bangladesh
Islamic University invites foreign students for 2021-22 Session
The authorities of Islamic University in Kushtia have invited international students to apply for admission into any of its thirty-six undergraduate programmes under its 2021-22 academic session.
A press release, signed by IU international affairs division director Professor Dr Shahadat Hossain Azad, was issued in this regard on Friday.
A total of 30 students are expected to be enrolled in the 2021-22 academic session.
Read:UGC allocates nearly Tk 160 cr for Islamic University
The university authorities will admit students from Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Srilanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Cambodia and Indonesia.
The applicant must have completed a twelve-year education (e.g. A-Level in the British education system) not before 2020, and must have secured a CGPA of 3.5 on a scale of 5 or 3 on a scale of 4 in both O-Level and A-Level or equivalent examinations.
More information regarding the admission procedure is available on the university website at www.iu.ac.bd, the press release added.
Valiant freedom fighter Abu Musa Chowdhury receives state funeral
Liberation War hero and former Deputy Commander of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad’s Chattogram city unit late Abu Musa Chowdhury was buried with state honours at his ancestral home in Fatikchhari of the district on Friday.
The funeral took place after the Asr prayer today. A trained police team from Bhujpur police station led by Fatikchhari Upazila Executive Magistrate performed a guard of honor to Musa following an order by Deputy Commissioner (DC) Md Mominur Rahman.
Bhujpur police handed over a crest to the deceased’s son on behalf of Chattogram Superintendant of Police (SP) SM Rashidul Haque.
The upazila administration and local freedom fighters paid their respects to Musa during this time. After this, Musa was buried following a state funeral attended by noted individuals of the area.
Read: PM mourns death of freedom fighter Mukul Bose
Abu Musa Chowdhury died in the early hours of Friday following a heart attack at home. He left behind his wife, two children and countless well-wishers.
Abu Musa Chowdhury took part in various navy operations during the 1971 liberation war, which made him a navy commando.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed her condolences over the death of such a patriot as Abu Musa Chowdhury.
Covid numbers rising in Bangladesh: 7 more deaths, 1,611 cases reported
Seven more people died from Covid, and 1,611 tested positive for the virus in the 24 hours to Friday as cases are creeping up again in Bangladesh.
While the country's total fatalities reached 29,195, the new number took its caseload to 1,988,101, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
As Covid is spreading fast, the daily case positivity rate rose to 16.82 percent from Thursday's 16.54 percent as 9,597 samples were tested.
Read: Covid claims 3 more lives in Bangladesh infects 1,790 others
Of the deceased, three were women and four men; five were from Dhaka and one each from Rajshahi and Khulna divisions.
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.47 percent. The recovery rate dropped to 96.14 percent from Thursday's 96.17 percent.
In June, the country reported 18 Covid-linked deaths and 20,201 new cases, according to the DGHS.
Read:Bangladesh reports 4 Covid deaths with 1,728 cases Positivity rate now 16.89%
Bangladesh reported its first zero Covid death on November 20 last year since the pandemic broke out here in March 2020.
The country registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 in the same year.
Alvaro Lario to lead response to global food crisis as new IFAD President
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has appointed its top finance executive, Alvaro Lario, to be its next president.
Through the appointment, IFAD has chosen a champion of private sector investments to lead the UN agency into battle against a global food security crisis triggered by war in Ukraine, climate change and the economic shock of COVID-19.
Lario will take office on 1 October and serve a four-year term.
Read: IFAD Member States to appoint next President July 7
He succeeds Gilbert Houngbo who has led the organisation since 2017.
Lario, IFAD’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and an Associate Vice-President for financial operations since 2018, pledged to double IFAD’s impact on rural poor communities by 2030.
“We have the institutions to tackle poverty, we have the know-how to reduce inequality, what we need is to mobilise resources and join forces,” he told delegates from 177 member states attending the election held at IFAD’s Rome-based headquarters on Thursday.
“We know that ODA (Official Development Assistance) and ODA of agriculture will not be enough. Due to the war in Ukraine small-scale producers globally are suffering the current disruptions of food systems. This is one additional shock on top of the climate disasters and unequal recovery from COVID-19, and poor communities are disproportionally affected,” he added.
Lario committed to scale-up investments in climate resilience and climate-smart agriculture.
“Climate-smart agriculture and climate adaptation will become increasingly important to break the cycle of poverty, inequality, conflict and forced migration. IFAD needs to act urgently and partner with climate liked-minded institutions to support small scale producers and poor rural communities adapt to climate shocks,” said Lario.
Lario also stressed that “it will not be possible to reach the SDGs without harnessing the power of women and the energy of the youth.”
He promised to prioritize programmes that put women at the centre.
As IFAD CFO, Lario has led IFAD’s charge to mobilize private sector engagement in its battle against hunger and poverty, and on behalf of the world’s poorest rural communities.
“As IFAD President, I will ensure that IFAD connects the huge amount of global savings from impact investors and pension funds to tackle poverty in rural poor communities. We need to make sure that we use our AA+ credit rating to mobilize more funds. This is a unique competitive advantage in the UN system,” said Lario.
Read: IFAD: Integration of nutrition in all dev interventions sought
Under his stewardship, IFAD became the first United Nations Fund and the only UN body and specialized agency other than the World Bank Group to enter the capital markets and obtain a credit rating, enabling the Fund to expand resources mobilization efforts to the private sector. Lario has 20 years of experience in the private sector, academia and international financial institutions, including developing local capital markets and investments in emerging markets at the International Financial Corporation of the World Bank group.
