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Tag: today’s news update

  • Standard Chartered bank makes record breaking TK 1,655cr in profits in a year

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    Source: The Daily Star

    Standard Chartered kept being the best bank in Bangladesh, and this time it broke all the records by becoming the first bank in Bangladesh’s history to make an annual profit of more than Tk 1,650 crore.

    The British international bank’s branch in Bangladesh made a profit of Tk 1,655 crore, while Islami Bank Bangladesh came in second with a profit of Tk 619 crore.

    Here, Brac Bank came in third with income of Tk 601 crore. After that, HSBC, Dutch-Bangla Bank, and Pubali Bank each gave Tk 588 crore, Tk 566 crore, and Tk 564 crore.

    In 2022, Eastern Bank, City Bank, Sonali Bank, and Prime Bank were also among the top ten banks that made the most money.

    —

  • Man stops bank robbery by hugging the suspect, says ‘love overcomes all’

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    Source: NDTV

    A Good Samaritan stopped a bank robbery in California, which is in the US. ABC News says that Michael Armus Sr. was at Bank of the West on Monday making a deposit when a guy walked in. The man, who had his face hidden with his shirt, gave a teller a note in which he said he had explosives and asked for money.

    Thank goodness, Mr. Armus recognized the suspect as a former neighbor and chose to talk to him to help.

    He went up to the man and asked, “What’s wrong?” He didn’t worry about his safety…. You don’t have a job?” The thief said, “There’s nothing for me in this town.” Nothing for me in this town. I only want to go to jail.

    Mr. Armus then talked the man into going outside, where he gave him a hug to make him feel better. So I took him outside and gave him a hug right here at the doors. He started crying, so I moved away from him, and all of a sudden, the police showed up. There are no alarms, only lights everywhere.”

    Eduardo Placensia, who is 42 years old, was taken into custody by Woodland police officers and taken to jail, where he was charged with trying to break into a house. Police say that he wasn’t armed like he said he was.

    —

  • Lost necklace found in Titanic wreckage after 111 years, AI to help find owner

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    Source: NDTV

    BBC said that 111 years after the Titanic sank, a necklace made from the tooth of a megalodon shark was found in the ruins of the ship. Magellan, a company based in Guernsey, used two submarines to make the first full-size digital scan of the luxury passenger ship that sank. This led to the finding.
    The project was the biggest underwater scan ever done. More than 700,000 pictures were taken from every point to make an exact 3D model.

    In one of the pictures, a Megalodon shark tooth was seen on a turquoise and gold necklace. Megalodon sharks are dead and were the biggest sharks that ever lived. But because of a deal that was already made, items cannot be taken from the wreckage.

    The company is now betting that a technology based on artificial intelligence (AI) will help find its owner and family members. They are using AI and face recognition to watch video of people getting on the ship in the hopes of seeing the owner of the jewelry. According to Independent, there were 2,200 people on the ship when it hit an iceberg and sank.

    The CEO of Magellan, Richard Parkinson, said in a statement that the find was “amazing, beautiful, and breath-taking.” He also said that the find was amazing because of how big the wreck site was.

    “What most people don’t know is that the Titanic is in two pieces, and between the bow and the stern is a three-square-mile field of wreckage. The team made a map of the field that was so detailed that we could see these things,” he said.

    On its first trip from Southampton, England, to New York in April 1912, the luxury passenger ship hit an iceberg and sank, killing more than 1,500 people. Since it was found in 1985 about 650 kilometers (400 miles) off the coast of Canada, the shipwreck has been looked at a lot, but cameras have never been able to get a full picture of the ship.

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  • North Korea jailed 2-year-old for life after catching parents with Bible

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    Source: Economic Times

    A complete family, including a two-year-old child, was sentenced to life in jail when a Bible was discovered in their hands. This terrible instance exemplifies the North Korean regime’s extraordinary tactics to crush religious freedom.

    According to a non-governmental organization (NGO) document, between 50,000 and 70,000 North Korean civilians have been imprisoned for “being Christians.”

    According to the North Korean defector-sourced NGO Korea Future, individuals arrested have been subjected to physical abuse, forced labor, and sexual violence.

    Although there are a few officially registered religious institutions in North Korea, such as churches, they function under strong state control and are frequently viewed as mere showcases for foreign tourists.

    Reports from non-governmental organizations give information on the level of religious persecution in North Korea. In October 2020, the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) published a white paper chronicling 1,411 incidences of religious persecution, including 126 deaths and 94 disappearances.

    According to an NKDB study of 14,832 North Korean defectors seeking safety in foreign countries, 99.6 percent of them said that religious activities were not tolerated in their native country. Only 2% of those polled said they had visited religious institutions.

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  • MP says he will commit suicide if BNP returns to power

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    Source: Dhaka Tribune

    Nazim Uddin Ahmed, a freedom fighter and MP from Mymensingh-3 (Gouripur), has threatened to commit suicide by self-poisoning if the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) regains power.

    On Saturday evening, the Awami League MP addressed a gathering in the Master Bari section of Bhutiyarkona village in Mymensingh’s Gouripur upazila, where he was campaigning for his party in the next parliamentary election.

    “The BNP martyred 3 million people and violated the honor of 200,000 women,” stated the freedom fighter. If they retake control, I shall commit suicide in front of you by ingesting poison as a freedom warrior.”

    “I don’t want to live if I hear the boat (the Awami League’s electoral symbol) has lost and Khaleda Zia has won.” “There’s no reason for me to live,” he explained.

