United News of Bangladesh

Eleven people, including two children, died of electrocution while 15 others sustained burn injuries when a temple chariot they were riding on touched a high-tension wire in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu early on Wednesday morning, officials said. The tragedy occurred at Kalimedu in the state's Thanjavur district, some 370km from Tamil Nadu's capital Chennai. Also Read: Van driver electrocuted in Chandpur "Of the deceased, two were children, while the injured are being treated at hospital. A case has been registered in the matter and investigation is underway," V Balakrishnan, Tamil Nadu's inspector general of police, told the local media. Local TV channels aired a video of the tragedy in which the chariot can be seen completely gutted in fire after coming into contact with the power transmission line. The video has gone viral on social media.   Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin condoled the deaths, saying he was "deeply pained", and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the bereaved families.  

Workers put up fencing and police restricted who could leave a locked-down area in Beijing on Tuesday as authorities in the Chinese capital stepped up efforts to prevent a major COVID-19 outbreak like the one that has all but shut down the city of Shanghai. People lined up for throat swabs across much of Beijing as mass testing was expanded to 11 of the city's 16 districts. Another 22 cases were found in the last 24 hours, Beijing health officials said at a late afternoon news conference, bringing the total to 92 since the outbreak was discovered five days ago. That is tiny in comparison to Shanghai, where the number of cases has topped 500,000 and at least 190 people have died. No deaths have been reported from the still-nascent outbreak in Beijing. Also read:Surprisingly low Shanghai COVID death count spurs questions An initial announcement of testing in one Beijing district had sparked panic buying in the city of 21 million on Monday, but the situation appeared to calm on Tuesday even as testing was expanded. Public transport appeared to be running largely normally and roads were filled with commuters. “I’m not worried that Beijing would suffer from a shortage of supplies so I don’t plan to stock up,” said Zhang Yifan, who was on his way to get tested in Dongcheng district. "Because if people stock up blindly, it may cause a waste of resources. If people keep too much supplies at home, it will cause a shortage.” Beijing has locked down some apartment buildings and residential complexes and on Monday added a larger urban area measuring about 2 by 3 kilometers (1 by 2 miles). Workers put up blue metal fencing along part of the area Tuesday, and police restricted who could leave. Residents are being kept inside their compounds. Fears of a total lockdown have been fed by disruptions in the supply of food, medicine and daily necessities in Shanghai, a southeast coast business hub whose 25 million residents have only gradually been allowed to leave their homes after three weeks of confinement. However, 86-year-old Beijing resident Chen Shengzhen said the capital had been given more time to prepare than its southern cousin. Shanghai's lockdown “came all of a sudden, so the policies and other aspects were not able to be in place,” leading to short-term hardships in the city, Chen told The Associated Press. “My daughter works in a government department and they have prepared very well, such as beds, quilts, and articles for women’s use. Even if we need to go into lockdown, we will be fine,” said Chen. Also read: Beijing on alert after COVID-19 cases discovered in school Shanghai residents, confined to their complexes or buildings, had trouble ordering food deliveries and also faced higher prices. The lockdown of China's largest city has had ripple effects elsewhere as goods have backed up at Shanghai's port, affecting factory production, global supply chains and China's own economic growth. Zhong Xiaobing, the general manager of the Lianhua Supermarket chain in Shanghai, said that shipments of goods from elsewhere in China have gotten smoother since the government organized trucks 10 days ago to bring in goods from key transfer stations, but that imports remain slower because of port and other transport restrictions. Other cities have also been locked down in China as the omicron variant proves difficult to control, with Baotou in Inner Mongolia the latest to enforce one. Beijing tested nearly 3.8 million people in an initial round of mass testing in Chaoyang district on Monday. All the results were negative except for one in a group of five that were tested together, a Chaoyang official said. Those five people were being tested to determine who among them is infected. Chaoyang has had the most cases in the Beijing outbreak, but authorities decided to extend the testing to 10 more districts on Tuesday.

