Author: Arif ArifArman

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The meeting between Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday has garnered significant interest, especially in view of the heightened focus on the Doklam issue, The Bhutan Live reported. The discussions between the two top leaders were hailed as “warm and productive,” and they produced a broad five-point roadmap for advancing India’s “time-tested” ties with Bhutan. The Doklam problem was not specifically mentioned, but it is obvious that it is still a crucial area for India’s strategic interests. The five-point plan by the two leaders includes cooperation in a variety of areas,…

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday (April 05, 2023) said the government will assist the Bangabazar businesspeople as much as possible after estimating the damages caused by Tuesday’s fire. “I’ve already assured that we will help them as much as we can. We’ll assess who incurred how much loss,” she said addressing an event at her official residence Ganabhaban. The event was arranged to receive Tk 316.91 crore as first and second installments of the loan provided by the government for construction of Padma Bridge. Road Transport and Bridge Minister Obaidul Quader handed over a cheque of Tk…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: United States “strongly oppose” China’s attempts to advance a claim over Indian territory, Arunachal Pradesh by renaming localities, the White House said on Tuesday. “This is another attempt by the Chinese claim on us, Indian territory. So the United States, as you know, has recognized that territory for a long time and we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance a territory claim by renaming localities. And so, again, this is something that we have long stood by a few things,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. This statement came after China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs standardised…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Bhutan on Wednesday appreciated India for extending Standby Credit Facility at the reduced interest rate and extended settlement period, and for providing an additional currency swap support of USD 200 million, according to India-Bhutan joint statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs. India also agreed to positively consider Bhutan’s request to extend an additional Standby Credit Facility (SCF) for a period of five years, it said. Bhutan also noted with satisfaction the timely flow of funds from the Government of India (GoI) to ensure smooth and uninterrupted progress of projects under the 12th Five Year Plan with…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India’s power generation grew at the fastest pace in over three decades in the just-ended fiscal year, a Reuters analysis of government data showed, fuelling a sharp surge in emissions as output from both coal-fired and renewable plants hit records. Intense summer heatwaves, a colder-than-usual winter in northern India and an economic recovery led to a jump in electricity demand, forcing India to crank up output from coal plants and solar farms as it scrambled to avoid power cuts. Power generation rose 11.5% to 1,591.11 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), or units, in the fiscal year ended March 2023, an…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India wants to have a seat at the table vetting overseas mergers and acquisitions as the country asserts itself on the global tech stage. If the country’s internet population is anything to go by, it is about time. Earlier this week, India authorized its antitrust regulator to parse global deals by approving amendments to the competition law, which includes a requirement for companies with substantial business operations in the South Asian nation to seek antitrust permissions for all deals exceeding 20 billion Indian rupees ($244 million) in transaction value. Until now, the Competition Commission of India examined deals…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Twitter Inc faced a lawsuit on Tuesday accusing the social media giant of illegally laying off contract workers without notice after Elon Musk bought the company last year, the latest action stemming from its massive job cuts. The proposed class action, filed in San Francisco federal court, claims Twitter in November laid off numerous workers employed by staffing firm TEKsystems Inc without the 60 days of advance notice required by US and California law. Five other cases are pending in the same court accusing Twitter of violating those laws, targeting female workers for layoffs and discriminating against employees…

TECHNOLOGY DESK: Alphabet Inc’s Google released on Tuesday new details about the supercomputers it uses to train its artificial intelligence models, saying the systems are both faster and more power-efficient than comparable systems from Nvidia Corp, news agency Reuters reported. Google has designed its own custom chip called the Tensor Processing Unit, or TPU. It uses those chips for more than 90% of the company’s work on artificial intelligence training, the process of feeding data through models to make them useful at tasks such as responding to queries with human-like text or generating images. The Google TPU is now in…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Ukraine war is turning out to be a pivotal moment in the transition from a unipolar world. We may or may not yet be a multipolar world but among the old certainties that have crumbled is the ability for major Western developed countries to build and maintain the narrative of consensus that they seek on issues that matter to them. It is now certainly clear that while few in the world wish for war, especially war that could potentially involve nuclear exchange, few have bought, in its entirety, the Western version of the war in Ukraine. More…

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Ratna (not real name) and her classmate Shafiul Islam Safi of a madrasha student in Paba upazila in the district. Shafi opened a fake facebook ID after using the name and photograph of Ratna and sent her photo to messengers of different persons through the fake ID. Sensing the matter Ratna had lodged a complaint with Paba Police Station for her own security. Subsequently, the case came to the Rajshahi Divisional Cyber Tribunal upon completion of the legal procedures. After examining the recorded depositions of the prosecution witnesses and other relevant evidence the tribunal convicted and sentenced Shafi…