    “If you do not vote for the boat, you will be betraying the nation, the 3 million martyrs, and the honor of 200,000 women.” As a result, I encourage you to vote for the boat in the upcoming election, giving Sheikh Hasina another chance and preventing war criminals Al-Badr and Khaleda Zia from regaining power,” he implored voters.

    —

  • India’s reputed audio and wearable brand ‘boAt’ now officially available in Bangladesh

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    Source: The Daily Star

    A well-known audio and wearables company from India called boAt has made a deal with DX Group to sell their goods in Bangladesh. Because of this, their goods can now be bought legally in Bangladesh.

    Bangladeshi conglomerate DX Group will sell boAt’s goods in all of the country’s major cities, such as Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Sylhet, and Barishal.

    There will be true wireless (TWS) earbuds, smartwatches, neckbands, headphones, speakers, charging, and more in the line-up. DX Group will also help boAt bring on local partners, get new customers, and grow its business.

    The company that owns boAt is called Imagine Marketing Ltd. It was started in 2013 and has a wide range of products, including music gear, smart wearables, personal grooming, and mobile accessories. The brand boAt was started by the company Imagine. It sells products with a focus on lifestyle at costs that young people can afford.

    DX is the name of a group of 12 businesses in Bangladesh that work together in the distribution, retail, and service areas. DX was started in 2011.

    —

  • PM Sheikh Hasina announces introduction of ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Peace Prize’

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    Source: The Financial Express

    Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Peace Prize will be created to honor people who work for peace at home and around the world.

    “We want peace, and we will definitely move in the direction of peace,” she said at a ceremony on Sunday to mark 50 years since Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was given the Joliot-Curie Peace Medal, according to UNB.

    The prime minister said in a strong voice that Bangladesh does not want any trouble or fights in the world.

    The event was put on at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC), and the PM was in charge.

    In her speech, Sheikh Hasina said that Bangladesh has made a lot of progress on the social and economic fronts in the last 14 years because it has been a peaceful, free country since 2008.

    She said that her party, the Awami League, which won the election in 2008 and formed the government in 2009, was to thank for the success.

    Hasina said that since her government got the people’s vote in 2008, it has been working in a planned way to help the country grow.

    “As a result, we’ve been able to lower the number of people living in poverty and die during childbirth, as well as improve literacy and life expectancy,” she said.

    “So, for the people to be economically free, they need a peaceful, stable environment,” she said. “Everyone needs to remember that.”

    —

  • Passenger opens plane door during flight in South Korea

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    Source: NBC News

    A passenger on a flight in South Korea opened an emergency exit door, which sent a blast of air into the plane and hurt a few people a little. The plane safely touched down.

    Some people on the Asiana Airlines Airbus A321 tried to stop the person, but the Transport Ministry said the person was able to partly open the door.

    From the southern island of Jeju, the plane carrying 194 people was flying to the city of Daegu in the southeast. An airline official told NBC News that the plane was about 200 metres (700 feet) above the ground when the event happened. The flight usually takes about an hour, and the plane was just about to land when it happened.

    Someone on board seems to have taken a video that was shared on social media. In it, you can see some passengers’ hair being blown around by the loud wind coming in through the open door, while others hold on to seats for support.

    The person who opened the door was taken into custody by police, the airline said. His reason wasn’t clear at first.

    Asiana and Transport Ministry officials said no one was hurt in the event, but some passengers were checked out at a hospital.

    “The plane was just a few minutes away from landing,” an Asiana Airlines employee named Han Jae Min said in a phone chat on Friday.

    “Nine people who were having trouble breathing were taken to a nearby hospital after landing, but we hear that they are doing well,” Han said.

    —

  • ”World’s Slowest Student” finally graduates after 54 years

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    Source: NDTV

    Arthur Ross started college more than 50 years ago, but it wasn’t until Thursday that he got his Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia (UBC). Mr. Ross, who is 71 years old, is the new record holder for taking the longest time to finish college. It took him 54 years to get his degree.
    “The headline of your story should say, ‘UBC finally graduates its slowest student,’” the 71-year-old retiree told UBC with a laugh.

    In 1969, Mr. Ross went to UBC. Mr. Ross told BBC, “I just wanted to learn because I was interested.” He said that his drive to learn was what made him go back to school after all these years.

    According to a press release from UBC, Mr. Ross’s original plan was to get a degree in English. However, by the end of his second year, his love for the theater had taken over, and he was spending as much time as possible in the theatre department, putting on shows and taking classes to become an actor.

    “At the time, I was crazy about theater. It had a sense of being alive and new at the time. Ross says, “It seemed so electric to me.” Ross would meet famous Canadian actors like Nicola Cavendish, Larry Lillo, Brent Carver, and Ruth Nichol in the area, which made him want to go into theater even more.

    Ross left UBC after two years to finish a three-year study at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal. He did this with stars in his eyes. But the actor’s life in the real world and his own evaluation of his skills led him to a sad conclusion.

    “It was too good. I knew it wouldn’t be good for me. I always thought you had to be great to be a good actress.

    So he did what any actor-wannabe in 1975 would have done if they thought they might be behind the times. Ross went to school for three years at UBC and then went to law school in Toronto. After he finished, he worked as a civil litigator in Metro Vancouver for 35 years before he retired in 2016.

    In November 2016, he called UBC and asked for a new student number. By January 2017, he was a part-time history student who was especially interested in the First World War.

    “I just couldn’t understand why so many people were willing to take part in this slaughter,” he says. “However, the big surprise of getting a history degree wasn’t finding the answer to that first question. It was seeing how sad Canadian history is.”

