined a demonstration in the capital Athens.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police estimated 12,000 people attended the protest.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They said seven officers were hurt and five arrests were made, the AFP news agency reports.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some demonstrators set fire to rubbish bins and threw petrol bombs. Police responded firing tear gas and stun grenades, clearing the central Syntagma Square of the protesters within a few minutes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The protesters also reportedly released hundreds of black balloons into the sky in memory of the dead, with some holding signs reading \"Down with killer governments\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the night of 28 February, a passenger train and a freight train that were travelling in opposite directions ended up on the same track.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The first four carriages of the passenger train were derailed, and the first two caught fire and were almost completely destroyed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The train crash has been widely attributed to human error.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A 59-year-old station master in Larissa, who was charged with manslaughter by negligence, appeared in court on Sunday and has been taken into custody.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His lawyer Stefanos Pantzartzidis said the station master had admitted to having a share of responsibility in the accident. He faces between 10 years and life in jail if convicted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But many in Greece see the crash as an accident that had been waiting to happen, and the railway workers\' union blamed successive governments\' \"disrespect\" towards Greek railways for leading to this \"tragic result\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A government minister told the BBC that the lack of funding was the direct result of the strict terms of international bailouts imposed after the 2010 debt crisis.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Union members were joined by residents of Athens and Thessaloniki in taking to the streets throughout the past week, shocked by the scale of the disaster. The protests were also attended by many students - several of the passengers on board one of the trains were students in their 20s returning to Thessaloniki after a long weekend celebrating Greek Orthodox Lent.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The rail network looked problematic, with worn down, badly paid staff,\" Nikos Savva, a medical student from Cyprus, told AFP news agency.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Train drivers in Greece have said there have been long-running problems with the electronic systems that are supposed to warn them of danger ahead.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The transport minister, Kostas Karamanlis, also resigned as a \"sign of respect\" for the people who had died. Mr Karamanlis he was taking responsibility for the government\'s failure to modernise the country\'s railways in the three-and-a-half years it had been in power.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Immediately after the accident, the Greek government declared three days of national mourning and said the cost of the victims\' funerals would be paid for from the public purse.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BBC Europe correspondent Nick Beake says the crash seems to be becoming a defining political issue for Greece as it prepares to face a general election in the spring.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Media reports have given 9 April as a possible date, but analysts say that date may now be pushed back. BCC</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 03:53:18', '2023-03-06 03:53:18');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5600, 5600, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">As reality checks go, the humiliation Liverpool handed out to Manchester United at a joyous and almost disbelieving Anfield was as brutal as it gets.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The statistics speak for themselves.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Liverpool\'s 7-0 win was a monument to the return of all the qualities that have driven success under manager Jurgen Klopp. Those same statistics piled up like rubble at the feet of a Manchester United side that simply crumbled.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The biggest beating in the history of this famous fixture; the 7-0 scoreline equalling the heaviest defeat inflicted on United; Liverpool scoring six goals in a truly remarkable 45 minutes in front of The Kop.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Joy for Liverpool. Pain for Manchester United.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">United lost by the same margin to Blackburn Rovers in 1926, to Aston Villa in 1930 and to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1931.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">None of those will be mentioned in the same breath as this truly remarkable game because of who inflicted it and where.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is why this win was celebrated so wildly by Liverpool\'s baying fans. This is why Manchester United will be so badly wounded.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This will be a day that will be remembered forever by everyone who witnessed it at Anfield - even those United supporters who will try to blank it from their memory but will find it impossible - and far beyond.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Liverpool have been scratching for the old certainties this season. The intensity. The passion. The ruthlessness. The controlled fury.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unfortunately for United, it all came flooding back in a game that will go down in history. It certainly put the Red Devils\' renaissance, shown by the EFL Cup win against Newcastle United at Wembley, on temporary hold.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mohamed Salah\'s two goals made him Liverpool\'s record Premier League scorer with 129, overtaking Robbie Fowler despite playing 61 fewer games.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Salah\'s record shows the seismic impact he has had from pretty much the first day he arrived at Liverpool from Roma in June 2017 - and yet here he also took his place in what Klopp is building for the future.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Egyptian netted two goals, almost expected given the fact he is also Liverpool\'s record scorer against Manchester United with 12.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But of great significance was the impact of two newcomers brought in as Klopp renews the attack that has served him so superbly - Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This was the sight of an Anfield evolution as the pair gave a tantalising glimpse of the future.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino formed one of the most potent tridents in world football in Klopp\'s first great team but the winds of change have been blowing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mane made his exit to Bayern Munich in the summer while Firmino announced on Friday that he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Indeed, it was a sign of Liverpool\'s perfect scriptwriting on Sunday that the Brazilian emerged as a substitute to a rapturous reception and provided the perfect finale to this landmark game with the goal that made in 7-0 in front of The Kop in the closing moments.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Alongside those goals from Liverpool\'s old guard came two each from Gakpo and Nunez that hinted at the potency and promise within the next incarnation of Klopp\'s forward line.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gakpo was a target for United manager Erik ten Hag before Liverpool stepped in to snatch him away from PSV Eindhoven in January - and here you could see what the attraction was.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He provided a smooth finish from Andrew Robertson\'s perfect pass to open up what had been, as remarkable as it sounds, a tight game for 43 minutes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gakpo scored Liverpool\'s third with a delicate flourish after brilliant work by Salah, before he was joined on the scoresheet by Nunez, who is now getting the goals his industry has deserved.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nunez diverted Harvey Elliott\'s driven cross past United keeper David de Gea to put Liverpool 2-0 up then scored with another superb header from Jordan Henderson\'s ball in for the fifth.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gakpo and Nunez are still early works in progress but they possess goals, variety and flexibility. Throw in the enduring, world-class Salah and this is another threatening Liverpool strike force in the making.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the wider context, Klopp\'s side are now an ominous presence to the likes of Tottenham and Newcastle United in the fight for a top-four place.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Liverpool are only three points behind Spurs, who lost at Wolves on Saturday, while Newcastle look to be fading after a fine first few months of the season.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Klopp flagged up just how big this week was in shaping those ambitions and it has brought a deserved home win against Wolves before United were completely overwhelmed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said: \"It was the push we wanted. It puts us in the right direction. Everyone has to know we are still around.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It wasn\'t the case for a while but this was a proper show of what we can be and what we have to be from now on.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was after a 4-0 loss at Liverpool in April that then Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick announced: \"They are six years ahead of us.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">United\'s steps to recovery this season suggested the gap had been closed to an extent - but when Liverpool get it right, as they did here, it still resembles a chasm. 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, '2023-03-06 03:58:48', '2023-03-06 03:58:48'),
(5601, 5601, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>It has become essential to form a separate entity to deal with matters related to importing coal for both public and private power plants.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some recent scams in coal price fixing made it even more necessary in order to protect the interests of the state, as there are various allegations against the coal-fired power plant operators.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Energy experts are of the view that only a separate and strong state agency can work effectively in this regard.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Officials of the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) would also prefer a separate entity to be responsible for both import of coal and also work as a monitoring body to check any untoward practices in coal purchase for the power plants.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also Read: Top policymakers briefed about outcome of meeting with Adani on coal pricing: Sources</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Since coal is a pass-through item in power generation and the BPDB has to ultimately pay the bills, there should be a state-owned entity which will import the coal directly and monitor the price of coal to be imported by any private power plant operator,” a top official of the organisation told UNB, preferring not to be named.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Supporting the idea of forming a state-owned separate entity for importing coal and supervising any coal import by the private sector, eminent energy expert Dr M Tamim said such a body for coal is essential for Bangladesh, just like the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) exists for hydrocarbons.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We can form a body like Coal Bangladesh like Coal India in our neighbouring nation,” he told UNB.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He noted the reality that Bangladesh does not have any experience in coal import.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">So if any company manipulates coal prices through underhanded dealing with suppliers, it will be difficult to identify such unfair means for non-experienced officials, he added.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The coal price issue came into the forefront in recent days following the unearthing of the Indian Adani Group’s power purchase agreement (PPA) with the BPDB, and controversies surrounding the steep purchasing price for coal quoted to BPDB by Adani Power.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Adani Power recently sent a request for BPDB to issue the demand note, where the coal price was quoted at $400 per metric ton (MT) - far above what BPDB officials believe it should be given the present state of the international market.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“In our view, the coal price they have quoted ($400/MT) was excessive - it should be less than $250/MT, which is what we are paying for the imported coal at our other thermal power plants,\" the official said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They mentioned that the price of coal is coming down in the international market.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">To adjust the coal price,&nbsp; the BPDB sought a revision to the PPA it signed with Adani Power Ltd for importing electricity from its 1600 MW thermal power plant in Jharkhand, India.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Against the backdrop of a heated debate over the issue, the government formed a review committee, headed by Power Secretary Habibur Rahman, to analyse the existing deals signed by the public, private and joint venture power companies, including the one with Adani, to import coal for use in power generation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 9-member high level committee was formed on January 23 and its first meeting was held on February 20.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides the Power Secretary, the committee also includes the Chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), additional secretary of Power Division (coordination), representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, Finance Ministry, and Commerce Ministry; the chief engineer (power generation) of BPDB, managing directors of the power generation companies, and the deputy secretary (development) of the Power Division, who will also act as member secretary of the committee.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">About the outcomes of the review committee meeting, Power Secretary Habibur Rahman said the committee needs to sit in more meetings.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“It’s too early to give any substantial outcomes right at this moment…We need to hold more meetings”, he told UNB.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Official sources said the review committee was formed following the report that Bangladesh will incur a financial loss of Tk 700 crore per month and Tk 8,400 crore annually due to the “faulty deal” signed with Adani Power to import electricity from its coal-fired 1600 MW Godda plant in Jharkhand state of India, first reported by UNB in January.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The BPDB sent a letter to the Adani Group seeking a revision to the existing PPA following the request it received in relation to opening LCs (in India) to import the coal that will be used as fuel for the 1,600 MW plant in Jharkhand.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The BPDB sent the letter date January 23 referring to State Minister-led delegation’s recent visit to the Adani plant mentioned, “During the discussion your side also opined that suitable mechanism will be devised to reduce this inconsistency of coal price by adjusting/changing the coal pricing mechanism of the power purchase agreement (PPA)”.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BPDB officials alleged that the price of coal for the Payra power plant was set at 15-16 percent higher than the market price in connivance with corrupt officials. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh&nbsp; &nbsp;</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 04:08:05', '2023-03-06 04:08:05'),
(5602, 5602, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Russian shelling destroyed homes and killed one person in northern Ukraine\'s Kharkiv province, the region\'s governor said Sunday, while fighting raged in the fiercely contested eastern city of Bakhmut.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The town of Kupiansk is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border; the region has come under frequent attacks even though Russian ground forces withdrew from the area nearly six months ago. Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said at least five homes were razed in the latest attack that left a 65-year-old man dead.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two civilians were killed over the past day in Bakhmut, Donetsk province Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said. Russian forces have spent months trying to capture the city as part of their offensive in eastern Ukraine, and the area has seen some of the bloodiest ground fighting of the war.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In recent days, Ukrainian units destroyed two key bridges just outside Bakhmut, including one linking it to the nearby town of Chasiv Yar along the last remaining Ukrainian resupply route, according to U.K. military intelligence officials and other Western analysts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Associated Press journalists near Bakhmut on Saturday saw a pontoon bridge set up by Ukrainian soldiers to help the few remaining residents reach the nearby village of Khromove. Later, the AP team saw at least five houses on fire as a result of attacks in Khromove, a nearby settlement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, assessed last week that Kyiv’s actions may point to a looming pullout from parts of the city. It said Ukrainian troops may “conduct a limited and controlled withdrawal from particularly difficult sections of eastern Bakhmut,” while seeking to inhibit Russian movement there and limit exit routes to the west.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Capturing Bakhmut would not only give Russian fighters a rare battlefield gain after months of setbacks but might rupture Ukraine’s supply lines and allow the Kremlin’s forces to press on toward other Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk province.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In southern Ukraine, a woman and two children were killed in a residential building in the Kherson region village of Poniativka, the Ukrainian president\'s office reported. A Russian artillery shell hit a car in Burdarky, another Kharkiv province village, killing a man and his wife, the regional prosecutor\'s office said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Casualties increased from an attack earlier in the week. Ukraine’s emergency services reported Sunday that the death toll from a Russian missile strike that hit a five-story apartment building in southern Ukraine on Thursday rose to 13.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One of the few areas where Russia and Ukraine have cooperated during the war is grain shipments. On that front, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sunday his country is engaged in “intense efforts” to extend an agreement that allowed Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The deal, which the U.N. and Turkey brokered in July 2022 and was extended by four months in November, is set to expire March 18.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a speech at the opening of the U.N. Conference on Least Developed Countries in Doha, Qatar, Cavusoglu said he had discussed another extension with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The agreement, which also allows Russia to export food and fertilizers, has helped temper rising global food prices. However, Russian officials have complained that shipments of the country’s fertilizer were not being facilitated under the agreement, leaving the deal\'s renewal in question. 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, '2023-03-06 04:14:39', '2023-03-06 04:14:39'),
(5603, 5603, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka’s air quality is in the \'unhealthy\' zone this morning (March 6, 2023).</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 159 at 9:40 am, the capital of Bangladesh ranked 14th in the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is an improvement considering Dhaka was topping the list over the last few days.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">China’s Beijing, Pakistan’s Karachi, and Lahore occupied the first, second, and third spots, with AQI scores of 234, 218, and 189 respectively.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 151 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’ while between 201–300 is ‘’very unhealthy’, and 301–400 is \'hazardous\', posing severe health risks to residents.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The AQI in Bangladesh is based on five pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2, and ozone.&nbsp;</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.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As per World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 04:24:00', '2023-03-06 04:24:00'),
(5604, 5604, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Nandi Kumar Barman has been successful in cultivating various vegetables on the fallow land of Thakurgaon.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He cultivated various vegetables on the 85 chhatak (over 1.5 bighas) vacant land in front of his house in the Zamindarpara of the municipal town. The vegetables produced on his land were able to meet his family’s needs and some of his neighbours\' too.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nandi also said he benefited financially by selling the extra vegetables he cultivated. He was seen watering the vegetable fields and cleaning the weeds using modern equipment. There he cultivated various leafy vegetables including spinach, various types of grass, cucumbers etc.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nandi Kumar Barman said about three bighas (150 chhatak) of land in the Zamindarpara belonged to the late Taher Jamal Chowdhury. Some land here has been rented out to a private company (SERP) with a house on it.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also Read: Working at brick kiln, Thakurgaon’s Raju still managed to score GPA 5 in HSC</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As about 85 chhatak of land was lying vacant for a long time, Nandi planted red amarnath, spinach, napa cabbage, cucumber, and various varieties of grass there and made a profit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Nandi’s cultivation of various vegetables on the fallow land is timely. If he wants, all kinds of support and advice would be given from the Department of Agriculture Extension,” said Md Sirajul Islam, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension, Thakurgaon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The target for the production of vegetables was set at 7,895 hectares of land in Thakurgaon this winter season. At present, almost all types of vegetables are in the market. Some more vegetables are under cultivation. There has been a good yield of vegetables this year and farmers are also getting fair prices, said the DAE official. 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, '2023-03-06 05:00:57', '2023-03-06 05:00:57'),
(5605, 5605, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Male students trickled back to their classes Monday after Afghan universities reopened following a winter break, but women remain barred by Taliban authorities.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The university ban is one of several restrictions imposed on women since the Taliban stormed back to power in August 2021, and has sparked global outrage -- including across the Muslim world.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"It\'s heartbreaking to see boys going to the university while we have to stay at home,\" said Rahela, 22, from the central province of Ghor.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"This is gender discrimination against girls because Islam allows us to pursue higher education. Nobody should stop us from learning.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Taliban government imposed the ban after accusing women students of ignoring a strict dress code and a requirement to be accompanied by a male relative to and from campus.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Most universities had already introduced gender-segregated entrances and classrooms, as well as allowing women to be taught only by female professors or old men.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Several Taliban officials say the ban on women\'s education is temporary, but despite promises, they have failed to reopen secondary schools for girls, which have been shuttered now for over a year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They have wheeled out a litany of excuses for the closure -- from a lack of funds to the time needed to remodel the syllabus along Islamic lines.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The reality, according to some Taliban officials, is that the ultra-conservative clerics advising the country\'s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada are deeply sceptical of modern education for women.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since taking power the Taliban authorities have effectively squeezed women out of public life.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Women have been removed from many government jobs or are paid a fraction of their former salary to stay at home.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They are also barred from going to parks, fairs, gyms and public baths, and must cover up in public.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rights groups have condemned the restrictions, which the United Nations called \"gender-based apartheid\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The international community has made the right to education for women a sticking point in negotiations over aid and recognition of the Taliban regime.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">No country has so far officially recognised the Taliban government. 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, '2023-03-06 05:39:34', '2023-03-06 05:39:34'),
(5606, 5606, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first against England in the final game of the three-match one-day International series at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Monday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last time, Bangladesh lost all of the matches of the ODI series at home was back in 2012 against Pakistan. Later in 2014, they also suffered a 2-0 defeat to India in three-match series.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Despite being reputed to play all out cricket, England nicely changed the gear according to the condition in Bangladesh to win the first two matches.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the first match, they dealt with Bangladeshi spinners astutely to win it by three wickets and then wrapped up the series with a 132-run victory in the second game.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The venue of the third match, Chattogram had recently become a horror place for Bangladesh, mainly for its placid nature. Just three months ago, they suffered their second biggest defeat in their history at this venue when India crushed them by 227 runs after compiling 409-8.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh: 1. Tamim Iqbal (capt), 2. Litton Das, 3. Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4. Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5. Shakib Al Hasan, 6. Mahmudullah, 7. Afif Hossain, 8. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9. Taijul Islam, 10. Ebadot Hossain, 11. Mustafizur Rahman.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"> </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">England: 1. Jason Roy, 2. Phil Salt, 3. Dawid Malan, 4. James Vince, 5. Sam Curran, 6. Jos Buttler (capt/wk), 7. Moeen Ali, 8. Chris Woakes, 9. Rehan Ahmed, 10. Adil Rashid, 11. Jofra Archer.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 06:01:43', '2023-03-06 06:04:40'),
(5607, 5607, '<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Six cases have been filed and 81 people arrested in connection with the clashes between police and Muslim devotees over ‘Salana Jalsa’ event&nbsp; of the Ahmadiyya community on Friday.</span><br></b></p><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Among those, police filed four cases with Panchagarh Sadar Police Station, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) filed two cases and Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat another case.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 31 named people and 8,200 unnamed ones were made accused in the cases on various charges including spreading rumours, attacks, vandalism, looting and obstructing government work, according to police.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fazle Rabbi, 28, of the Rajnagar area and Rabbi Emon, (26) of the Satmera area of Tentulia upazila were arrested for spreading rumours on Facebook.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ismail Hossain Jhanu, 25, of the Rajangarh area of Panchagarh municipality and Rasel Hossain, 28, of the Tular Danga area of the municipality were arrested in connection with the murder of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat engineer Zahid Hasan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, 77 people were shown arrested in the cases filed by the police and Rab on several charges and they were sent to jail through a court.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to police and case statements, sub-inspectors Masud Rana, Saidur Rahman, Shamsuzzoha Sarker,&nbsp; Altaf Hossain, and DAD Abdus Samad on behalf of Rab-13 filed the cases at Panchagarh Sadar Police Station on March 4 night.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Osman Ali, father of engineer Zahid Hasan, filed a case on behalf of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in connection with the murder. No one was named in the case, but 400 unnamed people were made accused.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police said two people who were allegedly directly involved in Zahid’s murder have been arrested. They gave confessional statements in connection with the murder.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Panchagarh Superintendent of Police SM Sirajul Huda said the situation is under control now.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Members of the police, Border Guard Bangladesh and RAB have been deployed at different points, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We are investigating the incident and arresting those involved. No matter who the attackers are, they will not be spared. Raids are on to arrest the other accused,” said the SP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, on Friday, two people were killed and at least 50 others including policemen were injured in the clash between a section of Muslim devotees and police during a protest march of the devotees demanding the closure of an Ahmadiyya community’s event in Panchagarh district town.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later on Saturday, a vested interest group spread rumours in different parts of the district town and on social media saying that some Ahmidyya community members slaughtered two Muslims.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Following the rumours, some young people equipped with sticks and sharp weapons blocked roads, carried out arson attacks, and looted shops and houses of the Ahmadiyya community. 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, '2023-03-06 07:07:42', '2023-03-06 07:07:42'),
(5608, 5608, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Amitabh Bachchan said he was injured while shooting a film in southern India and is recovering at home.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 80-year-old Bollywood superstar posted on his blog Sunday night that he sustained a rib injury while working in Hyderabad on the science-fiction film “Project K.” It’s being made in Hindi and Telugu languages and is slated for release in 2024.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bachchan wrote that he had broken rib cartilage and a muscle tear. He said the injury was “painful” and he consulted a doctor before he flew home to Mumbai, where he has been advised to rest.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“I shall be unable to meet the well wishers at Jalsa Gate this evening.. so do not come,” the actor said to fans who often gather outside his home in Mumbai. “All else is well,” he wrote.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said his work on the film was suspended until he’s healed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bachchan has acted in more than 200 Indian films. His breakthrough came in the 1973 film “Zanjeer,” or “The Chain,” and he rose to superstardom playing bold characters, inspiring fans to copy his hairstyle, clothes and deep voice.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The hugely popular actor is also a former politician and a television host. AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"13\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 07:16:41', '2023-03-06 07:16:41'),
(5609, 5609, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Condemning the Ahmadiyya community, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s Acting Secretary General Maulana ATM Masum issued a statement on March 5.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The statement released on Jamaat’s website says: “Bangladesh is a Muslim majority country where 90 percent people are Muslims. In this country, Qadiani (Ahmadiyya) community is committing reckless activities against Islam. The Islam-loving people will never accept it. The government’s role in this regard is questionable.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The government should resolve the Qadiani crisis permanently paying full heed to the public views and also to declare Qadiani Non-Muslim officially,” the statement added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Friday, a protest march against an Ahmadiyya religious event moved towards the Ahmednagar area in Panchagarh. As police stopped the procession at Chowrangi intersection, the men started throwing brickbats at the law enforcers, according to reports.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells to disperse them, witnesses said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two men died and scores, including policemen, sustained injuries in the clash. Some journalists covering the violence were also among the injured. Shops in Panchagarh town were closed down as violence induced panic among people.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The angry mob also looted around 20 houses belonging to the Ahmadiyya community located in Ahmednagar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to a report published in The Daily Star today, the Ahmadiyya community in Panchagarh district are living in fear of further attacks from hardliners.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many members of the community, particularly the elderly, women and children, have left their houses and are taking shelter in educational institutions or relatives’ homes, adds the report.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, since Friday’s violence, a series of tweets were posted from the verified account of Basherkella – known as a “Jamaat mouthpiece” – with “police brutality” and “boycott Qadiani (Ahmadiyya)” in hashtags.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Members of the community are calling this a “hate campaign” against Ahmadiyyas. 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, '2023-03-06 07:52:48', '2023-03-06 07:52:48'),
(5610, 5610, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A suicide bomber killed nine police officers and wounded 16 others on Monday in an attack on their truck in southwestern Pakistan, officials said.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"The suicide bomber was riding a motorbike and hit the truck from behind,\"&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">senior police official Abdul Hai Aamir told AFP.</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The incident took place at Dhadar, the main town of Kachhi district, some 120&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">kilometres (75 miles) southeast of Quetta in Balochistan.</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">Mehmood Notezai, police chief for Kachhi district, told AFP the police were&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">returning from a week-long cattle show where they had been providing&nbsp;</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">security.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Security forces have been battling a years-long insurgency by Baloch&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">militants demanding what they say is a fairer share of the province\'s wealth,&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">as well as attacks by the Pakistani Taliban. AFP</span></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 08:16:44', '2023-03-06 08:16:44'),
