United News of Bangladesh

President-elect Donald Trump appears to be siding with Elon Musk and his other backers in the tech industry as a dispute over immigration visas has divided his supporters. Trump, in an interview with the New York Post on Saturday, praised the use of visas to bring skilled foreign workers to the U.S. The topic has become a flashpoint within his conservative base. “I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them," Trump said. In fact, Trump has in the past criticized the H-1B visas, calling them “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. During his first term as president, he unveiled a “Hire American” policy that directed changes to the program to try to ensure the visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants. Despite his criticism of them and attempts to curb their use, he has also used the visas at his businesses in the past, something he acknowledged in his interview Saturday. “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program," Trump told the newspaper. Read: Elon Musk wants to turn SpaceX's Starbase site into Texas He did not appear to address questions about whether he would pursue any changes to the number or use of the visas once he takes office Jan. 20. Trump's hardline immigration policies, focused mostly on immigrants who are in the country illegally, were a cornerstone of his presidential campaign and a priority issue for his supporters. But in recent days, his coalition has split in a public debate largely taking place online about the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Hard-right members of Trump's movement have accused Musk and others in Trump's new flank of tech-world supporters of pushing policies at odds with Trump's “America First" vision. Software engineers and others in the tech industry have used H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers and say they are a critical tool for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated.

Two Bangladeshis are feared dead among 11 workers who were killed in a fire that broke out in a building housing foreign workers in the Maldives capital early Thursday. Another Bangladeshi was injured and hospitalised, an official at Bangladesh High Commission in Maldives told UNB. Read more: 10 shops, bank branch gutted in Ctg market fire Details of the deceased are yet to be known as their documents were destroyed in the fire, the official added. He identified the injured as Tayab. Read more: Electric transformer catches fire behind Gulshan Central Mosque "We will hopefully be able to know details once we can talk to the injured person. He is not in a position to talk at this moment," the official added. Maldives police spokesman Yoonus Sobah said the fire broke out in the building after midnight, reports AP. The Indian embassy in Maldives said on Twitter that Indian citizens were among the dead. Sobah said the cause of the fire is being investigated. Maldives employs a large number of foreign workers, mostly from Bangladesh and India. Their living quarters, especially in the capital, Male, are frequently overcrowded.

The Kingdom of Bahrain has announced that they will cover all expenses of treatment of all affected foreign workers, including Bangladesh nationals, who are working there.