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Man killed in motorbike accident in city
A man died after the motorcycle he was riding was hit by another bike in the city early Wednesday, police and a witness said.
The dead was identified as Mohammad Anwar Hossain, 35, a mechanics supervisor of Arman Apparels Ltd.
The accident occurred at 7:30 at DIT Road near Hazipara Patrol Pump under Hatirjheel police station in the city, said Md Mohidul Islam, a pedestrian, who witnessed it.
Anwar’s bike was hit from behind, he said.
The rider of the other motorbike fled the spot soon after the accident.
Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of the DMCH police camp, confirmed the incident. He the body was kept at the Hospital’s morgue for autopsy.
Bidi workers protest against NGOs' tax-hike proposal
Several hundred bidi workers have protested against a proposal for tax-hike on the bidi industry by some NGOs from the next fiscal year.
They held a human chain protest in front of the National Press Club on Wednesday.
The demonstrators also expressed deep concerns about what they called "ill-motivated acts of the paid NGOs" who "played a key role to hike tax" on the home-grown bidi industry amid the coronavirus crisis.
Protesting workers claimed that the NGOs "paid by multinational cigarette companies" are trying to destroy the domestic bidi industry that is the prime source of livelihood of several hundred thousand people.
BGMEA delegation meets BEZA chairman over allocation for 'garment village'
A delegation of BGMEA led by its President Faruque Hassan held a meeting with Paban Chowdhury, Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) at BEZA office in Dhaka on Tuesday.
They had discussion on the progress of constructing the 'garment village' at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN).
BGMEA President Faruque Hassan extended thanks to the BEZA for developing the industrial park and leasing land to set up garment factories at BSMSN.
He also expressed his hope that state-of-the-art garment factories in the industrial park will generate more employment and contribute to the country’s economy with export earnings.
After the meeting, the BGMEA President handed over a cheque of Tk. 15.85 crore to the BEZA Executive Chairman as a payment by eight garment factories for getting land allotment in the garment park.
Earlier, 41 apparel manufacturers got allotment of industrial plots at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar.
END/UNB/RI/SSK
BNP sends medicines, medical equipment to Palestine
BNP on Wednesday sent medicines and medical equipment to Palestine ravaged by Israeli airstrikes.
Party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir handed over the medicines and equipment to Palestinian Ambassador in Dhaka Yousef SY Ramadan at his embassy in the city’s Baridhara residence.
Talking to reporters later, Fakhrul said over 200 people, including women and children, were killed and many others injured in Palestine and their houses, educational institutions and hospitals were destroyed by the unjustified airstrikes by Israel.
Read: Removal of "except Israel" from passports exposed govt’s amoral position: BNP
“We’ve been condemning the barbaric attacks for long. We also sent a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas voicing deep concerns over the inhuman air attacks by Israel and expressed our solidarity with Palestinians,” he said.
He said they are providing medicines and medical equipment to Palestine for the treatment of those injured in the Israeli attacks.
“We’ve observed with great sadness that when the Palestinians were fighting for their motherland, our Home Ministry removed the words 'except for Israel' from our passport. We think it's not a good move at a time when the whole world was standing (beside Palestine) during their fight against Israel,” the BNP leader observed.
He said the Palestinian envoy thanked BNP for its assistance for his country and wished speedy recovery of party chairperson Khaleda Zia.
Yousef Ramadan said his country’s people will never forget the cooperation and support of the people of Bangladesh for Palestine.
Read:BNP slams govt over Israel issue
Earlier on May 20, Mirza Fakhrul, on behalf of BNP, sent a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressing profound concerns over the recent violence and inhuman air attacks by Israel on innocent Palestinian civilians and devotees on the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Israel conducted more than 1,800 airstrikes on Gaza during the fight that began between Israel and Hamas on May 10.
On May 21, Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire, halting a bruising 11-day war that caused widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip, brought life in much of Israel to a standstill and left more than 200 people dead.
Bangladesh records lowest Covid deaths in over two months
Bangladesh logged 17 more Covid-related deaths in 24 hours until Wednesday morning, the lowest number in 68 days.
The country saw 16 Covid-19 deaths on March 18 last.
Besides, 1,497 new cases were recorded taking the total caseload to 7,93,693, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The Covid-19 positivity rate declined to 9.11 percent from Tuesday’s 10.08 percent while the mortality rate remained static at 1.57 percent, the handout said.
Health authorities recorded the new cases after testing 16,434 samples in the last 24 hours.
With 1,056 recoveries in the past 24 hours, the country's recovery rate now stands at 92.46.
As of now, 7,33,866 people have recovered from the disease.
Eight of the 17 deaths recorded today are from Chattogram and five are from Dhaka divisions.
Also read: Bangladesh braces for worst Covid outbreak by June-end: Experts
One each died in Khulna, Barishal, Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions.
The country so far carried out 58,71,353 sample tests since reporting its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on March 18, 2020.
WhatsApp sues India over new digital rules
California-headquartered WhatsApp has taken the Indian government to court over the country's new digital rules that make it mandatory for all instant messaging apps to trace the origin of all chats sent on their platforms.
Interestingly, in January this year, the Indian government asked the instant messaging app to withdraw its new policy on information sharing with parent firm Facebook.
In its petition filed in the Delhi High Court, WhatsApp has claimed that the new digital rules are not only against the company's data-protection policy but also undermine people's right to privacy. India is WhatsApp's biggest market.
The Facebook-owned instant messaging app has also urged the court to scrap the new rules as "a violation of privacy under the Constitution of India".
"Requiring messaging apps to 'trace' chats is the equivalent of asking us to keep a fingerprint of every single message sent on WhatsApp, which would break end-to-end encryption and fundamentally undermines people's right to privacy," it said.