(5611, 5611, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Shab-e-Barat is a cultural celebration celebrated in many South Asian, Central Asian, South East Asian and Middle Eastern Muslim countries, on the 15th night (the night on 15th only) of the month of Sha\'ban, the eighth month of the Islamic Lunar Calendar. Shab-e-Barat is observed simultaneously with the Shia Mid-Sha\'ban Mahdi birthday festival, but Barat has different origins.&nbsp;</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some people mistake Shab-e-Barat festival as it is not a festival and Shia Mid-Sha\'ban ceremony as they take place at the same time, but Shab-e-Barat\'s rituals and styles differ from region to region, while Mid-Sha\'ban is celebrated the same everywhere. The observance of Barat involves a festive nightlong vigil with prayers. In most regions, it is a night when one\'s deceased ancestors are commemorated.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shab-e-Barat is considered a major event in South East Asia, collectively worship and ask for forgiveness of their wrongdoings. It is believed to reward them with fortune for the whole year and cleanse them of their sins. In many regions, it is also a night when prayers are offered to forgive one\'s deceased ancestors.[2]&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Additionally, Twelver Shia Muslims commemorate the birthday of Muhammad al-Mahdi.[3][4] Salafi adherents oppose the recognition of Mid-Sha\'ban as exceptional for prayer.[5] Because there is no evidence was found that Muhammad ﷺ or his noble companions or family ever celebrated or commemorated the night of Shab-e-Barat. But according to a hadith tradition it is known that Muhammad ﷺ went into the graveyard of Baqi\' on this night and he prayed for the Muslims buried there.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to a study by Eiichi Imoto and Mohammad Ajam, Shab-e-Barat is rooted in pre-Islamic religions in the Middle East and Persia. Eastern Iranians traditionally preserve the Barat like the Bon Festival in Buddhism and Pitri Paksha in Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. the main goal of the ceremony is praying for the happiness of the souls of the dead. in this case it is also very similar with main proposes in doing Halloween ceremony by Christian. The study states that the Persian word brat (bright) is different from the Arabic word bara\'at.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Khorasan people call the Barat the Cheragh (light) Brat, meaning bright or light festival.[6] Al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) had written about \"a festival from 12 to 15 of the lunar month that in Arabic is Al Baiz meaning bright, and Barat also is called al Ceqe meaning Cheque.\" In some Iranian cities, people celebrate this festival by gathering in the cemeteries, lighting Peganum harmala (wild rue)—a holy plant in old Persia—placing the fire in a corner of the tombs, and pouring some salt on the fire while reading a poem saying: \"The Peganum harmala is bitter and salt is salty so the jealous eye of the enemy be blind.\"[7]</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shab-e-Barat is also known as the Night of Forgiveness or Day of Atonement.[8] Muslims observe Mid-Sha\'ban as a night of worship and salvation. Scholars like Imam Shafii, Imam Nawawi, Imam Ghazzali, and Imam Suyuti have declared praying acceptable on the night of mid-Shaban.[9] In his Majmu\'[definition needed], Imam Nawawi quoted Imam al-Shafi\'i\'s Kitab al-Umm that there are five nights when dua (prayer) is answered, one of them being the night of the 15th of Sha`ban.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shab-e-Barat is celebrated by Muslims all over the world. Muslims believe that on the night of Shab-e-Barat, God writes the destinies of all men and women for the coming year by taking into account the deeds they committed in the past. It is of high value to Sunni Muslims,[8] and is regarded as one of the holiest nights on the Islamic calendar.[10]</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">To pray for the dead and ask God for the forgiveness of the dead is a common ceremony in all cities that hold Barat ceremonies. According to a hadith tradition, Muhammad went into the graveyard of Baqi\' on this night, where he prayed for the Muslims buried there. On this basis, some clerics deem it advisable on this night to go to the graveyard of the Muslims to recite part of the Qur\'an and pray for the dead.[11]</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to some Sunni Islam traditions, this night is called Shab-e-Bara\'at (transl. \"the night of freedom\") because Allah frees those who are destined for Hell.[8]</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This occasion is celebrated all over South and Central Asia. In the Arab world, the festival is celebrated by Sufi and Shia Muslims. Salafi Arabs do not celebrate this holiday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"7\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 08:45:02', '2023-03-06 08:45:02');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5612, 5612, '<p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangabandhu\'s landmark March 7 speech was an oath of the Bangalee nation for the Liberation War as the entire nation took oath on that day and became united to face the Pakistani occupational forces after listening the speech, said academics.</b><br></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"Bangabandhu\'s speech was not only a historic speech rather it was an oath of <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangalee nation,\" noted academician and former Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Dhaka </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">University (DU) Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique said while talking to BSS on </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">the eve of the historic March 7. </span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">\"As Bangalees took oath on that day, they had jumped into the Liberation War </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">immediately after the proclamation of independence by Bangabandhu in the </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">early hours of March 26,\" he added.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">In his speech, Bangabandhu said: \"I call upon you to turn every home into </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">fortresses, confront the enemy with whatever you have and close all roads for </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">life even if I am not around to give orders,\" Prof Arefin mentioned.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">He said though Bangabandhu was giving speech at the then Race Course Maidan, <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">the seven and half crore people was listening it and they took oath on that </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">day for the Liberation War. </span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prof Arefin, also acting president of Bangabandhu Parishad, said March 7 </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">speech was not only a speech rather it was an epic poem that is why the </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">international Newsweek magazine termed Bangabandhu as a \'Poet of Politics\' in </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">the cover story of its April 5, 1971 issue. </span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"Bangabandhu\'s speech was Bangalee\'s promise for achieving independence, <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">proclamation of independence and Liberation War and seven and half crore </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangalee\'s oath,\" he said.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">\"When Bangabandhu was sent to Pakistani jail in 1971 during the Liberation </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">War, he led the nation through this March 7 speech,\" he said, adding that in </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">absence of Bangabandhu, his speech was his presence to us.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"When the speech was aired on Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra and other radio <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">stations including Akash Vani, it touched the heart of every people who </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">listened,\" he said.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">DU VC Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman said Bangabandhu\'s historic March 7 speech <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">managed to make the whole nation united and prepare them for the nation\'s </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">most anticipated freedom as it contains all the instructions and guidelines </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">for all the components, needed for a collective effort for a nation\'s fight </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">for freedom.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">With a single speech, the great man managed to bring the whole nation under <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">one umbrella and become a de facto sovereign, winning everyone\'s heart </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">regardless of their caste, creed, sex and religions.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">It was possible because each individual and community\'s concern and interest <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">no matter what class and community they belong to, was known to Bangabandhu </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">very well and thus, the great man managed to address the concern of each </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">class and community equally along with giving directives for the nation\'s </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">freedom, Akhtaruzzaman added.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The significance of the speech didn\'t end up in achieving victory in the </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Liberation War rather the speech has been inspiring all the freedom-loving </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">and democratic people around the world, the VC said, adding: \"The relevance </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">and significance of the speech will be similarly effective in the days to </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">come.\"</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">DU Pro-VC (Administration) Prof Dr. Muhammad Samad said Bangabandhu\'s <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">daughter Sheikh Hasina started working on Bangabandhu\'s March 7 speech to </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">present it to the new generation after returning home in 1981.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Under her initiative, Bangabandhu Memorial Trust has been arranging seminar <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">on the speech since 2004 which played an important role to spread it to the </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">people and the new generation, he said.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">At the initiative of Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh Permanent Mission to UNESCO <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">and Bangladesh Embassy in Paris published the book titled: \"The Historic 7th </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">March Speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: A World Documentary </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Heritage\" in UN\'s six official languages Arabic, Chinese, English, French, </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Russian and Spanish, Prof Samad mentioned.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">He said Bangabandhu\'s March 7, 1971 speech has also been recognised as one of <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">the world famous speeches in the book entitled: \"We Shall Fight on the </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Beaches: The Speeches That Inspired History\", by Jacob F Field, a noted </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">historian.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Prof Arefin, also chairman of the board of directors of Bangladesh Sangbad <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Sangstha (BSS), said: \"I believe, it\'s must to present the speech before the </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">new generation again and again. This speech should be included in textbooks </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">and this should be taught in classrooms.\"</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">He said if that could be done, Bangabandhu\'s philosophy and personality </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">could be disseminated before the youth generations after generations through </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">this speech.</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The speech itself is a great textbook and there is the necessity to teach <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">this textbook to youths, he continued.</span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The UNESCO has realised this thing and that is why it has included the </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">speech in the Memory of the World International Register, Prof Arefin said, </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">adding: \"The significance of the speech now in 2023 is as important and </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">relevant as it was in 1971 and even it will be the same on March 7 in 2050, </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">when Bangalees will observe the day.\"</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"If we make psychological analysis of the speech, we find the extempore <span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">speech reflected words from his hearts in a very simple way,\" he said.</span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">So, it could be called a conversation not a speech as Bangabandhu made the </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">address before the nation in a conversational style as if he was talking with </span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">the people. BSS</span></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</p>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 08:58:26', '2023-03-06 09:59:16'),
(5613, 5613, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday urged oil-rich Qatar to make investment in Bangladesh’s energy sector, especially in renewable energy.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“We remain open to investment proposals in our infrastructures and logistics sectors. We believe there is scope for Qatari investment in the energy sector, including in renewable energy,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier was addressing the Doha Investment Summit 2023</div><div>Titled ‘The Rise of Bengal Tiger: Potentials of Trade and Investment in Bangladesh’ held at Grand Ballroom of The St. Regis Doha.</div><div><br></div><div>She mentioned that Bangladesh could benefit from Qatar’s expertise in offshore gas exploration and energy distribution system.</div><div><br></div><div>She urged the business people from Qatar to look at certain thrust sectors in Bangladesh and invited a delegation of Qatari business people to visit the country soon.</div><div><br></div><div>“I also urge the non-resident Bangladeshis based in Qatar to invest in Bangladesh. We need your participation in our nation-building efforts,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>PM Hasina said that Bangladesh’s bilateral relations with Qatar should be readjusted based on a mutually beneficial economic partnership as there are immense untapped potentials.</div><div><br></div><div>“Bangladesh and Qatar are bound by strong brotherly ties and friendship. Our two nations need to reposition our ties based on a mutually beneficial economic partnership,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She also put emphasis on setting up a Joint Committee on Trade and Investment and a Joint Business Forum to bring private sectors on a single platform.</div><div><br></div><div>“Our two governments should work on setting up a Joint Committee on Trade and Investment. There should also be a Joint Business Forum to bring our private sectors on a single platform,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She mentioned that Bangladesh’s agricultural growth also creates scope for cooperation in agro-processing industries, with buy-back arrangements to Qatar.</div><div><br></div><div>Read more: PM Sheikh Hasina arrives in Qatar to join UN conference on LDCs</div><div><br></div><div>“We have plans to set up three special tourism zones, where Qatar can engage in both real estate and hospitality sectors,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The PM said that Bangladesh aspires to have at least ten Unicorns in ‘Smart Bangladesh’, and country’s vibrant start-up scene is ready to draw Qatari investment.</div><div><br></div><div>In addition, she said, Qatari investors can consider portfolio investment in Bangladesh.</div><div><br></div><div>“Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission is working hard to further develop our capital markets. We have taken several steps to establish our bond market on a solid footing. We are soon going to include derivative products in our capital markets,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>PM Hasina said that the disruptions in international fuel market due to the war in Ukraine have pushed countries like Bangladesh into a hard spot.</div><div><br></div><div>In order to meet the growing energy need, she said, Bangladesh is interested in increasing its LNG imports from Qatar.</div><div><br></div><div>She also requested Qatar to explore opportunities for increasing import of goods from Bangladesh.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that Bangladesh is now well on track to graduate from the UN LDC Group in 2026 which has been achieved by 168 million people through their hard work and commitment.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that just before the pandemic, country’s economy reached a growth rate of 8.15 percent, and even during the pandemic, it posted a growth rate of 6.94 percent.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that Bangladesh is now the world’s 35th largest economy with a GDP of USD 460 billion while projected to become the 24th largest by the first half of the 2030s.</div><div><br></div><div>“It was during my first tenure in 1996-2001 that our government fully opened up the door of trade and business for the private sector. Now our private sector is flourishing and our government is working as a facilitator. Together, we hope to take Bangladesh to the next level of development,” the PM said.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina mentioned that Bangladesh has one of the most liberal investment regimes in the region.</div><div><br></div><div>She mentioned that the incentives being offered include tax holiday, concessionary duty on machinery import, remittance of royalty, technical know-how and fees, allowing 100 percent foreign equity, unrestricted exit policy, full repatriation facilities of dividend and capital on exit, etc.</div><div><br></div><div>“The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) is offering a number of services to foreign investors under one roof.”</div><div><br></div><div>She mentioned that the government is setting up 100 Special Economic Zones with coordinated facilities and there are so far five country-specific Economic Zones in the making.</div><div><br></div><div>“We are investing heavily in our infrastructures fit for a regional connectivity and logistics hub. Our mega-projects like the Padma Multi-purpose Bridge, the Karnaphuli river tunnel, the Matarbari Deep Sea Port, the expanded Third Terminal at Dhaka International Airport, the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, the Metro-rail system in Dhaka all testify to our determined march forward.”</div><div><br></div><div>Hasina mentioned that the government has already brought the entire nation under electricity and internet coverage while country’s first communication satellite Bangabandhu-I has opened up new horizons.</div><div><br></div><div>“We have a large pool of easily trainable workforce available at a competitive wage&lt;” she said, adding “Bangladesh has got the world’s second largest community of registered IT freelancers.”</div><div><br></div><div>She mentioned that Bangladesh has made big leaps in developing its digital backbone down to the remote areas. “Our boys and girls are preparing themselves to join the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”</div><div><br></div><div>She said that the government is gradually building 38 Hi-tech Parks, with opening for foreign investment.</div><div><br></div><div>She said that government’s vision now is to build a ‘Smart Bangladesh’ by 2041, drawing strength from a knowledge-based society.</div><div><br></div><div>“Bangladesh offers to be a willing partner in realizing the Qatar National Vision 2030. We can equip our workforce with knowledge and skills to cater to the advanced employment market in Qatar,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>She reaffirmed her commitment to fulfill Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib’s dream of building a ‘Sonar Bangla’ and said that she is confident the Qatari leadership and people will continue to stand by Bangladesh as they did in the past decades.</div><div><br></div><div>“I encourage our business peoples to keep adding new feathers to our excellent bilateral relations,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Chairman of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission Prof Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam and Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Lokman Hosaain Miah made two separate presentations focusing on potentials of trade and investment in Bangladesh.</div><div><br></div><div>Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) in partnership with the Foreign Affairs Ministry arranged the event. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 09:52:48', '2023-03-06 09:52:48'),
(5614, 5614, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A Chapainawabganj court on Monday convicted three persons and sentenced them to death for killing a woman and her daughter over land dispute.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Additional District and Session Judge Rabiul Islam pronounced the judgment.</div><div><br></div><div>The condemned convicts were identified as Rubel, Humayun Kabir and Mahbub Alam. Of them Mahbub tried in absentia.</div><div><br></div><div>The court also fined them Tk 50,000 each.</div><div><br></div><div>According to the prosecution, Nasima Begum, wife of Nasiruddin, an expatriate in Saudi Arabia, of Up-Razarampur Kumarpara of Sadar upazila and her daughter Nila were killed by the convicts following an enmity over the ownership of a piece of land on August 31, 2012.</div><div><br></div><div>Police recovered the bodies of Nasima and Nila from their house on the following day.</div><div><br></div><div>Taimur Rahman, father of Nasima lodged a complaint against six people with Sadar Police. Police registered a case later.</div><div><br></div><div>Of the six accused, one of them died during the trial proceedings.</div><div><br></div><div>After examining records and witnesses, the Additional District and Session Judge announced the judgment and acquitted two more accused as allegations brought against them could not be proved. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 10:30:37', '2023-03-06 10:30:37'),
(5615, 5615, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Detective Branch of police today pressed charges against former Ducsu vice president Nurul Haque Nur in a case filed over \"hurting religious sentiments of Awami League activists and its supporters and defaming the party with his derogatory comments\", according to media reports.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Mohammad Saiful Islam, an inspector of Cyber and Special Crime Division of DB and also the investigation officer of the case, appealed to the court to issue arrest warrant against him.</div><div><br></div><div>On February 28, the IO submitted the charge sheet against Nur to the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate\'s Court. In the charge sheet, Nur was shown as a \"fugitive\'\' as he did not secure bail from any court in the country.</div><div><br></div><div>Meantime, CMM Md Rezaul Karim Chowdhury ordered to transfer the case to the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal for its disposal today.</div><div><br></div><div>On April 18 of 2021, Singer Eleyas Hossain filed the case with Paltan Police Station under the Digital Security Act for Nur\'s comments during a Facebook live session on April 14 the same year.</div><div><br></div><div>It was alleged that Nur spoke on Facebook live on April 14 and hurt religious sentiments of Awami League activists and supporters by calling them \"fake Muslims\", according to the case statement.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 11:25:14', '2023-03-06 11:25:14'),
(5616, 5616, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Barcelona clung on with 10 men to beat Valencia 1-0 and move nine points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga on Sunday, thanks to Raphinha\'s early header.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The champions could not find a way through against Real Betis in an entertaining 0-0 draw later on at the Benito Villamarin.</div><div><br></div><div>Brazilian winger Raphinha nodded Barca in front in the 16th minute. But after Ferran Torres missed a penalty and Ronald Araujo was sent off, the hosts were left fighting tooth and nail for the three points.</div><div><br></div><div>They retreated in the final half hour following Araujo\'s 59th minute red card but survived to beat Ruben Baraja\'s Valencia, who are 19th and two points from safety.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We suffered too much, we had many chances to score the second,\" Xavi told reporters.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It can\'t be that we have to finish games like that when we have chances. We have to learn how to close out games.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Barcelona\'s 1-0 Copa del Rey semi-final first-leg triumph over Madrid on Thursday followed two consecutive defeats, and this narrow victory felt like a significant step towards a first league title since 2019.</div><div><br></div><div>Without top scorer Robert Lewandowski, midfield maestros Pedri and Gavi and winger Ousmane Dembele, the Catalans did just enough to win.</div><div><br></div><div>Valencia resisted early Barcelona pressure but came undone when Sergio Busquets lofted a pass into the area for Raphinha to meet with a cunning run and a header over Giorgi Mamardashvili.</div><div><br></div><div>Samuel Lino missed a big chance for Valencia in the first half, and early in the second Barcelona should have moved two ahead when Hugo Guillamon was penalised for handball.</div><div><br></div><div>Torres grabbed the ball to take the penalty, although Ansu Fati also wanted it and the pair exchanged words, increasing the pressure on the Spaniard, who hit the post.</div><div><br></div><div>Fati hit the woodwork himself moments later, before a mistake from Jules Kounde left Barcelona with 10 men.</div><div><br></div><div>The French defender\'s header back towards his own goal sent Hugo Duro through. Araujo dragged down the striker and saw red.</div><div><br></div><div>Valencia put pressure on Barcelona without troubling Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who kept his 18th La Liga clean sheet of the season.</div><div><br></div><div>The visitors might have been awarded a late penalty when Franck Kessie tangled with Fran Perez, but the referee waved away their desperate -- and not unfounded -- appeals.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I thought the referee was going to blow for (the penalty), he steps on him and there\'s contact,\" said Valencia\'s Hugo Guillamon.</div><div><br></div><div>- Madrid stumble -</div><div>Reigning champions Madrid forged the better openings against Betis but could not find the goal they needed to stay as close as possible on Barcelona\'s tail.</div><div><br></div><div>Karim Benzema had a free-kick strike disallowed while Betis goalkeeper Claudio Bravo made fine saves to deny the French forward and Vinicius Junior.</div><div><br></div><div>Thibaut Courtois was also forced into two superb stops by Betis who showed why they are in contention for a Champions League place next season with a hearty performance.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It\'s quite evident what we\'re lacking, we have to be more efficient,\" Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti told Movistar.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Sometimes opponents close up at the back, but we have the quality and we have to do it better.\"</div><div><br></div><div>The coach did not think his team\'s title defence was over, despite the setback.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It\'s not impossible. It\'s very difficult, but we have no doubt we will try until the end,\" added Ancelotti.</div><div><br></div><div>Madrid winger Vinicius, as has become customary in La Liga, was engaged in a running battle with the Betis defence.</div><div><br></div><div>Vinicius has not scored away from home in the top flight since August, but brilliantly set up Benzema at the start of the second half with former Barcelona stopper Bravo parrying the effort.</div><div><br></div><div>It was Madrid\'s first shot on target since last weekend\'s 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid.</div><div><br></div><div>Los Blancos have scored just once in their last three games -- from a corner.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I\'m more upset than angry,\" said Ancelotti.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I\'m upset that this team, with this quality, can\'t score a goal in three games (from open play).\"</div><div><br></div><div>Courtois made a stunning save to thwart Borja Iglesias at the other end, when the striker seemed poised to score.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We had moments in which we had clear openings, my chance with Thibaut,\" Iglesias told Movistar.</div><div><br></div><div>\"That\'s why this guy wins what he wins -- he saves a lot.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Real Valladolid climbed to 14th with a 2-1 over Espanyol, while Rayo Vallecano and Athletic Bilbao shared a 0-0 draw. Source: AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 11:52:35', '2023-03-06 11:52:35'),
(5617, 5617, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Women have a harder time accessing work globally than previously thought, while the gender gap in working conditions and pay has barely budged in two decades, the United Nations said Monday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The UN\'s International Labour Organization said it had developed a new indicator that does a better job than official unemployment rates at capturing all people without employment that are interested in finding work.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It paints a much bleaker picture of the situation of women in the world of work than the more commonly-used unemployment rate,\" the ILO said in a statement, two days before International Women\'s Day.</div><div><br></div><div>\"The new data shows that women still have a much harder time finding a job than men.\"</div><div><br></div><div>According to new ILO data, 15 percent of working-age women globally would like to work, but do not have a job, compared to 10.5 percent of men.</div><div><br></div><div>\"This gender gap has remained almost unchanged for two decades,\" it said.</div><div><br></div><div>By contrast, official unemployment rates for women and men are very similar.</div><div><br></div><div>This, ILO said, is because the criteria used to determine if someone should officially be considered unemployed tend to disproportionately exclude women.</div><div><br></div><div>It pointed out that personal and family responsibilities, including unpaid care work, disproportionately affects women.</div><div><br></div><div>Such activities, it said, not only often prevent women from working, but also from actively searching for employment or being available to work on short notice, which are criteria for being considered unemployed.</div><div><br></div><div>The UN labour organisation found that the jobs gap was particularly severe in low-income countries, where nearly a quarter of women were unable to find a job.</div><div><br></div><div>For men, the corresponding rate was below 17 percent, ILO said.</div><div><br></div><div>Access to employment is not the only problem.</div><div><br></div><div>ILO highlighted that women tend to be overrepresented in certain types of vulnerable jobs, including helping out in relatives\' businesses rather than being in own-account work.</div><div><br></div><div>\"This vulnerability, together with lower employment rates, takes a toll on women\'s earnings,\" ILO said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Globally, for each dollar of labour income men earn, women earned only 51 cents.\"</div><div><br></div><div>The pay gap meanwhile varies widely between regions, with the figure dropping to 33 cents in low income countries, but reaching 58 cents in high-income countries, reports AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>\"This striking disparity in earnings is driven by both women\'s lower employment level, as well as their lower average earnings when they are employed,\" ILO said.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 12:35:52', '2023-03-06 12:35:52'),
(5618, 5618, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with Türkiye on Monday to deposit $5 billion in the Turkish Central Bank.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>A statement by the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) said the agreement was signed by SFD chairman Ahmed Al-Khateeb and bank governor Sahap Kavcioglu.</div><div><br></div><div>\"This deposit comes as an extension of the historic relations and close cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Türkiye and its brotherly people,\" SFD said in the statement.</div><div><br></div><div>In December 2022, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan said the oil-rich kingdom will make a deposit of $5 billion in the Turkish Central Bank. - Anadolu Agency&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 13:25:51', '2023-03-06 13:25:51'),
(5619, 5619, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A confidence-boosting, consolation win for Bangladesh, avoiding the series whitewash with an impressive all-round performance. Shakib Al Hasan was the star as he so often is, making a vital 75 before taking four wickets to strangle England\'s run chase, while Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim and Ebadot Hossain all impressed too.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Brief scores from the third one-day international between Bangladesh and England in Chittagong on Monday:</div><div><br></div><div>Bangladesh 246 all out in 48.5 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 75, Mushfiqur Rahim 70, Najmul Hossain 53; J. Archer 3-35, Adil Rashid 2-21, S. Curran 2-51)</div><div><br></div><div>England 196 all out in 43.1 overs (J. Vince 38, P. Salt 35, C. Woakes 34; Shakib Al Hasan 4-35, Ebadot Hossain 2-38, Taijul Islam 2-52)</div><div><br></div><div>Toss: Bangladesh</div><div>Result: Bangladesh won by 50 runs&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 14:07:23', '2023-03-06 14:07:23'),
(5620, 5620, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Monday held Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP responsible for anti-Ahmadyya violence in Panchagarh that left two people dead and dozens injured.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Talking to reporters at his Secretariat office the home minister said that local Jamaat activists and BNP leaders were involved in obstructing the Ahmadyyas from holding their religious event and besides torching their houses.</div><div><br></div><div>He said several thousand Ahmadyyas live in the area and their Salna Jalsa has been an annual event there.</div><div><br></div><div>“But this year, the activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP leaders obstructed them. They also carried out arson attacks on their houses and raided the venue of event,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>He said the clashes claimed a member of the Ahmadyya community, while an activist of Jamaat-e-Islami died during the violence, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier reports said that the violence on Friday left two people killed and at least 50 others injured.</div><div><br></div><div>Already seven cases have been filed in this connection while 81 people have been arrested so far. BNP leader Fazle Rabbi was among the arrestees, said the minister.</div><div><br></div><div>Following interrogation, Fazle Rabbi admitted that he was there to stop the religious event and he also led the protest from behind the scenes, said Asaduzzaman.</div><div><br></div><div>A RAB member was also injured and a vehicle of the agency was also vandalised during the violence, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>However, the situation in the area is normal now and more cases are under way, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>Replying to a question about any advance information from an intelligence source about the Panchagarh incident, the minister said “Efforts are on to investigate why the members of the community got so angry this year? Whether there is any negligence on the part of law enforcers will be found out. Already a probe committee has been formed in this connection and action will be taken if we find any negligence over the issue.”</div><div><br></div><div>Responding to a question about the BNP allegation that the government has created the incident to repress the BNP, the minister said “Awami League never goes against the people of the country. Where Awami League is in charge of providing security to the people then why would they do such an incident? Those who were behind the incident are spreading rumours to hide them.”</div><div><br></div><div>On the massive fire at Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camp, Asaduzzaman said the government is investigating whether there was any sabotage in it.</div><div><br></div><div>“We are investigating to find out what caused the fire and whether there was any sabotage or conspiracy,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The government has taken steps for sheltering those who lost their houses in the fire, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>He said Rohingyas can go to Bhashan Char as the government has taken huge preparation for resettling the displaced Myanmar nationals on the island. “If they want they can go voluntarily they will be taken there,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 15:09:54', '2023-03-06 15:09:54'),
(5621, 5621, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday alleged that Awami League was a big partner in the plot to destroy democracy through depoliticisation during the 1/11 political changeover in 2007.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“We have to keep it in mind that those who are now in power were not separated from that (1/11) conspiracy. Rather, they’re major partners in that conspiracy,” he told a discussion meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader also said Awami League has always taken a position against democracy and the country and its people.</div><div><br></div><div>“It’s Awami League which established one-party Baksal rule destroying democracy just in 11 minutes in parliament in 1975. The conspiracy to destroy Bangladesh and its nationalism has started since that day in 1975,” he observed.</div><div><br></div><div>As part of that plot, Fakhrul claimed that BNP founder and late President Ziaur Rahman was assassinated in 1981. “Similarly, when an illegal government usurped power with the support of the military on 1/11, Awami League joined the swearing-in ceremony of Fakhruddin (the chief adviser of that regime) and extended its support to them.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Bangladesh Chhatra Forum and Uttaranchal Chhatra Forum organised the discussion at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU), marking the 17th anniversary of the arrest of BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman.</div><div><br></div><div>Tarique, the eldest son of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, was arrested on March 7, 2007, by the joint forces on different charges, including corruption, from their then-cantonment residence.</div><div><br></div><div>After nearly 18 months of imprisonment, he went to London securing bail from the High Court on September 3, 2009. He has been staying there since then.</div><div><br></div><div>Fakhrul alleged that Tarique Rahman was arrested in 2007 as part of a conspiracy to weaken Bangladesh’s independence, and sovereignty and to harm its progress.</div><div><br></div><div>He said the ruling party has been carrying out huge propaganda against Tarique and spreading misinformation about him with an aim to portray him as a villain and disqualified to lead the nation.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>“Those who have taken a stand against Bangladesh and its interests, including some newspapers and TV Channels, have joined this campaign.”</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP Secretary General warned that the media owners who are indulging in misdeeds by conducting false campaigns against Tarique and BNP will not be able to sustain themselves since people will not forgive them.</div><div><br></div><div>He also said no false campaign against the Zia family and repressive acts against opposition leaders and activists can resist BNP from ousting the current regime.</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader said the country’s people will no longer allow any monarch and master to rule the country in the future, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>“They (Awami League) think that the country is their monarchy and they’re the owner of the country and we all are their subjects. This is how they want to run the country. But people won’t allow them this time to hang onto power,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Fakhrul said their current movement has created a strong wave to wash away the current “fascist” and monstrous regime.</div><div><br></div><div>He also said that their party’s stance that the next election must be held under a non-party caretaker government to ensure people’s right to franchise.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 15:28:38', '2023-03-06 15:28:38'),
(5622, 5622, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Four Palestinians were injured in an Israeli military raid in the West Bank city of Jericho on Monday, according to local media.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Israeli forces raided the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp in Jericho, triggering clashes with angry residents during which soldiers used live fire and tear gas canisters, the state news agency Wafa reported.</div><div><br></div><div>More than 30 Palestinians suffered temporary asphyxiation from tear gas fired by Israeli forces, the Palestine Voice radio said.</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile, the Israeli army also said its forces rounded up 14 Palestinians in raids across the West Bank.</div><div><br></div><div>The Israeli army plans to demolish a house of a Palestinian in Aqbat Jabr refugee camp accused by the military of involvement in an attack in which a settler was killed last month.</div><div><br></div><div>At least 68 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of this year, according to Palestinian figures. Fourteen Israelis have also been killed in attacks during the same period.</div><div><br></div><div>The Israeli army frequently carries out wide-ranging arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians. - Anadolu Agency&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 15:57:22', '2023-03-06 15:57:22'),