An explosion ripped through a van inside a university campus in southern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing three Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver, officials said. A separatist militant group claimed responsibility and said the attack was carried out by a woman suicide bomber. The bombing at the University of Karachi also wounded a fourth Chinese national, as well as a Pakistani guard accompanying the van, according to university spokesman Mohammad Farooq. Also read:Militants in Afghanistan strike Pakistan army post, kill 3 Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said the initial investigation suggests a suicide bomber was behind the attack. He said that closed circuit television footage from the site showed a person dressed in the female burqa head-to-toe covering walking up to the van, followed by an instantaneous explosion. The Chinese fatalities included the director of the Chinese-built Confucius Institute, which offers Chinese language graduate classes, and two teachers. The Baluchistan Liberation Army, a militant group in nearby Baluchistan province, has targeted Chinese nationals in attacks in the past. The group's statement that followed Tuesday's attack identified the bomber as Shari Baluch or Bramsh, saying she was the group's first female bomber. The attack marks “a new chapter in the history of Baluch resistance,” the statement said. Baluchistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by armed Baluch groups demanding more autonomy and a greater share in the region’s natural resources if not outright independence from Islamabad. However, the Pakistani Taliban have also targeted Chinese interest in the past. Last July, the group — also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan — claimed responsibility for an attack on a bus that killed nine Chinese nationals in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province. Four Pakistanis also died in that attack. The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group from the Afghan Taliban, their allies who have seized power in neighboring Afghanistan. Also read: Pakistan’s new Cabinet sworn in at presidency in Islamabad Thousands of Chinese workers are living and working in Pakistan, with most of them involved in Beijing's multi-billion dollar project known as “One Belt One Road Project" that is to connect south and central Asia with the Chinese capital. A key road linking Pakistan's southern port of Gwadar, in southwestern Baluchistan province, with China's northwest Xinjiang province, is part of what is known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The project includes a number of infrastructure projects and several power projects.

Sri Lanka’s government said Tuesday it is discussing obtaining another loan from Beijing to repay some of its debt to Chinese banks after China told the nearly bankrupt island nation it was not in favor of restructuring the existing loans. Sri Lanka has nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due for repayment this year and will need to repay $ 25 billion over the next five years. A severe shortage of foreign exchange means the country l acks money to buy imported goods, leading to shortages of food, fuel and other essentials. The economic crisis has brought weeks of protests across the country calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation. Read: Sri Lanka halts stock trading as share prices plummet Government spokesman Nalaka Godahewa said Beijing was balking at restructuring Sri Lanka’s debt because it does not want to set that precedent. He told reporters the finance ministry will announce details of discussions with China later. Earlier this month, the government said it was suspending repayment of foreign loans pending negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a loan restructuring plan. Sri Lanka’s debt problems are partly because it built infrastructure like a port, airport and road networks using Chinese loans, but the projects are not making money. Read: Modi congratulates Prez Macron on his re-election Rajapaksa had asked Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who visited Sri Lanka in January, to restructure those loans. Central Bank figures show existing Chinese loans to Sri Lanka total around $3.38 billion, not including loans to state-owned businesses, which are accounted for separately and thought to be substantial.

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 43,062,569 on Tuesday with 2,483 new cases registered during the past 24 hours in the South Asian country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data. This is the seventh consecutive day when the number of daily new cases has surpassed the 2,000-mark, after lower tallies were reported in recent weeks. Meanwhile, 1,399 deaths due to the pandemic recorded since Monday morning took the death toll to 523,622. Read: Global Covid cases top 510 million This is a spike in the number of deaths in a single day, as the figure has been around 50 for the past few days. "The sudden rise in the number of deaths is because the state of Assam has reconciled 1,347 deaths today," said an official at the federal health ministry. There are currently 15,636 active COVID-19 cases reported in India, an increase of 886 in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases had been on the decline in the past two-and-a-half months, but started to rise in recent days. So far 42,523,311 COVID-19 patients have been cured and discharged from hospitals in India, including 1,970 new recoveries recorded in the past 24 hours.

India Monday said that seven of its sailors freed from the captivity of Yemen’s Houthi rebels would return home soon. The Indian sailors were among a total of 14 people taken hostage by the Houthi rebels on January 2 when they seized UAE-flagged merchant vessel Rwabee in the Red Sea. The sailors reached the Omani capital of Muscat on Sunday, and are “expected to travel back to India shortly”, the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement. Also read: Britain, India call for immediate cease-fire in Ukraine On Sunday, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi took to Twitter to announce the release of the 14 hostages from the clutches of the rebels in Yemen. “All of them are now safely in the care of Oman. We are deeply grateful for the noble and humanitarian efforts made by many parties in good faith, not least the Yemeni leadership in Sanaa, to bring this to fruition,” he wrote. In response, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had tweeted, "Thank you my friend @badralbusaidi for your help and assistance. Look forward to their safe homecoming." Also read: India condemns US lawmaker's Kasmir visit

