North Korea told Japan it would launch a satellite between November 22 and December 1. The announcement comes as US aircraft carrier arrives in the South Korean port of Busan. North Korea has notified Japan that it plans to launch a rocket carrying a military satellite in the direction of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, the Japanese government said on Tuesday.  The third attempt to send the reconnaissance satellite into orbit — following two failed attempts earlier in the year — is set to take place at some point between November 22 and December 1. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Japan was coordinating its response with its partners South Korea and the US, and that the use of any ballistic missile technology would be a breach of UN resolutions. How did North Korea's neighbors react? North Korea notified Japan, as the coordinating authority for the International Maritime Organization for those waters, of its plans all three times. Kishida condemned the announcement and said he had instructed government agencies "to make utmost efforts in collecting information and providing it to the Japanese people, to demand cancellation of the launch in cooperation with relevant countries, and to make utmost efforts in preparing for unpredictable situations." South Korea responded to the announcement by warning its northern neighbor against carrying out the planned launch. It also issued a sail warning. "We sternly warn North Korea to... immediately suspend the current preparations to launch a military spy satellite," Kang Ho-pil, chief director of operations at the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday. "If North Korea goes ahead with the launch of a military reconnaissance satellite despite our warning, our military will take necessary measures to guarantee the lives and safety of the people," he added. The announcement also coincided with the arrival of US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in the South Korean port of Busan. The vessel had been sent to increase preparedness against missile threats from Pyongyang. North Korea's satellite plans The launch follows a rare trip to Russia by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in September. He visited a modern space launch center, where Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would assist Pyongyang with building satellites. North Korea wants to put a military spy satellite into orbit, as it wishes to monitor moves by US and South Korean troops. Since North Korea conducted its first nuclear weapons testin 2006, the UN Security Council adopted several resolutions calling for it to halt nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Earlier this week, North Korea denounced the potential US sale of hundreds of missiles to Japan and South Korea, saying it would raise tensions in the region. North Korea has earlier made attempts to launch "observation" satellites, of which two appeared to have successfully reached orbit including one in 2016. However, Seoul officials have raised doubts about whether they are transmitting any signals.

Afghanistan has been hit by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, its third in a week, according to BBC. The powerful earthquake has been at Herat province, north of the city of Herat - the last quakes also the same region. Earlier in October 7, more than 2,445 died and thousands had been killed and injured by 6.3 magnitude scale as Taliban officials said.  3 days later, another same magnitude  earthquake occured in the country.  

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been inaugurated a soft opening of third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA).  On Saturday, October 07 at 12 pm PM inauguarated the terminal partially. To make Bangladesh as an aviation hub, the third terminal will be available for all from next year, a slogan with "Connecting dreams to reality".  PM opens partially the new scenic terminal witnessing trial of a Biman Bangladesh airlines flight from the new establishment.  Earlier on Thursday, CAAB chief Mafidur Rahman said,  90 percent work of the new terminal has been done for the soft launching and from Saturday airlines would be able to use new parking pay of the terminal.

Taskin Ahmed and his wife have been blessed with their third child on Thursday at 1.30 am. He shared the information in a facebook post.  He also said that both his wife Syeda Rabeya Naima and the baby are in good condition. Earlier on September 30, 2018, Taskin became the father of his first child, after that in 2022, april 22 they blessed with second children. Taskin Ahmed and Syeda Rabeya Naima married on October 31, 2017.

Xi Jinping, China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, could be on track to remain in power for life. Chinese leader Xi Jinping unanimously secured an unprecedented third five-year presidential term on Friday, making him China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong and is on track to remain in power for life. Nearly 3,000 members of the National People's Congress (NPC), voted for Xi to be president, in an uncontested election. Xi was also unanimously voted to serve a third term as the head of the nation's Central Military Commission. During the parliamentary session, Zhao Leji, 66, was appointed as the new parliament chair, and Han Zheng, 68, as the new vice president, both of whom were members of Xi's previous team of party leaders at the Politburo Standing Committee. Over the next two days, officials appointed or elected by Xi will fill top positions in the cabinet, including Li Qiang, who is expected to be named as China's No. 2. From obscurity to leadership Xi's re-election marks a remarkable ascent from a relatively unknown party member to the leader of a burgeoning global superpower. Despite facing widespread protests over his zero-Covid policy and the subsequent deaths of numerous individuals after its abandonment, the 69-year-old leader has persevered. It was widely expected that Xi's appointment would be endorsed by the National People's Congress, a ceremonial body whose members are appointed by the ruling party. Since taking power in 2012, Xi has marginalized potential challengers and filled key positions in the Communist Party with his own allies. The vote for Xi was unanimous, with 2,952 members of the NPC supporting his appointment. Xi strengthens grip on power Xi's path to another term was paved when he eliminated presidential term limits in 2018, and his power was further consolidated last October when he was reconfirmed as the general secretary of the central committee of the ruling Communist Party for another five years. This was a stark departure from the tradition of transferring power every decade. Earlier, the two-term limit for the presidency was removed from the Chinese constitution, leading to speculation that Xi might rule indefinitely. The election process was shrouded in secrecy, with no candidate lists distributed and Xi and others believed to have run unopposed. Additionally, Xi was unanimously appointed as commander of the 2 million-member People's Liberation Army, a force that takes its orders from the party rather than the country.

