Month: June 2021

The newly-appointed Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan on Sunday called on President Mohammad Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban.

President’s Press Secretary Md. Joynal Abedin said in a briefing that the president congratulated the new air chief on assumption of the post.

President Hamid said the present government is taking and implementing various steps to transform the Bangladesh Air Force into a smart and efficient force as per the Forces Goal 2030.

The president appreciated the role of the Air Force in distributing relief, transporting medicines and medical supplies to Corona-affected people.

He hoped that under the leadership of the new chief Bangladesh Air Force would become a strong force with modern technology in the future.

During the meeting, the new Air Force chief sought the President’s direction and overall cooperation in carrying out its core responsibilities.

Secretary to the President’s Office Sampad Barua, Military Secretary Major General SM Salahuddin Islam and Secretary (attached) Wahidul Islam Khan were present on the occasion.

Air Marshal Abdul Hannan took over charges as the chief of Bangladesh Air Force on June 12, according to a press release of Inter Services Public Relation (ISPR).

He will hold this position for three years.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) recently organised the World Environment Day Creative Competition to encourage climate action and awareness among youths.

Through this competition, BYLC aimed to encourage Bangladeshi youths to reflect on climate change, restoration, and the effects of the climate crisis on future generations in line with the UN’s theme of ecosystem restoration for World Environment Day this year.

The competition called for entries from Bangladesh-based creators aged between 18-35 in three subcategories: art, photography, and writing. Hosted on BYLC’s Facebook page, the competition required participants to express their views on the climate crisis within June 1.

Out of more than 500 artworks, written work, and photography submissions from all over Bangladesh, three were selected as winners by a panel of experts.

Tianna Ashik Prapti, a fourth-year student at Khulna University, won in the art in the category; Gari Hridoy, a fourth-year student at Bangladesh University of Business and Technology, won in the photography category; and Md Asif Uddin, a first-year student at Premier University in Chittagong, won in the writing category.

The jury panel included Sayeef Mahmud, an illustrator also known as Inksmith and visual lead of HerStory Foundation, Mrittika Anan Rahman, sub-editor at SHOUT, The Daily Star, and Towkir Ahmed, photographer at FRAME.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts will bid a symbolic farewell to Afghanistan on Monday in their last summit before America winds up its longest “forever war” and the U.S. military pulls out for good.

The meeting is bound to renew questions about whether NATO’s most ambitious operation ever was worth it.

The 18-year effort cost the United States alone $2.26 trillion, and the price in lives includes 2,442 American troops and 1,144 personnel among U.S. allies, according to figures from Brown University. NATO does not keep a record of those who die in its operations.

Those casualty figures dwarf Afghan losses, which include more than 47,000 civilians, up to 69,000 members of the national armed forces and police, and over 51,000 opposition fighters.

The military effort followed the 2001 arrival of a U.S.-led coalition that ousted the Taliban for harboring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Few experts argue that it brought long-term stability, meaningful democracy or security.

“At this point, you get the impression that NATO leaders almost want to downplay and leave quietly, rather than making too big a deal of it, and going on to focus on other business,” said Erik Brattberg, director of the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

With the U.S. leading the withdrawal, European allies and Canada want to hear Biden’s thinking about how security will be assured at their embassies, along major transport routes and above all at Kabul’s airport.

Many wonder whether the Afghan government can survive a resurgent Taliban. Some think Kabul’s capitulation is only a matter of time.

“We are currently in intense discussions with our member states, the United States, NATO and the United Nations on the absence of essential security conditions for our continued diplomatic presence. It will be difficult to keep it” in place, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

For now, NATO plans to leave civilian advisers to help build up government institutions. It’s unclear who will protect them. The 30-nation alliance is also weighing whether to train Afghan special forces outside the country.

As an organization, NATO will not provide sanctuary for Afghans who worked alongside its forces — routinely risking their lives — although a few individual members will. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says it’s simply time to leave.