    “I’m glad the students don’t mind that an old man is listening in from space,” he told UBC.

    —

  • Gazipur couple sells their newborn to pay hospital bills, mobile court shuts down the hospital

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    Source: Dhaka Tribune

    A mobile court in Gazipur has told a hospital to stop working because a couple in Sreepur upazila had to sell their baby to pay their bills after they had a caesarean section.

    The thing happened at the New Asia Diagnostic Center in the Sreepur Chowrasta neighborhood. After people complained, the local government punished the hospital’s managers and told them to close the hospital on Friday.

    Priya and Rasel rent a house on the road between Sreepur and Kapasia. They also have two other girls, one who is four and the other who is five. Rasel is a day laborer and Priya is a housekeeper.

    Rasel said that he took his wife Priya to the New Asia Diagnostic Center last Sunday at 11 a.m. because she was having labor pains.

    After looking at his wife, the hospital’s head, Jahangir, suggested a caesarean section on the same day. He warned that if the surgery wasn’t done right away, complications could happen that could put both the mother and the baby in danger.

    Rasel told the hospital director that he didn’t have enough money to pay for the c-section. The director suggested that they sell their baby after the c-section was paid for, offering Tk50,000 for a boy and Tk30,000 for a girl.

    At 7 o’clock that night, Priya gave birth to a girl.

    On Monday, the hospital head sold the couple’s baby to someone she didn’t know.

    When Priya and Rasel asked Jahangir about the person, he didn’t tell them who they were.

    Later, he gave the couple Tk14,000, saying that he had sold their baby for Tk30,000 and that Tk16,000 had been taken out to pay for the hospital bills.

    Wednesday, word got out that the baby was for sale, which created a stir in the area.

    When local reporters went to the hospital to find out more, they tried to lie and avoid answering questions.

    Jahangir said that the surgery was done with the couple’s permission and that they sold their baby to pay for the hospital bills.

    When Sreepur Assistant Commissioner (Land) Al Mamun heard about what happened, he said he held a mobile court at the New Asia Diagnostic Centre on Friday and fined the hospital Tk5,000.

    He also said that because of the hospital’s wrongdoing, the mobile court told all of its operations to stop.

    Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Abdul Bari at the Sreepur police station said they found out about the event on Wednesday night and started looking into it right away.

    Even though this hasn’t been turned into a case yet, the OC said that police are looking into it carefully and have already gathered some information.

    Once a case is made, he said, the right steps will be taken.

    —

  • Nike, Adidas, Puma materials set to be manufactured in Bangladeshi factories

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    Source: Prothom Alo

    Join Win (Bangladesh) Limited, which is owned by China, will make shoe parts or extras in Bangladesh. The company will make materials for well-known shoe names like Nike, Adidas, Puma, Caterpillar, etc.

    The Join Win plant will be built in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpanagar in the Bepza Economic Zone. At an exchange rate of 105 taka per dollar, the company will put in 1 million US dollars, which is about 105 crore taka. About 900 Bangladeshi people will be able to get jobs because of it.

    Yesterday, a deal was made about this at the capital’s executive office of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA). Ali Reza Majid, a member of Bepza (Investment Development), and Xu Taihui, the Managing Director of Join Win (Bangladesh), signed the agreement on behalf of their groups.

    A news release from Bepza says that the fully modern and automated factory will make 7 million pairs of shoe accessories every year. There are PU insoles, PU midsoles, PU outsoles, TPU outsoles, rubber outsoles, and PU insoles with open cells.

    Bepza also said that Join Win has been in this business for 30 years and has plants in six different countries around the world.

    So far, 18 local and international companies have signed contracts to set up businesses in the Bepza Economic Zone. This zone is part of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Industrial Park in Mirsrai and has an area of 1,138 acres. The total amount they want to spend is about $41 million USD. Bepza plans to start sending goods out of the Bepza Economic Zone by the end of this year.

    —

  • TW: Four kittens found with throats slit near DU campus pond, students protest cat cruelty at DU

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    Source: Dhaka Tribune

    After two different rooms at Dhaka University killed cats, students started to speak out against cruelty to cats on campus.

    Before, the throats of four kittens were cut near the pond of Bangabandhu hall, and the body of a cat was found at Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib hall.

    In this case, Jahid Hasan, a resident of Kabi Jashim Uddin Hall, said, “Yesterday on my way to class, I saw those kittens playing in the hall yard, so I wrote a post on Facebook so that someone could adopt them. But I forgot to give the post after that. When I saw a post on Facebook about those dead kittens this morning (Friday), I was shocked.”

    General students also spoke out against abuse to cats and called for the killer to be punished after being found.

    Asif Mahmud, a graduate student at Dhaka University, said, “As far as I know, there is no board that regulates cats or dogs.” If the number of cats is getting bigger, it needs to be managed in a planned way. Killing is never the answer. Whoever killed these kittens must have been crazy, because no one else could cut the throats of such cute animals.

    “I think DU should pay attention to these animals and set up a group to care for them at the university,” he said.

    —

  • Pakistan needs to learn from Bangladesh, says Imran Khan

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    Source: The Financial Express

    Imran Khan, who used to be Pakistan’s prime minister, said that Bangladesh has come a long way from Pakistan and that the country can teach us something.

    “When a country stands up for freedom and its rights, when justice settles in people’s hearts, it doesn’t matter what you do, not even military actions. He said, “Because the seed of justice and freedom is in us.”

    In a live talk that was streamed on YouTube on Friday, Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, asked for talks with all state institutions right away to find a way to put Pakistan on the path to growth.