Eminent economist Arvind Panagariya has said India is on the cusp of returning to a high growth trajectory and voiced confidence that the country will become the world's third-largest economy by 2027-28. Currently, India is the fifth largest economy “so it's another five years.We are already in (the year) 2023. "So 2027-28, India should be the third-largest economy,” Panagariya, Columbia University Professor and former Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, told PTI in an interview in New York. A day before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget on Wednesday, the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament pegged India's GDP growth at 6.5 per cent in 2023-24. The International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook update Tuesday said growth in India is set to "decline from 6.8 per cent in 2022 to 6.1 per cent in 2023 before picking up to 6.8 per cent in 2024, with resilient domestic demand despite external headwinds.” Last week, the UN said in its flagship World Economic Situation and Prospects 2023 report that India is projected to grow at 6.7 per cent in 2024, the fastest-growing major economy in the world. Panagariya said his reading of the Economic Survey is that the “narrative that comes across tells the story of a much stronger economy” than the one that is growing at 6.5 per cent. “My sense is that given where India stands currently, it should get back to 7% plus kind of growth rate,” he said. He added India is currently in a spot that it was in 2003 when the growth rate picked up to close to about 8 per cent and the country sustained that kind of rate for a few years. Outlining his reasons for high growth ahead, he said several reforms have been implemented and weaknesses in the economy have been cleaned up during the COVID pandemic such as non-performing assets of banks and weak balance sheets of many of the big corporates. Noting that balance sheets of banks and corporates are now pretty sound, he said “this is reflected in the investment proposals and investment commitments that are being made by many of the large corporates.” “We're seeing this surge in both public and private investments, the fact that policy reforms have happened, lots of infrastructure has been built up. "And the fact that there is an effective government in place, very credible (government)," Panagariya said. "A government which realises its strengths and which is I think the reason you don't see a whole lot of populism in the Budget, even though this is the last full budget before parliamentary elections, tells you and makes me feel that India is on the cusp of returning to a high growth trajectory,” he said. India heads into general elections in 2024. Panagariya added that India will “certainly remain” the fastest-growing major economy for several years to come. He projected that India would maintain about a 7 per cent growth rate over these years and if the country takes measures to open up the economy further, particularly on the trade front with liberalisation requiring “a good bit of knocking down of the customs duties”, then “we could get to easily 8 per cent.” He said the "rest of the strengths” for achieving this growth are present in the system. Some of the reforms that are ongoing need to be implemented, for instance, the labour law reform. "If we can do that, I absolutely have no doubt that we would sustain 7% and could in principle, I think, touch 8 per cent.” Referring to the announcements in the budget, he said his expectations were “fully met". On fiscal consolidation, the debt to GDP ratio had escalated to about 84 per cent as it stands currently after COVID because expenditures had to be raised at the time and revenues took a hit, which led to very large fiscal deficits, leading to the accumulation of debt, he said. “So we needed to get back to consolidation and the finance minister has made a good effort in that direction.” The revised estimate for 2022-23 for the fiscal deficit is at 6.4 per cent and the estimate for 2023-24 is now placed at 5.9 per cent. “It's a modest reduction in the fiscal deficit. "But given the other features of the budget, I personally think that even that modest reduction in the deficit carries a good signal,” Panagariya said. He added that the Modi government has been very successful at implementing infrastructure projects on scale and at speed. The government has raised capital expenditure to 3.3 per cent of GDP, as against 2.9 per cent of GDP this past year. “This is really a major increase,” he said. Sitharaman announced hiking the capital expenditure by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore for infrastructure development for 2023-24 and will be at 3.3 per cent of the GDP. Panagariya said he had been suggesting that it was time to get the reform of personal income taxation because the country had made reasonably good progress on corporate profit tax reform, bringing the tax rates down to over 25 per cent. “So this (personal income tax) was a long-awaited reform and a big one so I am very pleased with that,” he said. Finance Minister Sitharaman said the government has made the new income tax regime more attractive for taxpayers and has thus brought about substantial changes in its structure for the benefit of the middle class. The Budget 2023-24 has proposed changes in the optional tax regime, which was introduced in 2020-21. As per the changes proposed in the Budget, no tax would be levied on people with an annual income of up to Rs 7 lakh under the new tax regime but it made no changes for those who continue in the old regime that provides for tax exemptions and deductions on investments and expenses such as HRA.