(5623, 5623, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Iran’s supreme leader said Monday that if a series of suspected poisonings at girls’ schools are proven to be deliberate the culprits should be sentenced to death for committing an “unforgivable crime.”</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>It was the first time Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state, has spoken publicly about the suspected poisonings, which began late last year and have sickened hundreds of children.</div><div><br></div><div>Iranian officials only acknowledged them in recent weeks and have provided no details on who may be behind the attacks or what chemicals — if any — have been used. Unlike neighboring Afghanistan, Iran has no history of religious extremists targeting women’s education.</div><div><br></div><div>“If the poisoning of students is proven, those behind this crime should be sentenced to capital punishment and there will be no amnesty for them,” Khamenei said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.</div><div><br></div><div>Authorities have acknowledged suspected attacks at more than 50 schools across 21 of Iran’s 30 provinces since November.</div><div><br></div><div>Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said over the weekend that “suspicious samples” had been gathered by investigators, without elaborating. He called on the public to remain calm and accused unnamed enemies of inciting fear to undermine the Islamic Republic.</div><div><br></div><div>Vahidi said at least 52 schools had been affected by suspected poisonings, while Iranian media reports have put the number of schools at over 60. At least one boy’s school reportedly has been affected.</div><div><br></div><div>Videos of upset parents and schoolgirls in emergency rooms with IVs in their arms have flooded social media.</div><div><br></div><div>Iran has imposed stringent restrictions on independent media since the outbreak of nationwide protests in September, making it difficult to determine the nature and scope of the suspected poisonings.</div><div><br></div><div>On Monday, Iranian media reported that authorities arrested a Qom-based journalist, Ali Pourtabatabaei, who had been regularly reporting on the suspected poisonings. The hard-line Kayhan newspaper in an editorial had called for the arrests of newspaper publishers who printed articles on the crisis critical of Iran’s theocracy.</div><div><br></div><div>The protests were sparked by the death of a young woman who had been detained by morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code. Religious hard-liners in Iran have been known to attack women they perceive as dressing immodestly in public. But even at the height of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, women and girls continued attending schools and universities.</div><div><br></div><div>The children affected in the poisonings have reportedly complained of headaches, heart palpitations, feeling lethargic or otherwise unable to move. Some described smelling tangerines, chlorine or cleaning agents.</div><div><br></div><div>Reports suggest at least 400 schoolchildren have fallen ill since November. Vahidi, the interior minister, said in his statement that two girls remain in hospital because of underlying chronic conditions. There have been no reported fatalities.</div><div><br></div><div>As more attacks were reported Sunday, videos were posted on social media showing children complaining about pain in the legs, abdomen and dizziness. State media have mainly referred to these as “hysteric reactions.”</div><div><br></div><div>The World Health Organization documented a similar phenomenon in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012, when hundreds of girls across the country complained of strange smells and poisoning. No evidence was found to support the suspicions, and the WHO said it appeared to be “mass psychogenic illnesses.” Source: AP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-06 16:06:18', '2023-03-06 16:06:18'),
(5624, 5624, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday asked the international community to seriously consider the proposals for extension of LDC-specific support measures like preferential market access and the TRIPS waiver for a certain period after graduation.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Graduating LDCs need extension of LDC-specific support measures, such as preferential market access and the TRIPS waiver for a certain period after graduation,\" she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The PM said, \"The LDC Group in WTO has already placed its proposals on these issues. Those proposals should be seriously considered by the international community, especially given the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier was addressing as a co-chair in a high-level thematic roundtable entitled “Enhancing the participation of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in International Trade and Regional Integration’ held during the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-5 Conference) at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) here in Doha.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;Hasina said “We need to re-double our efforts to achieve the targets that we have set for ourselves in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in the Doha Programme of Action. This requires concerted efforts at national, regional, and global levels,”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She hoped that this roundtable session would assess the state-of-play of international support measures against the challenges that LDCs are currently facing.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;“Our approach and commitments should be pragmatic, realistic, and well-designed to enhance LDCs\' productive capacity,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said trade will continue to remain a key driver of development for graduating and graduated LDCs. “You would perhaps recall that the Istanbul Programme of Action aspired to double the LDCs’ trade share. However, their share of trade still remains as low as 1%,” she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“To be competitive in the global market, LDCs must focus on enhancing their trade-related infrastructure, building productive capacity, and utilizing preferential market access. For achieving these objectives, LDCs require support and investment for connectivity, human capital, trade finance and technology transfer,” said the premier.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Focusing on Bangladesh, she said her government has placed significant emphasis on improving national and cross-border connectivity by constructing a multimodal transport system. “It will reduce costs, enhance efficiency, and promote regional and international trade,” she said</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We are also implementing various initiatives aimed at developing skills, increasing productivity, improving intellectual property regime, and enhancing our competitiveness,” she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The PM said her government’s policy is to engage the private sector to participate in national development. “Working hand in hand, we have so far brought the country to the present stage of LDC graduation. Our near-term priority is to ensure smooth and sustainable graduation,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President of the Republic of Burundi Évariste Ndayishimiye was another co-chair of the high-level event.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Heads of state and government, and ministers from different countries, representatives of observers, relevant entities of the United Nations system and other accredited intergovernmental organizations, among others, participated in the event. 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, '2023-03-07 08:31:26', '2023-03-07 08:31:26');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5625, 5625, '<p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>March 7, a landmark day in the history of the nation\'s long struggle for freedom, is being observed today across the country in a befitting manner.</b></span><br></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">In 2017, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recognised the historic March 7 speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as a world documentary heritage.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">On this day in 1971, Bangabandhu, the undisputed leader of Bangalees, delivered the epoch-making speech before a mammoth rally at the then Racecourse Maidan (now Suhrawardy Udyan) in Dhaka city.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">In his 19-minute extempore speech before a million freedom-loving people, Bangabandhu made a clarion call for a non-cooperation movement -- asking the nation to prepare for liberating the country from the oppressive Pakistan regime.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">“The struggle this time is for freedom, the struggle this time is for independence, Joy Bangla,” Bangabandhu declared from the massive rally.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">During his speech, compared with US President Abraham Lincoln\'s historic Gettysburg speech, Bangabandhu said: “Since we have learnt to give blood, we\'ll give more blood. Insha Allah, the people of this country will be liberated...turn every house into a fortress. Face (the enemy) with whatever you have.”</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">His speech worked like a magic spell, inspiring the entire nation to join the struggle for independence from the autocratic and repressive rule of the then Pakistani junta.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The Cabinet on October 7, 2020 declared March 7 as a ‘Historic Day’ instead of ‘National Historic Day’ -- to observe the day nationally and internationally, commemorating the immortal speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Awami League and different socio-political and cultural organisations have chalked out elaborate programmes on the occasion.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Bangladesh Betar and Bangladesh Television as well as private television channels and radio stations are airing special programmes while national dailies published special supplements marking the day.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">National and Awami League party flags have been hoisted marking the day at Bangabandhu Bhaban and party office in the morning.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">A discussion with the party Presidium Member Engineer Mosharraf Hossain is scheduled to be held at 3pm at the auditorium of Krishibid Institution Bangladesh in the capital.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Meanwhile, President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages, recalling with gratitude the courageous and farsighted leadership of Bangabandhu in materialising the nation\'s journey to freedom through his March 7 Speech.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The President said: “Bangabandhu’s speech on 7th March is one of the most perpetual speeches in the world. How an address can awaken the whole nation, inspire them to participate in the war of liberation for independence, the historic 7th March Speech by Bangabandhu is its unique example.”</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The Prime Minister said, “The world recognition of the historic 7th March speech of the Father of the Nation is an honour and a monument of glory for the Bengali nation. I believe the \'Joy Bangla\' slogan and Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman\'s 7th March speech will inspire us to accelerate the progress of development.” UNB</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</p>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-07 08:34:50', '2023-03-07 08:34:50'),
(5626, 5626, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A case was filed last night, implicating 16 people including three managing directors of Seema Oxygen Plant in connection with the deaths of seven employees of the plant in a massive fire in Chattogram district’s Sitakunda upazila on Saturday.&nbsp;&nbsp;</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rokeya Begum, widow of victim Abdul Quader, filed the case against the 16 people at Sitakunda Model Police Station around 11:30 pm on Monday, Tofail Ahmed, officer-in-charge of the police station confirmed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said the investigation into the case will be launched very soon.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The accused include three MDs of the oxygen plant — Mamun Uddin, Parvez Uddin Santu and Ashraf Uddin Baffi — and Manager Abdul Aleem, plant operator in-charge Samsuzzaman Shikdar, plant operators Khurshid Alam and Selim Jahan, among others.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the case statement, victim Quader, who worked at the oxygen plant for around 13 years, died due to “negligence and irresponsibility” of the accused, including the owners.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At least seven people died in the fire that erupted from an explosion in Seema Oxygen Plant in the Keshabpur industrial hub of Sikakunda on Saturday.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Apart from this, over 50 people sustained burn injuries in the devastating fire.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, the Chattogram district administration formed a seven-member probe committee to investigate the fire and asked to submit a report within five working days. 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, '2023-03-07 08:37:30', '2023-03-07 08:37:30'),
(5627, 5627, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The holy Shab-e-Barat -- the night of blessings and forgiveness -- will be observed in Bangladesh tonight with befitting religious fervour.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shab-e-Barat is observed on the 15th night of the Arabic month of Sha\'ban. Shab-e-Barat is regarded as a significant occasion during which Muslims pray to Allah and beg for forgiveness for their transgressions. It is thought to absolve them of their sins and bestow upon them good fortune for the entire year.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Muslim devotees will offer special prayers, recite from the Holy Quran, and also hold religious gatherings seeking divine blessings for the wellbeing of mankind.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has imposed a ban on using firecrackers in areas under its jurisdiction in the capital ahead of the holy Shab-e-Barat.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 12-hour restriction will come into effect from 6pm this evening and remain in force till 6am the next day, DMP Commissioner Khandker Gulam Faruk said.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ban was imposed to maintain the law and order in the capital and ensure the sanctity of Shab-e-Barat, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh Television, Bangladesh Betar, and private TV channels and radio stations will air special programmes, highlighting the significance of the night.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on the occasion on Monday. They greeted all Muslims in the country and elsewhere across the world on the occasion of the holy Shab-e-Barat.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Abdul Hamid in his message said the holy Shab-e-Barat comes to mark the advent of the holy month of Ramadan and good fortune.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“On this holy night of Shab-e-Barat, we pray for the continued progress, welfare, and greater unity of the Muslim Ummah, along with seeking eternal mercy and blessings from the Almighty Allah. May the full virtues of the holy Shab-e-Barat be upon us.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He urged the affluent to come forward and help the distressed and the poor on this occasion, as the world is gripped by a multitude of crises due to the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the war in Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said: “Inspired by the greatness of the holy Shab-e-Barat, I am calling upon all to devote themselves to the cause of human welfare and nation building.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also asked all to establish the spirit of Islam at personal, social, and national levels, putting off all kinds of injustice, violence, and superstition. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"7\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-07 08:41:11', '2023-03-07 08:41:11'),
(5628, 5628, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Women’s rights are being “abused, threatened and violated” around the world and gender equality won’t be achieved for 300 years on the current track, the United Nations secretary-general warned on Monday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Antonio Guterres told the opening session of the Commission on the Status of Women — the U.N.’s premiere global body fighting for gender equality — that progress won over decades is vanishing because “the patriarchy is fighting back.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The U.N. chief pointed to Afghanistan where “women and girls have been erased from public life,” and said that in many countries women’s sexual and reproductive rights are being rolled back.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also said girls going to school risk kidnapping and assault in many places, and he complained that there are police preying on vulnerable women they are supposed to be protecting.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“From Ukraine to the Sahel, crisis and conflict affect women and girls first and worst,” Guterres said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In other setbacks, he said, maternal mortality is rising and COVID-19′s impact is forcing girls into marriage and keeping them out of school, while keeping mothers and caregivers out of paid work.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During its two-week session, the Commission on the Status of Women is focusing on closing gender gaps in technology and innovation. The secretary-general said the topic couldn’t be more timely because women and girls are being left behind as technology races ahead.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Three billion people are still unconnected to the internet, the majority of them women and girls in developing countries, (and) in least developed countries just 19% of women are online,” Guterres said. “Globally, girls and women make up just one-third of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Men outnumber women two to one in the tech industry and in the growing field of artificial intelligence only about one in five workers is a woman, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said “big data” is the foundation of political and business decisions, “but it often ignores gender differences — or turns a blind eye to women altogether — resulting in products and services that bake in gender inequality from the start.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Guterres called for urgent action to equalize power between men and women.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said there must be increasing education, employment and income for women and girls, especially in developing countries. He called for women’s full participation and leadership in science and technology to be promoted “from governments to board rooms and classrooms.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Guterres also said a safe digital environment must be created that eliminates “misogynistic disinformation and misinformation” and “gender-trolling” on social media.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women, told the commission’s opening meeting that “the digital divide has become the new face of gender inequality.” She said that last year there were 259 million more men than women online.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She also cited a survey of women journalists from 125 countries that found three-quarters had experienced online harassment in the course of their work and a third had engaged in self-censorship in response.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Afghanistan, Bahous said, women who spoke out through YouTube and blogging had their doors marked by the Taliban and many fled the country to ensure their safety. In Iran, many women continue to be targeted for participating in online campaigns, she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said the challenge is “to fix the institutions and harmful gender stereotypes surrounding technology and innovation that fail women and girls” and ensure that online spaces are free of abuse and perpetrators are held accountable.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“If we do not leave this session having said collectively, unambiguously, `Enough, no more,’ then we will have failed,” Bahous said. AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh&nbsp;</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-07 08:44:27', '2023-03-07 08:44:27'),
(5629, 5629, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The nation is observing the historic March 7 today in a befitting manner, commemorating the landmark speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which was touted as an indirect declaration of the country\'s independence in 1971.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On March 7 in 1971, the great leader Sheikh Mujib, the architect of independent Bangladesh, in his historic address at a mammoth rally at the then Race Course (now Suhrawardy Udyan), directed the freedom-loving Bangalees for waging a decisive struggle against the then Pakistan occupation forces.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Turn every house into a fortress, resist the enemy with everything you have ... Having mastered the lesson of sacrifice, we shall give more blood. God willing [Inshallah], we shall free the people of this land,\" Bangabandhu also said in his speech.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The speech inspired the Bengalees to prepare for a war of independence.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Liberation War began 18 days later when the Pakistan Army launched \"Operation Searchlight\" against unarmed Bangalee civilians, intellectuals, students, politicians, and armed personnel on the night of 25 March 1971.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On October 30 in 2017, UNESCO recognised the historic speech as part of the world\'s documentary heritage as the landmark fiery speech of Bangabandhu inspired the Bengalees to prepare for the War of Liberation in 1971.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It has been included in the Memory of the World International Register, a list of the world\'s important documentary heritage maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the 19-minute extempore speech from 4:23 pm before millions of people of former East Pakistan, Bangabandhu in unequivocal terms said, \"We spilled our blood ... we are ready to shed more blood, the people of the country shall be freed, Inshallah!\"&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Ebarer sangram amader muktir sangram, ebarer sangram swadhinatar sangram [The struggle this time is a struggle for emancipation, the struggle this time is a struggle for independence]\", Bangabandhu declared in a thunderous voice at the rally.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During his deliberations amid thunderous slogans and applause, he also made a fervent appeal to the roaring people from all walks of life to make preparations for armed struggle against the tyranny, exploitation, subjugation and deprivation by the Pakistani military junta with whatever they possessed and transformed every house into a fortress.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The people were overwhelmed and imbued with the spirit of Bangabandhu\'s unparalleled speech of independence regarded only as comparable with the Gettysburg Speech of slain US President Abraham Lincoln.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The whole nation responded spontaneously to Bangabandhu\'s call with the thunderous slogan- \"Bir Bangalee Astra Dharo, Bangladesh Swadhin Karo\" -Brave Bangalees take up arms and free Bangladesh from occupation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;The vigorous speech inspired people from all walks of life to prepare for the war, which eventually began after the Pakistani regime on the black night of March 25 launched attacks on the unarmed Bangalees, the worst genocides in history for the next nine months.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangabandhu\'s March 7 speech has been selected as one of the most rousing and inspirational wartime speeches in the last 2,500 years. The dynamic speech has changed the course of the country\'s history.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The tantalizing speech literally had a mesmerizing and sparkling effect on the entire population of this soil and they became united under his capable and farsighted leadership to bravely fight for liberating the motherland from the clutches of the Pakistani occupation forces.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Although people from all walks of life irrespective of political and religious beliefs were united for the cause and began to take all-out preparations for a bloody war, they waited till the crackdown of the Pakistani occupation forces on the sleeping Bangalees on the night of March 25, defamed as the \"Operation Searchlight\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As soon as the Pakistani occupation forces started genocide, Bangabandhu declared the independence of the motherland instructing the people to put up strong resistance and fight against them till liberation is achieved.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the instruction of Bangabandhu, the brave nation fought successfully during the nine-month-old war of liberation and ultimately liberated Bangladesh from the clutches of the Pakistani occupation forces on December 16, 1971, with the assistance of the allied Indian forces. 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, '2023-03-07 08:48:39', '2023-03-07 08:48:39'),
(5631, 5631, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Road Transport and Bridge Minister Obaidul Quader on Monday made it clear that no one is being called for any discussion ahead of the next parliamentary election and there will be no compromise on the question of constitution, i.e. the election-time government.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;“We do everything in public. Democracy doesn’t discuss in the backdoor. Discussion will be in public, if any. But I am still not seeing any such opportunity,” Quader said, while answering a question about any possibility of dialogue with the BNP to bring them to the polls.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The senior cabinet member, also general secretary of the ruling Awami League, was speaking with media personnel in the conference room of his ministry.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mentioning that the election \"will be held here like other democratic countries\", Quader said: “Nothing has happened in Bangladesh that we have to amend our constitution. There will be no compromise over the constitution.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Responding to a question about BNP’s movement, Quader said that his government doesn’t see the movement as a challenge. “No movement is possible without people’s participation. It is clear that the party has failed to draw as many people as they hoped. We are not seeing their movement as a challenge. We will face their political movement politically.” UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd124/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-07 09:04:20', '2023-03-07 09:04:20'),
(5633, 5633, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A serial killer in Brazil convicted of 71 homicides and freed since 2017 after spending 42 years in jail, was shot dead, according to reports.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Pedro Rodrigues Filho, known as \"Pedrinho Matador\" in Portuguese or \"Little Pedro the Killer\" was shot dead on Sunday in the Mogi das Cruzes municipality of Sao Paulo.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The 68-year-old man, believed to be one of the most notorious serial killers in Brazil, died after being shot by two men, daily Metropoles reported, saying he was shot several times at his home in Mogi das Cruzes.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Pedrinho was in the front of his house when he was approached and shot by several hooded attackers who exited a car to kill him.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Metropoles reported his body was found in the street with several \"perforations\".&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>During his life Pedrinho claims to have killed over 100 people, including his own father, while Globo newspaper reported he had gained prominence in recent years on social media and had even released an autobiography entitled \"I\'m not a monster.\"&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>According to Power360, he was arrested for the first time in 1973 then released from jail in 2007 and later returned to prison four years later to serve two more jail terms.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Authorities suspect that Pedrinho\'s murder could have been a revenge killing as they continue to investigate. - Anadolu Agency</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-07 10:09:19', '2023-03-07 10:09:19'),
(5634, 5634, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Dozens of bushfires burning across Australia\'s east coast could get worse as a severe heatwave continues, fire services have warned.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>After two years of rains and floods, a return to warmer conditions has sparked New South Wales state\'s worst fires since the 2019/2020 \"Black Summer\".</div><div><br></div><div>A blaze 250km (155 miles) north-west of Sydney triggered the region\'s first emergency fire warning in two years.</div><div><br></div><div>Firefighters reported battling 10-15m (49ft) high flames.</div><div><br></div><div>Residents in affected areas across New South Wales - Australia\'s most populous state - have been urged to evacuate, and there are reports of damage to some properties.</div><div><br></div><div>Temperatures in some parts of the state also hit 40C (104F) on Monday, for the first time since January 2021.</div><div><br></div><div>On Tuesday, 33 fires were still burning across the state, 10 of which were not under control, fire authorities said.</div><div><br></div><div>The NSW Rural Fire Service said strong winds had driven the fires\' rapid spread.</div><div><br></div><div>\"It\'s going to be another tough day for firefighters and potentially even into tomorrow before we get some reprieve,\" RFS Commissioner Rob Rogers told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.</div><div><br></div><div>Australia\'s Bureau of Meteorology (Bom) also warned that dry thunderstorms were possible across eastern NSW, which could spark new fires.</div><div><br></div><div>RFS Inspector Ben Shepherd told the BBC a number of other fires in western NSW were \"likely to be problematic\".</div><div><br></div><div>The hot and dry conditions are expected to last until Wednesday.</div><div><br></div><div>Eastern Australia has experienced three consecutive summers of La Niña conditions, with above-average rainfall causing widespread flooding.</div><div><br></div><div>In 2022, Sydney recorded its wettest year since records began.</div><div><br></div><div>But last week, the Bom said its models suggested La Niña was \"likely near its end\", with a return to neutral conditions or even the hot and dry El Niño phenomenon, likely in the southern hemisphere\'s autumn.</div><div><br></div><div>At least 33 people and an estimated 3 billion animals and birds died in 2019-20 Black Summer fires, one of Australia\'s worst-ever natural disasters. Source: BBC&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-07 10:59:54', '2023-03-07 10:59:54'),
(5635, 5635, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>At least 17 people, including two women, were killed and over 100 others injured in a massive explosion in a 5-storey building near a BRTC bus counter in the capital\'s Gulistan area on Tuesday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The identities of the deceased could not be confirmed immediately,said Inspector Bachhu Mia, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital police camp.</div><div><br></div><div>The injured are now receiving treatment at DMCH, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>The explosion occurred around 4:50pm with a big bang, said Shahjahan Sikder, deputy assistant director (media cell) of the Fire Service and Civil Defence.</div><div><br></div><div>On information, eleven units of fire service and five ambulances rushed to spot and are conducting rescue operations, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>A sanitary materials shop on the ground floor of the building, Brac bank office on the other floors and 7- storied building adjacent to it were damaged but no building collapsed, said&nbsp; Shahjahan Sikder, deputy assistant director of fire service and civil defense headquarters media cell.</div><div><br></div><div>The huge blast occurred within two days of another blast in a building in Science lab area in the capital that killed three people&nbsp; and injured more than 50 on Sunday. UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/kh</div><div><br></div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-07 11:49:46', '2023-03-07 16:38:53'),
(5636, 5636, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">BNP standing committee, the highest policymaking body of the party, has voiced deep concern over the reported move by the West Bengal government of India to dig two more canals under the Teesta Barrage Project to unilaterally withdraw more water from the common river.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The (standing committee) meeting felt that the plan to dig two more canals without signing an agreement on the distribution of Teesta River water with Bangladesh is an attempt to deprive Bangladesh (of its fair share of water from the common river),” said a BNP press release on Tuesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP issued the press release, signed by its secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, on the outcome of a meeting of the party’s standing committee’s virtual meeting held on Monday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The BNP policymakers bemoaned that the people of Bangladesh are being deprived of their fair share of water from the Teesta River because of the current Awami League government’s ‘knee-jerk’ foreign policy and its failure to take any effective initiative for signing water sharing agreement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They urged the government to take immediate steps to resolve the Teesta River water-sharing problem with India.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to a report by Indian news outlet The Telegraph, the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal on Friday took possession of about 1,000 acres of land to dig two more canals under the Teesta Barrage Project to channelise water for irrigation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As per the plan of the West Bengal government, a 32km-long canal to draw water from the Teesta and the Jaldhaka will be dug till Changrabandha of Cooch Behar district while another 15-km long canal will be built on the left bank of the Teesta to benefit around one lakh farmers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Teesta Barrage project was launched by India in 1975 with a plan to irrigate 9.22 lakh hectares of agricultural land in north Bengal by channelising water from the Teesta River through canals on either bank of the river.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Environment and water experts in Bangladesh say this project has been badly affecting agriculture, ecosystem, and the life of the people of the country’s northern region as the part of the Teesta River that flows through Bangladesh dries up during the dry season due to India’s withdrawal of water from the river.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh has long been waiting for signing the Teesta water-sharing deal with India to resolve the water crisis during the dry season scarcity in the northern parts of the country, but West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been opposing it. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-07 15:17:25', '2023-03-07 15:17:25'),
(5637, 5637, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Embassy of Bangladesh in Tokyo observed the historic 7th March 7 on Tuesday commemorating the landmark speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.</span><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Today’s programme began by placing a wreath at the portrait of&nbsp; Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the Embassy early in the morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">All Embassy officials and a good number of expatriate Bangladeshis attended the event.&nbsp; Ambassador Shahabuddin Ahmed hoisted the national flag along with rendition of the national anthem.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This was followed by observance of one minute silence in remembrance of the Father of the Nation, his family members and the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country’s independence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, a special prayer (munajat) was held for the salvation of the souls of the Father of the Nation, his family members, and martyrs of the Liberation War of Bangladesh as well as for the peace, progress and prosperity of the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The messages issued by the President and the Prime Minister on the occasion of “Historic 07 March\" were read out by Embassy officials.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In his remarks, Ambassador Ahmed paid homage to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and explained the significance of the March 7 speech.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said March 7 is a glorious and important day in the history of Bangladesh, when Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared his vision of independence. His clarion call conveyed a clear message to his people that it was time to prepare for the ultimate struggle to freedom and attain independence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Following his call, after the brutal crackdown of the Pakistani military forces on the unarmed Bengalis on the black night of March 25, the whole country joined the Liberation War and after nine-month of war the country became victorious, he narrated.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ambassador Ahmed termed the March 7 speech as the expression of a deep commitment of Bangabandhu for the nation and extreme love for mass people.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also said that this speech gained international recognition when UNESCO enlisted the historic speech as \'World\'s Documentary Heritage\' in the \"Memory of the World Register” in 2017 as part of a list of the world\'s important documentary heritage maintained by UNESCO.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A discussion on the significance of the day was held following the address of the ambassador.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In this phase, a significant number of Bangladesh community members took part in a live discussion paying their deep tribute to the Father of the Nation and the role and significance of the historic speech of March 7 in the independence of Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The speakers said the March 7 speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave&nbsp; inspiration to the Bengali people in their quest for freedom and emancipation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They expressed their strong commitment to work together to realise the dream of Bangabandhu to build a ‘Sonar Bangla’ through implementing the vision 2041 of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by contributing from their respective positions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Finally, a documentary was screened on the historic March 7 speech. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-07 15:28:58', '2023-03-07 15:28:58'),
(5638, 5638, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The “Historic 7th March” was celebrated on Tuesday at the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi in memory of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s inspirational speech delivered on 7 March 1971 at the then Race Course Maidan in Dhaka.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Md. Mustafizur Rahman, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India, started the programme by hoisting the national flag at the High Commission premises and placing wreaths on the portrait of the Father of the Nation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">A discussion programme was organized at the Bangabandhu Hall of the High Commission.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The messages issued by the President and the Prime Minister on the occasion of the day were read out by the Mission officials.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A documentary on Bangabandhu’s speech was also screened. Among others, Shaban Mahmood, Minister (Press) of the Mission made remarks highlighting the significance and importance of the day.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In his remarks, High Commissioner Rahman termed Bangabandhu’s speech as the ‘Best Bengali Poem’ and a ‘Charter of Liberation’.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said that this is a unique example of how a speech awakens the entire nation and encourages them to liberate the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shedding light on the recognition of the speech as a world heritage by UNESCO, the High Commissioner added that the international recognitionof the 7th March speech is eventually the acknowledgement of the non-communal spirit and democratic values thatBangabandhu had nurtured throughout his life.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He further said that as long as there is a struggle for freedom from subjugation and protest against oppression in the history of human civilization, Bangabandhu’s speech will continue to be an eternal source of inspiration for all the oppressed people of the world.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lastly, a special prayer was offered for the salvation of the souls of the Father of the Nation, his family members and all the martyrs who played a historical role in all stages of movements for freedom and Liberation War of Bangladesh as well as well as for the peace, progress and prosperity of the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.Officials and employees from the Bangladesh High Commission and expatriate Bangladeshis were present at the event. 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, '2023-03-07 15:37:08', '2023-03-07 15:37:08'),