“Afghanistan has come a long way, both when it comes to building strong, capable security forces, but also when it comes to social and economic progress,” he told The Associated Press. “At some stage, it has to be the Afghans that take full responsibility for peace and stability in their own country.”

Few Afghans share that assessment of their country, which has a 54% poverty rate, runaway crime, rampant corruption and an illicit economy that outstrips the legal economy.

When NATO took charge of international security operations in 2003, Afghanistan was its first major mission outside Europe and North America. The aim was to stabilize the government, build up local security forces and remove a potential base for extremist groups.

Yet 18 years later, security is at its lowest ebb for most Afghans. The capital is rife with criminal gangs, many linked to powerful warlords, and there are routine attacks by an upstart Islamic State.

Quite early into the operations, as combat took its toll on NATO troops, extremists and civilians, a stalemate developed. The Taliban could not be routed from outlying areas, but neither could its fighters seize and hold major cities.

Troop surges made little difference, and it soon became clear that NATO’s military training effort was its exit strategy. Only by creating a big army capable of standing on its own feet could the organization wind up its operations.

But the Afghan army was plagued by corruption, desertion and low morale. Experts say it still is, and this remains a major concern as NATO insists on funding the nation’s security forces after it’s gone.

Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to leave by May 1 stunned U.S. allies. It highlighted NATO’s weakness: European members and Canada simply cannot sustain major operations without logistical support from their biggest partner.

Biden’s decision to pull U.S. troops out by the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington changed little, although he did consult allies this time.

James Dobbins, a former Afghan envoy who now works for the RAND Corporation think tank, predicts the exit will mean the loss of government legitimacy.

“The U.S. departure will be seen as a victory for the Taliban and a defeat for the United States,” he said in an opinion piece. “The result will be a blow to American credibility, the weakening of deterrence and the value of American reassurance elsewhere.”

On Monday, NATO’s leaders will reaffirm the strength of their alliance and go back to what they know best: their old nemesis, Russia. Biden will brief his partners before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was not invited to NATO’s summit.

“There is little appetite left to continue investing in Afghanistan,” Brattberg said. “There is a sense of being fed up in a lot of NATO countries, and now it’s just time to pack the bags and get out with little consideration about the consequences that could have on the ground.”

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Awami League General Scretary Obaidul Quader on Sunday said that the party will be tough on the members who would tarnish the organization’s image and disobey country’s law.

At a regular media briefing at his official residence Quader directed all concerned to refrain from making statements against the party’s ideology, interests and discipline.

In this regard he referred to the disciplinary instructions given by Awami League President Sheikh Hasina to the leaders and workers of the party at a meeting of the parliamentary board on Saturday.

Quader reminded the members that no one can dissolve or form a committee or expel anyone from the party without the permission of the central executive committee.

He also instructed the leaders and workers at all levels to strictly abide by the party discipline.

He said that if there is any problem, the leaders in charge of the division will solve it with all concerned.

The AL leader paid tribute to the memory of Mohammad Nasim, a member of the party’s presidium and former minister, on his first death anniversary.

Quader also said that the Awami League and the country lost a patriotic, honest and ideal leader in Nasim’s death.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Thirty-two-year-old Jamal Munshi is trained as an electrical engineer, but found his calling in the traditional family trade of farming. The crop to which he has dedicated his hard work and devotion though, was different from what his family members traditionally cultivated: dragon fruit.

Jamal, a resident of Nikhurhati village in Nagarkanda upazila, graduated in 2013 from an engineering college in Dhaka but getting a good job after graduation is not that easy in Bangladesh.

Sharing his journey from trying to be an electrical engineer to becoming a successful farmer, Jamal told UNB that his father Aynal Munshi, a farmer by profession, also dreamt that their son will become a doctor or an engineer.

To fulfil the wish of his parents, Jamal obtained higher education but he had interest in farming. His passion for cultivation has turned him into an ideal farmer.

Jamal brought 54 decimals of land under Dragon cultivation and earned success. He has now become the inspiration of many unemployed young men of his area.

Jamal is now a well-known person in his village as his name was listed as an ideal farmer of the district.