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said the global and individual country’s efforts need to be streamlined through responsive policy, planning and governance, to make the actions regarding climate change issue successful. “Since origins of the climate change are global, their solution and management would also have to be global,” she said. The prime minister came up with this view while delivering her pre-recorded speech in the two day 5th International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. The International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI) is the annual conference of Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and its partners.…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Several foreign delegates who attended the Employment Working Group Meeting in Guwahati under India’s G20 presidency on Monday thanked the government and the people for the warm hospitality. A three-day Employment Working Group Meeting was organised in Guwahati, Assam, which began on Monday and will continue till April 5. Many foreign G-20 delegates, who reached Guwahati, in a conversation with ANI, thanked the Indian government for the hospitality they received upon reaching the country. Deputy Director General for Foreign Relations to the Ministry of Labour for the Republic of Turkey, Ali Aybey said, “I would like to thank…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy on Monday said India has decided to work closely with other Central Asian countries on cultural exchanges and to strengthen age-old cultural linkages to bind the people of the region together. It has been decided that the participating countries will organize a culture program of one country in another, to showcase the culture of all the countries together. The minister on Monday virtually hosted the first India-Central Asia Culture Ministers’ Meeting. “This was the first meeting. In the coming days, we have decided to work closely with other central Asian countries on…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Keeping up the high tempo of bilateral and mutual cooperation in the maritime domain, the 10th Edition of the annual Indian Navy and Sri Lanka Navy bilateral maritime Exercise SLINEX-2023 started on Monday in Colombo. Deputy High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Vinod Jacob on Monday took part in the opening of the annual bilateral naval exercise ‘SLINEX2023.’ SLINEX-2023 aims to enhance interoperability, improve mutual understanding and exchange best practices/ procedures in multi-faceted Maritime operations between both Navies. While addressing the forces, Vinod Jacob said it is the first SLINEX held after the COVID-19 pandemic. Vinod Jacob…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today held a meeting with Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. Jaishankar noted that Bhutan King’s vision for strengthening the unique partnership with India is “deeply appreciated.” Taking to his official Twitter handle, Jaishankar stated, “Deeply privileged to call on His Majesty the King of Bhutan today evening. His Majesty’s vision for Bhutan’s future and for strengthening the unique partnership with India is deeply appreciated. On Monday, Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck arrived in India for a three-day visit at the invitation of President Droupadi Murmu. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar who…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Despite the Western pressure amid the ongoing Ukraine war, trade between India and Russia has reached a record high in 2022-23. According to Aleksey Valkov, director of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), the trade between the two nations reached a new high of $39.8 billion in 2022-23, While noting New Delhi as an emerging export site, Valkov who organised a mega Indo-Russian business summit in the national capital between March 29-30, asserted India is growing as a vital provider of medications, automobile and machine components, textiles and clothes, and food goods to Russia. The increase in…

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said that doctors in Bangladesh are now capable of performing critical operations, including kidney transplant as the country has advanced in healthcare. “Bangladesh has made a huge progress in medical treatment. Doctors are now capable of carrying out many critical operations, including kidney transplant,” she said. The prime minister said this when a delegation of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) led by its vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Sharafuddin Ahmed paid a courtesy call on her at the latter’s official residence Ganabhaban. PM’s Deputy Press Secretary KM Shakhawat Moon briefed reporters after the…

Haroon Rashid Bhat: Those who offer their services are better, nobler, and far more virtuous than those who don’t. The people of our locality never forget the service of the late Sona-Ullah Ganie, nicknamed Soni-Kak, a humble person with a lot of good qualities. Besides the caretaker of the village mosque, he was a well-known Ramadan drummer -Sahar-Khan. During the month of Ramadan, when most of the people remained in deep slumber at night, he started his walk through the lanes. By-lanes of our village awaken the believers of Islam for pre-dawn meals, chanting loudly Waktay-Sahar, Waktay- Sahar, and singing…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India’s Secretary for Food & Public Distribution Department, Sanjeev Chopra, has appreciated the reforms introduced by the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA), J&K for holistic transformation and streamlining of the public distribution system. Interacting with the officers of the FCS&CA Department here on Monday, the Union Secretary hailed the commendable efforts made by the department to make the public distribution system hassle-free and at the same time stressed the need for immediate integration of e-Pos with the weighing scale. He asked the department to build adequate capacity and be ready for implementation of Route…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India’s bilateral relations with Kazakhstan, its biggest trading partner in Central Asia and the ninth largest country in the world, have witnessed significant developments in the past few years. Celebrating 30 years of this partnership last year, the two countries reiterated their commitment to enhancing the ever-growing cooperation. The India-Kazakhstan strategic partnership agreement was a pivotal moment in facilitating diplomatic relations in pursuit of regional growth. The agreement, signed in 2009 during the state visit of Kazakhstan’s first President Nursultan Nazarbayev as the chief guest on India’s Republic Day, indicated the importance both countries attached to the expansion…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India has contributed USD 500,000 to the UN Women, the United Nations agency for gender equality and women empowerment for their core budget. India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations took to Twitter to say that India “reaffirmed our valued partnership of women-led development and gender parity.” He further said that he is looking forward to working with the UN Women to further augment the relationship. “Delighted to hand over India’s contribution of USD 500,000 to ED (Executive Director) Sima Bahous @unwomenchief to core budget of UN Women. Reaffirmed our valued partnership for women-led development and #gender parity.…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has asserted that India’s stance on the Line of Actual Control, which separates India from China, will remain undeterred. Jaishankar was speaking at an interaction session with intellectuals in Dharwad. A programme was organised by the BJP Mahanagar unit at Dharwad on Sunday. “We have serious a dispute with China and after 2020, there is tension on the border,” he said, adding, “Our relationship with China is not normal and it could not be normal if there is a large military force at the Line of Actual Control.” In context with the Chinese…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Civil societies have always played an important role in shaping the socioeconomic foundation of India. In order to highlight the importance of civil society, India has formed the Civil20 group as part of its G20 presidency. C20 India 2023 is one of the official Engagement Groups of the G20 that provides a platform for civil society organisations (CSO) around the world to voice people’s aspirations to the world leaders of G20. It gives CSOs a forum to protect the agency of this sector, reflects the primary and common concerns affecting the people of the world, and promotes social…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said the world is fascinated with the digitisation of India. “What is the world’s fascination with India? Today? It is in the digitisation of India,” the EAM said while interacting with intellectuals in Dharwad, Karnataka. “In 2014, six crore people had access to broadband. Today, it is 80 crore. From six it has gone to 80. Internet was used by 25 crore people. It is today 85 crores. We have laid optical fiber cable of 25 lakh kilometres in this country,” Jaishankar said. “The number of mobile users has crossed 100…