Lario will take up the IFAD helm amid mounting challenges in agriculture and notably for smallholders who are both key to global food security and extremely vulnerable to shocks.
Rising global food, energy and fertilizer prices linked to the war in Ukraine now threaten to trigger a global food crisis and push millions more rural people into hunger and poverty.
IFAD’s role in building resilience among small-scale farmers who produce a third of the world’s food have made it a leader in the drive for global food security.
Recently the Fund launched its Crisis Response Initiative to ensure that small-scale farmers can meet their immediate needs for fertilisers, seeds and technology and ensure the next harvests in 22 priority countries affected by commodity price hikes.
New figures published yesterday by five UN agencies including IFAD showed the world falling further behind in efforts to end hunger and poverty in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
The State of Food Security and Nutrition report showed that hunger globally rose to as many as 828 million in 2021, an increase of about 150 million since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
PM mourns death of war hero Abu Musa Chowdhury
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday expressed deep shock and sorrow over the death of Abu Musa Chowdhury, a valiant freedom fighter who conducted adventurous naval operations during War of Liberation in 1971.
In a condolence message, the premier said the nation will always remember with gratitude the contribution of Abu Musa in the War of Liberation.
Read:PM mourns demise of ex-Japanese PM Shinzo Abe
Hasina prayed for the salvation of the departed soul and conveyed her deepest sympathy to the bereaved family members.
PM mourns demise of ex-Japanese PM Shinzo Abe
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday expressed deep shock and sorrow at the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Abe, 67, was shot while giving a campaign speech in western Japan. The former Japanese leader immediately collapsed after being shot in chest and neck and was airlifted to hospital. He was pronounced dead about five hours later at 5pm local time.
Read: Japan ex-leader Shinzo Abe assassinated while giving speech
The suspected attacker is a 41-year old man who was tackled at the scene and is now in police custody.
Three Biman officials suspended over plane collision incident
Three Biman Bangladesh Airlines officials have been temporarily removed from their duties over the incident of a collision between two planes at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA), the airlines’ media wing said on Friday.
The collision happened on the night of July 3.
The suspended officials are—Principal Engineer Md Harunur Rashid Chowdhury, Engineering Officer Shah Newaz and Junior Technical Officer Nurul Alam.
Tahera Khondker, Biman’s General Manager (Public Relations), said that the three officials were suspended on July 5.
Read: Biman offers chartered domestic flight service
Flood death toll stands at 113: DGHS
Although flood situation continues to improve in most places, another death was reported in Habiganj in 24 hours till Friday morning, taking the total flood-related fatalities to 113.
The latest victim drowned in floodwater, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The total deaths were recorded between May 17 and July 8, it said.
Read: 7.2m people affected due to flood in Bangladesh: UN
Among the total deceased, 85 people died by drowning in floodwater, 15 from lightning strikes, two from snake bites, one from diarrhoea, and nine due to other reasons.
Of the deceased, 60 people died in Sylhet, 40 in Mymensingh, 12 in Rangpur and one in Dhaka division, it said.
Among a total of 70 flood-hit upazilas, 33 are in Sylhet division, 16 in Rangpur division, 20 in Mymensingh division and one in Chattogram division.
Sylhet, Sunamganj, Netrokona and Kurigram are the worst-hit districts where 13, 11, 10 and 9 upazilas were affected by flood respectively.
Rab nabs 4, including cop, with Yaba pills in Ctg
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested four people, including a cop, with 5,260 pieces of Yaba at Chattogram medical college area in the port city on Thursday night.
The arrestees were identified as Upal Chakma, 45, a constable of special branch of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP), his accomplices Nantu Dash, 42, Md Kamrul Islam, 30, and Md Gias Uddin, 42.
Mokhlesur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner (DC-north) of the CMP, said on Friday that on secret information Rab members conducted a drive in front of a restaurant in the medical college area at around 10:45pm.
He said the members of the elite force found the Yaba pills from the possession of the four men.
Also Read: One lakh Yaba pills seized in Cox’s Bazar
Md Shahidul Islam, Deputy Assistant Director of Rab-7, filed a case related to drug peddling against the four suspects at the local police station, the DC added.
Gang of muggers nabbed in city
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) said on Friday that the force detained 21 members of a mugging gang from the city’s Motijheel, Paltan, Shahjahanpur and Tejgaon area.
The elite force also seized sharp weapons and sedatives from them during the drive on Thursday.
A team of Rab-3 detained the muggers after conducting simultaneous drives in Motijheel, Paltan, Shahjahanpur and Tejgaon area on Thursday night, said Rab-3 Additional Superintendent Bina Rani Das.
Read: 4 ‘muggers’ held over killing dentist in city
During primary interrogation, the alleged gang members said they usually hide in the alleys and mug pedestrians, rickshaw riders, and CNG-run auto-rickshaw passengers, brandishing sharp weapons. They also commit murder if anyone resists their bid.
The muggers are active in and around Khilgaon, Malibagh Rail Gate, Dainik Bangla intersection, Pir Jangi Mazar crossing, Kamalapur Battala, Motijheel Calvert Road, Nasirertek of Hatirjheel, Shahbagh, Gulbagh, Rajuk crossing, UBL crossing, Paltan intersection, Golap Shah Mazar crossing, High Court crossing, Abdul Gani Road, Maniknagar Stadium, Nandipara Bridge, and Basabo crossing from evening till dawn.
Legal steps are underway against the detainees, the official added.