Jamal’s dragon orchard is the biggest fruit garden in the district and people from different parts of the district throng his garden to take lessons on farming.

Most of the people came to buy dragon plant while some gather there to learn how to cultivate dragon fruits and training purposes.

“I have interest in cultivation and when I returned to my village during vacation, I used to go for cultivation and agricultural work,” he said.

However, he is also the owner of business establishments named “Asian Power Tech Limited’.

Alongside his business, Jamal cultivates Dragon fruit in his land.

“I started Dragon fruit cultivation two years ago and eight or nine workers work in my garden. First year, I earned a good amount of profit from the garden and this year the yield is good too and I hope I can earn more than last year,” said Jamal.

“I choose to cultivate the fruit due to its high demand in the country as it is delicious, nutritious and has medicinal quality,” said Jamal.

Dr Hazrat Ali, deputy director of Faridpur Agricultural Extension, said “In dragon fruit cultivation, a farmer needs to spend money in the beginning but then they do not need to spend extra money. Only good nurture can bring success.”

Like Jamal, many people have started cultivating dragon fruit on their lands but Jamal is the best of all as he has a passion for agricultural work,said Hazrat Ali.

Aynal Munshi, father of Jamal, said “I got delighted when I saw that people from different parts of the country come to visit my son’s orchard. Though I had a wish to see my son as a government service holder but now I don’t mind what he is doing.”

“Almost one hundred youths have taken training from my orchard and started their business and when they face any problem, I personally visit their orchard and give advice,” said Jamal.

He also said he has started cultivating dates, malta and other fruits on his land.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

As part of the ongoing ICC Test Championship, South Africa are now playing a two-match Test series against hosts West Indies. The results of this series will only help the two sides better their positions in the points table as India and New Zealand have already qualified for the Test Championship final.

South Africa thrashed the West Indies by an innings and 63 runs in the first Test. Meanwhile, New Zealand have won the Test series against England 1-0 after defeating the hosts by 8 wickets in the second match at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

First match between WI, SA

In the series-opening Test in St Lucia, the West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite opted to bat first against South Africa in the hope of posting a big total in the first innings. However, his approach backfired as Proteas pacers Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi destroyed the West Indies batting order. Nortje bagged 4 wickets and Lungi Ngidi claimed his second 5-wicket haul in Tests.

Coming in to bat in the first innings, South Africa managed to score 322, thanks to Quinton de Kock’s unbeaten 141* runs. Aiden Markram (60) and Rassie van der Dussen (46) also played two crucial knocks for the Proteas. Jason Holder (4/75) was the most successful bowler for the West Indies.

The West Indies were 225 runs behind at the start of their second innings and needed to perform well to stay alive in the match. But the Caribbeans had struggled again. They were bowled out for 162 and lost the match by an innings and 63 runs. Only Roston Chase played a decent knock of 62-run.

Kagiso Rabada (5/34) was the most successful bowler for South Africa in the second innings. Quinton de Kock won the player of the match award for his outstanding knock. The second match of the series will begin on June 18 at St Lucia.

Second Test between ENG, NZ

In the series-deciding Test in Birmingham, New Zealand beat England by 8 wickets and climbed to the top of the ICC Test Team Rankings.

Opting to bat first, England managed to score 303 runs in the first innings. Opener Rory Burns (81) and Dan Lawrence (81*) were the highest scorers for them. Kiwi pacer Trent Boult had an outstanding time with the ball; he picked up 4 wickets.

New Zealand took a lead of 85 runs after scoring 388 runs in the first innings. Devon Conway (80), Will Young (82) and Ross Taylor (80) all played their part with the bat. Veteran Stuart Broad bagged the highest 4 wickets for England.

England required a big score in the second innings to win the match, but they were bowled out for just 122, thanks to brilliant bowling from Neil Wagner and Matt Henry who bagged 3 wickets each for the Kiwis.

New Zealand eventually reached the target of 38 for the loss of 2 wickets and sealed the match and the series.