    “Pakistan is on the verge of a disaster because hyperinflation is just around the corner. But the current masters don’t seem to care much because they have hidden the stolen money abroad,” he said from his home in Lahore’s Zaman Park.

    Reuters says that Imran Khan, who says that corruption charges are made up, is in a fight with Pakistan’s powerful military. Throughout Pakistan’s past, the military has either ruled directly or supervised civilian governments.

    Khan was arrested and put in jail on May 9. This led to a lot of protests by his followers and made people worry about the stability of the country, which has nuclear weapons and is going through its worst economic crisis in decades.

    In the end, he was let out on bail.

    In the video speech, Mr. Khan said that his call for dialogue shouldn’t be seen as a sign of weakness. He also said that hurting the people of Pakistan physically and financially was not the answer. “The problems of the country will be solved when state institutions do what they are supposed to do,” he said.

    “Every time I ask for a conversation, the people in power think I’m getting weaker, so they start to do more bad things to PTI leaders and workers in an attempt to destroy the party,” he said. He said that no government could get rid of an idea that had been taught to the young people of the land.

    He also told the people in charge to be careful because if they try to crush the PTI, they could end up destroying the country. “No political party has ever seen its leaders do something so cruel,” he said.

    Mr. Khan said that the country had already turned into a banana republic, which is a poor country with a weak government that lives on money from other countries. He said this because the leaders did not even follow court orders to hold elections.

    —

  • Sony unveils new handheld gaming device and gaming earbuds

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    Source: The Daily Star

    At the recent PlayStation Showcase, which was a much-anticipated event, Sony took the center stage and announced a number of innovative gaming devices that are sure to please players all over the world. “Project Q,” a long-rumored game streaming device that claims to change the way gamers play their favorite games, was one of the most exciting things that was shown.

    Project Q has a small 8-inch screen and controller attachments on both sides, just like the well-known DualSense joystick. This clever design makes it possible for gamers to play their favorite games anywhere, at any time. In The Last of Us, players fight hordes of infected, and in other highly praised games, they go on epic quests. Players will finally be able to enjoy these immersive experiences even from the comfort of their bathrooms. Sony’s Project Q easily stands out from rivals like the Steam Deck, making sure that gaming is smooth and reliable.

    Even though we don’t know much about the software on Project Q yet, we hope that the device will have a lot more to give than just the ability to connect to the PlayStation 5 (PS5). Fans are looking forward to the possibility of standalone features, which would let users use the device’s features without having to be constantly connected to their PS5 devices. People have also wondered if the famous PS Now service could be used to stream games, which would make the device even more appealing and useful.

    Sony also released a set of cutting-edge, truly wireless earbuds for gamers, in addition to the amazing Project Q. These game earbuds are made to work well with both the PS5 and the PC, and they promise to take the audio experience to a whole new level. Even though there isn’t much known about the earbuds right now, it is believed that they will give players playing their favorite games on the upcoming Project Q and other compatible devices a great audio experience.

    —

  • Shakira is ‘begging’ Tom Cruise to stop hitting on her

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    Source: The Daily Star

    Shakira and Tom Cruise recently crossed paths at the Miami Grand Prix, but it seems that love is not in the cards for them. According to The Mirror, Tom Cruise was completely smitten by Shakira, the talented singer known for her hit song “The Hips Don’t Lie.” After their meetup, the actor believed that there was a deep connection between them and expressed his desire to explore it further. He even compared his feelings to when he first started dating his ex-wife, Katie Holmes.

    In an attempt to impress Shakira, Tom Cruise sent her flowers, hoping to win her over. However, sources close to Shakira have revealed a different side of the story. They claim that Shakira was simply being friendly towards Tom and that he was making assumptions in his own head, mistakenly thinking that she shared his romantic interest. While Shakira appreciates his persuasion and finds it flattering, she has made it clear that she is not interested in him romantically.

    Despite Tom Cruise’s efforts, Shakira did not feel any attraction or spark towards him. She didn’t want to embarrass or upset him, so she continued to be friendly, but her intentions were purely platonic. Shakira remains uninterested in pursuing a romantic relationship with Tom Cruise, as she does not find him attractive in that way.

    —

  • Police constable commits suicide at Banani check post, shoots himself in the chest

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    Source: Dhaka Tribune

    Police say that a police officer killed himself while on duty in a bathroom at a police checkpoint in Banani in the city.

    Ashrafuzzaman Roni, who was a police officer, was found dead. He worked for the ASTF Company in the Public Order Management (POM) South Division. He lived in Mirpur Police Lines before.

    Since the morning, he had been working at the Banani 11 police checkpoint.

    The police said that he killed himself by shooting himself in the chest with the gun that was given to him.

    As soon as Roni went into the bathroom at the checkpoint, his friends heard a gunshot.

    When they opened the door, Roni was laying on the floor, covered in blood.

    Roni was brought to the emergency room of Dhaka Medical College (DMCH) Hospital around 8 a.m., where he was in a very bad way. The duty doctor examined him and pronounced him dead.

    Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Banani police station Md Mostafizur Rahman said that Roni, a constable, killed himself by shooting himself in the chest with the gun he was given around 6:50 a.m. when he went to the bathroom at Banani check post no. 11.

    But no one knows for sure why he killed himself yet.

    Ashrafuzzaman Roni lived in the village of Chandrapara in the upazila of Dhamrai in the district of Dhaka until he died.

    In 2020, he became a constable in the police force.

    —

  • India uses image of ‘Patuakhali Park’ to showcase their development in Kashmir

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    Source: Dhaka Tribune

    In a surprising turn of events, a picture that was widely shared before the G20 Summit as a sign of progress in Indian-controlled Kashmir has been shown to be fake.