Stock trading in Sri Lanka was halted again on Monday after the index of liquid stocks plummeted, with the All Share Price Index falling 9.6 percent and the S&P SL20 plunging 12.64 percent. Trading was initially halted till 11:00 a.m. due to sharp falls when the stock exchange started, while prices continued to plummet, prompting the market to declare a halt for the rest of the day. The stock market opened for the first time on Monday since a weeklong Sri Lankan New Year holiday and a subsequent five-day trading halt following the central bank's move to hike the interest rates by 7 percent. Read: Asian shares fall amid interest rate, earnings worries The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) temporarily closed the stock market for a period of five business days commencing on April 18. The CSE has been adversely affected by the economic woes of the country and the index has fallen 26 percent by the end of March compared to the end of 2021.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated "friend" Emmanuel Macron on his re-election as the French President for another five-year term. Calling Macron his "friend", the Indian PM took to Twitter to say that he looks forward to working with the French leader to bolster the strategic ties between Delhi and Paris. Also read:To Europe’s relief, France’s Macron wins but far-right gains "Congratulations to my friend @EmmanuelMacron on being re-elected as the President of France! I look forward to continue working together to deepen the India-France Strategic Partnership," Modi wrote. Modi is likely to embark on a five-day tour of Europe next week. During his proposed visit from May 2 to 6, he is likely to hold bilateral meetings with the French President and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Also read:In France, it's Macron vs. Le Pen, again, for presidency Defeating his far-right rival Marine Le Pen by 58.55% to 41.45%, 44-year-old Macron on Sunday became the first sitting president in France to get re-elected in 20 years.

China is promoting coal-fired power as the ruling Communist Party tries to revive a sluggish economy, prompting warnings Beijing is setting back efforts to cut climate-changing carbon emissions from the biggest global source. Official plans call for boosting coal production capacity by 300 million tons this year, according to news reports. That is equal to 7% of last year’s output of 4.1 billion tons, which was an increase of 5.7% over 2020. China is one of the biggest investors in wind and solar, but jittery leaders called for more coal-fired power after economic growth plunged last year and shortages caused blackouts and factory shutdowns. Russia’s attack on Ukraine added to anxiety that foreign oil and coal supplies might be disrupted. “This mentality of ensuring energy security has become dominant, trumping carbon neutrality,” said Li Shuo, a senior global policy adviser for Greenpeace. “We are moving into a relatively unfavorable time period for climate action in China.” Also read: China looks to learn from Russian failures in Ukraine Officials face political pressure to ensure stability as President Xi Jinping prepares to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as ruling party leader in the autumn. Coal is important for “energy security,” Cabinet officials said at an April 20 meeting that approved plans to expand production capacity, according to Caixin, a business news magazine. The ruling party also is building power plants to inject money into the economy and revive growth that sank to 4% over a year earlier in the final quarter of 2021, down from the full year’s 8.1% expansion. Governments have pledged to try to limit warming of the atmosphere to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above the level of pre-industrial times. Leaders say what they really want is a limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Scientists say even if the world hits the 2-degree goal in the 2015 Paris climate pact and the 2021 Glasgow follow-up agreement, that still will lead to higher seas, stronger storms, extinctions of plants and animals and more people dying from heat, smog and infectious diseases. China is the top producer and consumer of coal. Global trends hinge on what Beijing does. The Communist Party has rejected binding emissions commitments, citing its economic development needs. Beijing has avoided joining governments that promised to phase out use of coal-fired power. In a 2020 speech to the United Nations, Xi said carbon emissions will peak by 2030, but he announced no target for the amount. Xi said China aims for carbon neutrality, or removing as much from the atmosphere by planting trees and other tactics as is emitted by industry and households, by 2060. China accounts for 26.1% of global emissions, more than double the U.S. share of 12.8%, according to the World Resources Institute. Rhodium Group, a research firm, says China emits more than all developed economies combined. Per person, China’s 1.4 billion people on average emit the equivalent of 8.4 tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to WRI. That is less than half the U.S. average of 17.7 tons but more than the European Union’s 7.5 tons. China has abundant supplies of coal and produced more than 90% of the 4.4 billion tons it burned last year. More than half of its oil and gas is imported and leaders see that as a strategic risk. Also read: Anti-virus shutdowns in China spread as infections rise China’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2060 appears to be on track, but using more coal “could jeopardize this, or at least slow it down and make it more costly,” Clare Perry of the Environmental Investigations Agency said in an email. Promoting coal will make emissions “much higher than they need to be” by the 2030 peak year, said Perry. “This move runs entirely counter to the science,” she said. Beijing has spent tens of billions of dollars on building solar and wind farms to reduce reliance on imported oil and gas and clean up its smog-choked cities. China accounted for about half of global investment in wind and solar in 2020. Still, coal is expected to supply 60% of its power in the near future. Beijing is cutting millions of jobs to shrink its bloated, state-owned coal mining industry, but output and consumption still are rising. Authorities say they are shrinking carbon emissions per unit of economic output. The government reported a reduction of 3.8% last year, better than 2020′s 1% but down from a 5.1% cut in 2017. Last year’s total energy use increased 5.2% over 2020 after a revival of global demand for Chinese exports propelled a manufacturing boom, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Stimulus spending also might raise carbon output if it pays for building more bridges, train stations and other public works. That would encourage carbon-intensive steel and cement production. China’s coal-fired power plants operate at about half their capacity on average, but building more creates jobs and economic activity, said Greenpeace’s Li. He said even if the power isn’t needed now, local leaders face pressure to make them pay for themselves. “That locks China into a more high-carbon path,” Li said. “It’s very difficult to fix.”