Bottom Line

In the WI-SA Test series, the West Indies suffered their 200th Test defeat; South Africa won a longer- version match on foreign soil for the first time after 2017. Meanwhile, one of the finest teams in New Zealand cricket history is performing well across all formats. The Kiwis have reached the final of the inaugural ICC Test Championship and played the previous two ICC Cricket World Cup finals. After winning the Test series against England, New Zealand will play the ICC Test Championship final against India as the favourites.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Leaders of the world’s largest economies unveiled an infrastructure plan Saturday for the developing world to compete with China’s global initiatives, but they were searching for a consensus on how to forcefully to call out Beijing over human rights abuses.

Citing China for its forced labor practices is part of President Joe Biden’s campaign to persuade fellow democratic leaders to present a more unified front to compete economically with Beijing. But while they agreed to work toward competing against China, there was less unity on how adversarial a public position the group should take.

Canada, the United Kingdom and France largely endorsed Biden’s position, while Germany, Italy and the European Union showed more hesitancy during Saturday’s first session of the Group of Seven summit, according to two senior Biden administration officials. The officials who briefed reporters were not authorized to publicly discuss the private meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The communique that summarizes the meeting’s commitments was being written and the contents would not be clear until it was released when the summit ended Sunday. White House officials said late Saturday that they believed that China, in some form, could be called out for “nonmarket policies and human rights abuses.”

In his first summit as president, Biden made a point of carving out one-on-one-time with various leaders, bouncing from French president Emmanuel Macron to German chancellor Angela Merkel to Italian prime minister Mario Draghi as well as Japan’s Yoshihide Suga and Australia’s Scott Morrison, a day after meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as if to personally try to ward off memories of the chaos that his predecessor would often bring to these gatherings.

Macron told Biden that collaboration was needed on a range of issues and told the American president that “it’s great to have a U.S. president part of the club and very willing to cooperate.” Relations between the allies had become strained during the four years of Donald Trump’s presidency and his “America first” foreign policy.

Merkel, for her part, downplayed differences on China and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline which would transport natural gas from Russia to Germany, bypassing Ukraine.

“The atmosphere is very cooperative, it is characterized by mutual interest,” Merkel said. “There are very good, constructive and very vivid discussions in the sense that one wants to work together.”

White House officials have said Biden wants the leaders of the G-7 nations — the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy — to speak in a single voice against forced labor practices targeting China’s Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities. Biden hopes the denunciation will be part of a joint statement to be released Sunday when the summit ends, but some European allies are reluctant to split so forcefully with Beijing.

China had become one of the more compelling sublots of the wealthy nations’ summit, their first since 2019. Last year’s gathering was canceled because of COVID-19, and recovery from the pandemic is dominating this year’s discussions, with leaders expected to commit to sharing at least 1 billion vaccine shots with struggling countries.

The allies also took the first steps in presenting an infrastructure proposal called “Build Back Better for the World,” a name echoing Biden’s campaign slogan. The plan calls for spending hundreds of billions of dollars in collaboration with the private sector while adhering to climate standards and labor practices.

It’s designed to compete with China’s trillion-dollar “Belt and Road Initiative,” which has launched a network of projects and maritime lanes that snake around large portions of the world, primarily Asia and Africa. Critics say China’s projects often create massive debt and expose nations to undue influence by Beijing.

Britain also wants the world’s democracies to become less reliant on the Asian economic giant. The U.K. government said Saturday’s discussions would tackle “how we can shape the global system to deliver for our people in support of our values,” including by diversifying supply chains that currently heavily depend on China.

Not every European power has viewed China in as harsh a light as Biden, who has painted the rivalry with China as the defining competition for the 21st century. But there are some signs that Europe is willing to impose greater scrutiny.

Before Biden took office in January, the European Commission announced it had come to terms with Beijing on a deal meant to provide Europe and China with greater access to each other’s markets. The Biden administration had hoped to have consultations on the pact.

But the deal has been put on hold, and the European Union in March announced sanctions targeting four Chinese officials involved with human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Beijing responded with penalties on several members of the European Parliament and other Europeans critical of the Chinese Communist Party.