    The picture was said to be of a changed Boulevard Road in Srinagar, but it turned out to be a picture of the Jhautola area of Patuakhali.

    Several people and government agencies in India, such as the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) in Budgam and Jammu and Kashmir, shared the photo and praised it as proof of the city’s growth. Even India’s Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture, Meenakshi Lekhi, liked the tweet.

    Wajahat Farooq Bhat, the head of a local NGO, also shared the picture with the same claim, but he has since taken it down. Aquib Mir and others shared the picture on social media, saying that it was from Boulevard Road in Srinagar and that it had been fixed up to welcome G20 delegates.

    But when a reverse image search was done, it was found that the picture had been used as the display picture on a Facebook page for the growth of Jhautola Park in Patuakhali.

    Jhautola Park is a place for fun and relaxation in the town of Patuakhali. The park is meant to be a place for people to have fun and help the area grow.

    Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who is in charge of planning the G20 event, praised how Srinagar has changed, pointing out how awareness efforts and the arrival of guests have helped.

    He said that he thought the meeting would help Jammu and Kashmir’s economy get back on its feet, especially in terms of ecotourism, adventure tourism, and sustainable tourism.

    As the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting gets closer, the incident with the misleading picture has made people question whether or not Indian officials’ claims about progress in Kashmir are true.

    —

  • Netflix will now charge US $7.99 monthly for sharing passwords

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    Source: The Daily Star

    Netflix recently made it harder for people to share their passwords with people outside of their close family. This is because Netflix wants to make more money by charging US $7.99 a month for people to share their passwords.

    “One household can use one Netflix account,” the company said in a statement.

    Netflix said at the beginning of this year that more than 100 million households shared Netflix accounts. This made it harder for Netflix to spend in great new TV shows and movies.

    Netflix has tried out “borrower” or “shared” accounts in a few markets. With these accounts, subscribers can add more users for a higher price or move their watching profiles to different accounts. It just said that the policy would be applied in more than 100 countries.

    Netflix’s growth slowed down last year, so the company, which is based in Silicon Valley, tried to get people who watched for free with shared passwords to start paying for the service without making customers angry.

    —

  • Bangladesh, a happier nation than Canada, Pakistan, India

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    Source: The Daily Star

    A well-known economist from the United States’ Johns Hopkins University has found that Bangladesh is the happiest country in Asia. It is happier than Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, and even India.

    The professor of applied economics looked at how happy or unhappy people were in 157 countries around the world. He found that Bangladesh is even better than Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Finland, Bahrain, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and Sweden.

    Steve H. Hanke used figures on the country’s unemployment rate at the end of the year (multiplied by two), inflation, and bank lending rates, minus the annual percentage change in real gross domestic product per capita, to create the Hanke’s Annual Misery Index (HAMI).

    In the most recent report for 2022, Bangladesh was ranked 115th, while India was ranked 103rd, Nepal 63rd, Myanmar 39th, Pakistan 35th, and Sri Lanka 11th.

    The Hanke’s Annual Misery Index (HAMI) says that a country is happy the higher it ranks and more miserable the lower it ranks.

    Bangladesh got a score of 20.107 on the misery index, and Hanke said that unemployment is the main reason why the country can’t be the best country in the world.

    India got a score of 22.58, and unemployment is also a big cause of the country’s problems.

    With a score of 414.7, Zimbabwe won the index and became the worst country in the world. The HAMI says that triple-digit inflation is the biggest problem for the Zimbabwean economy.

    Professor Hanke says that Venezuela, which was once thought to be one of the richest countries in the world, is now mostly suffering from hyperinflation and is the second worst place to live in the world.

    Vietnam and China, two major players in the global clothing business, have done much better than Bangladesh.

    Vietnam was ranked 139th with a score of 14.839, while China was 142nd with a score of 13.1.

    Switzerland is the happiest country in the world and has the lowest HAMI score.

    Hanke said, “The Swiss debt brake is one reason for that.” The debt brake has been very effective. Switzerland is not like most countries in that its debt-to-GDP ratio has been going down over the last 20 years.

    The second, third, fourth, and fifth happiest countries in the world are Kuwait, Ireland, Japan, and Malaysia, respectively.

    Hanke said that Arthur Okun, a well-known economist who was head of the Council of Economic Advisers when President Johnson was in office, came up with the idea for the misery index.

    Okun made the first version of the suffering index for the US. Okun’s measure is the same as the sum of the unemployment rate and the inflation rate.

    Robert Barro, a professor at Harvard, later changed Okun’s index. He added the 30-year government bond rate and the output gap for real GDP to the misery index. Barro’s index was a way to measure how bad things got during a president’s time in office.

    Hanke changed Barro’s version of the misery index even more by changing the output gap with the growth rate of real GDP per capita and the 30-year government bond yield with lending rates.

    —

  • From ‘Happily Married’ to ‘Happily Taxed’: Dhaka dwellers might have to pay taxes to get married

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    Source: The Daily Star

    People who want to get married in the southern part of Dhaka city are about to have a little more trouble than normal. Those who are getting married for the first time can relax, but those who are getting married for the second, third, or fourth time should be worried.

    In order to raise more money, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) wants to put a tax on weddings. The tax will be collected according to the Municipal Corporations (Taxation) Rules of 1986.

    Ariful Haque, the chief revenue officer of DSCC, said that the tax is expected to be put in place at the start of the next financial year.

