Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wednesday greeted all the Freedom Fighters (FF) of the country on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha. Like other occasions, the PM sent flowers, fruits and sweetmeats to the war-wounded FFs and members of the martyred families at the Martyred and War-wounded Freedom Fighters’ Rehabilitation Centre (Muktijoddha Tower-1) on Gaznavi Road in the capital’s Mohammadpur area as a mark of her good wishes for them. PM’s Assistant Private Secretary-2 Gazi Hafizur Rahman Liku, Deputy Press Secretary Hasan Jahid Tusher and Assistant Press Secretary ABM Sarwar-e-Alam Sarkar handed over these items to them this morning. The war-wounded FFs and members of the martyred families expressed their gratitude to the PM for remembering them on every national day and festival like Independence Day, Victory Day, Eid and Pahela Baishakh. They also expressed firm commitment to resist any act of terror in the name of religion and anti-state activities on the soil of independent Bangladesh at any cost. They hoped that the successors of the FFs and future generations would uphold the same values and spirit. The FFs and members of the martyred families wished the PM good health and long life, and highly appreciated her farsighted leadership. They also expressed their firm belief that the government under the leadership of PM Hasina will ensure coronavirus vaccines for all people of the country.

On the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha, border guards of Bangladesh and India exchanged sweets and greetings on Wednesday morning. Hili CP Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) camp commander Subedar Showkat Ali Molla said that sweets were gifted to the commander of Border Security Force (BSF) on the Indian side fro Joypurhat-10 BGB battalion. Also read: BSF won't let BGB build mosque at 200-year-old site Commander Ramakant Singh of BSF Hili camp reciprocated by sending sweets as gifts. During religious and national celebrations, BGB and BSF exchange gifts, greetings and sweets as a tradition with an aim to bolster  friendly ties between the two countries, the BGB camp commander said. Also read: Bangladeshi youth killed in BSF firing along Lalmonirhat border Meanwhile, the BSF camp commander said that "this kind of exchange of sweets and greetings motivates the border guards of both the countries".

Commuters heading home ahead of Eid-ul-Azha were stuck in monster traffic snarls on the two national highways in Gazipur on Tuesday. Long tailbacks were witnessed on both the Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail highways in Gazipur in the morning due to a mad rush of home-bound people as well as vehicles carrying sacrificial animals amid the devastating second wave of Covid-19. Read: Facing hazards, Eid holidaymakers keep moving out of Dhaka The closure of several garment factories in Gazipur for Eid contributed to the mad rush while the potholed stretches of the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway owing to the under-construction Bus Rapid Transit project made the situation worse. Moreover, lack of public transport vehicles like buses and launches forced many to hire microbuses, CNG auto-rickshaws and even pickup trucks to reach their destination. A reality check by UNB revealed that all Covid-safety protocols went for a toss as people barely followed social distancing norms, despite law enforcement agencies keeping a strict vigil on the roads. Bangladesh on Monday saw 231 corona-related deaths, the highest since the pandemic hit the country, amid an eight-day pause in the nationwide strict lockdown. The situation is likely to get worse because of the fallout from the lockdown pause ahead of Eid holidays, many experts believe. Read: Holidaymakers' torturous journey goes on With Covid's Delta variant spreading fast, Bangladesh have already tallied more than 1.1 million infections and 18,000-plus deaths from the pandemic. The country's fatalities have been hovering at roughly 200 for the past two weeks. Also, Covid-19 infections in Bangladesh have reached 99% of the peak, with more than 11,828 new cases reported each day. The highest daily average was reported on July 15. The country recorded 13,321 infections in 24 hours till Monday morning after testing 45,012 samples. Bangladesh reported its highest daily Covid-19 fatality of 230 on July 11 and 13,768 infections the next day. The second wave of the pandemic is threatening to overwhelm the country's health infrastructure. There have been 1,117,310 infections and 18,125 coronavirus-related deaths in Bangladesh since the pandemic began, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate rose to 29.59% though the death rate remained unchanged at 1.62%, and the recovery rate dropped to 84.25%. Dhaka division reported the highest 73 deaths, Khulna 57, Chattogram 43, Rangpur 17, Rajshahi 16, Mymensingh 11, Sylhet eight and Barisal six. So far, Bangladesh has administered at least 10,908,272 doses of Covid vaccines – enough to have vaccinated around 3.1% of the country's population, assuming every person needs two doses.    

