Others
Finland eager to support Bangladesh’s sustainable development: Envoy
Finland is keen to cooperate with Bangladesh in the field of sustainable and renewable energy, said Finnish non-resident ambassador to Bangladesh Ritva Koukku-Ronde on Wednesday.
The envoy, who resides in New Delhi, said this while paying a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the latter’s official residence Ganobhaban.
Also read: Exercise austerity amid global price hike of goods: PM to all
PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.
The envoy handed over a letter of greetings from Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin to Sheikh Hasina, marking the 50th anniversary of Finland-Bangladesh diplomatic relations.
The Bangladesh Prime Minister also conveyed her greetings to her Finnish counterpart on the occasion.
The Finnish diplomat said the cooperation between Bangladesh and Finnish multinational telecommunications company Nokia can be strengthened.
Ritva said her country will work on the Rohingya issue in the United Nations agencies.
DBC TV news producer found dead in city
A 28-year-old news producer of a private TV channel was found dead near Police Plaza in the Hatirjheel area of the capital on Wednesday.
The deceased was identified as Abdul Bari, senior executive news producer of DBC.
Abul Hasan, officer-in-charge of Gulshan Police Station, said local people spotted the body of Bari lying in a pool of blood on the road in the morning and informed police.
Read: Missing gold trader found dead after 5 months
Cops recovered the body and sent it to Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital morgue for an autopsy.
“Bari was brutally murdered. Efforts are on to identify and nab the killers,” said the OC.
Brace for monsoon showers!
Light to moderate showers are likely to drench Bangladesh in the next 24 hours, as the monsoon is fairly active over the country.
“Light to moderate rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at many places over Rangpur, Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions; at a few places over Rajshahi, Dhaka and Chattogram divisions and at one or two places over Khulna and Barishal divisions with moderately heavy to heavy falls at isolated places over the northern part of the country”, the Bangladesh Meteorology Department said on Wednesday.
Read: Beat the Heat: How to Stay Cool in Simmering Hot Weather?
Day and night temperatures may remain nearly unchanged over the country.
A mild heat wave is sweeping over the districts of Khulna, Satkhira, Jashore and Chudanga and it may continue and spread, as per the forecast.
The maximum rainfall in the last 24 hours till 6 am on Wednesday was recorded at 104 mm in Srimangal.
Dhaka is world's second most polluted city
Air pollution still remains one of the top most challenges for Bangladesh -- its capital has been ranked as the second most polluted city in the world.
On Wednesday, Dhaka's air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 190 at 9am.
India's Delhi and Kuwait's Kuwait City occupied the first and third spots, with AQI scores of 257 and 158, respectively.
An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered 'unhealthy', particularly for sensitive groups.
Read: Effects of Air Pollution on Unborn Children, Neonates, Infants
Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be 'poor', while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered 'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents.
AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, is used by government agencies to inform people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.
In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants -- Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.
Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy during winter and improves during monsoon.
A report by the Department of Environment (DoE) and the World Bank in March 2019 pointed out that the three main sources of air pollution in Dhaka "are brick kilns, fumes from vehicles and dust from construction sites".
With the advent of winter, the city’s air quality starts deteriorating sharply due to the massive discharge of pollutant particles from construction work, rundown roads, brick kilns and other sources.
Read: Global pollution kills 9 million people a year, study finds
Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.
Global Covid cases surpass 536 million
The overall number of Covid cases has now crossed 536 million amid a rise in new infections in parts of the world.
According to the latest global data, the total case count mounted to 536,575,203 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,323,378 on Wednesday morning.
The US has recorded 86,782,404 cases so far and 1,034,284 people have died from the virus in the country, the data shows.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 43,185,049 on Tuesday with 3,714 new cases registered in 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data.
Besides, seven deaths from the pandemic registered across the country since Monday morning took the death toll to 524,708.
Currently there are 26,976 active Covid-19 cases recorded in the country, an increase of 1,194 during the past 24 hours.
Read: Bangladesh gets 115 million free Covid vaccines: Zahid Maleque
So far, 42,633,365 COVID-19 patients have been cured and discharged from hospitals in India, including 2,513 new recoveries.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh registered 54 new Covid cases in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, taking the country's total caseload to 1,953,754.
The country's total fatalities remained unchanged at 29,131 as no deaths were reported during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The daily test positivity rate increased to 1.14 percent from Monday’s 0.99 percent as 4,282 samples were tested.
The country on Monday saw 43 cases with zero deaths. The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.49 percent.
The recovery rate rose to 97.48 percent as 425 patients recovered during this period.
In May, the country reported only four Covid-linked deaths and 816 new cases, while 7,356 patients recovered from the disease, according to the DGHS.
Read: Turkish citizen who arrived at Shahjalal does not have monkeypox
Among the four deaths during the period, one was vaccinated with single dose of a Covid vaccine while three were vaccinated with two doses.
The country reported its first zero Covid death in a single day on November 20 last year, along with 178 cases, since the pandemic broke out here in March 2020.
On January 28, Bangladesh logged its previous highest positivity rate of 33.37 percent.
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.
Pushkin’s 223rd birth anniversary observed in Dhaka
The 223rd birth anniversary of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin and the Russian Language Day was observed with a number of events in Dhaka on Monday.
The events were organized on the occasion by the Russian House in Dhaka.
A programme was arranged at the Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Building of University of Dhaka (DU) where stands a bust sculpture of Pushkin.
The Director of the Russian House in Dhaka Mr. Maxim Dobrokhotov and DU Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof. Dr. Md. Akhtaruzzaman discussed the life and literature of poet and his influence on Russian language.
READ: No place for true diplomacy due to Western intervention: Russian ambassador
Members of the Compatriots Association “Rodina”, members of Soviet Alumni Association, Bangladesh (SAAB), students of Russian House language courses, DU students were also present during the tribute event.