    “This will be done in line with the 1986 Act. Even though the act gives the city corporation the right to charge this tax, it couldn’t be done for a number of reasons. “We are now moving toward putting it into place,” he said.

    Rule 50 of the Municipal Corporations (Taxation) Rules of 1986 says, “When it has been decided with the prior approval of the Government that a tax on marriage should be imposed, the City Corporation shall, at a meeting, determine the rate of tax not to exceed the amount specified in the Model Tax Schedules.”

    The 2016 City Corporation Model Tax Schedule has different tax rates for a person’s first, second, third, and fourth marriages.

    In Section 152 of the Schedule, it says, “For the first marriage or marriage after the death of the first wife, the groom will pay Tk 100.”

    The husband will pay Tk 5,000 for the second marriage during the first wife’s life, and Tk 20,000 for the third marriage during the lives of the first two wives.

    The Schedule says that the man will pay Tk 50,000 for the fourth marriage.

    If the wife is emotionally unstable or doesn’t have any children, these rules don’t apply. Instead, the groom will have to pay Tk 200.

    The DSCC initiative has been accepted by the law ministry, which is in charge of marriage registration right now. It has already sent a letter to the office of the Registrar General, Birth and Death Registration of both city companies.

    Mokbul Hossain, who is in charge of public relations for the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), said that there is no plan to charge people a marriage tax.

    —

  • Bride chases groom over 20km in wedding attire after groom runs away and gets married

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    Source: NDTV

    A bride in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, had a surprising experience on her wedding day when her groom got cold feet and refused to get married. Instead of accepting this rejection, the determined bride, dressed in her wedding attire, went on a pursuit spanning over 20 kilometers to find him and marry him.

    When she received the news that her groom, with whom she had been in a relationship for two-and-a-half years, was not going to show up at the wedding venue, she took matters into her own hands and decided to search for him. Despite his claim over a phone call that he had gone to bring his mother to the venue, she didn’t believe him.

    Eventually, they found the groom on a bus near a police station outside Bareilly city limits. The following two hours were filled with dramatic exchanges. Eventually, the bride, her family, and the groom’s family took him to a temple.

    The groom’s family eventually agreed to the marriage, and the couple was wedded at a temple outside Bareilly city. Videos of the ceremony depict the groom, now dressed in regular clothes, going through the marriage rituals while their families watched.

    The bride received praise for her bravery in “saving her marriage,” while the man was criticized by both families and onlookers for “running away from the responsibility of marriage” after making a promise to marry the girl.

    —

  • BTS’ V set to make his debut in Cannes Film Festival

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    Source: The Daily Star

    Kim Taehyung, better known as BTS member V, is getting ready to make his long-awaited debut on the red carpet of the famous Cannes Film Festival. Monday, the international artist revealed on his Instagram stories that he would be on the red carpet at Cannes 2023, representing a well-known luxury brand.

    V posted a picture of a sign that said, “Welcome to Cannes! We look forward to seeing you. Warmest, Peter Utz.” In the second shot, V was sitting on the beautiful French Riviera with Peter Utz while wearing a stylish leopard-print shirt and black pants.

    Taehyung’s exciting showing at Cannes comes after news that BLACKPINK’s Jennie will also be there this year. BTS V and Jennie were said to have been seen walking around Paris holding hands, which made people wonder if they were dating.

    In the meantime, V has been hard at work on his first solo record, which will come out later this year and is very much anticipated. As he starts his solo career, the talented musician is likely to make songs that fans will love.

    —

  • Six Bangladeshi peacekeepers to be honoured posthumously at UN HQ

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    Source: The Daily Star

    On Thursday, the 75th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping, six Bangladeshi soldiers who died in the line of duty will be given the Dag Hammarskjold medal.

    The International Day of UN Peacekeepers will be celebrated at the UN Headquarters on that day.

    The six Bangladeshi peacekeepers who are among the 103 awardees are: Sainik MD Sharif Hossain, Sainik MD Jahangir Alam, and Sainik MD Jasim, who served with the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA); LCPL Kafil Majum DER, who served with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS); SGT MD Manjur Rahman, who served with the UN Interim Security

    According to the UN Information Centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh sends the most armed people to help keep the peace for the UN.

    It sends more than 7,200 soldiers and police officers to Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Mali, South Sudan, and the Western Sahara to help keep the peace there.

    In 1948, an important decision was made to send military monitors to the Middle East to watch how the Israel-Arab Armistice Agreements were carried out. This was the start of what would become the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization.

    Since then, more than 2 million peacekeepers from 125 countries have served in 71 actions around the world.

    At the moment, 87,000 men and women are serving in 12 war zones in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

    Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is going to lay a wreath at the United Nations Headquarters during a formal ceremony to honor the more than 4,200 UN troops who have died since 1948.

    He will also be in charge of a ceremony in the General Assembly Hall where 103 military, police, and citizen peacekeepers who died last year while working for the UN will be given Dag Hammarskjold Medals.

    In 2002, the UN General Assembly set up the International Day of UN Peacekeepers as a way to honor all the men and women who work in policing and to remember those who have died for the sake of peace.

    —

  • Construction of Bangladesh’s first underground metro line begins in July

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    Source: Dhaka Tribune

    A bilateral deal has been made with the contractor to start contract package-1 (land development of depot area) of Bangladesh’s first underground metro line, MRT line-5, on the Uttara route. The work is likely to start in July.

    On Tuesday, the deal was signed by Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), TOA Corporation (Japan), and Spectra Engineers Limited (Bangladesh) at DMTCL Bhaban in the capital’s Uttara.