Meat is a high quality non-vegetarian food that contains many important vitamins and minerals like Zinc, Iron, Magnesium, Selenium, Phosphorus, etc. Moreover, meat has been an important component of the diet for centuries. However, the meat may become inedible due to several factors such as chemical or enzymatic composition, outside moisture, light, heat, germs, oxygen, etc. These can also create infection of microorganisms like bacteria, mold, which increases the risk of developing various food borne diseases. Read this article to know the ways how to preserve the meat properly to last longer, remain fresh, healthy, and suitable for eating in a bactericidal state. The Main Purpose of Preserving Meat The purpose of preservation depends on individuals. However, the following are the top reasons to preserve meat. - Keep the taste and quality of the meat as intact as possible. - Keep the meat sterile. - To prevent rotting of meat. - Reducing financial losses by controlling the transmission of food-borne diseases by meat People have been using various techniques to preserve meat at home and commercially since ancient times, which has now become more advanced, simpler, and more up-to-date. Let's talk about the ways to preserve meat (beef/mutton) for a long time. Read Is Red Meat Good or Bad for You? Ways to Preserve Fresh Beef or Mutton in Refrigerator/Freezer In food science, meat is included in the list of highly perishable foods. This means that if not stored properly, the meat will spoil very quickly. If the animal is left outside for a long time after slaughtering, the meat becomes very soft. This destroys both the taste and nutritional value of the meat. So, the meat should be stored in the fridge as soon as possible. However, the fridge must be thoroughly cleaned before putting the meat in the fridge. If the fridge is unclean, the meat may smell bad. Or, if you put it with any other smelly food, the stench can come from the meat. Read: Getting ready for Qurbani Also, there are things to keep in mind- - First of all, you have to clean the fridge/ freezer well. Keeping the fridge clean is very important for storing meat for a long time. The fridge is more likely to smell because of previous fish and meat. - The blood from the meat must be thoroughly washed and cleaned before storing it. After washing, it should be kept in a big basket to drain excess water. After the water is drained from the meat, keep it in a polythene or plastic packet and keep it in the fridge by wrapping or closing the packet. - The meat remains hard for three to four hours after the slaughtering. It is better not to keep the meat in the fridge at this time. After this time, if the meat is a little soft, it should be preserved. Read Easy Homemade Drinks to Boost Up Digestion Power Naturally - Keep in mind that the pieces of meat do not get too big. It is better to preserve the meat in small pieces. - Thick and good-quality polythene should be chosen for storage in the fridge. You can even use zip-lock plastic bags. - Each packet of meat can be separated in the fridge with a piece of thick paper in between. Hence, there will be no risk of sticking a packet of meat with other packets. - New and clean packets must be used to preserve the meat. Using old or previously used polythene can cause the smell. - After keeping the meat in the fridge, the temperature should be reduced. The meat will freeze quickly. So, the meat should be stored in the fridge below zero-degree Fahrenheit temperature. Raw meat can be stored for 4-7 days at 40 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, if you store the meat below zero-degree Fahrenheit temperature, raw beef/mutton will be good for 12 months. Read Necessary Precautions during Qurbani amid Coronavirus Pandemic Since Covid 19 pandemic is going, we have to be careful while storing. However, there is no evidence that people can contact Covid 19 from food or even food packing. But, for safety, washing the refrigerator or freezer is enough.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Sunday expressed concern over health protocol breaches at the cattle markets across the country where trading of sacrificial animals is underway, with Eid-ul-Azha just around the corner. "As the cattle markets are supervised by the local government and rural development ministry, we know they too are monitoring the health safety measures there. Also, both buyers and sellers should show responsibility," Dr Nazmul Islam, spokesperson for the DGHS, said at a virtual briefing. Read: Mask-wearing campaign kicks off at cattle markets in 2 cities The DGHS already issued specific suggestions to all civil surgeons in this connection, he added. "Teams led by the civil surgeons and the deputy commissioners were already monitoring the health safety rules in all districts." With Covid's Delta variant spreading fast, Bangladesh is now facing the worst scenario as the country's caseload crossed 1.1 million today. Read: Covid kills 225 more in Bangladesh as cases cross 1.1 million-mark It also recorded 225 new fatalities; the new numbers pushed its death tally to 17,894. The total caseload from Covid now stands at 1,103,989 as 11,578 fresh cases were reported in the past 24 hours, according to the DGHS.