(5639, 5639, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A 16-year-old Afghan boy was murdered on a London street after being mistaken for someone else and stabbed 15 times by a pair of teenagers, The Independent reported.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Rishmeet Singh, who was killed in late November 2021, had moved to Britain two years earlier with his mother and grandmother to claim asylum after his father was killed by the Taliban.</div><div><br></div><div>The 16-year-old was murdered by Vanushan Balakrishnan and Ilyas Suleiman, both 17 at the time, after the pair chased him down and stabbed him while he “lay defenseless on the floor,” the Old Bailey found on Monday.</div><div><br></div><div>Singh had left his friends in west London after an evening socializing, but saw the two teenagers running toward him.</div><div><br></div><div>He tried to return to his friends, shouting “run, run,” but tripped and was stabbed in the back by one of the males at least five times.</div><div><br></div><div>The second male then caught up to Singh, stabbing him at least 10 times. The two teenagers left the scene of the attack, which lasted just 27 seconds, the court heard.</div><div><br></div><div>Police and ambulance workers were unable to save the 16-year-old, who died at the scene.</div><div><br></div><div>Investigators later found an image on Balakrishnan’s phone of a bloody knife, captured on the evening of the attack.</div><div><br></div><div>Balakrishnan and Suleiman were identified using CCTV footage and will be sentenced on April 28 at the Old Bailey.</div><div><br></div><div>Singh’s mother, Gulinder, said in a statement: “Rishmeet was my only child, and he had his whole life ahead of him. No words could ever explain or put into context how I have felt since Rishmeet was taken from us.</div><div><br></div><div>“He has been raised with so much love and now he’s gone. I am struggling to understand as to how and why this happened to my baby boy. I feel I have lost everything and my life is over.</div><div><br></div><div>“I will never get over losing him in this way. I will not see him grow up into a young man. I will not see him leave college. I will not see him fulfill his aspirations. I will not see him learn to drive. I will not see him fall in love and get married. I will not become a grandmother and see my son grow old. I have been robbed of so many future events.</div><div><br></div><div>“Rishmeet was attending college completing a public service course and his ambition was to become a police officer, all he wanted to do was to help people. Rishmeet was well loved by all that knew him, he was a faithful boy and was very caring in his nature.</div><div><br></div><div>“I have lost my husband and now I have lost my only child, my son. Justice is finally served for Rishmeet, but their sentence will never be enough for me. They have taken my whole life away from me and Rishmeet will never come home again.”</div><div><br></div><div>Metropolitan Police Detective Inspector Laura Semple said: “Rishmeet was an innocent, young 16-year-old who had his whole life ahead of him. He had just spent an enjoyable evening with his friends and was making the short walk home when he was callously chased down and knifed to death by Balakrishnan and Suleiman.</div><div><br></div><div>“Between them, they stabbed him 15 times while he was defenseless on the floor. There is never an excuse to murder someone in cold blood, but this case is made even more tragic by the fact that Rishmeet was wrongly targeted by his attackers.</div><div><br></div><div>“Balakrishnan and Suleiman left the flat that day with the intention of ending someone’s life. Poor Rishmeet was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.” - Arab News&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-07 15:58:54', '2023-03-07 15:58:54');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5640, 5640, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>UNHCR and partners have urged the international community to redouble efforts for sustained financial support and solutions for forcibly displaced Rohingyas and the Bangladeshi communities that are hosting them as the dire situation enters its sixth year.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Under the leadership of the Bangladeshi authorities, the 2023 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis calls for US$ 876 million to reach 1.47 million people.</div><div><br></div><div>The Joint Response Plan brings together 116 partners, nearly half of them national organisations from Bangladesh, a UNHCR press release said.</div><div><br></div><div>The plan, which was launched today, aims to help some 978,000 Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar and on the island of Bhasan Char, and 495,000 Bangladeshis in neighbouring communities, with food, shelter, healthcare, access to drinkable water, protection services, education, as well as livelihood opportunities and skills development.</div><div><br></div><div>Every day, the nearly one million Rohingya women, children and men that fled from violence and persecution in Myanmar for Bangladesh wake up in a chilling fog of uncertainty about their futures.</div><div><br></div><div>They are desperate to return to their homes in Myanmar, which are currently out of reach, and instead live in extremely overcrowded, and sometimes dangerous conditions in Rohingya camps, relying almost entirely on humanitarian assistance for their survival.</div><div><br></div><div>While the situation has become protracted, the needs of refugees remain urgent. Women and children, who make up more than 75 percent of the targeted refugee population, face higher risks of abuse, exploitation, and gender-based violence. More than half of the Rohingyas in the camps are under 18, their futures on hold.</div><div><br></div><div>Since the onset of this humanitarian crisis in 2017, the Government of Bangladesh and local communities, with aid agencies, have been quick to respond to arriving refugees in what remains the world’s largest refugee camp. However, as global displacement continues to rise, so does the risk that the needs of Rohingyas and surrounding host communities will be forgotten.</div><div><br></div><div>With decreased funding, refugees stand to face even more challenges in their daily lives in terms of proper nutrition, shelter materials, sanitation facilities and livelihood opportunities.</div><div><br></div><div>The lack of funds has already forced the World Food Programme to cut its lifesaving food assistance to all Rohingyas living in the camps; despite concerted humanitarian efforts, 45 per cent of Rohingya families are not eating a sufficiently healthy diet and malnutrition is widespread. These ration cuts are likely to result in higher malnutrition rates, deteriorating health, school dropouts, increased incidents of child marriage, child labour and gender-based violence.</div><div><br></div><div>It is therefore vital to ensure continued funding and support to be able to deliver life-saving and life-sustaining assistance to the camp population while also investing in education, skills training and livelihood opportunities, allowing refugees to partially fulfill their basic needs with their own means.</div><div><br></div><div>The relocation of some 30,000 Rohingyas to the island of Bhasan Char needs to be complemented by significant investment in communal livelihood initiatives as a prerequisite for the viability and sustainability of the project.</div><div><br></div><div>The combination of prolonged displacement and deteriorating camp conditions has prompted an increasing number of refugees to resort to dangerous boat journeys to seek a better future. Last year alone, more than 3,500 Rohingyas attempted high-risk boat journeys across the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. Sadly, 10 per cent lost their lives or went missing.</div><div><br></div><div>The solutions to the Rohingya crisis ultimately lie within Myanmar. Many Rohingyas continue to express their desire to return home when conditions allow, yet currently there is no prospect for a safe, dignified and sustainable return in the immediate future. Hence, steadfast support from the international community remains crucial to support efforts by Myanmar to develop conditions conducive for return and to uphold the Rohingya right to return, while also supporting delivery of life-saving assistance and effective protection to refugees in the camps until they can return, with their rights ensured.</div><div><br></div><div>Given its geography, annual cycles of heavy monsoon rains and cyclones pose substantial risks to refugees in camps and host communities. Among the objectives of the Joint Response Plan, in coordination with the Government of Bangladesh, will be to strengthen disaster risk management and combat the effects of climate change through reforestation and promoting the use of renewable and cleaner energy sources.</div><div><br></div><div>The provision of cooking gas, which has significantly eased pressure on the environment, requires significant funding. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-07 16:43:52', '2023-03-07 16:43:52'),
(5641, 5641, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">People were still trapped inside the Gulistan building where at least 15 people have died, hours after a fiery explosion ripped through the 5-storey block on Tuesday evening.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">People on the upper floors became trapped inside as it was not possible to get to the ground floor, as the columns holding up the building from the ground collapsed, said Brig General Md Main Uddin, director general of Fire Service and Civil Defence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We are unable to enter the ground floor because the building is now at risk due to the collapse of the columns. So, we are taking the help of the army,” he made the remarks while replying to a question from reporters after visiting the site of the blast in Fulbaria area of Gulistan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since the Fire Service chief spoke, the chairman of RAJUK has however been able to confirm that everyone inside has, to the best of everyone\'s knowledge, been evacuated.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The explosion took place at 4:50 pm. On receiving the news, our team reached the spot within seven minutes. As the building is risky, we cannot enter now. But we will take it to a slightly stable level and then start the rescue operation on the ground floor. Work is currently underway,” the Fire Service chief said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The army\'s help will be taken in the rescue operation, that\'s why the excavator came. So far, the death toll is 15 and the number of injured is 40. If we have more information, we will let you know later,” the DG added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Fire chief also deliberated on possible causes behind the disaster, although he was careful to add that at the time, nothing was known for certain.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We spoke to the members of the owners\' association here a while back and they said there was no gas line below but there was a water line. There was a water reservoir. We still don\'t understand what the reason for the explosion is. The army\'s expert team has arrived. They will now work to see if there is any other reason. We\'ll let you know - it\'ll take a while,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When asked if they found evidence of any explosives, Brig General Md Main Uddin: \"We have not received anything like this so far. As of now, I can\'t say why this happened. An army expert team has come and they will look into the matter and an expert team of the police has come. We hope to come to a conclusion together with the police and the army.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Brig General Md Main Uddin did dangle out one clue as he wrapped up his presser, saying there were eight shops on the ground floor of the building: \"All of which sold sanitary products.\" 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, '2023-03-08 02:56:26', '2023-03-08 02:56:26'),
(5642, 5642, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Malaysian police have found the body of a young woman trapped in a car that was swept away by rushing waters, the fifth death of seasonal floods that have also forced more than 43,000 people to flee their homes.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police said in a statement Monday that a 23-year-old woman reported missing was believed to be driving to work earlier in the day on a flooded road in southern Johor state when her car was washed away. Rescuers retrieved the car hours later and found her body.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A man driving to work in a palm oil plantation in Johor was similarly found dead recently after rescuers retrieved his car from floodwaters. Three older people also drowned.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Johor, the country’s second-largest state bordering Singapore with four million people, is the worst affected with over 40,000 evacuated to schools and community centers. The number of evacuees has dropped from over 50,000 a few days ago.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Several other states including remote areas on Borneo island were also hit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim visited flood victims Sunday in Johor and vowed to speed up flood mitigation projects in the state. “This matter cannot be delayed and should be dealt with more seriously so that (flooding) does not happen again,” he tweeted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Meteorological Department has said the country was experiencing its sixth episode of continuous heavy rain from the annual monsoon season that started in November. In December, tens of thousands of people were also evacuated due to flooding.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Images posted by police in Johor showed roads and homes disappearing under muddy waters, with only rooftops visible.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Further rain and storms are predicted Tuesday in parts of Johor and eastern Malaysian states on Borneo, which could cause more flash floods. Authorities also warned waters in over a dozen rivers nationwide have reached dangerous levels. 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, '2023-03-08 03:01:06', '2023-03-08 03:01:06'),
(5643, 5643, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, addressing Canada\'s parliament on Tuesday during a visit to bolster support for Ukraine, said Europe would never accept Russian threats to its security.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We will never accept that a military power with fantasies of empire rolls its tanks across an international border,\" she said in a speech more than one year after Russia\'s invasion of Ukraine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 27-nation bloc, she added, \"will never accept this threat to European security and to the very foundation of our international community,\" she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Von der Leyen urged \"steadfast military and economic support\" for Ukraine while also renewing calls for Russia to \"pay for its crime of aggression\" after proposing in November to set up a specialized court to prosecute such crimes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the eve of International Women\'s Day, von der Leyen also praised Ukrainian women soldiers who had been barred from combat duties prior to the conflict, but \"did not care and started joining the army anyways.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"This is not only a war in Ukraine. It is also a war on human rights, and it is a war on women\'s rights,\" she said to applause, citing UN accusations that \"Russia is using rape and sexual violence as part of its military strategy in Ukraine.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukrainian women \"are fighting back,\" she said, noting that the number of them serving in the military had doubled since the start of the conflict. \"These women also smashed the glass ceiling right over the head of the Russian invaders.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, during a visit to a Canadian military base, von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged deliveries of generators to Ukraine, which has suffered repeated attacks on its power grid.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Trudeau also announced the extension of Canada\'s mission to train Ukrainian combat engineers in Poland, due to end soon, to October and the deployment of medical trainers too.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Von der Leyen is, after her multi-day visit to Canada, to travel to the United States where she will be received on Friday by President Joe Biden.&nbsp; 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, '2023-03-08 03:47:22', '2023-03-08 03:47:22'),
(5644, 5644, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday asked the expatriate Bangladeshis to strictly abide by the laws of the countries they work for, sounding a note of warning that Bangladesh will not make its minimum efforts to save them for committing any crime.&nbsp;</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“It will not be tolerated anymore that the image of the country will be tarnished for offences of any person,” she said while addressing as the chief guest at a civic reception hosted to her by Bangladeshi expatriates staying at Bangladesh MH School in Doha of Qatar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Prime Minister also asked the expatriates to go abroad following the legal ways and send remittances through the banking channels for which the government is giving 2.5 percent incentive.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said her government has taken Bangladesh in a dignified position through round the clock hard work over the years and the image is being hampered due to criminal acts abroad by some people.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Bangladeshi expatriates must have to follow the existing laws and rules of the countries where they are staying like they do in their own country. I have made it clear we will not try to save those who will be engaged in criminal acts,” she added.&nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Prime Minister said the image of Bangladesh is being tarnished for misdeeds of some people and the scope of sending more Bangladeshis abroad for jobs is being hampered or stopped.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We have lost the scope of sending more people abroad,” she added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She asked the expatriate Bangladeshis attending the reception to inform others that Bangladesh will not shoulder the responsibilities of crimes to be committed by anyone.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sheikh Hasina told the expatriate Bangladeshis that they have to think Bangladesh is their own country and they should not tarnish its image.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Prime Minister asked the Bangladeshi embassies abroad to look into the welfare and problems of expatriate Bangladeshis.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She called upon the expatriates to ask their relatives in Bangladesh to grow whatever they can by bringing every inch of land under cultivation as the global economic recession can hurt Bangladesh in any way.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Prime Minister reiterated her call to exercise austerity in using electricity, gas and water and make savings as part of the preparation to avert any crisis.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In this connection, she said that she even turned her government residence Ganabhaban into a firm house by cultivating everything that include paddy, onion, garlic and other crops.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said she had already harvested 46 maunds of onions from the Ganabhaban and is expected to harvest 40-50 maunds more.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Briefly describing the measures taken by her government in education, health, energy, human resources development and employment generation, the Premier said Bangladesh has made tremendous prosperity in the last 14 years.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We are working to meet the demand of the people and we want to give them a beautiful and dignified life,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Prime Minister said they have given electricity to every house, increased the education rate to over 75 percent, reached healthcare services to every doorstep and made Bangladesh self-reliant in food production.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But, the BNP-Jamaat alliance didn’t give anything to the people instead of making their fortunes through unbridled corruption, money laundering and establishing the reign of terror and militancy alongside resorting to torture, she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Prime Minister said her government is now out to transform Bangladesh into a developed, prosperous and Smart Bangladesh by 2041 to be free from hunger and poverty as envisioned by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. 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, '2023-03-08 04:01:36', '2023-03-08 04:01:36'),
(5645, 5645, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Two Italian air force pilots were killed Tuesday during an exercise when the light aircraft they were flying collided mid-air and crashed to the ground, Italy’s air force said in a statement.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The two U-208 aircraft crashed near the Guidonia military airport, located around 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Rome. No injuries on the ground were reported.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One of the planes crashed into a car on a narrow residential street lined with apartment buildings; the other landed in a field.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Premier Giorgia Meloni expressed her condolences to the pilots’ families and colleagues. 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, '2023-03-08 04:08:50', '2023-03-08 04:08:50'),
(5646, 5646, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Dhaka’s air quality is still in the \'unhealthy\' zone this morning.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 156 at 9:30 am, the capital of Bangladesh ranked 13th in the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pakistan’s Lahore, the United Arab Emirate’s Dubai, and Pakistan’s Karachi occupied the first three spots, with AQI scores of 211, 195, and 188, respectively.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">An AQI between 151 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’ while between 201–300 is ‘’very unhealthy’, and 301–400 is \'hazardous\', posing severe health risks to residents.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a particular city is and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The AQI in Bangladesh is based on five pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2, and ozone.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections, and cancer, according to several studies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As per World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 04:35:21', '2023-03-08 04:35:21'),
(5647, 5647, '<p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Two US citizens kidnapped by suspected Mexican drug traffickers were found dead Tuesday while two others survived, in what officials said appeared to be a tragic case of mistaken identity.</span><br></p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Washington vowed to do everything in its power to ensure justice for the victims, who crossed the border into the crime-plagued city of Matamoros in Tamaulipas state on Friday for medical reasons.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Initial indications were that the abduction was the result of a \"mix-up\" rather than a targeted attack, Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios told reporters.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The two survivors were returned to the United States via a land border crossing between Matamoros and Brownsville, Texas, officials said.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">US media named them as Latavia Washington McGee and Eric James Williams.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">One suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and the other was unharmed, according to Tamaulipas Governor Americo Villarreal.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The victims visited Mexico because one of them was planning to have cosmetic surgery, he said.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">It was not immediately clear whether the two deaths occurred before or during the rescue operation, but Villarreal said preliminary investigations suggested all four were alive until at least Monday.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"During the three days after the criminal act, the four people deprived of their liberty were transferred to various places, including a clinic, in order to create confusion and avoid rescue efforts,\" he said.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The bodies of the two US citizens who lost their lives were expected to be repatriated within hours once forensic studies were completed in Mexico, Villarreal added.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">- \'Relentless\' US pursuit -</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The victims had traveled to Matamoros on Friday in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in an earlier statement.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">It offered a $50,000 reward for help leading to the return of the unidentified victims and the arrest of the perpetrators.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"Shortly after crossing into Mexico, unidentified gunmen fired upon the passengers in the (minivan). All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men,\" the FBI said.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">A 33-year-old Mexican woman died near the scene, possibly from a stray bullet, Mexican officials said.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The White House denounced the kidnappings as \"unacceptable\" and offered condolences to families of the victims.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"We\'re going to work closely with the Mexican government to ensure that justice is done in this case,\" White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">US Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department would be \"relentless\" in pursuing justice on the victims\' behalf.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"We will do everything in our power to identify, find, and hold accountable the individuals responsible for this attack on American citizens,\" he added.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Mexican authorities said they had arrested a suspect who was guarding the abductees at a house in Matamoros.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">- Cartel hot spot -</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"We\'re very sorry that this is happening in our country,\" Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters, offering condolences to the families of the victims.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">\"Those responsible are going to be found. They are going to be punished,\" he added.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Tamaulipas is one of the Mexican states most affected by drug trafficking and other organized crime.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said that the abduction was \"a tragic reminder\" that both countries must \"strengthen the fight against criminal organizations\" along their shared border.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The Latin American country is plagued by cartel-related bloodshed that has seen more than 340,000 people murdered since the government deployed the military in the war on drugs in 2006.</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">The US State Department advises against travel to Tamaulipas due to dangers including \"gun battles, murder, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, forced disappearances, extortion, and sexual assault.\"</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">Despite the risks, Matamoros, located on the banks of the Rio Grande river separating the two countries, is a major stopping point for irregular migrants heading for the United States. AFP</p><p style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</p>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"1\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 04:57:27', '2023-03-08 04:57:27'),
(5648, 5648, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC observed the historic 7th March, commemorating Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman\'s landmark speech in 1971, which called the nation to be ready to fight for freedom.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The fiery speech of Bangabandhu on March 7 at a mammoth rally in the then \"Race Course Maidan\", now Suhrawardy Udyan, inspired the freedom-loving Bangalees to fight and earn the long-cherished independence of Bangladesh in 1971.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The day\'s program of the Embassy started with the formal hoisting of the National Flag by Bangladesh Ambassador to the USA Muhammad Imran on the Embassy premises in the morning. Officials and employees of the Mission were present on the occasion.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, the Ambassador placed a wreath at the bust of the Father of the Nation at the Bangabandhu Corner of the Embassy in the presence of Embassy officials.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After laying the wreath, they stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of profound respect to the memory of the great leader.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The messages issued on the occasion by President Md. Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were read out by Minister (Political-I) &amp; Head of Chancery Dewan Ali Ashraf and Counsellor (Political-III) Shamima Yeasmin Smrite.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, a video film on the historic March 7 speech of Bangabandhu was screened.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Afterwards, a discussion highlighting the significance of the day was organized.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Taking part in the discussion, Ambassador Imran paid deepest homage to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the occasion of the historic March 7 and highlighted different aspects of his epic speech.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He termed March 7 as an unforgettable day in the history of the nation and said on this day in 1971, Bangabandhu delivered the momentous speech at the then Race Course Maidan (now Suhrawardy Udyan) in Dhaka, effectively declaring the War of Independence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Realizing the importance of the historic speech, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has included the speech in its Memory of the World International Register, a list of the world\'s important documentary heritage, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ambassador Imran called upon all to work unitedly to build a hunger-and-poverty-free happy and prosperous \'Sonar Bangla\' (Golden Bengal), as dreamt by Bangabandhu, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The day’s program ended with offering a special prayers seeking divine blessings for eternal peace of the departed soul of Bangabandhu as well as Bangladesh\'s continued peace, progress and prosperity.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">First Secretary Md Ataur Rahman conducted the program. 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, '2023-03-08 05:01:55', '2023-03-08 05:01:55'),
(5649, 5649, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam has called for robust international efforts to expedite repatriation of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh to their homeland Myanmar.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With its limited resources and inadequate external support Bangladesh has to continue the humanitarian operation until the repatriation process for over one million Rohingyas is complete.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In this context, the State Minister urged the international community to contribute generously to the humanitarian aid fund for them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He made the appeal while addressing the launching of Joint Response Plan (JRP) 2023 for Rohingyas in Geneva on March 7.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The State Minister also requested all humanitarian partners to prioritize sectors covering the basic necessities like food, health, site management and shelter, etc. in their assistance.  </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Recalling that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had opened the borders of Bangladesh to save the lives of Rohingyas back in 2016 and 2017 despite its serious ramification on the economy, environment, security, and socio-political stability of Bangladesh, State Minister Alam briefed the audience of Bangladesh’s numerous efforts, including development of Bhasan Char with its own resources to improve the living standards of the Rohingyas, ensure their education, and skills development opportunities.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mentioning that Bangladesh is the largest donor, spending around 1.69 billion USD last year for the massive humanitarian operations for Rohingyas, ensuring safety and security in and around camps, restoration of the environment, and mitigation of sufferings of the Rohingyas and the host community, State Minister Alam warned that the impasse over commencing return of the Rohingyas to their home country might affect the security and stability of the entire region and jeopardize development initiatives.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Repatriation has been mentioned as the top priority in JRP 2023.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under JRP 2023 an amount of USD 876 million has been sought and a chapter on Bhasan Char has been added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The State Minister recalled that 62.7% of the pledged amount under JRP 2022 was funded and it was quite challenging to meet the needs of the growing Rohingya population and mitigate the sufferings of the host community in Bangladesh with the received donation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also said that the Ukraine War and other multiple crises have worsened the funding crisis for Rohingyas.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The State Minister expressed concern over the disinformation or biased projection of the government’s efforts to arrange education, skill development initiatives and even improve the security situation for the Rohingyas in Bangladesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also remarked that uncertainty to commence repatriation is often being used as a domestic political tool by opposition parties in Bangladesh, projecting it as a failure of the present government.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The State Minister urged all to check the ground reality prevailing in Bangladesh and talk to the government before relying on those “concocted stories”.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Co-sponsored by the UNHCR and IOM, the JRP for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis was attended by ambassadors/permanent representatives of member states of the UN, representatives of NGO, INGOs, media, academician, and officials of UN bodies.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Appreciating Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s generosity in allowing Rohingyas to take shelter in Bangladesh and various efforts of Bangladesh including education for forcibly displaced Rohingyas, UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Director General of the International Organization for Migration also called upon the international community to provide increased humanitarian assistance for the Rohingyas in their dire need.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They also acknowledged that repatriation is key to resolving the Rohingya crisis and Myanmar has to demonstrate political will to that end.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The EU, US, Norway, Switzerland, Australia and some other donor countries announced their respective contributions for the Rohingyas for 2023 in the JRP event.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The State Minister also met with High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk at the UN Office in Geneva and briefed him of the efforts made by the government under the dynamic leadership of Sheikh Hasina to promote and protect human rights of all. He reiterated the government’s commitment to consistent engagement with the UN human rights mechanisms.  </div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The State Minister briefed the High Commissioner about Rohingya camp situations in Cox’s Bazar and the newly built Bhasan Char shelter.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He emphasized burden sharing by the international community and its stronger commitment to their right to return and to ensuring justice and accountability for them.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">High Commissioner Volker Turk applauded Bangladesh’s outstanding advancements in socio-economic arena, and its engagement with UN mechanisms. He praised Bangladesh’s humanitarian leadership in sheltering Rohingyas and efforts to advance world peace. 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, '2023-03-08 06:17:42', '2023-03-08 06:29:04'),
(5650, 5650, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Firefighting units have started their rescue operation for the second day this morning at the building in Siddique Bazar of Dhaka’s Gulistan, where 17 people lost their lives in a deadly explosion yesterday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Three firefighting units started the rescue operation around 9 am but no one has been rescued yet, said Khaleda Yeasmin, duty officer of the Fire Service Control Room, around 11 am.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, a four-member probe body headed by Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director of Fire Service and Civil Defense (Operation and maintenance), has been formed to look into the explosion that ripped through the 5-storey building in Gulistan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The committee has been asked to submit its report within five working days, said Shahjahan Sikder, Deputy Additional Director of Fire service and Civil Defense headquarters media cell.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Yesterday, at least 17 people were dead and over 60 were injured in a massive explosion at a 5-storey building near a BRTC bus counter in the capital’s Gulistan area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The explosion occurred around 4:50 pm, said Shahjahan Sikder.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The authorities handed over the bodies of the 17 in the morning, said Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital police outpost.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 17 deceased were identified as Sumon, 21, son of Momin of Suritola; Munsur Hossain, 40, son of Mosharraf hossain of Jatrabari; Ishak Mridha, 35, son of Dulal Mridha of Barishal; Md Ismail, 42, son of Hossain Ali of Bongshal; Rahat, 18, son of Jahangir Alam of South Keraniganj; Alamin, 23, son of Billal Hossain of Chandpur; Hridoy Mia, 18, son of Hashem Mia of Kishoreganj; Idris Mir, 50, son of Kala Chan Mir of Jatrabari; Mominul Islam, 38, son of Abul Hashem of Chawkbazar; Nodi Begum, 34, wife of Mominul Islam; Moin Uddin, 50, son of Jamir Uddin of Munshiganj; Nazmul Hossain, 20, son of Yunus Hossain of Bongshal; Obaidul Hasan, 55, son of Shaheb Ali of Manikganj; Abu Zafar Siddique, 34, son of Mozammel Haque of Munshiganj; Akuti Begum, 70, wife of Anwarul Islam of Bongshal; Nurul Islam Bhuiya, 55, son of Mohammad Bhuiya of Jatrabari; and Abdul Hakim Siam, 18, son of Dulal of Keraniganj.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, hospital sources said according to the relatives, 3-4 people remain missing since the explosion.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Among the injured, 11 people have been undergoing treatment at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The cause of the Gulistan explosion could not be ascertained yet. 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, '2023-03-08 06:28:44', '2023-03-08 06:28:44'),
(5651, 5651, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">International Women’s Day is being observed in the country today, as elsewhere across the globe, with focus on gender equality and empowerment of women.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This year’s theme, ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’, highlights the role of innovative technology in promoting gender equality and meeting the health and development needs of women and girls.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">International Women’s Day is observed every year on March 8 to put focus on women’s ongoing struggle for equality.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Different organizations have chalked out elaborate programmes, including rallies, discussions and cultural events, to mark the day.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have issued separate messages on the occasion.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh Television, Bangladesh Betar and private television channels are airing special programmes while newspapers published supplements highlighting the significance of the day. 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, '2023-03-08 06:35:04', '2023-03-08 06:35:04'),
(5652, 5652, '<div><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Prime minister Sheikh Hasina left Doha for home on Wednesday morning wrapping her four-day official visit to Qatar.</b><br></div><div><br></div><div>A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, carrying the premier and her entourage departed Hamad International Airport at 8:00am local time (11am BD time). The flight is scheduled to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka at 3:00pm.</div><div><br></div><div>Hasina arrived here on March 4 to attend the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5).</div><div><br></div><div>During her stay in Qatar, she attended the LDC5 conference, several side-line events and a civic reception.</div><div><br></div><div>The PM also held meetings with different leaders including Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and UNGA President Csaba Korosi. UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 06:44:33', '2023-03-08 06:44:33'),