    In order to finish MRT Line-5 from Hemayetpur to Bhatara by 2028, 10 contract deals have been set up. As part of this, a land development work deal for the depot area was signed on Tuesday as part of contract package-1.

    This package will be worked on by TOA Corporation (Japan) and Spectra Engineers Limited (Bangladesh), as per the deal. Also, actions related to processing bids for other packages are being done at different stages.

    From Hemayetpur to Bhatara, this project will build a metro train line that is 13.50 km underground and 6.50 km above ground. In between, there will be 14 stops for people to get on and off (nine underground and five above ground).

    MRT Line 5 goes from Hemayetpur to Boliarpur to Bilamalia to Amin Bazar and Gabtoli. From there, it will go through Darus Salam-Mirpur 1-Mirpur 10-Mirpur 14, Kachukhet, and Banani to get to Banani.

    The line will then go through Gulshan 2 and Natun Bazar on its way to Bhatara. From Hemayetpur to Amin Bazar and Bhatara, this part of the metro train will be above ground. From Gabtoli to Natun Bazar, there will be underground metro train.

    The Road Transport and Highways Division has projected that the MRT Line-5 project will cost Tk41,238.55 crore. Out of this, Tk12,121.50 crore will come from the Government of Bangladesh (GOB), and Tk29,117.5 crore will come from project aid.

    The Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will pay for the project.

    —

  • AI reimagines Bangladeshi actors as superheroes

    Source: The Daily Star

    In recent years, the world has been amazed by how quickly Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been making progress. Deepfakes, DALL-E 2, ChatGPT, and other related developments have sparked a lot of debate about the ethics of AI, its possible uses, and where it’s headed in the future.

    Now, a creative Facebook user named Kazi Shahriar Ahmed used AI methods while he was traveling to make pictures of the biggest stars in Dhallywood dressed as superheroes. People on social media are interested in what he comes up with.

    The ad showed four pictures of Jaya Ahsan, Arifin Shuvoo, Bidya Sinha Saha Mim, and Shakib Khan that were very beautiful. He also asked his followers a question that made them think: “If Bangladesh had a Superhero Cinematic Universe, what superpowers would you want them to have?”

    In the pictures, Jaya Ahsan’s short purple hair gave her a fierce look, while Bidya Sinha Mim’s short blue pixie cut gave her a foreign look.

    The creative use of AI technology in these images has brought the idea of Bangladeshi superheroes to life, opening up a world of possibilities and fueling fans’ imaginations.

    —

  • Team from Bangladesh qualifies for World Cup of Pokémon

    Source: The Daily Star

    A team from Bangladesh has qualified for the World Cup of Pokémon, a worldwide online tournament put on by Smogon, the biggest competitive Pokémon community in the world.

    At this year’s World Cup of Pokémon qualifiers, more than 200 players from 17 teams competed for the last three spots in the major knockout series. Each team represented a country or continent. Each player played two opponents, and the top three teams, based on their total score, moved on to the main game.

    Team Bangladesh did the best in the qualifiers, beating countries like the UK, China, Brazil, Argentina, Greece, and South Korea with a 12-4 record. Starting on June 4, Team Bangladesh will be in the main rounds of the tournament with 15 other teams from the US, Latin America, Oceania, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, and more.

    This tournament is being held by Smogon, an online community that runs and promotes a number of large-scale competitive Pokémon tournaments every year. About 18.5 million people visit their website every month. The matches are played on Pokémon Showdown, a browser-based game where anyone can make their own Pokémon teams and face each other. Every month, more than 10 million matches are played on Pokémon Showdown. There are more than 100 current formats, and each has its own sub-community.

    As of May 2021, Pokémon is the most profitable media brand in the world, with a total income of $76.4 billion. Since November 18, 2022, when Pokémon Scarlet and Violet came out for Nintendo Switch, they have sold more than 22 million pieces.

    Even though The Pokémon Company International and Nintendo host official Pokémon events called VGC (Video Game Championships), they are usually hard for Bangladeshis to get to because they are held all over the world. So, online fan groups like Smogon hold tournaments that anyone from anywhere in the world can join by using a browser-based simulator.

    Bangladesh is trying for the 5th time to get past the qualifying round for the World Cup of Pokémon. The team members are all members of a Facebook group called “Bangladeshi Pokémon Battlers.” Since its start in 2012, this group has been a hub for local Pokémon fans and professional players.

    —

  • Popular Korean TV show ‘Squid Games’ getting its own reality show

    Source: The Daily Star

    Fans of the popular Netflix show “Squid Game” are eagerly waiting for the second season, but the show itself is getting its own reality show this year. “Squid Game: The Challenge” is the name of the television show based on the original show.

    Media sources say that “Squid Game: The Challenge” will have 456 contestants play different games based on the original “Squid Game” series, plus many new games, for a grand prize of $4.56 million.

    Stephen Lambert, Tim Harcourt, John Hay, and Toni Ireland, among others, will be in charge of this reality show version of the “Squid Game” series that doesn’t involve killing.

    The first episode of “Squid Game: The Challenge” is set to air on Netflix in November. But there hasn’t been an official date set for the reality show yet.

    —

  • Digital Security Act set to be amended, says Law Minister

    Source: Prothom Alo

    Sunday, the law minister, Anisul Huq, said that the Digital Security Act will be changed in order to stop people from misusing it. This was reported by UNB.

    “The Digital Security Act was not passed or is not being used to control freedom of speech or the media. Several things have already been done to stop people from abusing the rule. As part of these answers, the Digital Security Act will be changed in a few ways,” he said.