A special “cattle train” left here on Saturday carrying 77  cows and six goats in its inaugural service for markets in the capital city ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, officials said. The special service will run on Chapainawabganj-Rajshahi-Tejgaon (Dhaka) route. Also read: Special cattle trains ahead of Eid-ul-Azha Lawmaker from Chapainawabganj-1 Dr Shamil Uddin Ahmed Shamil inaugurated the train service at Chapainawabganj railway station this afternoon. The cattle wagons – each with 20 cows - will be added to the Mango special train, already operating on the route. Assistant station Master Obaidullah at Chapainawabganj said the Railways ministry has decided to run the special cattle service considering the health hazards of ongoing Covid-19. Also read: PM launches special mango train on Chapainawabganj-Dhaka route Transportation cost for each cow has been fixed at Tk 592 and for goat at Tk 292. The train service will continue until July 19, he added.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has said that the online sales of sacrificial animals could touch 7 lakh this year, with more and more people preferring the virtual way of buying amid Covid-19. “I think the sales of animals could touch 5-7 lakh this year. Last year, the figure was about 1 lakh," he said at a webinar on the 'Impact of E-commerce on SMEs' held in Dhaka on Thursday. On the virtual promotion of products manufactured by the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Tipu said his ministry has been working to help them.  Also read: Digital Haat and more Qurbani Cow online shops targeting Eid-ul-Azha in Bangladesh “But cooperation from all stakeholders are required to achieve success in this regard. We all have to move forward together," he said.  The virtual seminar, organised by Better Bangladesh Foundation (BBF), was also addressed by director (news) of Channel-i Shykh Seraj, Chairman of SME Foundation Prof Masudur Rahman, BBF chairman Prof Masud A Khan, director general of WTO Cell of Commerce Ministry Hafizur Rahman, General Secretary of E-Commerce Association of Bangladesh Abdul Wahed Tamal, and Director of Walton Group Sabina Jarin Orona. Sharing his own experience of buying a cow through an online platform during Eid last year, Tipu said that initially there were some problems with the virtual trading process. "But they have been resolved in consultation with Bangladesh Bank." Also read: 27,000 sacrificial animals sold online ahead of Eid On his part, Shykh Seraj spoke about the huge scope for e-commerce in the country. "But there is a need for an umbrella body to bring all the SMEs under it, especially the rural producers and traders. This would help them tap the potential that e-commerce has in Bangladesh." "SME Foundation, ICT Ministry and Commerce Ministry can play a vital role in this regard," he added. Hafizur Rahman, however,  rued the lack of mechanism in the country to promote many SMEs producing "lost products" through financial inclusion. Abdul Wahed said that ECB has 1,600 members connected to 12,000 SMEs. "But most of these SMEs are from urban areas.  Also read: SMEs are lifeline to country's economy: Tipu Munshi   Initiatives are required to promote the rural SMEs as well so as to involve them in the virtual sales platforms," he said. 

 Two bulls belonging to a farmer have been allegedly poisoned to death in the Majlishpur area of  Kushtia's Mirpur upazila ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. Quoting local people, Golam Mostafa, officer-in-charge of Mirpur Police Station, said that Rafi Fakir, a local farmer, reared the animals so as to sell them during the Muslim festival. Read: Huge farmers flock to Kushtia cattle haat defying corona safety "Rafi had taken Tk 1.70 lakh from a person for the bulls and was scheduled to deliver the animals on Thursday. But in the morning, he found them lying dead in the cattle shed," the OC said. Read: Here comes the rush of cattle for qurbani Mirpur Upazila livestock officer Dr Sohag Rana said that legal action would be taken against those involved in the crime. "Police are investigating the deaths," he said.

Cricket stars of the country shared Eid greetings with their fans. Since this Eid came during the coronavirus pandemic and monsoon flood, most of the cricketers are stuck at home.

A big cow named ‘Chita Bagh’ is drawing the attention of many people at Katenga village in Terokhada upazila due to its size and price as its owner is demanding Tk 10 lakh for it.