Biden administration officials see an opportunity to take concrete action to speak out against China’s reliance on forced labor as an “affront to human dignity.”

While calling out China in the G-7 communique would not create any immediate penalties for Beijing, one senior administration official said the action would send a message that the leaders were serious about defending human rights and working together to eradicate the use of forced labor.

An estimated 1 million people or more — most of them Uyghurs — have been confined in reeducation camps in China’s western Xinjiang region in recent years, according to researchers. Chinese authorities have been accused of imposing forced labor, systematic forced birth control, torture and separating children from incarcerated parents.

Beijing rejects allegations that it is committing crimes.

Johnson, the summit host, also welcomed the leaders from “guest nations” South Korea, Australia and South Africa, as well as the head of the United Nations, to the summit to “intensify cooperation between the world’s democratic and technologically advanced nations.”

The leaders planned to attend a barbecue Saturday night, complete with toasted marshmallows, hot buttered rum and a performance by a sea shanty troupe.

India was also invited but its delegation is not attending in person because of the severe coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Biden ends the trip Wednesday by meeting in Geneva with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The White House announced Saturday that they will not hold a joint news conference afterward, which removes the opportunity for comparisons to the availability that followed Trump and Putin’s 2018 Helsinki summit, in which Trump sided with Moscow over his own intelligence agencies. Only Biden will address the news media after the meeting.

Putin, in an interview with NBC News, said the U.S.-Russia relationship had “deteriorated to its lowest point in recent years.”

He added that while Trump was a “talented” and “colorful” person, Biden was a “career man” in politics, which has “some advantages, some disadvantages, but there will not be any impulse-based movements” by the U.S. president.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Ram Babu moved from his village to the Indian capital New Delhi in 1980, to clean cars. Soon, he learned to drive and got a job as a tour bus driver. Decades later, he set up his own company, Madhubani Tours and Travels.

In March 2020, a stringent nationwide lockdown to fight the coronavirus pandemic froze economic activity overnight. Babu’s business collapsed, and he drove his family back to their village.

“Since March last year, we haven’t earned a single rupee,” he said. “All of my three buses are standing still for more than a year. We are completely broken.”

India’s economy was on the cusp of recovery from the first pandemic shock when a new wave of infections swept the country, infecting millions, killing hundreds of thousands and forcing many people to stay home. Cases are now tapering off, but prospects for many Indians are drastically worse as salaried jobs vanish, incomes shrink and inequality is rising.

Decades of progress in alleviating poverty are imperiled, experts say, and getting growth back on track hinges on the fate of the country’s sprawling middle class. It’s a powerful and diverse group ranging from salaried employees to small business owners like Babu: many millions of people struggling to hold onto their hard-earned gains.

The outbreak of the pandemic triggered the worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s and as it gradually ebbs, many economies are bouncing back. The World Bank foresees 5.6% global growth for 2021, the best since 1973.

India’s economy contracted 7.3% in the fiscal year that ended in March, worsening from a slump that slashed growth to 4% from 8% in the two years before the pandemic hit. Economists fear there will be no rebound similar to the ones seen in the U.S. and other major economies.

“Coronavirus was the latest in a series of blows to hit India’s economy in recent years,” said Mahesh Vyas, chief executive at the Center for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE). “But the shocks brought on by the virus have had a very debilitating effect on the economy and I fear it is going to be long lasting.”

The economy was one of the fastest growing when Prime Minister Narendra Modi suddenly yanked most of India’s currency out of circulation in 2016, targeting corruption. A major tax reform whose kinks are still being ironed out followed. Modi’s flagship Make in India program to energize manufacturing has floundered and unemployment has surged.

The poor are suffering the most from the pandemic. But this is the first time in several decades that India’s middle class has taken such a big hit, said Vyas.

After 40 years of hard work, tour company owner Babu was taking home about $2,000 a month. Business was going so well he took out a loan to buy his third tour bus.