    The minister said these things at a meeting in the Mohakhali neighborhood of the city called “Digital Security Law in Bangladesh and Freedom of Expression.” The program was put together by the UN’s Coordinating Office in Bangladesh and Brac University.

    The government talked with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Office for a long time about the DSA and got some ideas, which are now being looked at, the minister said.

    “Women are often abused online, and this is something that needs to be fixed. “The digital space will not be used in a way that hurts the reputation of the country, the government, or any individual,” Anisul Huq said.

    The minister also said, “We need to protect our national interests and those who are targeted by digital threats and are most likely to be hurt by them. We need a DSA because of this.”

    So, there is no chance that this law will be changed, the law minister said. “However, changes to the law are being looked at.” It needs to be thought about.”

    —

  • US Embassy in Dhaka warns citizens to exercise caution ahead of general election

    Source: Prothom Alo

    Before the next general election, which will happen before or in January 2024, the US embassy in Dhaka told all US people living in the country to be careful.

    Sunday, the embassy sent out a news release called “Demonstration Alert” with an important message.

    In the release, the embassy asked US citizens to be careful because peaceful protests can turn violent if they turn confrontational.

    So, they are asked to stay away from protests and be careful around big gatherings. They are also asked to review their personal security plans, stay aware of their surroundings, including local events, and listen to local news stations for updates.

    It also said that political rallies and other events connected to the election had already started. As the general election gets closer, political gatherings and protests may happen more often or with more force.

    —

  • Spain set to launch app to track men’s contribution to household work

    Source: NDTV

    In order to get men to help out more at home, Spain plans to release an app that will keep track of how much time each person of a household or family spends doing housework. Angela Rodriguez, Spain’s Secretary of State for Equality, told The Guardian about the change, which is seen as a way to improve gender equality.
    She says that the goal is to bring attention to the hidden “mental load” that women carry when it comes to doing housework.The plan was announced Tuesday in Geneva at a meeting of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

    She told the UN Committee, “We’ll soon be releasing an app that lets people keep track of the chores that different family members do around the house. This way, we can see how many hours each of us spends doing housework and change the way we do it.”

    She said that the new software, which cost a total of 2,11,750 euros to make, was made to make sure that every family member did their part. She also said, “We think this is an activity that could be used at home to figure out how to divide up chores between sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, flatmates, or life partners, since these tasks aren’t always split up evenly.” The app will work like Splitwise, which lets people split the cost of going out to eat or other costs.

    Ms. Rodriguez said that the app will “bring to light all the invisible jobs that are necessary for a house to run well.” She gave the example that it could take 20 minutes to clean the kitchen, but it all depended on whether someone had made a shopping list or remembered to get dish soap.

    Later, she wrote on Twitter, “All of those who are offended by the housework app are really offended by the idea that they might have to start helping out around the house.”

    —

  • Ex-Nepalese soldier with artificial legs conquers Everest, creates history

    Source: NDTV

    An official said on Saturday that an ex-British Gurkha soldier with two prosthetic legs climbed Mt. Everest. He made history by being the first person in his group to climb the world’s highest peak with prosthetic legs.
    Hari Budhamagar, who is 43 years old, reached the top of the 8848.86-meter peak late Friday afternoon.

    “Ex-soldier Hari Budhamagar made history on Friday when he became the first person with his condition to reach the top of Mt. Everest,” a Department of Tourism official said. Budhamagar, who lost both of his legs in the war in Afghanistan while fighting for the UK government as a British Gorkha soldier in 2010, climbed Mt. Everest with prosthetic legs.

    He had planned to climb Mt. Everest in 2018, but he had to change his plans after the government made a rule that blind, double-amputee, and solo hikers couldn’t climb mountains, including Everest, in 2017.

    A petition was brought against the ban, and in response, the Supreme Court issued an order in 2018 that cancelled the rule. This made it possible for Budhamagar to make history.

    On Sunday, five people from outside of Nepal reached the top of Mount Everest.

    This spring, Nepal gave out a high number of permits to climb Mount Everest: 466.

    Nepal has eight of the ten highest mountains in the world.

    —

  • ‘Deora’ breaks YouTube records, goes international

    Source: The Daily Star

    The fifth song of the second season of Coke Studio Bangla, “Deora,” came out on May 7 and has been the most popular thing on YouTube ever since. Incredibly, the song got over 21 million views in just 11 days, which was a new record for the site.

    Before, “Bhaber Pagal” by Nigar Sumi and Jalali Set had 24 million views, making it the most watched song on Coke Studio Bangla.

    But it’s important to remember that this song came out a year ago, while “Deora” got a crazy 21 million views in just 11 days. It is rare for any Bengali song, not just Coke Studio Bangla, to become so popular so quickly.

    When “Deora” came out, it quickly went to the top of YouTube’s popular list and stayed there for a few days. As of right now, it is still a strong rival. It is currently the third most popular video on YouTube. The crowd doesn’t seem to be getting tired of the song.

    “Deora” is popular outside of Bangladesh, which is an interesting fact. The song has gotten a lot of interest in India, and it’s even been heard in Tanzania, which is in Africa.

    Kili Paul, a popular African content maker, used the song in a TikTok video that got over 1.2 million views in just one day. Also, social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are still full of reels, videos, and other artistic works that were inspired by the song. This huge number of responses shows how much of an impact the song has had on the internet.

    “Deora” is a great mix of modern and traditional music. It was written by Fazlu Majhi and played by Pritom Hasan, Islam Uddin Palakar, and the Ghaashphoring Choir.

    A few new lines have been added to the original song, and Pritom himself wrote the new parts.

    —

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