(5653, 5653, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Actor Sai Pallavi, who was last seen in Tamil film Gargi, is said to have landed a key role in Allu Arjun’s next part in the Pushpa franchise. Reports have emerged that Sai has been roped in to play a character that’s freshly added to Pushpa: The Rule. However, an official announcement from the makers is yet awaited.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is reported that Sai will be paired opposite Fahadh Faasil in the film, which is currently on the floors. As per reports, Sai Pallavi will be seen in an extended cameo in Pushpa: The Rule. She will join the sets in the next schedule and will finish her portion in a week’s time.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Reacting to the reports of Sai Pallavi being signed for Pushpa 2, several fans took to social media to share their excitement. One user wrote, “If true, this is going to be really exciting. It’ll be even more interesting if she gets to play a negative character (sic).” Another one said, “One dance number with Allu Arjun and Sai Pallavi please (sic).”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This will be the first time Sai Pallavi will be seen in an Allu Arjun-starrer. Pushpa 2 also stars Rashmika Mandanna and Anasuya Bharadwaj in important roles. Arjun recently completed filming a schedule of Pushpa 2 in Vishakhapatnam where the makers filmed the introduction song. Pushpa: The Rule went on the floors last November with a look test. The film’s cinematographer Miroslaw Kuba Brozek took to instagram to share a picture from the sets and captioned the post as the beginning of the adventure.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The second part will focus on the face-off between Allu Arjun and Fahadh Faasil, who was introduced as the prime antagonist towards the end of the first part. The film also stars Rashmika Mandanna, who plays the character Srivalli, Sunil and Anasuya Bharadwaj in key roles.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Pushpa: The Rise, Arjun popularised the catchphrase ‘Thaggedhe Le’. Last November, he went on to introduce the new catchphrase for the second part at an event. He said that he hopes that the excitement he has for the movie touches the fans as well. 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, '2023-03-08 07:07:26', '2023-03-08 07:07:26');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5654, 5654, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said investing in women uplifts all people, communities, and countries.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Let us work together – across governments, the private sector and civil society – to build a more inclusive, just, and prosperous world for women, girls, men, and boys everywhere,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The UN Chief made the call in a message marking International Women’s Day today.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Women’s exclusion from the digital world has shaved an estimated $1 trillion from the GDP of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade — a loss that could grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025 without action, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"On International Women’s Day, we celebrate the achievements of women and girls across all walks of life, in all corners of the world,\" Guterres said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But they also recognize the enormous obstacles they face — from structural injustices, marginalization, and violence, to cascading crises that affect them first and worst, to the denial of their personal autonomy and rights over their bodies and lives, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gender-based discrimination harms everyone – women, girls, men, and boys, said the UN chief, adding that \"International Women’s Day is a call to action.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Action needed to stand with women who are demanding their fundamental rights at great personal cost, he said, adding that action is also required to strengthen protection against sexual exploitation and abuse.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"And action to accelerate women’s full participation and leadership. This year’s theme stresses the need for technology and innovation to advance gender equality,\" Guterres said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Technology can expand pathways to education and opportunities for women and girls.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But it can also be used to amplify abuse and hatred.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Today, women make up under a third of the workforce in science, technology, engineering, and maths,\" Guterres said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">And when women are under-represented in developing new technologies, discrimination may be baked in from the start.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"That is why we must close the digital divide and increase the representation of women and girls in science and technology,\" said the UN chief. 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, '2023-03-08 07:35:48', '2023-03-08 07:35:48'),
(5655, 5655, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Millions of Indians celebrated Holi - the festival of colours - at home and around the world.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The festival which marks the last full-moon day of the lunar month celebrates the beginning of spring and the victory of good over evil.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">People celebrate this day by smearing bright colours on friends and family, offering prayers and burning a bonfire to symbolically destroy the bad so that the good can triumph.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The festival is based on a Hindu legend and has a huge cultural significance in India. People see the festival as symbolising new beginnings, and as a time to mend relationships and start afresh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Huge processions are held in several parts of India to mark the festival. People dance and sing and hold sumptuous feasts with traditional fare. Schools are shut as children and adults devote the day to colourful celebrations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The festival is celebrated in a grand and unique way in cities like Vrindavan and Mathura in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Celebrations last for an entire week. Devotees undertake massive processions where they dance and throw colour at each other. 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, '2023-03-08 07:53:34', '2023-03-08 07:53:34'),
(5656, 5656, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The United States announced on Tuesday $26 million in new humanitarian aid for Rohingya in Bangladesh and elsewhere in that region of Asia.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Around one million members of the mostly Muslim Rohingya community live in relief camps in Bangladesh, many after fleeing a 2017 military crackdown in neighboring Myanmar. The onslaught caused one of the world\'s worst humanitarian crises.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"This new funding allows our humanitarian partners to continue providing life-saving assistance to affected communities on both sides of the Burma Bangladesh border,\" State Department spokesman Ned Price said, using the old name for Myanmar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said the new money raises to $2.1 billion the total of US aid provided to the Rohingya people since August 2017.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The United Nations said Tuesday it needs $876 million to meet the humanitarian needs of the Rohingya in Bangladesh, after dwindling donations forced a cut to their food rations. AFP</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 08:13:43', '2023-03-08 08:13:43'),
(5657, 5657, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The cause behind the explosion in the 5-storey Gulistan building will be known after examining the samples collected from the site, said Major Morshed Alam, director of bomb disposal unit of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab).</span><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Primary samples were collected from the blast site and sent to laboratory for test and the actual reason behind the explosion could be known after examining the samples,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We entered the damaged building carefully and it appeared that it is not an incident of fire, it’s an explosion. The level of explosion was huge,”Major Morshed said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There might be multiple reasons including leakage of gas pipeline behind the blast and there is a little possibility of air conditioner blast, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides, a dog squad team is working there to check whether there is any existence of human alive or dead inside the building, said Morshed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, at least 17 people were killed and over 100 others injured in a massive explosion in a 5-storey building near a BRTC bus counter in the capital’s Gulistan area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Among the injured, 11 people have been undergoing treatment at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Three firefighting units resumed the rescue operation around 9 am, said Khaleda Yeasmin, duty officer of the Fire Service Control Room, around 11 am.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A four-member probe body headed by Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director of Fire Service and Civil Defense (Operation and maintenance), has been formed to look into the explosion .</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The committee has been asked to submit its report within five working days, said Shahjahan Sikder, Deputy Additional Director of Fire service and Civil Defense headquarters media cell. 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, '2023-03-08 08:54:29', '2023-03-08 08:54:29'),
(5658, 5658, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least 487 people were dead and 712 were injured in 439 road accidents throughout the country in February this year, according to a latest report.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The report by Road Safety Foundation (RSF), released today, says that 96 people were killed in 183 motorcycle accidents across the country — 40.24% of the total deaths.</div><div><br></div><div>Among the dead, 54 were women and 68 children.</div><div><br></div><div>Sixteen people were dead and seven were injured in nine waterways accidents while at least 14 people were killed and five were injured in 17 railway accidents during the same period.</div><div><br></div><div>RSF prepared the report based on nine national dailies, seven online news portals and electronic media information.</div><div><br></div><div>At least 108 pedestrians were killed in road accidents, which is 22.17 percent of the total deaths. Some 72 drivers and their assistants were killed, which is 14.78 percent of the total deaths.</div><div><br></div><div>According to RSF\'s observation and analysis, the highest number 168 (38.26%) of the accidents occurred on national highways, 177 (40.31%) on regional roads, 61 (13.89%) on rural roads and 29 (6.60%) on urban roads.</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, the highest 201 (45.78%) among the total accidents occurred due to losing control over the wheel, 68 (15.48%) due to collision, 112 accidents ( 25.51 percent) happened due to pushing or running over pedestrians, 47 incidents (10.70 percent ) involved hitting the rear side of vehicles and 11 (2. 50%) occurred due to other reasons.</div><div><br></div><div>Dhaka division had the highest number of accidents and deaths, with 24.84% of the deaths; Rajshahi division with 19.71% deaths; Chattogram division with 18.89%; while Khulna division with 9.85% deaths. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 10:35:55', '2023-03-08 10:35:55'),
(5659, 5659, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The holy Shab-e-Barat, the night of fortune and forgiveness, was observed in Bangladesh on Tuesday with religious fervour.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>According to Muslim belief, Shab-e-Barat is the night when Allah arranges the affairs of the following year.</div><div><br></div><div>On this night, Allah writes the destinies of all creations for the coming year by taking into account their past deeds.</div><div><br></div><div>Muslim devotees offered special prayers and recited from the Holy Quran seeking divine blessings for the wellbeing of mankind.</div><div><br></div><div>They passed the whole night offering prayers.</div><div><br></div><div>Bangladesh Television, Bangladesh Betar and private TV channels and radio stations aired special programmes while newspapers published articles highlighting the significance of the night.</div><div><br></div><div>Dhaka Metropolitan Police have banned carrying and using all sorts of fireworks and low explosives in the capital during Shab-e-Barat, one of the most sacred nights in the Islamic calendar, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>The 12-hour restriction remained effective from 6pm Tuesday till 6am the next day, DMP Commissioner Khandker Gulam Faruk added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 11:12:26', '2023-03-08 11:12:26'),
(5660, 5660, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The owner of Russia’s Wagner Group military company claimed on Wednesday that his troops have extended their gains in the key Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut as fierce fighting continues in the war’s longest battle.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Yevgeny Prigozhin said Wagner troops have taken full control of the eastern part of Bakhmut. He claimed that they now control all districts east of the Bakhmutka River that crosses the city in the eastern Donetsk region. The center of Bakhmut is located west of the river.</div><div><br></div><div>Neither Russian nor Ukrainian officials commented on Prigozhin’s claim. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think-tank that closely monitors the fighting in Ukraine, said in its latest analysis that “Russian forces have likely captured the eastern part of Bakhmut, east of the Bakhmutka River, following a controlled Ukrainian withdrawal from eastern Bakhmut as of March 7.”</div><div><br></div><div>The Wagner Group has spearheaded the Russian offensive in Bakhmut that has lasted for six months and reduced the city with a prewar population of more than 70,000 to a smoldering wasteland.</div><div><br></div><div>Russian troops have enveloped the city from three sides, leaving only a narrow corridor leading west. The only highway west has been targeted by Russian artillery fire, forcing Ukrainian forces defending the city to rely increasingly on country roads, which are hard to use before the muddy ground dries.</div><div><br></div><div>Ukrainian authorities have hailed the defenders of the “fortress Bakhmut,” and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed Monday not to retreat from Bakhmut after chairing a meeting with his top generals.</div><div><br></div><div>For the Kremlin, capturing Bakhmut is essential for achieving its stated goal of taking control of the whole of Donetsk, one of the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed in September.</div><div><br></div><div>Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that the seizure of Bakhmut would allow Russia to press its offensive deeper into the region.</div><div><br></div><div>In a blustery video statement recorded near a landmark World War II T-34 tank monument from Bakhmut, Prigozhin said that the capture of the city would allow the Russian military to exploit the success and push deeper into the Donbas — the industrial region of eastern Ukraine that Russia claims — to make “the entire world shudder.”</div><div><br></div><div>But Western officials have emphasized that even if Ukrainian troops eventually retreat from Bakhmut, its capture will not have strategic significance or change the course of the conflict.</div><div><br></div><div>The Ukrainian military has already strengthened defensive lines west of Bakhmut to block the Russian advance, including in the nearby town of Chasiv Yar that sits on a hill a few kilometers west. Further west are Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the heavily fortified Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk.</div><div><br></div><div>The ISW observed that, in terms of the wider war, Russian forces are unlikely to capitalize on the possible capture of Bakhmut where they have relied on small units for urban combat.</div><div><br></div><div>“The continuing devolution of Russian force structure towards small assault detachments using simplified tactics, combined with mounting losses among the most effective Russian troops, will likely greatly limit the ability of Russian forces to properly exploit any paths of advance opened by the capture of Bakhmut,” the ISW said.</div><div><br></div><div>Russia is also likely short of the mechanized forces it would need to push on from Bakhmut, it added.</div><div><br></div><div>As the fighting raged in the east, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in the Ukrainian capital early Wednesday. The U.N. said that he is scheduled to meet with Zelenskyy later in the day “to discuss the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in all its aspects, as well as other pertinent issues.”</div><div><br></div><div>That deal allows Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports and permits Russia to export food and fertilizers. - AP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 11:39:46', '2023-03-08 11:39:46'),
(5661, 5661, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A day after a deadly explosion in a 5-storey building&nbsp; in Dhaka\'s Siddique Bazar area,&nbsp; two&nbsp; bodies were recovered from the debris on Wednesday -- raising the death toll to 19.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>One of the deceased was identified as Momin Uddin Suman, 44, who used to work as a manager of a sanitary shop.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Mohammad Aktaruzzaman, deputy director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, told reporters that they recovered two bodies from the basement of the damaged building.</div><div><br></div><div>“The rescue operation inside the building&nbsp; started in the afternoon after a dog squad identified the presence of the bodies,” he said, adding that the operation was conducted with heavy equipment.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Among the injured, 11 people have been undergoing treatment at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.</div><div><br></div><div>The explosion occurred around 4:50pm with a big bang on Tuesday at Siddique Bazar in Gulistan.</div><div><br></div><div>A sanitary materials shop on the ground floor of the building, Brac Bank office on one of the other floors and an adjacent 7-storied building were damaged but no building collapsed, Sikder added.</div><div><br></div><div>Visiting the spot on Wednesday, Home Minister Md Asaduzzaman said, “The five-storey building has turned risky and the whole building may collapse if pressure is created on it. So rescue operation in the basement should be started after creating a stable situation”.</div><div><br></div><div>A four-member probe body headed by Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director of Fire Service and Civil Defense (Operation and maintenance), has been formed to investigate the explosion.</div><div><br></div><div>The committee was asked to submit its report within five working days, said Shahjahan Sikder, Deputy Additional Director of Fire service and Civil Defense headquarters media cell. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 11:51:34', '2023-03-08 11:51:34'),
(5662, 5662, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has allegedly picked up the owner of a shop that collapsed during an explosion in a building at Siddique Bazar in the capital on Tuesday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The detainee is Abdul Motalib Mintu, the owner of ‘Bangladesh Sanitary’.</div><div><br></div><div>Mintu’s brother-in-law, Abul Khayer, told reporters on Wednesday that Mintu was picked up from Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) burn unit at around 3 am.</div><div><br></div><div>“He went to the Dhaka Medical College hospital in search of his shop employees. His manager, Swapan, is yet to be found. Two employees were admitted to the hospital,” Abulr Khayer told reporters on DMCH premises.</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile a DB official, who did not wish to be named, said Mintu was picked up by a team of DB\'s Lalbagh division. He is currently at the DB office in the capital’s Mintu Road.</div><div><br></div><div>“The explosion took place under his shop in the basement. That\'s why he\'s being questioned,”&nbsp; he told UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>At least 19 people were killed and over 100 others injured in a massive explosion in a 5-storey building near a BRTC bus counter at Siddique Bazar in Gulistan area of the capital on Tuesday .</div><div><br></div><div>Among the injured, 11 people have been undergoing treatment at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.</div><div><br></div><div>A four-member probe body headed by Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director of Fire Service and Civil Defense (Operation and maintenance), has been formed to investigate the incident.</div><div><br></div><div>The committee has been asked to submit its report within five working days, said Shahjahan Sikder, Deputy Additional Director of Fire service and Civil Defense headquarters media cell. According to UNB reports</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 13:09:11', '2023-03-08 13:09:11'),
(5663, 5663, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina witnessed the annual Joy Bangla Concert commemorating&nbsp; the historic March 7 speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Chief of Army Staff General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed and Bangabandhu’s grandson and Center for Research and Information (CRI) trustee Radwan Mujib Siddiq accompanied the Prime Minister.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier, the premier arrived in Dhaka in the&nbsp; afternoon from Doha, the Capital of Qatar, after attending the 5th United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDC5: From Potential to Prosperity).</div><div><br></div><div>The concert began with observing a one minute silence in Dhaka’s Army Stadium to pay homage to the victims of Tuesday\'s explosion in a Gulistan building.</div><div><br></div><div>The Center for Research and Information\'s (CRI\'s) youth platform</div><div>Young Bangla has been organizing the Joy Bangla Concert for the seventh time since 2015, except the last two years for the Covid-19 pandemic.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The concert was organised mainly to instill the spirit of the Liberation War among the new generations.</div><div><br></div><div>It is usually held on March 7 every year, but this year\'s event was moved to March 8 due to the holy Shab-e-Barat.</div><div><br></div><div>Renowned bands-- Artcell, Avoid Rafa, Lalon, Chirkutt, Cryptic Fate, Karnival, Meghdol, Nemesis, and Arekta Rock Band-- are performing at the concert. According to BSS reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 15:18:25', '2023-03-08 15:18:25'),
(5664, 5664, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A building in the Bhajanpura area of the national capital collapsed on Wednesday, informed police officials. The police officials said that the reason for the collapse is yet to be ascertained.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>According to police officials, the fire department received information at 3:05 pm. The fire department officials have reached the spot.</div><div><br></div><div>A rescue operation is underway and further details are awaited.</div><div>Earlier on March 1, a four-storey building collapsed after catching fire in north Delhi\'s Roshanara Road but fortunately, there was no loss of life, said police. - NDTV</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 15:37:21', '2023-03-08 15:37:21'),
(5665, 5665, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has taken an initiative to sell six essential items to some one crore low-income group families ahead of holy month of Ramadan, a press release said.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>As part of this, the TCB will start selling three essential items - edible oil, sugar, dates and chickpeas and lentils -- among such families from Thursday (March 9).</div><div><br></div><div>These essential items will be sold in two phases. In the first phase selling of the items will start from Thursday across the country.</div><div><br></div><div>Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi will inaugurate the sales of essential items formally through a function at Tejgaon in the capital on Thursday.</div><div><br></div><div>The card holders can buy the six goods at subsidised rates from the TCB\'s specific sales points and dealers’ outlets.</div><div><br></div><div>A card holder can buy 2 litre soybean oil, 2 kg lentil, sugar, chickpea and 1 kg date at a time.</div><div><br></div><div>The card holders can buy sugar TK 60/per kg, date at Tk100, lentil at Tk 70, chickpea at Tk 50 and soybean oil at Tk 110 per litre. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 16:25:58', '2023-03-08 16:25:58'),
(5666, 5666, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday said that Russia should not be underestimated and that Ukraine needs immediate military supply.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Speaking to reporters on the way to the informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Stockholm, Sweden, Stoltenberg said that it cannot be ruled out that the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut “may eventually fall in the coming days.”</div><div><br></div><div>However, he said that it would not “necessarily reflect any turning point of the war.”</div><div><br></div><div>“It just highlights that we should not underestimate Russia,” he stressed, urging NATO and EU countries to continue supplying Ukraine with military aid.</div><div><br></div><div>Stoltenberg and EU defense ministers will discuss plans on ramping up production of the European defense industry, reports Anadolu Agency.</div><div><br></div><div>“The current rate of consumption compared to the current rate of production of ammunition is not sustainable,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>In addition to the “important steps” already taken by NATO, “we need to do more because we need to ensure that Ukraine gets its needs to defend itself against Russia’s war aggression, and we need to replenish our own stocks,” he added.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-08 16:36:07', '2023-03-08 16:36:07'),
(5667, 5667, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The death toll from the deadly explosion in a 5-storey building in Dhaka\'s Gulistan area rose to 21 as another victim succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital last night (March 08, 2023).</span><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The deceased was identified as Musa Haider, 45. He had been undergoing treatment at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery with 94% burn injuries. He succumbed to his injuries around 10:35 pm last night, said Inspector Bachhu Mia, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital police outpost.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, on Tuesday, at least 17 people were killed and over 100 were injured in a massive explosion in a 5-storey building near a BRTC bus counter in the capital’s Gulistan area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, two bodies were recovered from the debris yesterday — raising the death toll to 19.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The explosion occurred around 4:50 pm with a big bang on Tuesday (March 07, 2023) at Siddique Bazar in Gulistan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A sanitary materials shop on the ground floor of the building, BRAC Bank office on one of the other floors and an adjacent 7-storey building were damaged but no building collapsed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">A four-member probe body headed by Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director of Fire Service and Civil Defense (Operation and maintenance), has been formed to investigate the explosion.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The committee was asked to submit its report within five working days, said Shahjahan Sikder, Deputy Additional Director of Fire service and Civil Defense headquarters media cell. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b>bnbd24/kh</b></div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-09 07:42:38', '2023-03-09 07:42:38'),
(5668, 5668, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Family members are mourning two cousins from the Chandpur district, who left their shop to have tea in Dhaka’s Gulistan area where a deadly blast killed several people on Tuesday (March 07, 2023). Death toll as of now is 20.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Family members and relatives are still mourning the deaths of Al Amin, 23, son of Billal Hossain of Paschim Lalpur village, and Mansur Hossain, 24, son of Mosharraf Hossain of Chengarchar village in Matlab North upazila of Chandpur district. They demanded proper investigation into the explosion.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kawsar, younger brother of Mansur, said Al Amin, son of his maternal aunt, visited Mansur’s shop located in Gulistan’s Phulbaria Super Market on Tuesday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After having some conversation, Mansur and Al Amin went out of the shop around 4:15 pm, saying that they would return in 20 minutes after having tea in Siddique Bazar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Those 20 minutes didn’t end and they will not return,” cried Kawsar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later, he heard about the explosion and went out looking for them. Failing to find them, he went to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where he found the bodies of Mansur and Al Amin.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Al Amin was a student of a private college in Dhaka.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Md Mohiuddin, officer-in-charge of Matlab North Police Station, said the bodies of the two victims were handed over to their relatives on Wednesday night.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When the mortal remains of the two young men arrived in their respective areas, a pall of gloom descended on the area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They were buried at their respective family graveyards around 11 pm.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Tuesday, at least 17 people were killed and over 100 were injured in a massive explosion in a 5-storey building near a BRTC bus counter in the capital’s Gulistan area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, two bodies were recovered from the debris yesterday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Musa Haider, 45, a victim succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital last night, raising the death toll to 20.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The explosion occurred around 4:50 pm on Tuesday. A sanitary materials shop on the ground floor of the building, BRAC Bank office on one of the other floors and an adjacent 7-storey building were damaged but no building collapsed. 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, '2023-03-09 07:46:38', '2023-03-09 07:46:38'),
(5669, 5669, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">River Police have arrested 29 fishermen for violating the two-month ban on catching hilsa fry – imposed by the government – in the Padma-Meghna river sanctuary area of Chandpur to increase the production of hilsa and protect ‘jatka’ (fry).</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The arrested fishermen were from Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Shariatpur, and Matlab North of Chandpur.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the arrest, river police seized about 28,56,900 meters of current nets, 5 fishing boats, and 188 kg of ‘jatka’ from the fishermen.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Contacted, Md Kamruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Chandpur River Police Station, said law enforcers conducted a day-long operation in the sanctuary area to protect ‘jatka’ (hilsa fry less than 9 inches or 23 centimetres in length).</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“During our operation, we’ve arrested 29 fishermen for violating the 2-month ban on catching jatka,” he told UNB.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of the arrested fishermen, eight were sentenced to one month\'s rigorous imprisonment, and 18 others were regularly booked under the Fisheries Act with Sadar Model Police Station. Three minors were cautioned and released into the custody of their families.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The government imposed a two-month ban on catching ‘jatka’ to increase the production of hilsa in the Padma-Meghna sanctuary under Chandpur, Shariatpur, Lakshmipur, Barishal and Bhola districts.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Seventy kms sanctuary of Meghna in Sadar, Haimchar, Matlab North, and Matlab South upazilas of the Chandpur district are also under restriction.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Those who violate the ban are subjected to a maximum of two years imprisonment, a fine of Tk 5,000, or both. 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, '2023-03-09 07:49:59', '2023-03-09 07:49:59'),
(5670, 5670, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The Law Ministry on Thursday received a petition seeking another extended suspension of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s jail term sent by the Homer Ministry.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We have received a file from the Home Ministry regarding the extension of Khaleda Zia\'s conditional release. We’ll send it back to the Home Ministry with our recommendations,” Law Minister Anisul Huq told UNB on Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Replying to a question whether the BNP chief will be allowed to go abroad this time, the minister said, he still did not see the file. “But I can say that the previous conditions will remain in our recommendations.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Read more: AL staging drama over issue of Khaleda\'s politics with evil motive</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s younger brother Shamim Eskandar submitted a fresh application recently to the Home Ministry seeking extension of her release period.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the application, he asked to relax the conditions of her release and allow taking her abroad for treatment.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The government extended Khaleda’s conditional release in the two corruption cases several times.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The former prime minister was sent to Old Dhaka Central Jail after she was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by a special court in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She was convicted in a second corruption case later.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 77-year-old BNP chief has been staying at her Gulshan residence since her release. A special team of her personal physicians has been overseeing her treatment. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-09 07:59:13', '2023-03-09 07:59:13'),
(5671, 5671, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Kylian Mbappe admitted that Paris Saint-Germain had performed to their \"maximum\" despite slumping to another early Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich on Wednesday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>PSG, trailing 1-0 from the first leg in Paris, were beaten 2-0 in the return game at the Allianz Arena to drop out of the competition in the last 16 for the fifth time in seven seasons.</div><div><br></div><div>\"As I said at my first Champions League press conference this season, we were going to do our maximum. That\'s our maximum, that\'s the truth,\" Mbappe told reporters.</div><div><br></div><div>\"What were PSG missing? Not much when you look at the two squads. They have a great squad, built to win the Champions League.\"</div><div><br></div><div>PSG are still waiting for a maiden European Cup title despite the vast amount spent in the transfer market by their Qatari owners.</div><div><br></div><div>Christophe Galtier\'s men ended the tie with two 17-year-olds on the pitch in El Chadaille Bitshiabu and Warren Zaire-Emery.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We\'re going to question ourselves and then return to our daily life, the league,\" added Mbappe.</div><div><br></div><div>\"We have to move on... We lost against a great team, trying to win the tournament.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Mbappe, who wore the captain\'s armband after Marquinhos went off injured in the 36th minute, signed a bumper new deal with PSG last year.</div><div>Despite the team sitting eight points clear at the top of Ligue 1, the Champions League failure will inevitably bring more questions about whether the France star will stay at the Parc des Princes, reports AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>\"I\'m calm,\" he said when asked about his future. \"The only thing that matters to me is this season, to win the league, and then we\'ll see.\"</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-09 08:05:11', '2023-03-09 08:05:11'),
(5672, 5672, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and visiting United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which expires on March 18, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking after a meeting with Guterres in Kiev, Zelensky stressed the importance of the initiative for global food security.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative after March 18 is critically necessary for the whole world,\" Zelensky said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For his part, Guterres said that about 23 million tons of grain were exported under the initiative, which helped lower the global food prices.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"I would like to note the extreme importance of continuing the Black Sea Grain Initiative,\" Guterres said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On July 22, 2022, Russia and Ukraine separately signed a document in Istanbul with T?rkiye and the UN to allow Ukraine and Russia to export grain and fertilizer to ensure supplies to global markets amid the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The deal, due to expire on Nov. 19, 2022, was extended for another 120 days. Guterres has repeatedly called for the deal\'s further extension. 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, '2023-03-09 08:11:00', '2023-03-09 08:11:00'),