In May 2020, he used one of those buses to drive his wife and three children back to Bhugol village in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states. He could no longer afford the rent on their modest one-bedroom apartment in New Delhi.

Estimates of the size of India’s middle class vary from 200 million to 600 million, but all experts agree that its prosperity is crucial for reviving the economy.

“They are the primary consumers — if their consumption doesn’t revive, growth will continue to be slow and the economy will not recover,” said economist Arun Kumar.

An analysis from the Pew Research Center, published in March, estimates 32 million Indians had been pushed out of the middle class by the pandemic.

The report defined the middle class as people earning $10 to $20 a day. It estimated the number of India’s poor — those with incomes of $2 or less a day — has increased by 75 million because of the crisis.

To cushion the impact, the government provided $266 billion in extra spending in May 2020, with over $40 billion meant to help small and medium-sized businesses through measures like collateral-free loans from banks. Another $36 billion was promised in November to help create jobs, boost consumer spending and support manufacturing, agriculture and exports.

But for many, the measures haven’t been enough. No relief has yet been announced for the tourism sector, so Babu is still paying business taxes on his buses.

Last year’s lockdown destroyed more than 120 million jobs, according to the CMIE. Many returned soon after the lockdown ended in June, but the rebound was mostly of low-paying jobs in sectors like agriculture and construction.

Economists worry about a longer term decline in salaried jobs, of which 12.5 million remain lost, according to CMIE data, and about the fate of small and medium-sized businesses that are the backbone of India’s vast informal economy.

Many people have had to settle for far more precarious employment than before, according to the State of Working India 2021 report by researchers at Azim Premji University.

“What this signals is that people in distress are having to resort to any kind of employment, even if it pays substantially less than what they were making and comes with fewer protections,” said Rosa Abraham, one of the report’s lead authors. “It’s clear that the employment recovery we’re seeing now is characterized to a significant extent by far more informality.”

That’s true for Bijender and Kanika Gautam, owners of the Ultra Bodies Fitness Studio on the outskirts of New Delhi.

Gyms were among the last types of venues allowed to reopen from the 2020 lockdown and they were closed again during the latest outbreaks. The Gautams had been thriving on income from their 100 gym members, making enough to rent their two-story space and pay five trainers. Now, they’re relying on whatever they can scrape together from offering online fitness training, and struggling to afford rent and school fees for their two children.

“Earlier, we didn’t have to think twice about spending money when we went to the market with our children or went out to eat,” said Bijender. “But now, the situation is so bad that we are somehow just trying to survive. We don’t know if we will be able to keep our business,” he said.

On a wider scale, such setbacks on a wide scale may undermine confidence and future growth, said CMIE’s Vyas.

“You need that aspiration or drive to go to college, get a good job, save money to buy a home — you need that ambition to make your life better than what your parents had. This is what makes the economy thrive, and this is a crucial thing that has taken a big hit,” he said.

Babu says he fears his life is now moving in reverse. He had hoped his youngest daughter, aged 13, might become a pilot. Now that he’s had to pull her out of her school in New Delhi, that seems impossible.

His dreams of buying a home in the city have been crushed by the loans he can no longer repay, he said in a phone call from his village.

“I’m not used to living in the village now. Everything we own, everything we are, it’s all in Delhi,” he said. “I should have just continued working as a driver, maybe then I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Israel is set to swear in a new government on Sunday that will send Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into the opposition after a record 12 years in office and a political crisis that sparked four elections in two years.

Naftali Bennett, the head of a small ultranationalist party, will take over as prime minister. But if he wants to keep the job, he will have to maintain an unwieldy coalition of parties from the political right, left and center.

The eight parties, including a small Arab faction that is making history by sitting in the ruling coalition, are united in their opposition to Netanyahu and new elections but agree on little else. They are likely to pursue a modest agenda that seeks to reduce tensions with the Palestinians and maintain good relations with the U.S. without launching any major initiatives.

Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, remains the head of the largest party in parliament and is expected to vigorously oppose the new government. If just one faction bolts, it could lose its majority and would be at risk of collapse, giving him an opening to return to power.