"We have consistently joined civil society and experts around the world in opposing requirements that would violate the privacy of our users," the social media app said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
"In the meantime, we will also continue to engage with the government of India on practical solutions aimed at keeping people safe, including responding to valid legal requests for the information available to us," a spokesperson for WhatsApp said.
Also read: India unveils WhatsApp alternative, Sandes
Last year, WhatsApp rolled out notifications informing users about an update in its 'Terms of Service' that allows the app to share data with Facebook. WhatsApp initially gave users time till February 8 to agree to the policy to continue using the service, but later deferred it.
Also read:India asks WhatsApp to withdraw new privacy policy
A couple of months later -- that is in January this year -- the Indian government asked
WhatsApp to immediately withdraw the "discriminatory" policy for this country's users in the wake of a huge backlash against the social media platform.
3 injured, 50 houses destroyed in storm ahead of Yaas
Three persons sustained injuries while some 50 houses were damaged in a storm at Armukhi village in Sadar upazila of Jhenaidah district on Tuesday night, ahead of the landfall of cyclone Yaas.
Kabir Hossain, chairman of Naldanga Union, said a two-kilometre area of the village stretching from Kutipara to West Para was flattened during the storm that lasted for about 15-20 seconds.
"Three persons, including a woman and a child, were injured in the storm. Several trees were uprooted while all semi-pucca and thatched houses have been destroyed," he said.
Also read: Cyclone Yaas makes landfall in eastern India
Mojibor Rahman, deputy commissioner of Jhenaidah district, said the UNO of sadar upazila has been sent to the spot to ascertain the extent of damage caused by the storm.
Also read: Cyclone Yaas: Low-lying districts flooded as water level rises
Necessary steps will be taken after getting a report from the spot, he said.
No gas supply to several capital areas Thursday
There will be no gas supply in several areas of Dhaka city for up to six hours on Thursday, as the gas distribution company is taking up pipeline relocation work.
In a statement, Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company said that supply will remain suspended from 10am to 4pm on Thursday (May 27) at Tejkunipara, Tejgaon Girls' School, Kawran Bazar, Khirstan Para, Sonargaon Hotel and Kathalbagan.
Read:5 injured in Sonargaon factory gas leak fire
Other areas to be affected by the supply disruption are Dilu Road, Paribagh, eastern side of Sonargaon Road and western side of Kataban.
According to Titas, supply will be cut off to facilitate relocation of a gas pipeline from Tejgaon Rail Crossing to Sonargaon Hotel. Adjacent areas of the affected locations may also experience low pressure in supply for the same reason, it said.
"Pipeline relocation is part of a route alignment of utilities under the Dhaka Elevated Expressway Project," the company added.
Cyclone Yaas makes landfall in eastern India
Hours after intensifying into a very severe cyclonic storm, Yaas made landfall in the eastern Indian state of Odisha on Wednesday morning.
According to officials, the location of the landfall is north of Dhamra and south of Bahanaga, near the state's Balasore district. The wind speed during landfall was around 130-150 kmph.
"The landfall process has begun and will take three-four hours to complete," Odisha's top relief officer PK Jena told the media.
The maximum impact will be in Balasore and Bhadrak districts of Odisha, Jena said, adding that some 5.80 lakh people have already been evacuated from vulnerable areas.
Local TV channels aired footage of several coastal areas in Odisha and the neighbouring state of West Bengal being inundated due to rising water levels in the Bay of Bengal.
In Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that nearly 12 lakh people have been moved to safety from vulnerable places in view of Yaas.
Mamata has been camping at the state secretariat since Tuesday night, monitoring the situation on the ground. A control room has also been set up at the secretariat, she said.
Also read: Cyclone Yaas: Low-lying districts flooded as water level rises
Kolkata airport has been closed as a precautionary measure, officials said.
The cyclone has been named Yaas by Oman. Yaas, meaning the flower jasmine in English, has roots in the Persian language.
Also read: Cyclone Yaas: Maritime ports in Bangladesh asked to hoist signal No 3
Heavy showers, swelling rivers inundate coastal areas of Satkhira
The low-lying areas of Burigoalini union in Satkhira's Shyamnagar upazila have been inundated following heavy showers and the onrush of river water ahead of Cyclone Yaas.
Some 15 areas, including Gabura, Koikhali, Munshiganj and Padmapukur in the Burigoalini area of the upazila, have been flooded since Tuesday night, following the increase of river water level from three-to four feet.
Several coastal areas of the upazila have been witnessing heavy to moderate showers since morning.
Already 55 places in Ashashuni and Shyamnagar upazilas have been identified as risky and the villagers are working very hard to repair the damaged embankments.
However, no one has taken shelter at the cyclone shelters till Wednesday morning. This is despite repeated appeals by the local administration.
Residents of Pratapnagar, Sriula, Anulia, Khajra in Ashashuni upazila and Padmapukur, Gabura, Buigoalini, Atulia, Koikhali, Ishwaripur, Ramjannagar, kashimari, Munshiganj, Harinagar along Sundarbans in Shyamnagar upazila have been alerted about the cyclone.
Also read: Cyclone Yaas: Low-lying districts flooded as water level rises
All members of the eight patrol teams of the forest department in the Sundarbans under Satkhira range have been asked to take shelter in a safe place.
Assistant Forest Conservator MA Hasan said vessels are kept on standby to rescue people in case anyone gets stranded in the storm.
Satkhira UNO ANM Abujar Gifari told UNB that around 145 cyclone centres are ready to house 75,000 people in the district. "Necessary steps are being taken to bring people to the cyclone centers."
The district administration also decided to use 1,500 schools, colleges and madrasas to rehabilitate people if required.