Rescuers said that 10 people who were retrieved Sunday from the frigid sea and the rocky coast of a northern Japanese national park had died, a day after a tour boat with 26 aboard apparently sank in rough waters, triggering questions why it was allowed to sail. The search for the others is still ongoing after the boat sent a distress call on Saturday afternoon saying it was sinking. The location, near the Kashuni Waterfall, is known as a difficult place to maneuver boats because of its rocky coastline and strong tide. There were two crew and 24 passengers, including two children, on the the 19-ton Kazu 1 when it ran into troubles while traveling off the western coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula. The coast guard said the 10 victims — seven men and three women — were adults. The Transport Ministry launched an investigation into the boat’s operator, which had two accidents last year. The ministry said it was looking into safety standards and the decision to conduct the tour despite rough weather on Saturday. Also read: 7 people from missing tour boat in Japan found The operator, Shiretoko Pleasure Cruise, had been instructed to take steps to improve its safety following earlier accidents in which it ran aground in June without causing injuries, and another in May, when three passengers suffered minor injuries when the boat collided with an object. “We will thoroughly investigate what caused this situation and what kind of safety oversight was involved to allow the tour in order to prevent another accident," Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito, who visited the area Sunday, told reporters. Following an intensive search involving six patrol boats, several aircraft and divers that went through the night, rescuers on early Sunday found four people near the tip of Shiretoko Peninsula and later six more in the same area. Some of them were plucked from the sea, while others were washed onto the rocky coast. An orange-colored, square-shaped lifesaving float with the boat’s name on it was also found near the rocks, the coast guard said. Footage on public broadcaster NHK showed one of the victims arriving on a helicopter and being transferred to an ambulance on a stretcher. Rescuers held up blue plastic shields to protect the victim's privacy. The sightseeing vessel made an emergency call early Saturday afternoon, saying its bow had flooded and that it was beginning to sink and tilt, the coast guard said. Contact with the boat had since been lost. The coast guard said the operator told them that everyone on the boat was wearing a life vest, but some of the victims found were without them. Average April sea temperatures in Shiretoko National Park are just above freezing, which experts say would cause hypothermia. “It’s a very severe condition especially when they are wet,” Jun Abe, vice chairman of the Society of Water Rescue and Survival Research, told TBS TV. Yoshihiko Yamada, a Tokai University marine science professor, said the boat was likely to have run aground after it was tossed around in high waves and damaged. A boat of that size usually does not carry a life boat, he said. Also read: Tour boat with 26 missing in north Japan after distress call Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cut short his attendance at a two-day summit in Kumamoto in southern Japan and returned to Tokyo. He told reporters early Sunday that he instructed officials “to do everything they can for the rescue.” The cause of the accident is under investigation, but officials and experts suspect a safety negligence. High waves and strong winds were forecast when the boat left and Japanese media reports said fishing boats had returned to port before noon Saturday because of the bad weather. A tour boat crew belonging to another operator told NHK that he warned the Kazu 1 crew of rough seas and told them not to go. He also said the same boat ran aground last year and suffered a crack on its bow. According to the operator’s website, the tour takes around three hours and offers scenic views of the western coast of the peninsula and a chance to see whales, dolphins and brown bears. The national park is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and is famous as the southernmost region to see drifting sea ice.