(5673, 5673, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Russia unleashed a massive missile barrage targeting energy infrastructure across Ukraine early Thursday, hitting residential buildings and killing at least five people in the largest scale such attack in three weeks, officials said.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Four people were killed in the Lviv region after a missile struck a residential area, Lviv Gov. Maksym Kozytskyi said. Three buildings were destroyed by fire after the strike and rescue workers were combing through rubble looking for more possible victims, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A fifth person was killed and two others wounded in multiple strikes in the Dnipropetrovsk region that targeted its energy infrastructure and industrial facilities, Gov. Serhii Lysak said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Air raid sirens wailed through the night across Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv, where explosions occurred in two western areas of the city. Defense systems were activated around the country, and it wasn\'t clear how many missiles struck targets or were intercepted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The city\'s administration said Kyiv was attacked with both missiles and exploding drones and that many were intercepted but that its energy infrastructure was hit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said explosions were reported in the Holosiivskyi district of the city, and two people were wounded in the Sviatoshynskyi district, also on the west side of the city, and cars were ablaze there, the mayor added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The alarm in Kyiv was lifted just before 8 a.m., with the air raid sirens falling silent after some seven hours.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The missile barrage struck as Russia pushed its advance in Ukraine\'s eastern stronghold of Bakhmut, where a grinding fight between the two sides has gone on for six months and reduced the city to a smoldering wasteland.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It also came hours after U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on extending an agreement that allows Ukraine to ship grain from its Black Sea ports and permits Russia to export food and fertilizers.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In eastern Ukraine, 15 missiles struck Kharkiv and the outlying northeastern region, hitting residential buildings, according to Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov. He promised to reveal more details about the scale of the damage or any casualties in Ukraine\'s second-largest city.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Objects of critical infrastructure are again in the crosshairs of the occupants,\" he said in a Telegram post.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported on Telegram that there were \"problems with electricity\" in some parts of the city.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The governor of the southern Odesa region, Maksym Marchenko, also reported strikes on Odesa, saying that energy facilities and residential buildings were hit. Marchenko warned on Telegram for people to stay in shelters.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is occupied by Russian forces, lost power as a result of the missile attacks, according to nuclear state operator Energoatom.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was the sixth time the plant was in a state of blackout since it was taken over by Russia months ago, forcing it to rely on 18 diesel generators that can run the station for 10 days, Energoatom said. Nuclear plants need constant power to run cooling systems and avoid a meltdown.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The countdown has begun,\" Energoatom said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukraine\'s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko condemned the missile strikes as \"another barbaric massive attack on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine,\" saying in a Facebook post that facilities in Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr regions had been targeted.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ukrainian Railways reported power outages in certain areas, with 15 trains delayed up to an hour.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Preventive emergency power cuts were applied in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Odesa regions, supplier DTEK said. Klitschko said 40% of consumers in Kyiv were without heating because of the emergency power cuts. Water supplies were uninterrupted, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">More explosions were reported in the northern city of Chernihiv and the western Lviv region, as well as in the cities of Dnipro, Lutsk and Rivne. Ukrainian media also report explosions in the western regions of Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Russia has been hitting Ukraine with these massive missile attacks since last October. Initially, the barrages targeting the country\'s energy infrastructure took place weekly, plunging the entire cities into darkness, but became more spread out in time, with commentators speculating that Moscow may be saving up ammunition.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The last massive barrage took place on Feb. 16. 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, '2023-03-09 08:27:07', '2023-03-09 08:27:07');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5674, 5674, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">It\'s a major international mystery with global consequences: Who was behind the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year in the Baltic Sea?</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The answer has broad implications for European energy security but could also threaten Western unity over backing Ukraine in defending itself from Russia\'s invasion. Or, it might shatter Russian and Chinese attempts to fix the blame on a hypocritical West.</div><div><br></div><div>Yet, nearly six months after the sabotage on the Russia-to-Germany pipelines, there is no accepted explanation. And a series of unconfirmed reports variously accusing Russia, the United States and Ukraine are filling an information vacuum as investigations into the blasts continue.</div><div><br></div><div>A look at the pipelines and what\'s known about the explosions.</div><div><br></div><div>WHAT ARE THE NORD STREAM PIPELINES?</div><div><br></div><div>The pipelines, known as Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, are majority-owned by Russia\'s state-run energy giant Gazprom and used to transport natural gas from Russia to Europe under the Baltic to their termini in Germany.</div><div><br></div><div>Nord Stream 1 was completed and came online in 2011. Nord Stream 2 was not finished until the fall of 2021 but never became operational due to the launch of Russia\'s invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022.</div><div><br></div><div>WHY ARE THEY CONTROVERSIAL?</div><div><br></div><div>Both pipelines bypass existing routes that go through Ukraine, meaning not only that Ukraine loses income from transit fees but is unable to directly use the gas they carry.</div><div><br></div><div>Of perhaps greater concern to the West, the pipelines were seen as a move by Russia to gain further, if not almost complete, control over Europe\'s energy supplies. Many in the West fear that Russia will use energy as a political weapon against European countries as it has done in the past with former Soviet states.</div><div><br></div><div>Despite those concerns and over the objections of the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, the German government under former Chancellor Angela Merkel moved ahead with the construction of the Nord Stream 2 project. The Biden administration waived sanctions against German entities involved in Nord Stream 2 after securing a pledge from Germany that it would allow backflows of gas into Ukraine and would act to shut the pipeline down should Russia try to use it to force political concessions.</div><div><br></div><div>After Russia\'s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine, Germany withdrew permission for Nord Stream 2, which had not yet come online.</div><div><br></div><div>WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PIPELINES?</div><div><br></div><div>First, Gazprom halted gas flows through Nord Stream 1 on Sept. 2, 2022, citing issues related to European sanctions imposed against Russia over the war in Ukraine.</div><div><br></div><div>Three weeks later, both Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 were hit by explosions that rendered them inoperable and caused significant leaks of gas that was idle in the pipelines. Some have said the blasts caused the worst release of methane in history, although the full extent of the environmental damage remains unclear.</div><div><br></div><div>The depth of the pipeline and the complexity of using underwater explosives lent credence to the idea that only a state actor with the expertise to handle such an operation could be responsible. But no one claimed responsibility.</div><div><br></div><div>In the immediate aftermath of the explosions, U.S. officials suggested Russia may have been to blame while Russia accused the United States and Britain of being behind them. Investigations by European nations, including Denmark, through whose waters the pipeline travels, and Germany have yet to yield conclusive results.</div><div><br></div><div>WHAT THEORIES HAVE BEEN REPORTED?</div><div><br></div><div>After months of few developments in the probes, American investigative journalist Seymour Hersch, known for past exposes of U.S. government malfeasance, self-published a lengthy report in February alleging that President Joe Biden had ordered the sabotage, which Hersch said was carried out by the CIA with Norwegian assistance.</div><div><br></div><div>That report, based on a single, unidentified source, has been flatly denied by the White House, the CIA and the State Department, and no other news organization has been able to corroborate it. Russia, followed by China, however, leaped on Hersch\'s reporting, saying it was grounds for a new and impartial investigation conducted by the United Nations.</div><div><br></div><div>On Tuesday, though, The New York Times, The Washington Post and German media published stories citing U.S. and other officials as saying there was evidence Ukraine, or at least Ukrainians, may have been responsible. The Ukrainian government has denied involvement.</div><div><br></div><div>Germany\'s Die Zeit newspaper and German public broadcasters ARD and SWR reported that investigators believed that five men and a woman used a yacht hired by a Ukrainian-owned company in Poland to carry out the attack. German federal prosecutors confirmed that a boat was searched in January but have not confirmed the reported findings.</div><div><br></div><div>WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES FOR THOSE FOUND RESPONSIBLE?</div><div><br></div><div>The implications of a determination that Ukraine was behind the explosions are not entirely clear. It\'s unlikely it would result in an immediate loss of Western support for Ukraine in the war with Russia, but it might dampen enthusiasm for future assistance if it was found that Ukraine or its agents carried out such an operation in European waters.</div><div><br></div><div>A determination that the United States or a proxy was responsible would give Russia and China additional leverage to go after the U.S. and its allies as hypocrites in their demands for the rule of the law, sovereignty and territorial integrity to be respected.</div><div><br></div><div>A finding that Russia was behind the explosions would lend weight to Western claims that Moscow is in flagrant breach of international law and willing to use energy as a weapon against Europe.</div><div><br></div><div>There is no indication of when the European investigations will be complete - and it seems improbable, given the animosity and mistrust surrounding the Ukraine conflict, that its findings will be universally accepted. According to AP reports</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-09 08:29:52', '2023-03-09 08:29:52'),
(5675, 5675, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Nepal\'s parliament members lined up Thursday to elect a new president, the third since the Himalayan nation abolished a centuries-old monarchy and became a republic.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The election of the president has fueled feuds among the main political parties and triggered political uncertainty.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A total of 884 members of the federal parliament and provincial assemblies gathered in the capital, Kathmandu, to vote for the new president. The final results were expected to be announced Thursday night.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Both candidates in the presidential race are prominent career politicians.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ram Chandra Poudel is a senior leader of the Nepali Congress party and previously served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His opponent, Subash Chandra Nembang of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), has also previously served as Speaker.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The national election in November last year left a hung parliament, leading to a fragile coalition government taking power.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal\'s decision to support a candidate outside the coalition partners led to the alliance\'s biggest party pulling its support. As a result, Dahal was forced to seek a confidence vote in parliament later this month.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Analysts say the presidential election and confidence vote could lead to further instability.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The phase of political instability in Nepal has not ended despite the fact we had a successful national election and a new coalition government in place,” said Dhruba Adhikary, an independent analyst in Kathmandu.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides facing the vote of confidence, Dahal also lost the support of three key political parties that were part of the initial coalition government.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His tenure has had a rocky start even before he could address key issues facing the country of 30 million.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nepal is still struggling to recover from the economic troubles brought by COVID-19, which led to a drop in the number of foreign tourists coming to climb the country\'s mountain peaks and hike its trails. Reviving tourism is necessary to bolster Nepal\'s economy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dahal also must balance relations between Nepal\'s two giant neighbors, India and China. Both New Delhi and Beijing compete for influence in the tiny Himalayan nation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nepal\'s new prime minister typically begins his or her tenure with a visit to one of these countries, but Dahal has not yet announced any such plans.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Political turmoil and frequent changes in government are nothing new in Nepal, where eight different governments have ruled in the past 10 years. 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, '2023-03-09 08:48:53', '2023-03-09 08:48:53'),
(5676, 5676, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Brazil star Neymar\'s upcoming surgery on his injured ankle in Qatar will be led by a renowned British specialist, the Aspetar hospital said Wednesday.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The hospital confirmed that the 31-year-old Paris Saint-Germain forward will be operated on at the sports medicine clinic and that James Calder will lead the surgery.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Aspetar\'s expert ankle surgeon, Professor Pieter D\'Hooghe and renowned ankle surgeon Professor James Calder from London, will perform the surgery,\" the clinic said in a statement.</div><div><br></div><div>The Brazilian was previously treated at Aspetar, with Calder involved, in January 2019.</div><div><br></div><div>Neymar is expected to miss up to four months of action, almost certainly ruling him out for the rest of the season.</div><div><br></div><div>\"I\'ll come back stronger,\" Neymar, who has scored 18 goals in all competitions for PSG this season, said on Twitter. According to AFP reports</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-09 08:49:19', '2023-03-09 08:49:19'),
(5677, 5677, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Law Minister Anisul Huq on Thursday said that there is no foreign pressure on the government about the upcoming national election.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">“If foreigners want to know (about election), we don\'t mind telling them about it as we do not do politics of killings or lies. We don\'t hide anything, so we have no objection and no hesitation to let the diplomats know about it,” Anisul said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He came up with the remarks while talking to reporters after a meeting with the ambassadors of Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Spain and France led by EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley at the secretariat in the afternoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The minister said they will not listen to anyone’s advice about the country\'s internal affairs as it is an independent nation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We will do whatever is good for the citizens of the independent state,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When asked if there was any discussion on participatory elections, the minister said, \"We want a participatory election. We want everyone to take part in the election. I can also say that there is no question that the upcoming elections in Bangladesh will be free, fair and neutral.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We will not go outside the constitution. The election will be held in the way as mentioned in the constitution. We want all the political parties of Bangladesh to take part in the election. But who will take part in the election and who will not it is up to the political parties,” 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, '2023-03-09 09:40:39', '2023-03-09 09:40:39'),
(5678, 5678, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Like every year, Joy Bangla Concert 2023 has been organized by Young Bangla, youth platform of the Center for Research and Information (CRI). It was initiated in 2015 to commemorate the historic March 7 speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The biggest live music event in the country could not be held for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ending young music lovers’ long wait, the concert was held successfully yesterday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tonmoy Ahmed, engineer and coordinator of ALBD Web Team, has shared the behind-the-scenes stories of organizing the mega event for the seventh time.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He mentioned the planning and implementation of the concert with Bangabandhu’s grandson and CRI trustee Radwan Mujib Siddiq.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“In February 2015, the country was mired in BNP-Jamaat’s anarchy – petrol bombs, people being burnt to death, and vandalism” said Tonmoy.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“All of us, including Bobby bhai (Radwan Mujib), used to meet at office from time to time and talk about what we could do. Many pro-liberation organizations were protesting at that time. Bobby Bhai said, ‘On March 7, Bangabandhu had inspired seven and a half crore Bangalees to fight, despite the extremely adverse environment, and youths overwhelmingly responded to that call. Why can’t we do something on March 7 that can inspire the youths of the country to be more patriotic?’” – Tonmoy recalled.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ALBD Web Team coordinator said, “Since 2015, Joy Bangla Concert has been held every year. It continues to instil a sense of patriotism among Bangladesh’s young. March is the month of Bangabandhu, our independence and Joy Bangla Concert.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Referring to Radwan Mujib’s role behind the concert, Tonmoy said, “The person behind this event for the youths is Bobby bhai. The youth of Bangladesh will truly be indebted to him. With ‘Mujib’ as his middle name, he is an energetic young man holding Bangabandhu in his heart. I have been working with him since 2013 – for 10 years now, yet every day I see Bobby bhai coming up with something new. Working with him has been a learning experience.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Joy Bangla Concert: Untold stories of how the mega event came to be&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier yesterday afternoon, at the concert in Dhaka’s Army Stadium, youths swayed to timeless war-time melodies and rock songs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This year, the Joy Bangla Concert was held on March 8 due to Shab-e-Barat. The concert coincided with International Women’s Day yesterday. On the occasion, Young Bangla launched separate registration, urging women to join the concert.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The presence of women in the concert was certainly noticeable. There was also a separate corner for women.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fahima Tazreen Avija from Farmgate area, who attended the concert, said, “This participation of women in this celebration of the country’s independence sends out a positive message.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mahfuzur Rahman Rokon came to the concert with his friends. He said, “I’m really enjoying the live music. Our female friends are here too. The security here is good. We’re all having a good time”The performing bands encouraged the youths gathered at the concert. Along with the rendition of songs originally aired by Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, the rhythm of contemporary favourite rock music made for an unforgettable event.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This year’s Joy Bangla Concert started with a minute’s silence in memory of the victims of the blast at Dhaka’s Gulistan. Artcell, Avoid Rafa, Lalon, Chirkutt, Cryptic Fate, Karnival, Meghdol, Nemesis, and Arekta Rock Band came up with performances one by one.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned to Dhaka yesterday afternoon after attending the fifth UN Summit of Least Developed Countries in Doha, Qatar. Later in the evening, she joined the concert.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chief of Army Staff General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed and Radwan Mujib Siddiq accompanied the premier on the occasion. She waved from the VIP box and greeted the youths at the Joy Bangla Concert. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"13\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-09 09:55:50', '2023-03-09 09:55:50'),
(5679, 5679, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Robbers snatched Tk 11.25 crore from a private security agency’s vehicle in Turag area of Dhaka’s Uttara this morning.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Shariful Islam, inspector (Investigation) of Turag Police Station, said that the incident happened while a private security company’s vehicle with Tk 11.25 crore – of Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd – was going towards Savar EPZ area to deposit the money at the bank’s ATM booths.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At Uttara Sector-16, a group of eight armed people stopped the vehicle and took away the money at gunpoint, he said, adding that police are raiding nearby places to recover the money. 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, '2023-03-09 10:03:26', '2023-03-09 10:03:26'),
(5680, 5680, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Beauty tools have become increasingly popular in recent years as people look for ways to enhance their beauty routines and achieve the best possible results.&nbsp;</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>From facial cleansing brushes to LED light therapy masks, there are a wide variety of beauty tools available that can help to revolutionize your routine. In this article, we\'ll explore 10 of the best beauty tools available and how they can benefit your beauty routine.</div><div><br></div><div>Facial Cleansing Brush - A facial cleansing brush can deeply cleanse your skin, removing dirt, oil, and makeup residue that may be left behind after washing with your hands.</div><div><br></div><div>Jade Roller - A jade roller is a small handheld tool that is made of smooth jade stone. It can be used to massage the face and reduce puffiness, as well as stimulate circulation and lymphatic drainage.</div><div><br></div><div>LED Light Therapy Mask - An LED light therapy mask can help to reduce the appearance of acne, fine lines, and wrinkles. It works by emitting different wavelengths of light that can penetrate the skin at varying depths.</div><div><br></div><div>Hair Removal Laser - A hair removal laser can be used to permanently reduce hair growth on different parts of the body. It works by targeting the hair follicles with intense light energy, which damages them and prevents future hair growth.</div><div><br></div><div>Eyelash Curler - An eyelash curler can help to give your lashes a natural-looking curl. It works by gently squeezing your lashes against a curved rubber pad.</div><div><br></div><div>Gua Sha - A gua sha tool is a flat, smooth stone that is used to massage the face and body. It can help to reduce inflammation, improve circulation, and promote lymphatic drainage</div><div><br></div><div>Foot Spa - A foot spa can help to relax and soothe tired feet, while also providing a deep clean and exfoliation. Many foot spas also come with massage rollers and heat therapy to further enhance the experience.</div><div><br></div><div>Hair Straightening Brush - A hair straightening brush combines the benefits of a hairbrush and a straightener, allowing you to quickly and easily straighten your hair while also detangling and smoothing it out. Source: Hindustan Times</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div><div><br></div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-09 10:16:50', '2023-03-09 10:16:50'),
(5681, 5681, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">At least 15 people, including five policemen, were injured in a clash between two factions&nbsp; of Awami League at Chandraganj Bazar in Lakshmipur Sadar upazila on Wednesday.&nbsp;</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The clash broke out between the followers of Kazi Solaiman and Upazila Parishad Chairman Nurul Amin over the newly formed convening committee of Chandraganj Union Awami League around 7:30 pm.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police detained 12 people from both sides.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Among the injured are Sub-inspector Zakir Hossain of the Detective Branch of Police, SI Abdur Rahim of Chandraganj Police Station and Constable Mozammel Hossain and Chhatra League activist Akbar Hossain.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Akbar is the brother of M Masudur Rahman, general secretary of Chandraganj Thana Chhatra League.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to locals, at the time of the incident, a joy procession was taken out congratulating the newly formed committee of Chandraganj Union Awami League. At that time, the attack was led by Masudur Rahman, general secretary of Chandraganj Thana Chhatra League. The two sides clashed.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police resorted to charging with batons to stop the clash.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Masud is known to be a follower of Kazi Solaiman, a former secretary of the Chandraganj Union Awami League. A tense situation was prevailing in the area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">M Mahfuzjan Ashraf, Superintendent of Police of Lakshmipur, said, there has been a clash between the two groups of Awami League. When they tried to stop them, brickbats were hurled at the police.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Five policemen were injured. Later, the situation was brought under control after charging with batons. A total of 12 people from both sides of the Awami League have been detained in connection with the incident,” 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, '2023-03-09 10:19:09', '2023-03-09 10:19:09'),
(5683, 5683, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Law Minister Anisul Huq on Thursday said that there is no foreign pressure on the government about the upcoming national election.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“If foreigners want to know (about election), we don\'t mind telling them about it as we do not do politics of killings or lies. We don\'t hide anything, so we have no objection and no hesitation to let the diplomats know about it,” Anisul said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He came up with the remarks while talking to reporters after a meeting with the ambassadors of Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Spain and France led by EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley at the secretariat in the afternoon.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The minister said they will not listen to anyone’s advice about the country\'s internal affairs as it is an independent nation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We will do whatever is good for the citizens of the independent state,” he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When asked if there was any discussion on participatory elections, the minister said, \"We want a participatory election. We want everyone to take part in the election. I can also say that there is no question that the upcoming elections in Bangladesh will be free, fair and neutral.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We will not go outside the constitution. The election will be held in the way as mentioned in the constitution. We want all the political parties of Bangladesh to take part in the election. But who will take part in the election and who will not it is up to the political parties,” 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, '2023-03-09 10:50:50', '2023-03-09 10:50:50'),
(5684, 5684, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today emphasized on quick completion of the Bus Rapid Transit-BRTA project started from the Hazrat Shah Jalal Airport to Joydebpur&nbsp; intersection within the stipulated timeframe.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The urgency surfaced while Chinese Ambassador in Bangladesh Mr Yao Wen made a courtesy call on Obaidul Quader, also the general secretary of the ruling Awami League at his secretariat office here this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the call on, the Chinese envoy said “all the necessary steps would be taken to complete the project within the quick possible time.” Even the Chinese Ambassador also gave importance on strengthening party to party relations between the two countries.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The envoy also invited a delegation of the ruling Awami League to visit China. 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, '2023-03-09 11:22:52', '2023-03-09 11:22:52'),
(5685, 5685, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Artificial intelligence (AI) may help scientists find the exact place to look for while finding life on Mars and other icy worlds, a new study has suggested, IANS reported.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>A team of astrobiologists developed an AI model and tested its ability to look out for sparse life hidden away in salt domes, rocks and crystals at Salar de Pajonales at the boundary of the Chilean Atacama Desert and Altiplano — one of the driest places on the planet, resembling the features of a Martian surface.</div><div><br></div><div>Pajonales is a high altitude (3,541 m), high U/V, hyperarid, dry salt lakebed, considered inhospitable to many life forms but still habitable.</div><div><br></div><div>The results, reported in the journal Nature Astronomy, showed that the AI model helped scientists locate and detect biosignatures — any feature which provides evidence of past or present life — up to 87.5 per cent of the time.</div><div><br></div><div>It also substantially reduced the area — by up to 97 per cent — the team needed to search, signalling the efficacy of the AI model to one day detect signs of life on other planets.</div><div><br></div><div>Currently, researchers have limited opportunities to collect samples on Mars or elsewhere or access remote sensing instruments when hunting for life beyond Earth. The new AI model will help scientists’ with the exact place to look for while finding life on other worlds.</div><div><br></div><div>“We hope other astrobiology teams adapt our approach to mapping other habitable environments and biosignatures,” said lead researcher Kim Warren-Rhodes, Senior Research Scientist at SETI Institute.</div><div><br></div><div>“With these models, we can design tailor-made roadmaps and algorithms to guide rovers to places with the highest probability of harbouring past or present life — no matter how hidden or rare,” Warren-Rhodes added.</div><div><br></div><div>The team, including from the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), collected over 7,765 images and 1,154 samples and tested instruments to detect photosynthetic microbes living within the salt domes, rocks and alabaster crystals.</div><div><br></div><div>The study’s findings confirm (statistically) that microbial life at the Pajonales terrestrial analog site is not distributed randomly but concentrated in patchy biological hotspots strongly linked to water availability at km to cm scales. </div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-09 11:38:00', '2023-03-09 11:44:17'),
(5686, 5686, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi today said that the number of family cards of the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) would be increased considering selling of essential items among the common people at subsidized rates.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tipu said this while inaugurating the sale operations of essentials of TCB as the chief guest at Tejgaon in the capital marking the Holy Month of Ramadan.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Ours such kind of operation aims at delivering essentials among one crore families at affordable price. Such essentials would be sold ahead of the Ramadan. The prices of commodities have increased worldwide putting an impact on the local market also.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Considering the interests of the common people, the Prime Minister has been trying her best to sell essentials among the commoners at an affordable price. We\'re working to this end\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He informed that such operations of TCB would continue until March 30 while efforts are there so that the family card holders get their essential items at ease side by side there is distribution of more cards.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Tapan Kanti Ghosh, TCB Chairman Brig Gen M Ariful Hasan, Dhaka North City Corporation 25 number ward councilor Abdullah Al Monjur were present, among others, on the occasion.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Marking the Holy Month of Ramadan, some one crore families across the country including Dhaka are getting five essential items at subsidized rates from today. These items are edible oil, sugar, dates, chickpeas and lentil. The operations will be conducted in two phases while the first phase was inaugurated today.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Under the operation, the price of per kg sugar is Taka 60, per kg lentil is Taka 70, per litre soybean oil is Taka 110, per kg chickpeas is Taka 50 while per kg dates is Taka 100.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">One consumer will be able to buy highest 2 kgs of lentil, 2 litres of Soybean oil, one kg each sugar, chickpeas and dates. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">&nbsp;bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-09 11:43:06', '2023-03-09 11:43:06'),
(5687, 5687, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Bangladesh stunned England by six wickets in the first T20I of their three-match series in Chattogram on Thursday, delivering a clinical performance in both bowling and batting.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bangladesh lost the ODI series by 2-1, but with this win, they made a great start to the T20I series.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Najmul Hossain Shanto continued his good form, hitting a half-century in this match and helping Bangladesh chase a challenging target of 157. He made 51 runs off 30 balls with eight fours, while Shakib Al Hasan remained unbeaten with 34 runs off 24 balls, including six fours.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rony Talukdar, who returned to the T20I team after eight years, helped the Tigers get off to a flying start by hitting 21 runs off 14 balls. Towhid Hridoy, who made his international debut in this match, also impressed, scoring 24 runs off 17 balls and contributing the only six of Bangladesh\'s innings.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Overall, it was a collective batting effort from Bangladesh that secured their maiden T20I win against England.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and sent England to bat first. They scored 157 for 6, with captain Joss Buttler hitting the highest score of 67 runs off 42 balls. He and Philip Salt made 80 runs in the first wicket stand, providing England with a solid foundation.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed broke the partnership, and England lost another quick wicket when Dawid Malan fell to Shakib for just four runs.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">England lost their third and fourth wickets at 135, and eventually ended their innings on 156 for 6.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hasan Mahmud was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh, taking two wickets for 26 runs in his four overs. Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, and Shakib Al Hasan each took one wicket.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The second and third T20I will be played in Dhaka on March 12 and 14. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-09 13:20:00', '2023-03-09 13:20:00'),
(5688, 5688, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to inaugurate 23 projects worth Tk 570 crore during her upcoming visit to Mymensingh on Saturday.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The projects, among others, include 4-storey academic buildings in 21 schools and colleges, sanitation projects in 32 municipalities, Sheikh Kamal indoor stadium, and five bridges.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier will also lay the foundation stone of 14 more development projects in the district.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The projects worth Tk 2,762 crore, include the development of the road and drainage network of Mymensingh, and the construction of 7 regional offices for Bangladesh Public Service Commission among others.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League (AL) and its associate bodies in Mymensingh are preparing for the prime minister’s visit.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the occasion of the arrival of the party President Hasina, the whole city and its alleys have already been decorated with banners, festoons, billboards and other colourful means to receive her.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The premier will also attend a scheduled grand rally organized by district and metropolitan units of the AL at the Circuit House.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">State Minister for Housing and Public Works Minister Sharif Ahmed, presidents, general secretaries and other leaders of the district and metropolitan units hung over 300 billboards across the city along with banners and festoons.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Md Ekramul Haue Titu, mayor of Mymensingh City Corporation and president of the city unit, said they completed all kinds of measures to succeed in the rally to be thronged by over 10 lakh people. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"19\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-10 07:58:21', '2023-03-10 07:58:21'),
(5689, 5689, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Shots were fired inside a building used by Jehovah\'s Witnesses in the northern German city of Hamburg on Thursday evening, with several people killed and wounded, police said.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We only know that several people died here; several people are wounded, they were taken to hospitals,” police spokesperson Holger Vehren said of the shooting in the Gross Borstel district of Germany’s second-biggest city.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said he had no information on the severity of the injuries suffered by the wounded. Police did not confirm German media reports, which named no sources, of six or seven dead.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">David Semonian, a U.S.-based spokesman for Jehovah\'s Witnesses, told The Associated Press in an emailed statement early Friday that members “worldwide grieve for the victims of this traumatic event.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The congregation elders in the local area are providing pastoral care for those affected by the event,” he wrote. “We understand that the authorities are still investigating the details of this crime. We appreciate the courageous help provided by the police and emergency services.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a Twitter update in the early hours Friday, Hamburg police said they believed there was only one shooter and they were gradually rolling back security forces from the area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The investigation into the motive behind the crime continues,” police said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hamburg security officials said there would be a news conference Friday afternoon to discuss details.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The scene of the shooting was the Jehovah\'s Witnesses\' Kingdom Hall, a modern and boxy three-story building next to an auto repair shop.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Vehren said police were alerted to the shooting about 9:15 p.m. and were on the scene quickly.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said that after officers arrived and found people with apparent gunshot wounds on the ground floor, they heard a shot from an upper floor and found a fatally wounded person upstairs who may have been a shooter. He said police did not have to use their firearms.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Vehren said there was no indication that a shooter was on the run and that it appeared likely that the perpetrator was either in the building or among the dead.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Through the night, forensic investigators in protective white suits could be seen walking through the building continuing their work.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Student Laura Bauch, who lives nearby, said “there were about four periods of shooting,” German news agency dpa reported. “There were always several shots in these periods, roughly at intervals of 20 seconds to a minute,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She said she looked out her window and saw a person running from the ground floor to the second floor of the Jehovah\'s Witnesses hall.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gregor Miesbach, who lives within sight of the building, was alerted by the sound of shots and filmed a figure entering the building through a window. Shots can then be heard from inside. The figure later apparently emerges from the hall, is seen in the courtyard and then fires more shots inside.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Miesbach told German television news agency NonstopNews that he heard at least 25 shots. After police arrived, one last shot followed about five minutes later, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His video, posted online by Bild newspaper, showed a person firing multiple shots into the building through a first floor window before the lights inside the room went out.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Early Friday morning, investigators could be seen working outside the building as a light snow fell, placing yellow cones on the ground and windowsills to mark evidence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police had no information on the event that was underway in the building when the shooting took place. They also had no immediate information on a possible motive. Vehren said that “the background is still completely unclear.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher tweeted that the news was “shocking” and offered his sympathy to the victims\' relatives.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jehovah’s Witnesses are part of an international church, founded in the United States in the 19th century and headquartered in Warwick, New York. It claims a worldwide membership of about 8.7 million, with about 170,000 in Germany.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Members are known for their evangelistic efforts that include knocking on doors and distributing literature in public squares. The denomination\'s distinctive practices include a refusal to bear arms, receive blood transfusions, salute a national flag or participate in secular government. 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, '2023-03-10 08:04:38', '2023-03-10 08:04:38');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5690, 5690, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Chinese leader Xi Jinping was awarded a third five-year term as president Friday, putting him on track to stay in power for life.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The endorsement of Xi\'s appointment by the ceremonial National People\'s Congress was a foregone conclusion for a leader who has sidelined potential rivals and filled the top ranks of the ruling Communist Party with his supporters since taking power in 2012.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The vote for Xi was 2,952 to 0 by the NPC, members of which are appointed by the ruling party.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Xi, 69, had himself named to a third five-year term as party general secretary in October, breaking with a tradition under which Chinese leaders handed over power once a decade. A two-term limit on the figurehead presidency was deleted from the Chinese constitution earlier, prompting suggestions he might stay in power for life.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">No candidate lists were distributed, and Xi and those awarded other posts were believed to have run unopposed. The election process remains almost entirely shrouded in secrecy, apart from the process by which delegates to the congress placed four ballots into boxes placed around the vast auditorium of the Great Hall of the People.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Xi was also unanimously named commander of the 2 million-member People\'s Liberation Army, a force that explicitly takes its orders from the party rather than the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In other voting, the party\'s third-ranking official Zhao Leji was named head of the National People\'s Congress. The vast majority of the body\'s legislative work is headed by its Standing Committee, which meets year-round.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A holdover from the previous party Politburo Standing Committee, the apex of political power in China headed by Xi, Zhao, 67, won Xi\'s trust as head of the party\'s anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, pursuing an anti-graft campaign that has frozen all potential opposition to the leader.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Former Shanghai party boss and member of the last Politburo Standing Committee Han Zheng was named to the largely ceremonial post of state vice president.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Xi, Zhao and Han then took the oath of office with one hand on a copy of the Chinese constitution. 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, '2023-03-10 08:46:03', '2023-03-10 08:46:03'),