The new government is promising a return to normalcy after a tumultuous two years that saw four elections, an 11-day Gaza war last month and a coronavirus outbreak that devastated the economy before it was largely brought under control by a successful vaccination campaign.

The driving force behind the coalition is Yair Lapid, a political centrist who will become prime minister in two years, if the government lasts that long.

Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset, will convene to vote on the new government at 4 p.m. (1300 GMT). It is expected to win a narrow majority of at least 61 votes in the 120-member assembly, after which it will be sworn in. The government plans to hold its first official meeting later this evening.

It’s unclear if Netanyahu will attend the ceremony or when he will move out of the official residence. He has lashed out at the new government in apocalyptic terms and accused Bennett of defrauding voters by running as a right-wing stalwart and then partnering with the left.

Netanyahu’s supporters have held angry protests outside the homes of rival lawmakers, who say they have received death threats naming their family members. Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service issued a rare public warning about the incitement earlier this month, saying it could lead to violence.

Netanyahu has condemned the incitement while noting that he has also been a target.

His place in Israeli history is secure, having served as prime minister for a total of 15 years — more than any other, including the country’s founder, David Ben-Gurion.

Netanyahu began his long rule by defying the Obama administration, refusing to freeze settlement construction as it tried unsuccessfully to revive the peace process. Relations with Israel’s closest ally grew even rockier when Netanyahu vigorously campaigned against President Barack Obama’s emerging nuclear deal with Iran, even denouncing it in an address to the U.S. Congress.

But he suffered few if any consequences from those clashes and was richly rewarded by the Trump administration, which recognized contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, helped broker normalization agreements with four Arab states and withdrew the U.S. from the Iran deal.

Netanyahu has portrayed himself as a world-class statesman, boasting of his close ties with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has also cultivated ties with Arab and African countries that long shunned Israel over its policies toward the Palestinians.

But he has gotten a far chillier reception from the Biden administration and is widely seen as having undermined the long tradition of bipartisan support for Israel in the United States.

His reputation as a political magician has also faded at home, where he has become a deeply polarizing figure. Critics say he has long pursued a divide-and-conquer strategy that aggravated rifts in Israeli society between Jews and Arabs and between his close ultra-Orthodox allies and secular Jews.

In November 2019, he was indicted for fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes. He refused calls to step down, instead lashing out at the media, judiciary and law enforcement, going so far as to accuse his political opponents of orchestrating an attempted coup. Last year, protesters began holding weekly rallies across the country calling on him to resign.

Netanyahu remains popular among the hard-line nationalists who dominate Israeli politics, but he could soon face a leadership challenge from within his own party. A less polarizing Likud leader would stand a good chance of assembling a coalition that is both farther to the right and more stable than the government that is set to be sworn in.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Newly-appointed Bangladesh Air Force chief Shaikh Abdul Hannan was on Sunday adorned with the rank badge of Air Marshal at a ceremony in presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Ganabhaban.

The adornment was performed by Quarter Master General of Bangladesh Army Lieutenant General S M Shafiuddin Ahmed and Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Operation) Rear Admiral M Abu Asraf .

Security Adviser to the Prime Minister Major General (Retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, high military and civilian were present on the occasion.

The new air chief started his official activities by laying floral wreath at Shikha Anirban to pay homage to the members of Armed Forces who were martyred during the War of Liberation in 1971.

On arrival at Air Headquarters from Shikha Anirban, the Chief of Air Staff was presented a guard of honour by a smartly turned out BAF Contingent.

He inspected the guard and took salute. Later, he planted a sapling at Air Headquarters premises.

Air Marshal Shaikh Hannan took over the Command of BAF on 12 June.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Raheem Sterling grew up in the shadow of Wembley Stadium as it was being rebuilt, even getting a tattoo of its famous arch on his left forearm.

Now playing for his country at the iconic venue, he used his right foot to give England the start it had been longing for at the European Championship.

The winger’s goal — his first in a tournament in his 13th match through four competitions — gave England a 1-0 win over Croatia on Sunday in its opening Euro 2020 game.