A grand celebration event was organised at Ranada Prasad Saha University (RPSU) in Narayanganj which was presided over by Dr. Manindra Kumar Roy, VC of RPSU. Mrs. Ekaterina Semenova, Minister-Counselor of the Russian Embassy in Bangladesh made her remarks at the event. A video presentation on Pushkin's life was also shown.
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy hosted a webinar on the occasion titled, World Literary Tour - Russian Literature. Prominent poet and writer Dr. Masuduzzaman keynote speaker was a keynote speaker at the online event.
How a minor traffic offender engaged an entire mob to attack police
Police filed a case with Shyampur station accusing three individuals of assaulting three policemen in the city’s Jurain on Tuesday morning.
Police Sergeant Ali Hossain filed the case accusing one Rony, his wife Nishat and her brother Yasin Arafat.
Traffic police sergeant Ali Hossain, Sub Inspector (SI) Utpal Datta and Constable Sirajul Islam came under attack in the Jurain Railgate area on Tuesday morning, by the accused. Later though, they tried to spread a fake version of events through social media that said a mob beat the police trio for harassing a motorcyclist and his wife.
But the police claimed that the traffic sergeant Ali Hossain came under attack because he stopped a motorcycle coming down the wrong side of the road.
Contacted, OC Mofizul Alam of Shyampur Police station said the incident took place around 9:30am, when Ali Hossain signalled for motorcyclist Rony, who was riding on the wrong side of the road, to stop. Rony's wife Nishat was on the motorcycle with him.
When Sergeant Ali Hossain wanted to see the documents of the motorcycle, Rony instead engaged him in an argument, the OC said.
READ: Madrasah students attack police station in Chattogram over Bhola violence
At one stage, Rony was taken to the nearby police box. Later, when the locals came forward, they (Rony and his wife) peddled lies and disinformation to frame the police. Enraged, several people in the area attacked the police with sharp weapons. Being informed, Yasir Arafat, Nishat's brother, also arrived at the spot and joined the locals and vandalized the police box. During this mob attack, all three police officers got injured.
Meanwhile, among the injured, SI Utpal Dutta was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. He was given first aid at Hospital. The other two injured policemen were undergoing treatment at Rajarbagh Central Police Hospital.
The DMCH Police Outpost in-charge, Inspector Bachchu Mia, said SI Utpal had a sharp weapon wound in his hand. He was given first aid in the emergency department of the hospital.
Stung by import crises, govt to start producing edible oil
The government is working with a plan to produce 10 lakh tonnes of edible oil in the country, around 40 percent of its total demand, from the 2024-25 fiscal, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said Tuesday.
The Agriculture Ministry has a three-year term plan to reduce the dependence on oil import in the country and as part of the plan, 40 percent of the country’s total demand will be produced in the next fiscal, which will help to save almost Tk 10,000 crore, he said.
Razzaque revealed this information while talking to reporters after a view-exchange meeting at the Secretariat.
READ: Edible oil prices likely to drop in Bangladesh in line with global market: Commerce Minister
The annual demand for edible oil in Bangladesh is 24 lakh tonnes. Of the total demand, we have to import 90 percent of the total demand and recently a crisis of edible oil arose, as it was being imported from foreign countries at high price, he said.
To reduce dependence on the import of oil, we have taken the three-year term plan without reducing the production of paddy, he added.
Farmers do not want to produce oil-based crops in the country, as it doesn't make money.
He also expressed his hope to achieve the target following fair implementation of the plan.
As part of the three-year term plan, the government has set a target to bring 23.60 lakh hectares of land under mustard, sesame, peanut, soybean and sunflower production - almost thrice the existing 8.6 lakh hectares of land in the 2024-25 fiscal, the term minister said.
They also set a target to increase the production of oil to 10 lakh tonnes from the existing 3 lakh tonnes, he added.
Child killed as branch falls off tree in Bogura
A 9-year-old boy died as a large branch of a tree fell on him in a freak accident, watching an elephant at Gabtali upazila of Bogura.
The deceased was identified as Hasan Mia, son of van driver Bhadhan Shah of the village Taranihat Purbapara in Baliadighi union of the upazila.
The incident occurred at 3.30 pm on Tuesday as the boy with other villagers went to see a circus elephant that came to the village.
According to the locals, an elephant from Sylhet was passing through Baliadighi with its owner. The elephant broke a branch of a eucalyptus tree that had already been hanging since a recent storm hit the village.
Inspector Jamirul Islam of Gabtali Police Station said that the child died when he came to see the elephant and the broken branch of a tree fell on him.
After the accident, the elephant went down into a nearby pond seeing the agitated crowd, said the locals.
As no one had any complaints, burial of the child was allowed without an autopsy, the inspector said.
Man branded as thief, beaten to death in Jhenaidah; murder case filed
A 45-year-old man has been beaten to death by a mob on suspicion of being a thief in Horinakunda upazila of Jhenaidah in the early hours of Monday.
The victim was identified as Ashan Uddin, son of Aftab Uddin of Chitle Ratanpur village in Alamdanga upazila of Chuadanga district.
Saiful Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Harinakundu Police Station, said an auto-van was stolen from Shitli village in the upazila on Monday. As Ashan has a previous record of stealing, locals grabbed him from his village and brought him to Haji Arshad Ali College area in Kampashhatia village of Harinakundu, and gave him a good beating, leaving him dead on the spot.
READ: 2 Jubo league activists hacked dead in Jhenaidah over toll collection, 3 held
Later, someone left the body at Harinakundu Upazila Health Center on Tuesday morning, added the OC.
The body has been sent to Jhenaidah General Hospital morgue for an autopsy. A murder case has been filed in this regard.