(5691, 5691, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The wounds from Sunday’s humiliating 7-0 rout by Liverpool remain fresh for Manchester United. But a 4-1 win against Real Betis in the Europa League was an encouraging response from Erik ten Hag’s players.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">None more so than Bruno Fernandes, who scored one and had a role in two more in the round-of-16 first leg on Thursday.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“I think he was the best player on the pitch, it showed his personality,” United manager Ten Hag said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Dutchman had given his team the chance to begin making amends for Anfield by naming an unchanged lineup. It had the desired effect.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Marcus Rashford scored his 26th goal of the season.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Antony swept a shot into the top corner from distance. And Wout Weghorst, who had faced a backlash on social media for touching the famous “This is Anfield” sign, let his emotion show when firing in United’s fourth.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But perhaps no one needed redemption more than Fernandes, who received the brunt of the criticism after the collapse against Liverpool. On this occasion, his efforts were greeted with approval by United fans as well as Ten Hag.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“Bruno was fantastic. He led the team with his control of the game and passing and then he scored a goal,” Ten Hag said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Portugal international raced toward the Stretford End after heading United into a 3-1 lead in the 58th minute and placed his hands over his ears as if to shut out the noise that has followed Sunday’s loss.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There was a moment when he let his enthusiasm overflow with a late challenge on Betis goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, but this was the night when he channelled his passion in the right way by putting United within reach of the quarterfinals.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Former United captain and now TV analyst Gary Neville had labelled Fernandes’ performance against Liverpool a “disgrace.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Against Betis, he was United’s driving force.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Old Trafford crowd sang his name loud as he walked out onto the field to confirm he still had their support.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was his cross that led to the opening goal after six minutes when Luiz Felipe diverted the ball into Rashford’s path. The England striker drove into the box and lashed a shot into the top corner.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The match was level at halftime after on-loan Leicester forward Ayoze Perez fired a low shot past David de Gea in the 32nd. Perez was only denied a second when Fernandes’ challenge diverted his shot against the post before the break.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Antony put United back in front seven minutes into the second half with a curling effort from outside of the box after being played in by Fernandes. United’s No. 8 went from provider to goal-scorer when he headed in Luke Shaw’s corner to put his team in complete control.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But perhaps the biggest cheer of the night came when Weghorst lashed the ball home in the 82nd after missing a host of earlier chances. The raw emotion was evident as he celebrated only his second goal since joining on loan from Burnley in January and his first at Old Trafford. AP/UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-10 08:50:41', '2023-03-10 08:50:41'),
(5692, 5692, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a live-fire artillery drill simulating an attack on a South Korean airfield and called for his troops to be ready to respond to the enemies\' \"frantic war preparation moves\" — apparently referring to the recent series of military drills between the United States and South Korea.</span><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The North Korean state media report Friday came a day after South Korea\'s military detected the North firing at least one short-range ballistic missile toward the sea from a site near the western coastal city of Nampo. The South\'s Joint Chiefs of Staff was assessing whether more missiles may have been launched simultaneously.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The United States has recently sent long-range B-1B and B-52 bombers for several rounds of joint aerial drills with South Korean warplanes. The allies are also preparing this month for their biggest combined field training exercise in years to counter the growing threat of Kim\'s growing nuclear arsenal. North Korea views regular U.S.-South Korean military exercises as invasion rehearsals.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pyongyang\'s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim urged his troops to be prepared to \"overwhelmingly respond to and contain\" the military action of the North\'s enemies, which he said were proceeding with \"all sorts of more frantic war preparation moves.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said frontline units should sharpen their capabilities to carry out their two main \"strategic missions, that is, first to deter war and second to take the initiative in war.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">South Korea\'s Unification Ministry later Friday urged North Korea to stop raising tensions with \"reckless nuclear and missile programs and military provocations.\" Vice spokesperson Lee Hyo-jung told reporters that North Korea must focus instead on caring for people\'s livelihoods and take a path toward building peace on the Korean Peninsula.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The KCNA report did not specify what types of weapons were involved in Thursday\'s exercise or how many rockets were fired. Some of the North\'s newer short-range weapons targeting South Korea includes large-sized multiple rocket launchers that experts say blur the boundaries between artillery and ballistic missile systems.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">North Korea describes some of its more advanced short-range systems as tactical weapons, which implies an intent to arm them with lower-yield battlefield nuclear weapons.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Experts say the North with the wording is communicating a threat to proactively use those weapons during conventional warfare to blunt the stronger conventional forces of South Korea and the United States, which keeps about 28,000 troops in South Korea to help deter potential aggression from North Korea.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kim\'s comments were in line with an escalatory nuclear doctrine the North set into law last year, which authorizes preemptive nuclear strikes in situations where it may perceive its leadership as under threat, including conventional clashes.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Photos published by North Korea\'s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed at least six rockets being fired from launch vehicles lined up in an unspecified coastal forest area.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kim watched the firings from an observation post along with military officials and his daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae and around 10 years old.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She has appeared at several events tied to his military since first being showcased at an ICBM test launch in November, and analysts believe the events and elevated descriptions of her in state media are meant to show the world he has no intention to voluntarily surrender his nuclear weapons, which he apparently sees as the strongest guarantee of his survival and the extension of his family\'s dynastic rule.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Coming off a record year in missile testing, North Korea has conducted additional weapons demonstrations in 2023. Experts say North Korea with its heightened testing activity and threats is trying to claim a dual ability to conduct nuclear strikes against South Korea and the U.S. mainland.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kim\'s campaign is aimed at forcing the United States into accepting the North as a nuclear power and negotiating badly needed economic concessions from a position of strength, analysts say. Diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea has stalled since 2019.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The South Korean and U.S. militaries will conduct computer-simulated command post training March 13-23 and will resume their largest springtime field exercises, which were last held in 2018. The allies\' regular drills were canceled or scaled back to support diplomacy or because of the COVID-19 pandemic but they renewed them after the diplomacy collapsed and North Korea\'s threats and weapons testing escalated.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Tuesday, Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader\'s powerful sister and one of Pyongyang\'s top foreign policy officials, warned that her country is ready if necessary to take \"quick, overwhelming action\" in the face of the allies\' expanded drills.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In previous statements, she threatened to turn the Pacific into North Korea\'s firing range and repeatedly implied that the North might test-fire an ICBM toward those waters on a standard ballistic trajectory, which would be seen as one of its most provocative weapons demonstrations yet.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">All of North Korea\'s ICBM tests since 2017 have been conducted on a high angle to avoid the territories of neighbors. 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, '2023-03-10 08:55:12', '2023-03-10 08:55:12'),
(5693, 5693, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Pakistan\'s foreign minister said Thursday his country is facing \"a perfect storm\" of troules — an economic crisis, the consequences of catastrophic flooding, and terrorism \"that is once again rearing its ugly head\" as a result of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the 34-year-old son of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press that Pakistan, like other countries, is also beset by \"hyper-partisan and hyper-polarized politics.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Discussing his cash-strapped country\'s crushing need for financial help, he sharply criticized the International Monetary Fund, which last month delayed a $6 billion bailout over Pakistan failing to meet terms of a 2019 deal. The government blames that failure on former Prime Minister Imran Khan, now the opposition leader.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IMF gave new instructions to Pakistan to raise and collect taxes as well as slash subsidies without burdening poor people, government officials said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Zardari said his party supports expanding revenue collection and believes those who are well off should pay more, but he said Pakistan has been unable to achieve structural tax reform \"for the last 23 IMF programs that we have been a part of.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Is it really the time to nitpick about our tax policy and tax collection while we\'re suffering from a climate catastrophe of this scale?\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IMF is not being fair to Pakistan, which is also dealing with 100,000 new refugees following the West\'s withdrawal from Afghanistan and \"a steady uptick of terrorist activities within our country,\" Zardari said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IMF is stretching out talks on a bailout when the country needs money now to help \"the poorest of the poor\" whose homes and crops were washed away in the floods, he said. \"And they\'re being told that until their tax reform is not complete, we will not conclude the IMF program.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Economically, he said, Pakistan had been able to keep its head above water despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the August 2021 Taliban seizure of power in Afghanistan, inflation and supply chain disruptions. But then last summer\'s floods killed 1,739 people, destroyed 2 million homes and caused $30 billion in damage — \"the biggest, most devastating climate catastrophe that we\'ve ever experienced,\" he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the diplomatic front, Zardari said, Pakistan faces a number of challenges with its neighbors. He pointed to a host of bilateral issues with India, decades of \"tragedy and conflict\" in Afghanistan, and sanctions against Iran that hinder Pakistan\'s trade with the country.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pakistan has \"a very healthy economic relationship with our neighbor China that obviously is also in the spotlight as a result of geopolitical events,\" he said. The government is \"very grateful\" to Beijing for another $1.3 billion loan announced March 3, especially in light of the destruction of the floods, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"The government of China have supported Pakistan whether by rolling over our debt or by providing economic assistance in one form or the other,\" Zardari said. \"I am not concerned about this issue at the moment. We need help and support from wherever we can get it.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">To meet its energy needs and provide relief to people paying for expensive imported fuel, he said, \"we are looking to work with anyone, including Russia, to meet our energy needs.\" He added that he believes there is now space for imports from Russia within the U.S. price cap.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In an ideal world, Zardari said, a gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan should be completed, but \"unfortunately, I don\'t see that happening in the immediate future as a result of geopolitical complications.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last May, Zardari had said that the United States and Pakistan needed to move beyond past tensions over Afghanistan and enter a new engagement after years of strained relations under Khan\'s administration.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We are on a healthy trajectory,\" he said Thursday, pointing to talks on climate, health, technology and trade.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">U.S. and Pakistani officials also just met to discuss counterterrorism, an issue Pakistan\'s government has also raised in Afghanistan, he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Zardari insisted Pakistan\'s \"alleged influence over the Taliban has always been exaggerated\" — before and after the fall of Kabul. He said Pakistan, however, has always maintained the importance of engagement with the Taliban on terrorism and other issues, especially women\'s rights to education and jobs. He was at the U.N. speaking at several meetings promoting women\'s rights.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Zardari said Pakistan would like to see the Taliban take action against all terrorist groups, including those linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic state. But he said there are questions about the Taliban\'s capacity to combat these groups because it doesn\'t have a standing army, a counter-terrosim force or an effective border management force.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Zardari said his advice to the West is to engage with the Taliban \"regardless of what\'s going on on the ground.\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The West should also not only maintain humanitarian aid to Afghanistan but provide economic assistance to get its economy and central bank running and help Afghans from falling into an even worse economic crisis, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Zardari said he understands how difficult this will be with lawmakers in the United States, United Kingdom and European Union.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But without a functioning economy, he said, there won\'t be \"space\" for the Taliban to implement political decisions including trying to get them to keep prior commitments including on women\'s rights to education and jobs. 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, '2023-03-10 09:44:41', '2023-03-10 09:44:41'),
(5694, 5694, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The National Disaster Preparedness Day-2023 was observed in the district like elsewhere across the country amid different awareness programme today.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">The National Disaster Preparedness Day is observed at the initiative of the district administration with the theme \'Smart Bangladesher Protaya, Durjog Prastuti Sabsomoy\'.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the occasion of the day, a colorful rally was brought out from the premises of the Deputy Commissioner\'s office which paraded the important streets and ended coming at same place this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After the rally, a discussion was held on the occasion of the day at the conference room of deputy commissioner office this morning.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Deputy Commissioner (DC) Md Taufiq-e-Lahi Chowdhury presided over the function.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Additional Deputy Commissioner Ripon Kumar Saha, Additional Superintendent of Police Ripon Chandra, Bhola Press Club President M Habibur Rahman, District Red Crescent Society General Secretary Azizul Islam, District Fire Service and Civil Defense Deputy Assistant Director Md. Abdur Razzak, Relief and Rehabilitation Officer SM Delwar Hossain, among others, spoke.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The speakers said, the current government is much more capable of dealing with disasters. If appropriate measures are taken at the right time during the disaster, the damage can be reduced a lot.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The speakers called upon everyone to be more aware of this matter. 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, '2023-03-10 11:05:30', '2023-03-10 11:05:30'),
(5695, 5695, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Ukraine\'s SBU security service said Friday it has detained two former aerospace officials over the destruction of the world\'s largest plane, the Antonov-225 cargo plane, soon after the Russian invasion.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With an 88 metre (290 feet) wingspan, the unique Antonov An-225 plane named \"Mriya\", which means \"dream\" in Ukrainian, was destroyed last year during attacks on the Gostomel Airport near Kyiv, where it was parked in a hangar.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The airport saw fierce fighting soon after the start of the invasion on February 24, 2022 as Russia attempted to seize the hub and use it to airlift armaments to Kyiv.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Mriya plane was destroyed in the first days of Moscow\'s invasion. It had been used to fly in medical equipment from China during the pandemic in 2020.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The SBU accuses top officials at Antonov defence company, the plane\'s manufacturer, of preventing Ukrainian forces from protecting the airfield ahead of the invasion.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"According to the investigation, on the eve of the full-scale invasion, the officials did not allow the National Guard of Ukraine to enter the territory of the Gostomel airport to prepare for its defence,\" the SBU said in a statement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The SBU said Antonov officials in January and February banned the Ukrainian military from building defensive fortifications on the airfield and barred them from entry.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A former deputy director general of Antonov state enterprise \"is currently hiding from justice\", the SBU said, while the two other accused -- the ex-director general and head of the aviation security unit -- have been detained.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They face up to 15 years in prison if convicted on a charge of obstructing the lawful activity of Ukraine\'s armed forces. 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, '2023-03-10 11:09:56', '2023-03-10 11:09:56'),
(5696, 5696, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">The DB in association with local police carried out the drives simultaneously at different parts of the metropolis from 6am of March 9 to 6am today, according to a DMP release. In those separate anti-drug raids, police seized huge drugs from their possessions.&nbsp;</span><br></b></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the anti-drug raids, police seized 15,320 pieces of contraband yaba tablets, 24 grams and 42 puria (small packet) of heroin, 73.890 kilograms of cannabis (ganja) and 15 litre local made liquor from their possessions, the release added.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police filed 43 separate cases against the arrestees in these connections with respective police stations under the Narcotics Control Act. 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, '2023-03-10 11:34:44', '2023-03-10 11:34:44'),
(5697, 5697, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A court here today set April 13 for submitting investigation report in a case lodged over robbery of more than Taka 11 crore from a microbus of a private security service providing company.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ashek Imam passed the order, accepting first information report (FIR) of the case.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Alamgir Hossain, director (operations) of Money Plant Link Private Ltd, filed the case last night with Turag Police Station against 10-12 unnamed persons.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Robbers looted the money from the microbus in Uttara area on the morning of March 9, by barricading the vehicle with another microbus. As the security company men, who were on the first vehicle for taking the money to refill Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited\'s automated-teller machines (ATMs) in Ashulia EPZ area, got down, the robbers started beating them and took the four trunks full of cash.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Detective branch (DB) of police however, managed to detain seven people allegedly involved in the robbery and recovered three trunks of money, within a couple of hours. 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, '2023-03-10 12:06:41', '2023-03-10 12:06:41'),
(5698, 5698, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline under construction at Parbatipur in Dinajpur will ensure power and energy security in the northern region, said State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Friday.</b></span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">After visiting the project area on Friday afternoon, he gave reporters details about the benefits of the pipeline.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Fellowship Receipt Terminal will be the first modern automatic and computerised system in the country. If something is done in the pipeline on the way or otherwise, the place of automaticity can be identified immediately, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two and a half to three lakh tonness of diesel will be imported annually from Numanigarh Refinery Station in India to Parbatipur Resort Terminal in Dinajpur through a 131.57-km underground pipeline.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In addition to reducing the cost, it has created a big ring for fuel security. At least 40,000 litres of fuel have been stored at the terminal and depot for two months.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The price of diesel per barrel imported in different ways is $11.50. Because of imports through the pipeline the price will come down to only $ 6.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With the import of diesel in Parbatipur, the supply of fuel will be ensured for cultivation for irrigation pumps in the agriculturally dependent northern region and power plant in Saidpur for the production of electricity.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the end of the 15-year contract, it will either be renewed or run by the government itself.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina are scheduled to inaugurate the supply of fuel to the pipeline through video conferencing on March 18.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On September 18, 2018, the two leaders inaugurated the pipeline construction work. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in this regard on April 9 in 2018. 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, '2023-03-10 12:13:40', '2023-03-10 12:13:40'),
(5699, 5699, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Awami League has destroyed the country\'s economy, freedom of the press and the education system for its own sake, said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said this while speaking as the chief guest at the biennial conference of Sylhet Metropolitan BNP.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The law and order situation in the country has deteriorated. The power sector is being looted. The deal with (India’s) Adani Group will result in a loss of Tk 1.5 lakh crore. As a result of the agreement, the price of electricity will double,” said the BNP leader.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said the price of coarse rice is Tk 70, fine rice Tk 170 and the price of an egg has increased by three to four times. The people are struggling to make ends meet, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said the government and the Awami League have completely broken the electoral system.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sylhet Metropolitan BNP Member Secretary Miftah Siddiqui moderated the conference while BNP Vice-Chairman Dr ZMA Zahid Azad addressed the conference as the special guest.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">BNP chairperson\'s advisers Khandaker Abdul Muktadir, Enamul Haque Chowdhury, CCC mayor and BNP central member Ariful Haque Chowdhury, among others, were present on the occasion. UNB</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-10 12:17:54', '2023-03-10 12:17:54'),
(5700, 5700, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Saudi commerce minister Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi arrived here this afternoon.</span><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Foreign Minister Dr. A K Abdul Momen welcomed Qasabi at Bangabandhu Bangladesh Airforce Base at around 05:15 pm, a Foreign Ministry press release said.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Saudi commerce minister is visiting Bangladesh to attend \'Bangladesh Business Summit-2023\' to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina tomorrow. 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, '2023-03-10 12:41:19', '2023-03-10 12:41:19'),
(5701, 5701, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader today said whether BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia would be able to do politics and join polls depends on the court\'s decision.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"Khaleda Zia is now out of jail on humanitarian ground. Her conviction was not withdrawn. Her jail sentence has been postponed on humanitarian ground,\" he told a function in the city.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The function was arranged on the occasion of the golden jubilee of Dhaka University\'s Haji Muhammad Mohsin Hall and reunion of its Alumni Association.&nbsp;</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, repeated that it is up to the court\'s decision whether Khaleda Zia will be able to do politics and join polls or not.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Claiming that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been working to change the fates of the country\'s people, he said the countrymen have rejected the BNP because of looting public money.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">About the BNP\'s movement, the AL general secretary said the BNP\'s movement has witnessed ebb while its leaders and workers have become senseless and are now talking nonsense. \"People have rejected BNP,\" he added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Responding to a statement of BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Quader said the AL never practises the politics of luxury but the BNP does \"pocket politics\".</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chaired by Mohsin Hall Alumni Association president Prof Dr Md Nizamul Haque Bhuiyan, the function was attended, among others, by DU vice-president Prof Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman, former chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC) Prof Abdul Mannan, Mujibul Haque Chunnu, MP, cabinet secretary Md Mahbub Hossain, DU pro-vice chancellor Prof Abdus Samad and its treasurer Prof Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed and Sommilito Sangskritik Jote Golam Quddus. BSS</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \">bnbd24/kh</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"4\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-10 12:57:05', '2023-03-10 16:42:03'),
(5702, 5702, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Ranbir Kapoor has reacted to the recent photo leak of his wife-actor Alia Bhatt. The actor was clicked by a paparazzo from another building while she was at her home.&nbsp;</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Alia had posted a collage of pictures of herself, taken inside the house without her consent. She wrote in the long note, \"Are you kidding me? I was at my house having a perfectly normal afternoon sitting in my living room when I felt something watching me.... I looked up and saw two men on the terrace of my neighbouring building with a camera right at me! In what world is this okay and allowed?\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a new interview, Ranbir called the entire episode ‘ugly’ and said they were pursuing the matter legally. \"It was invasion of privacy. You cannot shoot inside my house and anything can be happening inside my house, that is my home. It was totally uncalled for. We are going through the correct legal ways of dealing with it. I don’t want to talk much about it, but it was something which was very ugly,\" Ranbir told Miss Malini in an interview.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\"We respect the paparazzi. I think the paparazzi is a part of our world. It’s a symbiotic relationship ‘they work with us, we work with them’. But stuff like this is something which pushes your back to the wall and you feel very ashamed of somebody doing something like that,\" Ranbir added.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many actors came out in support of Alia. Anushka Sharma, Arjun Kapoor, Janhvi Kapoor and Karan Johar took to Instagram to slam the paparazzi.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In support of Alia, Anushka Sharma wrote on her Instagram story, \"This is not the first time they are doing this. About two years ago we called them out for the same reason! You\'d think it would have made them more respectful of people\'s space and privacy. Absolutely shameful! They were also the only guys posting photos of our daughter despite repeated requests!\"</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Filmmaker Karan Johar was also furious at the incident. Venting his fury in an Instagram post, he wrote, \"There is no justification for this absolutely disgusting invasion of privacy!!!! Everyone from the entertainment industry is always for the media and the paparazzi and is accommodating... but there HAS to be a LIMIT... This is about anyone\'s right to feel safe in their own homes! This is not about actors or celebrities it\'s a basic human right!!!\" 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, '2023-03-10 13:08:26', '2023-03-10 13:08:26'),
(5703, 5703, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Iran and Saudi Arabia on Friday agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after years of tensions between the two countries, including a devastating attack on the heart of the kingdom\'s oil production attributed to Tehran.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The deal, struck in Beijing this week amid its ceremonial National People’s Congress, represents a major diplomatic victory for the Chinese as Gulf states perceive the United States slowly withdrawing from the wider Middle East. It also comes as diplomats have been trying to end a yearslong war in Yemen, a conflict in which both Iran and Saudi Arabia are deeply entrenched.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The two countries released a joint communique with China on the deal, which apparently brokered the agreement. Chinese state media did not immediately report on the deal.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Iranian state media posted images and video it described as being taken in China with the meeting. It showed Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, with a Saudi official and a Chinese official that state TV named as Wang Yi.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“After implementing of the decision, the foreign ministers of the both nations will meet to prepare for exchange of ambassadors,” Iranian state television said. It added that the talks had been held over four days.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Saudi Arabian officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Shortly after the Iranian announcement, Saudi state media began publishing the same statement.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tensions have been high between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The kingdom broke off ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters invaded Saudi diplomatic posts there. Saudi Arabia days earlier had executed a prominent Shiite cleric, triggering the demonstrations.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the years since, tensions have risen dramatically across the Middle East since the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from Iran\'s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks in the time since, including one that targeted the heart of Saudi Arabia\'s oil industry in 2019, temporarily halving the kingdom\'s crude production.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Though Yemen\'s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels initially claimed the attack, Western nations and experts have blamed the attack on Tehran. Iran long has denied launching the attack. It has also denied carrying out other assaults later attributed to the Islamic Republic.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition armed with U.S. weaponry and intelligence entered the war on the side of Yemen’s exiled government in March 2015. Years of inconclusive fighting has created a humanitarian disaster and pushed the Arab world’s poorest nation to the brink of famine.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A six-month cease-fire in Yemen’s war, the longest of the conflict, expired in October despite diplomatic efforts to renew it. That led to fears the war could again escalate. More than 150,000 people have been killed in Yemen during the fighting, including over 14,500 civilians.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In recent months, negotiations have been ongoing, including in Oman, a longtime interlocutor between Iran and the U.S. Some have hoped for an agreement ahead of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which will begin later in March.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The U.S. Navy and its allies have seized a number of weapons shipments recently they describe as coming from Iran heading to Yemen. Iran denies arming the Houthis, despite weapons seized mirroring others seen on the battlefield in the rebels\' hands. A United Nations arms embargo bars nations from sending weapons to the Houthis. 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, '2023-03-10 13:22:10', '2023-03-10 13:22:10');
INSERT INTO `news_details` (`id`, `news_id`, `details`, `ticker`, `representative`, `keyword`, `video_link`, `google_drive_link`, `audio_link`, `shoulder`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES
(5704, 5704, '<div style=\"text-align: justify; \"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A former member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses shot dead six people at a hall belonging to the congregation in the German city of Hamburg before killing himself after police arrived, authorities said Friday.</b><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police said an unborn baby also died, without clarifying whether the baby’s mother was among the dead. Eight people were wounded, four of them seriously.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">There was no immediate indication of a possible motive for Thursday night’s attack, which stunned Germany’s second-biggest city, but prosecutors said there was no evidence for a terrorist link. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a former Hamburg mayor, described it as “a brutal act of violence.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hamburg’s top security official said officers who arrived just minutes after receiving the first emergency call at 9:04 p.m. A special operations unit that was nearby reached the site at 9:09 and was able to separate the gunman from the congregation, Hamburg’s state Interior Minister Andy Grote said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“We can assume that they saved many people’s lives this way,” he told reporters during a news conference. Grote called the shooting “the worst crime that our city has experience recently.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Officials said the gunman was a 35-year-old German national identified only as Philipp F., in line with German privacy rules. He fired more than 100 rounds during the attack.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hamburg police chief Ralf Martin Meyer said the man had a weapons license and legally owned a semi-automatic pistol. He said the suspected shooter was previously investigated after authorities received a tip that he might not be suitable to bear firearms, but was found not to have broken rules.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police did not use their own firearms, a police spokesman said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The head of Germany’s GdP police union in Hamburg, Horst Niens, said he was convinced that the swift arrival of a special operations unit “distracted the perpetrator and may have prevented further victims.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Germany’s gun laws are more restrictive than those in the United States, but permissive compared with some European neighbors, and shootings are not unheard of.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last year, an 18-year-old man opened fire in a packed lecture at Heidelberg University, killing one person and wounding three others before killing himself. In January 2020, a man shot dead six people including his parents and wounded two others in southwestern Germany, while a month later, a shooter who posted a racist rant online killed nine people near Frankfurt.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the most recent shooting involving a site of worship, a far-right extremist attempted to force his way into a synagogue in Halle on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, in October 2019. After failing to gain entry, he shot two people to death nearby.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The German government announced plans last year to crack down on gun ownership by suspected extremists and to tighten background checks. Currently, anyone wanting to acquire a firearm must show that they are suited to do so, including by proving that they require a gun. Reasons can include being part of a sports shooting club or being a hunter.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Asked about a possible political response to the shooting, a spokesperson for Germany’s Interior Ministry, Maximilian Kall, said it was necessary to wait for the results of the investigations before drawing conclusions.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Friday morning, forensic investigators in protective white suits could be seen outside the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Kingdom Hall, a boxy, three-story building next to an auto repair shop, a few kilometers (miles) from downtown Hamburg. As a light snow fell, officers placed yellow cones on the ground and windowsills to mark evidence.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">David Semonian, a U.S.-based spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, said in an emailed statement early Friday that members “worldwide grieve for the victims of this traumatic event.”</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">“The congregation elders in the local area are providing pastoral care for those affected by the event,” he wrote.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Police spokesman Holger Vehren said police were alerted to the shooting Thursday night and were at the scene quickly.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said that the officers found people with apparent gunshot wounds on the ground floor, and then heard a shot from an upper floor, where they found a fatally wounded person who may have been a shooter. They did not fire their weapons.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Student Laura Bauch, who lives nearby, said there were around four periods of shooting, German news agency dpa reported. “There were always several shots in these periods,” she said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bauch said she looked out her window and saw a person running from the ground floor to the second floor of the Jehovah’s Witnesses hall.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gregor Miebach, who lives within sight of the building, heard shots and filmed a figure entering the building through a window. In his footage, shots can then be heard from inside. The figure later apparently emerges from the hall, is seen in the courtyard and then fires more shots through a first floor window before the lights in the room go out.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Miebach told German television news agency NonstopNews that he heard at least 25 shots. After police arrived, one last shot followed, he said.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">His mother, Dorte Miebach, said she was shocked by the shooting. “It’s really 50 meters (yards) from our house and many people died,” she said. “This is still incomprehensible. We still haven’t quite come to terms with it.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jehovah’s Witnesses are part of an international church, founded in the United States in the 19th century and headquartered in Warwick, New York. It claims a worldwide membership of about 8.7 million, with about 170,000 in Germany.</div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br></div><div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Members are known for their evangelistic efforts that include knocking on doors and distributing literature in public squares. The denomination’s practices include a refusal to bear arms, receive blood transfusions, salute a national flag or participate in secular government. 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, '2023-03-10 13:33:54', '2023-03-10 13:33:54'),
(5705, 5705, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>A gunman stormed a service at his former Jehovah’s Witness hall in Germany, killing six people before taking his own life after police arrived, authorities in the port city of Hamburg said Friday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Police gave no motive for Thursday night’s attack. But they acknowledged recently receiving an anonymous tip that claimed the man identified as the shooter showed anger toward Jehovah\'s Witnesses and might be psychologically unfit to own a gun.</div><div><br></div><div>Eight people were wounded, including a woman who was 28 weeks pregnant and lost the baby. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the death toll could rise.</div><div><br></div><div>Officers apparently arrived at the hall while the attack was ongoing and heard one more shot, according to witnesses and authorities. They did not fire their weapons, but officials said their intervention likely prevented further loss of life at the boxy building next to an auto repair shop a few kilometers (miles) from downtown.</div><div><br></div><div>Scholz, a former Hamburg mayor, said the city was “speechless in view of this violence” and “mourning those whose lives were taken so brutally.”</div><div><br></div><div>All of the victims were German citizens apart from two wounded women, one with Ugandan citizenship and one with Ukrainian.</div><div><br></div><div>Officials said the suspected assailant was a 35-year-old German man identified only as Philipp F., in line with the country\'s privacy rules. Police said he had left the congregation “voluntarily, but apparently not on good terms,” about a year and a half ago.</div><div><br></div><div>A website registered in the name of someone who fits the police description says that he grew up in the Bavarian town of Kempten in “a strict religious evangelical household.”</div><div><br></div><div>The website, which is filled with business jargon, also links to a self-published book about “God, Jesus Christ and Satan.”</div><div><br></div><div>Philipp F. legally owned a semi-automatic Heckler &amp; Koch Pistole P30 handgun, according to police. He fired more than 100 shots during the attack, and the head of the Hamburg prosecutors office, Ralf Peter Anders, said hundreds more rounds were found in a search of the man’s apartment.</div><div><br></div><div>Germany’s gun laws are more restrictive than those in the United States but permissive compared with some European neighbors, and shootings are not unheard of.</div><div><br></div><div>Last year, an 18-year-old man opened fire in a packed lecture at Heidelberg University, killing one person and wounding three others before killing himself. In 2020, the nation saw two high-profile shootings, one that killed six people and another that took nine lives.</div><div><br></div><div>In the most recent shooting involving a site of worship, a far-right extremist attempted to force his way into a synagogue in Halle on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur in 2019. After failing to gain entry, he shot two people to death nearby.</div><div><br></div><div>The German government announced plans last year to crack down on gun ownership by suspected extremists and to tighten background checks. Currently, anyone who wants to acquire a firearm must show that they are fit to do so, including by proving that they require a gun. Reasons can include being part of a sports shooting club or being a hunter.</div><div><br></div><div>Hamburg Police Chief Ralf Martin Meyer said the man was visited by officers after they received an anonymous tip in January, claiming that he had “particular anger toward religious believers, in particular toward Jehovah’s Witnesses and his former employer.”</div><div><br></div><div>Officers said the man was cooperative and found no grounds to take away his weapon, according to Meyer.</div><div><br></div><div>“The bottom line is that an anonymous tip in which someone says they’re worried a person might have a psychological illness isn’t in itself a basis for (such) measures,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Germany’s top security official laid a wreath of flowers outside the hall to commemorate the victims and thanked police before taking questions from reporters.</div><div><br></div><div>Asked whether the attack could have been prevented, Interior Minister Nancy Faser said it was necessary to wait for the investigation to conclude, but she acknowledged that changes were needed in the way background checks are conducted and information is exchanged between authorities.</div><div><br></div><div>She said a bill now making its way through the legislative process would require gun owners to undergo psychological tests.</div><div><br></div><div>On Friday morning, forensic investigators in protective white suits could be seen outside the hall. As a light snow fell, officers placed yellow cones on the ground and windowsills to mark evidence.</div><div><br></div><div>A special operations unit that happened to be near the hall arrived just minutes after receiving the first emergency call at 9:04 p.m., Hamburg’s top security official said. The officers were able to separate the gunman from the congregation.</div><div><br></div><div>“We can assume that they saved many people’s lives this way,” Hamburg state Interior Minister Andy Grote told reporters.</div><div><br></div><div>Upon arrival, officers found people with apparent gunshot wounds on the ground floor and then heard a shot from an upper floor, where they found a fatally wounded person believed to be the shooter, according to police spokesman Holger Vehren.</div><div><br></div><div>Gregor Miebach, who lives within sight of the building, heard shots and filmed a figure entering the building through a window. In his footage, shots can then be heard from inside. The figure later apparently emerges from the hall, is seen in the courtyard and then fires more shots through a first floor window before the lights in the room go out.</div><div><br></div><div>Miebach told German television news agency NonstopNews that he heard at least 25 shots. After police arrived, one last shot followed, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>His mother, Dorte Miebach, said she was shocked by the shooting. “It\'s really 50 meters (yards) from our house and many people died,” she said. “This is still incomprehensible.”</div><div><br></div><div>Jehovah’s Witnesses are part of an international church founded in the United States in the 19th century and headquartered in Warwick, New York. The church claims a worldwide membership of about 8.7 million, with about 170,000 in Germany.</div><div><br></div><div>Members are known for their evangelistic efforts that include knocking on doors and distributing literature in public squares. The denomination’s practices include a refusal to bear arms, receive blood transfusions, salute a national flag or participate in secular government.</div><div><br></div><div>David Semonian, a U.S.-based spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, said in an emailed statement Friday that members “worldwide grieve for the victims of this traumatic event.” According to AP reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 03:22:02', '2023-03-11 03:22:02'),
(5706, 5706, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Three years since the Covid pandemic began, nearly 200 prominent world figures called on Saturday for the vaccine inequity seen during the crisis to be relegated to history.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“We ask world leaders to pledge ‘never again’,” the current and former dignitaries said an open letter.</div><div><br></div><div>It was published to mark the three-year anniversary since the World Health Organization first described the Covid-19 crisis as a pandemic.</div><div><br></div><div>The letter, coordinated by the NGO coalition People’s Vaccine Alliance, was signed by Timor-Leste President Jose Manuel Ramos-Horta, who won the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, alongside the former leaders of more than 40 countries.</div><div><br></div><div>Several other Nobel laureates, faith leaders, and former United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon were among the signatories, alongside a range of current and former UN agency heads.</div><div><br></div><div>With the end of the pandemic in sight, “the world is at a critical juncture,” they wrote.</div><div><br></div><div>“Decisions made now will determine how the world prepares for and responds to future global health crises. World leaders must reflect on mistakes made in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic so that they are never repeated.”</div><div><br></div><div>The letter criticized the glaring inequity that characterised the response to the pandemic, which has officially killed nearly seven million people worldwide, although the true toll is believed to be far higher.</div><div><br></div><div>While a number of highly effective vaccines against Covid-19 were developed at record speed, wealthy nations were quick to snap up most of the initial doses, leaving vulnerable people in many poorer nations waiting in vain for jabs.</div><div><br></div><div>Still today, fewer than a third of people in low-income countries have received at least one vaccine dose, while three quarters of people have in high-income countries, according to UN data.</div><div><br></div><div>“There are decades of publicly funded research behind Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and tests,” the letter said.</div><div><br></div><div>“Governments have poured taxpayer money by the billions into research, development and advance orders, reducing the risks for pharmaceutical companies,” it said.</div><div><br></div><div>“These are the people’s vaccines, the people’s tests and the people’s treatments,” it insisted.</div><div><br></div><div>But “instead of rolling out vaccines, tests and treatments based on need, pharmaceutical companies maximized their profits by selling doses first to the richest countries with the deepest pockets,” it said.</div><div><br></div><div>The letter pointed to a study last year in the science journal Nature estimating that 1.3 million fewer people would have died of Covid if the jabs had been distributed equitably in 2021, amounting to “one preventable death every 24 seconds” that year.</div><div><br></div><div>The letter urged leaders to support the tricky, ongoing international negotiations toward a pandemic accord, to ensure that equity is a key feature in the final agreement.</div><div><br></div><div>This, it stressed, would require governments to agree on the thorny issue of waiving intellectual property rules automatically if international public health emergencies arise, to ensure the sharing of medical technology and knowhow.</div><div><br></div><div>It also called for large-scale investments to develop scientific innovation and manufacturing capacity in the global south, to ensure that vaccines and treatments can be quickly developed and rolled out in all regions.</div><div><br></div><div>With such actions “world leaders can begin to fix the structural problems in global health that have held back the response to Covid-19, HIV and AIDS and other diseases,” it said.</div><div><br></div><div>“It is time to embed justice, equity and human rights in pandemic preparedness and response.” Source: AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'International Desk', '[\"29\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 03:31:56', '2023-03-11 03:31:56'),
(5707, 5707, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today asked the business community leaders to find ways to bring commodity prices to a normal level.&nbsp;</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“Considering public suffering, the business community leaders will have to find ways to bring prices of essentials to a normal level. Otherwise, you will lose your markets,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier said this while inaugurating Bangladesh Business Summit-2023 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city.</div><div><br></div><div>Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), in partnership with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commerce Ministry and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), is arranging the three-day summit.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina said people are going through a very difficult time due to high prices of essentials and inflationary pressure.</div><div><br></div><div>She said developing countries like Bangladesh as well as developed countries are facing severe problems due to price hike of essentials and high inflation caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, economic sanctions and counter-sanctions following the Covid-19 pandemic.</div><div><br></div><div>Ministers from seven countries including the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, China, Bhutan and the United Arab Emirates, CEOs of 12 multinational companies, and more than 200 foreign investors and business leaders from 17 countries are participating in the business summit. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 07:06:09', '2023-03-11 07:06:09'),
(5708, 5708, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has said there will be no price hike of daily essentials if people refrained from purchasing excess items ahead of Ramadan.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>“Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members, police and executive magistrates will monitor markets and there will be no price hike of essential items if people do not buy excess items ahead of Ramadan,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The commerce minister said this while talking to reporters after attending a programme at Chandpur Police Lines Auditorium on Friday.</div><div><br></div><div>Due to the dollar price going up, prices of daily essentials have gone up in many countries and the prices of imported goods have also seen a rise in Bangladesh, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Keeping this in mind, the government has started selling edible oil, sugar, dates, chickpeas and lentils through state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) at low prices for one crore low-income families, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>From Thursday, TCB started selling daily essentials ahead of Ramadan.</div><div><br></div><div>The card holders can buy goods at subsidized rates from specific TCB sales points and dealers’ outlets.</div><div><br></div><div>A card holder can buy 2 litres of soybean oil, 2 kg lentils, sugar, chickpea and 1 kg dates at a time, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>According to reports, The card holders can buy sugar at TK 60 per kg, date at Tk 100 per kg, lentils at Tk 70, chickpeas at Tk 50 and soybean oil at Tk 110 per litre.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 07:19:33', '2023-03-11 07:19:33'),
(5709, 5709, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>BNP and like-minded parties will hold rallies in all metropolitan cities on March 18 to press home their 10-point demand, including holding the next general election under a non-party caretaker government.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The fresh programme of the simultaneous movement came from the opposition’s human chain programme observed in all district towns and 13 organisational divisional cities, including Dhaka on Saturday.</div><div><br></div><div>BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Alamgir announced the programme while addressing a human chain in front of the party’s Nayaplatan central office. The senior leaders of BNP and its alliance partners also led the human chains in different areas of the capital, others cities and districts towns and announced a similar programme for March 18.</div><div><br></div><div>The programme is also meant for registering the opposition parties’ protest against the rise in the prices of power, gas and essential items, and mounting pressure on the government to quit power and to release BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia without any condition, drop the \'false\' cases against her and other party leaders and activist and accept the party’s 10-point demand.</div><div><br></div><div>Apart from BNP, Ganotantra Mancha, Jatiyatabadi Samamona Jote, Gonoforum and People\'s Party, Jatiyatabadi Samamona Jote Peshajibi Ganatantrik Jote formed human chains separately and announced a similar programme for March 18.</div><div><br></div><div>The Dhaka south and north city units of BNP formed human chains separately in the city’s Nayaplatan and Badda areas respectively.</div><div><br></div><div>Party standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain led the human chain programme of the Dhaka north city units. It was the ninth programme of the simultaneous by BNP and other opposition parties.</div><div><br></div><div>From December last year, BNP and like-minded parties and alliances started a simultaneous movement to bring down the government, or at least realise the all-important caretaker or non-party provision ahead of the next election, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, the leaders and activists of BNP’s Dhaka north and south city units observed a road march programme in five areas in the capital.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 07:54:41', '2023-03-11 07:54:41'),
(5710, 5710, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>The death toll from the massive explosion that ripped through a 5-storey building in Gulistan\'s Siddique Bazar area has risen to 23, with one more victim succumbing to his injuries today.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The deceased was identified as Mirza Azam, 36, son of Shahjahan Mirza from Baufal upazila of Patuakhali district.</div><div><br></div><div>Azam had been undergoing treatment at the ICU of Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.</div><div><br></div><div>Azam breathed his last at around 9:30 am today, said SM Ayub Hossain, resident surgeon of Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.</div><div><br></div><div>He was admitted to the hospital with 80% burn injuries.</div><div><br></div><div>Azam worked at a sanitary shop in the five-storey building where the deadly blast occurred.</div><div><br></div><div>On March 7, at least 17 people were killed and over 100 were injured in a massive explosion in the 5-storey building near a BRTC bus counter in the capital’s Gulistan area.</div><div><br></div><div>A sanitary materials shop on the ground floor of the building, BRAC Bank office on one of the floors and an adjacent 7-storey building were damaged but no buildings collapsed.</div><div><br></div><div>Three people, including the owner of the building at Siddique Bazar, were shown arrested in a case over the blast on Thursday.</div><div><br></div><div>A Dhaka court on Thursday put the three arrested people on a three-day remand. According to UNB reports </div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 09:29:10', '2023-03-11 09:31:59'),
(5711, 5711, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A fire broke out at a cotton godown in front of a container depot in Sitakunda upazila of Chattogram on Saturday morning.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Shafiqul Islam, station officer of Chattogram Fire Service and Civil Defence, said the fire started at the cotton warehouse of ‘Unitex Group’ in front of the ‘Namson Container Depot’ in Chhoto Kumira area around 10:30am.</div><div><br></div><div>On information, five firefighting units from two stations responded to the fire and brought the blaze under control around 12:00pm, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The firefighters are working to extinguish the fire, the fire service officer said adding that it will take time to put out the blaze.</div><div><br></div><div>The origin of the fire could not be known immediately, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier on March 4, six people were burned to death and around 33 sustained injuries in a fire after a massive blast at ‘Seema Oxygen Plant’ in the upazila. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 10:00:31', '2023-03-11 10:00:31'),
(5712, 5712, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Shubman Gill struck a half-century after losing overnight partner Rohit Sharma early on day three to bring India to 129-1 at lunch in the fourth Test against Australia on Saturday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The hosts still trail Australia\'s 480 by 351 runs with Gill, on 65, and Cheteshwar Pujara, on 22, batting in front of a noisy weekend crowd at the world\'s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.</div><div><br></div><div>Australia\'s Mitchell Starc bowled to plan with his short balls and a heavy leg-side field, but Rohit took on the challenge as he smashed the left-arm quick for a four and a six at long leg.</div><div><br></div><div>The openers started the day on 36-0 and kept attacking on a pitch that still looks good for batting.</div><div><br></div><div>But Rohit fell to Matthew Kuhnemann\'s left-arm spin as the skipper got caught at cover for 35 against the run of play.</div><div><br></div><div>Kuhnemann reaped the rewards from Nathan Lyon\'s wily off-spin from the other end as the senior bowler varied his length and angle to keep the batsmen on their toes.</div><div><br></div><div>With Pujara playing the anchor role, Gill kept the runs flowing and reached his fifth Test half-century with a four.</div><div><br></div><div>Australia, led by Steve Smith in the absence of Pat Cummins, rotated their bowlers and Starc came back for a second spell in the morning session.</div><div><br></div><div>The pitch has been vastly different from the viciously spinning tracks in the previous three Tests and Usman Khawaja made Australia take early advantage with his 180.</div><div><br></div><div>The left-handed Khawaja and Cameron Green, who struck his maiden international century with 114, put on 208 runs for the fifth wicket before Australia\'s innings ended late on day two.</div><div><br></div><div>India lead the four-match series 2-1 after Australia won the third Test. The hosts need a win to clinch the series and secure a berth in the World Test Championship final in June. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 10:25:08', '2023-03-11 10:25:08'),
(5713, 5713, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Mymensingh, one of the oldest cities located on the bank of the Brahmaputra river, on Satuday turned into a place of euphoria as it became the ultimate destination of the mammoth streams of excited people in the region centering the grand rally of Prime Minister and Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Enthusiastic people in colorful attires were seen rushing from the early morning towards the rally venue- Mymensingh Circuit House Ground- from rail station, bus terminal and river ghats chanting the slogan \"Joy Bangla\", \"Joy Bangabandhu\" and \"Sheikh Hasina\" as their only goal was to see and listen to the AL President.</div><div><br></div><div>Mymensingh district and city AL organised the huge mass gathering here at the Circuit House Ground where Sheikh Hasina delivered her address after five years as she appeared last on November 2, 2018 at the same venue.</div><div><br></div><div>Pinning upon the public rally of the Prime Minister, the entire Mymensingh turned into a city of jubilation with colorful gates, banners, posters and festoons.</div><div><br></div><div>The city was in festivity while people of all strata as well as leaders and activists of AL were in merry-making mood. Arrival of Sheikh Hasina enthralled the leaders and activists not only in Mymensingh city but also in the entire region.</div><div><br></div><div>Marking the visit of the Prime Minister, hundreds of thousands of people thronged the rally ground from early morning and within a few hours, the ground became full to the brim.</div><div><br></div><div>The crowd then spilled over the surrounding areas, roads and empty places, meaning the city turned into a human sea before arrival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the stage at 02:50 pm which was made in the shape of a boat.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier, from the morning, mass people, women and supporters were seen marching towards the venue in processions chanting slogans \"Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu\" and holding colourful placards, banners, festoons, and wearing colourful T-shirts, caps on heads, head bands, beating drums, carrying election symbol boat as well as national and party flag.</div><div><br></div><div>Women, wearing vivid sarees, in large and small groups as well as individually waited in the queue at the gate with smiling faces to enter the venue.</div><div><br></div><div>Colourful arches and gates were constructed on various roads of the city with the posters and banners of the prime minister. AL leaders set up banners, balloons, festoons and posters welcoming the premier and the party chief in city\'s all roads and streets.</div><div><br></div><div>Hundreds of thousands of leaders and followers of Awami League and its associate bodies from different districts of Mymensingh division and adjoining areas joined the rally with a fleet of reserve buses, trains, pickups, motorcycles while many were seen joining the rally on foot.</div><div><br></div><div>Special trains on Gafargaon-Mymensingh, Nandail-Mymensingh, Dewanganj Bazar-Jamalpur-Mymensingh, Netrokona-Mymensingh, Advocate Matiur Rahman Station-Mymensingh, Gouripur-Mymensingh, Ishwarganj-Mymensingh and Jaria-Jhangail-Mymensingh routes were operated for the convenience of people in joining the public rally of the premier.</div><div><br></div><div>All trains arrived here at the Mymensingh station overcrowded with passengers. Hundreds of people travelled climbing on the roof of the train to attend the Prime Minister\'s rally.</div><div><br></div><div>A group of people, who came from Kalmakandha Upazila in Netrokona district, said they arrived at the venue early to secure their place in the front row. Due to a huge crowd, they feared that they might not be able to enter the venue if they were late, they added.</div><div><br></div><div>To cheer up the people on the rally ground, local singers performed at the stages from the morning until AL leaders began addressing the rally.</div><div><br></div><div>Around 9:30 am today in the city\'s Rambabu Road area, women wearing monochromatic sarees were seen gathering to attend the public meeting.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>One of them, Shamima Sultana said, \"We had been waiting with great interest for a few days to see the Prime Minister. The women of our area were preparing to go to the public meeting since this morning.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, at 10am, a group of youths were seen walking towards the Circuit House ground in the Station Road area.</div><div><br></div><div>At 11:15 am, a procession of workers wearing the same color t-shirts was seen heading towards the rally ground in the Ganginara area of the city.</div><div><br></div><div>The same picture was seen by visiting different areas including Patgudam, Kalibari since the morning.</div><div><br></div><div>A few leaders and activists of Atpara Upazila Awami League from Netrokona said,\"Our target was to march in the city and enter the rally ground by 9 am. For that purpose, we are marching to Circuit House ground.” According to BSS reports</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 11:32:08', '2023-03-11 11:32:08'),
(5714, 5714, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Police in India have arrested three men in eastern Bihar state in connection with the death of a Muslim man who was attacked because he was suspected of carrying beef, a police official said.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The victim, Naseem Qureshi, 56, died earlier this week after being attacked by a mob on suspicion of carrying beef, the sale and consumption of which is restricted in some parts of the country by local governments.</div><div><br></div><div>Qureshi was allegedly surrounded by more than 20 people and attacked, according to a police statement in court.</div><div><br></div><div>Police intervened but he died on the way to the hospital, according to the statement.</div><div><br></div><div>Ramchandra Tiwari, head of Rasulpur police station in Bihar, where the crime took place, told Reuters news agency by phone on Saturday that three people were arrested.</div><div><br></div><div>Cows are sacred in Hinduism, and there have been frequent attacks on those accused of killing them for meat or leather, predominantly people from the minority Muslim population or those on the lower rungs of India’s ancient caste system</div><div><br></div><div>Hardline Hindu groups have been demanding a complete ban on cow slaughter across India.</div><div><br></div><div>Self-styled Hindu cow vigilante groups have taken to enforcing the law themselves ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government came to power in 2014.</div><div><br></div><div>Bihar is currently ruled by a regional party, and Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party sits in the opposition. Soruce: Reuters&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 12:46:17', '2023-03-11 12:46:17'),
(5715, 5715, '<div><b>Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman said that the Matarbari deep sea port, expected to be become operational in 2026, would be a ‘game changer’ for Bangladesh.</b></div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>“Especially in infrastructure, we’re doing a lot of work…when the deep sea port in Matarbari becomes operational in 2026, it will be a ‘game changer’ for Bangladesh,” he said.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>The prime minister’s adviser said this while responding to a question at a session titled “Business Leaders Panel: Bangladesh -The Big Picture” held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the capital.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>The session was part of the three-day Bangladesh Business Summit, 2023 inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today at the BICC in the capital.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) President Md Jashim Uddin, World Trade Organization (WTO) Deputy Director General Ambassador Xiangchen Zhong and CEO of CMA CGM Asia Pacific Limited Laurent Olmeta spoke on the occasion moderated by CNN anchor and business editor at large Richard Quest.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>Salman said that the present government has been continuing its efforts to increase the capacity of Chattogram Port, Mongla Port and Payra Port.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>Turning to the issue of grooming skilled manpower, he said that the government has been working for ensuring upskilling of human resources while the academic courses of the schools, colleges and universities are also being designed to face the 4IR.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>Replying to another question, Salman said that the government is fixing the big things or issues side by side addressing the small things to move forward the country.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>He said that the government wants to use the technology to empower the citizens wirh an aim to build Smart Citizens, Smart Society and Smart Government.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>The prime minister’s adviser informed that discussions are going on with the concerned authorities of Japan, Singapore and Saudi Arabia to have support in operating the sea ports of Bangladesh.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>In this regard, he said that the government would not give any ownership rather some concessions to the interested parties to operate the ports.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>When his attention was sought by CNN anchor Richard Quest on the traffic congestion in the capital, Salman said Bangladesh is still at the growing stage with the ongoing works of many transforming projects like metro rail. “If you come here again after 5 years, then the current two hours ride will take only 20 minutes,” Salman added.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>Responding to a question from the Richard Quest, the FBCCI president said that they want the government to provide policy support, logistics support and infrastructural development for the industries.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>“We want to develop our Human Resources and skills for accelerating our trillion dollar journey,” he said, hoping that there would be no ‘red tape’ in future while the business community would drive the economy forward.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>Replying to another question, Jashim said he was not a frustrated man, rather the happiest man on the planet since the global CEOs and other high officials of global giants are taking part in this three-day Summit.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>“We came here to accelerate our trillion dollar journey, we want to go forward and work together,” he added.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>The FBCCI president said although the country’s export earnings were heavily dependent on jute just after the independence, with the passage of time, the focus shifted to RMG. But, now the jute, pharmaceuticals and light engineering, specially IT, have huge scopes.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>He said that they are also focusing on making the exports more sustainable side by side the big green factories are also being located in Bangladesh.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>The WTO deputy director general said that Bangladesh has huge scope for development in the shipping and logistics sectors, adding that the mega infrastructural projects are moving forward the economy, reports BSS.</div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>He also noted that it is also very much necessary to ensure the facilities of these development projects becoming more widespread and far- reaching.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 13:03:49', '2023-03-11 13:03:49'),
(5716, 5716, '<div><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\"><b>Eight houses were gutted in a fire which broke out in Natunbazar Old Cremation Grounds of Barishal town early today.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>No casualties were reported.</div><div><br></div><div>Belal Uddin, deputy-director of Fire Service and Civil Defense, Barishal, said the fire broke out from the kitchen of one Nirod Baroi’s house and engulfed the adjacent seven houses around 5:30 am.</div><div><br></div><div>On information, a firefighting unit rushed to the spot and extinguished the blaze after one hour.</div><div><br></div><div>Valuables of eight houses were gutted in the fire as all were asleep when the fire broke out.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides, the fire also partially damaged 30-40 houses in the area. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'News Desk', '[\"30\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 14:55:21', '2023-03-11 14:55:21'),
(5717, 5717, '<div><b><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Doctors are still not certain when Brazilian striker Neymar will be able to return to play despite a successful ankle operation in a Qatari hospital, a Paris Saint-Germain medical chief said Saturday.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The French club said before Friday\'s surgery that the 31-year-old could be out for up to four months, ruling him out of the rest of this season.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Neymar Junior was operated yesterday, it was very successful,\" Hakim Chalabi, PSG\'s medical director general told AFP.</div><div>\"Right now he is very good and he is happy.</div><div><br></div><div>\"He is not so painful and the surgeons who operated are very happy.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Neymar will stay at the Aspetar sports hospital in Qatar for at least two days. After a period of rest, PSG will start physiotherapy, Chalabi said.</div><div><br></div><div>\"Later on we will evaluate a time for a return on the field. Right now it is a bit soon to talk about.\" The club\'s medical staff will consult with the surgeons after more examinations.</div><div><br></div><div>\"He is going to be on crutches for a few days but then after he should be back to half weight lifting.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Neymar was stretchered off with his latest injury in a Ligue 1 game against Lille last month. He injured the same ankle in 2018.</div><div><br></div><div>Chalabi said that after the operation, Neymar \"should be back at a normal level but with less risk of injury.\"</div><div><br></div><div>Fitness has been a regular concern since PSG signed Neymar for a world-record 222 million euros ($264m) in 2017.</div><div><br></div><div>He has played only 112 of PSG\'s 228 Ligue 1 matches since his arrival, AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>', NULL, 'sports Desk', '[\"20\"]', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, '2023-03-11 15:10:08', '2023-03-11 15:10:08');