“I always said to myself if I come here, growing up two minutes down the road, I’ve got to score,” Sterling said. “It’s a great feeling doing it.”

It ensured England overcome its opening-game stumbling block, finally making a winning start to the continental tournament in its 10th appearance.

Far more comfortable than in the loss to Croatia in the 2018 World Cup semifinals, this was an England side packed with youthful debutants.

Seventeen-year-old midfielder Jude Bellingham, who plays in Germany with Borussia Dortmund, became the youngest-ever player to appear at a European Championship when he came on in the 82nd minute to replace captain Harry Kane. The previous record had been held by Jetro Willems, who was 18 when he played for the Netherlands at Euro 2012.

Sterling, still only 26, is now England’s most experienced tournament player and entrusted by coach Gareth Southgate despite struggling for game time at Manchester City in recent months.

After only scoring once in his previous 13 appearances for City and England, he found the breakthrough against Croatia in the 57th minute. It was the vision of Kalvin Phillips, one of five England starters making their tournament debut, that created the opening.

“He brings a lot of energy to the team,” Sterling said. “He’s always in the faces of the opposition and uses the ball well.”

The Leeds midfielder shook of challenges before releasing Sterling, who slipped a shot into the net via a touch off Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livaković.

The sparkling moment for Sterling came two days after he was named in the queen’s birthday honors list for his campaigning against racial injustice.

But at the first England game at Wembley with fans since 2019, there was a sour start when players taking a knee were jeered by their own fans. That was despite pleas from the England team to respect the anti-racism gesture.

There was a more unified atmosphere among the pandemic-restricted crowd of about 20,000 at the end when “Football’s coming home” was sung from the team’s “Three Lions” anthem while being applauded by the players.

The England players, who next face Scotland on Friday in Group D at Wembley, couldn’t wait to shield from the heat of around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) on a rare sweltering day in England.

“It’s not conditions we’re used to and we dug in as a team,” Sterling said. “It’s been a long season for me. I couldn’t wait to get started with England and I knew it would be a positive one.”

Source: United News of Bangladesh

University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) has been ranked in the global top 100 innovative universities in the 2021 World’s Universities with Real Impact (WURI) ranking.

ULAB’s world standing was officially cited by the WURI founding director, project leader and Professor Emeritus of Seoul National University Moon Hwy-Chang in a virtual ceremony held on June 10 in Seoul, South Korea.

Professor Hwy-Chang announced that this year, ULAB is the only Bangladeshi university that has been placed among the top 100 universities.

WURI was created to evaluate the innovative programmes of universities and to measure the performance of universities in creating real value to society and providing opportunities for the future.

The ranking is composed of the Global Top 100 and the Top 50 ranking in each of the following categories: (1) Industrial Applications; (2) Entrepreneurship; (3) Social responsibility, ethics and integrity; (4) Student mobility and openness for exchange and collaboration; and (5) Crisis Management. Among these categories, ULAB placed itself 27th in the ‘Crisis Management’, 28th in the ‘Entrepreneurial Spirit’, and 39th in the ‘Ethical Value’ category.

ULAB’s acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Shamsad Mortuza lauded the resilience and team work of ULAB family that made this global endorsement possible.

Commenting on the success to UNB, he said, “The ranking will galvanize our commitment to change the ecology of higher education in Bangladesh.”

ULAB’s WURI project leader Professor Jude William Genilo, Head of Media Studies and Journalism, said, “ULAB has always seen itself as a partner in community and nation building. It has an enabling environment that supports creativity and innovation. In the 2021 ranking, WURI recognized three of ULAB’s programs as these are in line with its vision of active and practical learning; producing graduates that industry and society really needs.”

ULAB authorities expressed that this ranking is a manifestation of ULAB’s promise of utilizing its innovative online teaching and learning techniques in responding effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic. They added that ULAB will continue to offer its high-quality academic programmes online and ensure the continuity and reach of education to all its students.

Source: United News of Bangladesh