Bangladesh ranks 73rd position in the world democracy index. Bangladesh score is 5.99.  Norway is at the top of world democracy index. The country's score is 9.81. With a score of 9.61, New Zealand is in the second place.  Iceland is in the third position with a score of 9.52. Sweden and Finland are in fourth and fifth position with 9.39 and 9.29 score respectively. The London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) published the 'Democracy Index 2022' on Thursday.  The index attempts to measure the state of democracy in 167 countries and territories Among the South Asian countries, India is at the top with a score of 7.04.  Sri Lanka is in the second position. The country's score is 6.47.  The position of Bangladesh is third. Bhutan is in the fourth position, Nepal is in the fifth position and Pakistan is in the sixth position.

China's Communist Party on Sunday formally reelected Xi Jinping the party's general secretary for another five years, paving the way for his historic third term as Chinese president. The widely expected announcement comes after a week-long Communist Party Congress during which Xi further cemented his grip on power. Party faithful endorsed his "core" position in leadership, and approved changes to the constitution making Xi's political vision central for China's future. The decision tilts the Asian powerhouse decisively back towards one-man rule after decades of power-sharing among its elite. Chinese state media said Xi was also reappointed as head of China's Central Military Commission. "I wish to thank the whole Party sincerely for the trust you have placed in us," Xi told journalists at Beijing's Great Hall of the People following the announcement. He promised to "work diligently in the performance of our duties to prove worthy of the great trust of our Party and our people." "China cannot develop without the world, and the world also needs China," he continued. "After more than 40 years of unflagging efforts towards reform and opening up, we have created two miracles — rapid economic development and long-term social stability." Xi set for unprecedented third term Xi is now almost certain to be given and third presidential term during the annual legislative sessions in March. In 2018, he scrapped the presidential two-term limit, allowing himself to rule indefinitely. The 69-year-old leader is now expected by some to try to stay in power for life. Delegates at the congress also chose a new Central Committee of 205 party officials — only 11 women were named to the committee. Central Committee members went on to elect the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, which Xi will again lead. A list of officials in the new Central Committee revealed the replacement of four out of seven Standing Committee members, including Premier Li Keqiang, allowing Xi to install loyalists to the body. They include Shanghai Party boss Li Qiang, close aide Ding Xuexiang and Guangdong Party chief Li Xi, state media reported  Xi and the other Standing Committee members appeared for the first time as a group before reporters Sunday at the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China's ceremonial legislature in central Beijing. Most powerful man since Mao Since he took office in 2013, Xi has achieved a concentration of power like no modern Chinese ruler other than the modern country's founder Mao Zedong. Xi has pushed forward the central role of the Communist Party, expanding state control over society and the economy. He has also overseen China's rise as the world's second-biggest economy, a huge military expansion and a far more aggressive global posture that has drawn strong opposition from the United States. Despite nearly unchecked power, Xi faces huge challenges over the next five years, including managing the nation's debt-ridden economy and the growing US rivalry. 'Winner takes all' in Chinese politics Wen-Ti Sung, a lecturer in Taiwan Studies at the Australian National University (ANU) currently based in Taipei, told DW that Xi's reappointment is proof that there is a "winner-takes-all situation in China’s politics today." Sung said, "Xi is showing to the world that they should stop trying to hope" for a "factional power struggle within China today or going forward." “There will be no other power figure of comparable stature who can play a balancing role or be the focal point for organizing any meaningful organized opposition to check Xi’s power,” he added. Sung also warned that the Taiwan issue would likely remain in focus. Xi has threatened to retake the independent island that China considers its territory by force. Meanwhile, Alfred Wu, an associate professor from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, told DW that those picked for the Politburo were people who have worked with Xi in the past. "I would say he wants the fourth term and this group of people will support him when the decision-making about the fourth term comes. The overall structure is to make sure that he is No.1 in China for at least 10 years," he said. Wu added China's political system was "no different than a dictatorship," giving the example of Xi insisting that the country's zero-COVID strategy remains the best course of action despite the rest of the world having reopened. "'There is no checks and balances and information surrounding Xi will be very much like favoring Xi’s assumption. It’ll look like an echo chamber," Wu said.

China has launched the Fujian aircraft carrier, a warship developed and built domestically. It marks a major military advancement for the country. Chinese state media on Friday announced the launch of the country’s third aircraft carrier, marking a major military advance for China. The launching ceremony for the carrier named Fujian was held in Shanghai’s Jiangnan shipyard. China’s state broadcaster CCTV described it as the first catapult-type aircraft carrier wholly designed and built by China. Fujian sees grand launch CCTV footage showed navy personnel standing beneath the ship as water jets sprayed over its deck and multi-colored streamers flew and colorful smoke was released. Named after Fujian province, the carrier is more technically advanced than others in the fleet, and is only the second carrier fully built in China. The Fujian is expected to take years to reach operational capacity. No date has been announced yet for entry into service. The development comes as tensions between China and the US have increased in recent weeks. Last week, China’s Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said China would do anything in its power to stop Taiwanese independence. Last month, US President Joe Biden had said Washington would intervene militarily if China attacked Taiwan. Sailing and mooring tests will be carried out as planned after the ship is launched, CCTV reported. China has two other aircraft carriers in service. The Liaoning was commissioned in 2012, and the Shandong entering service in 2019.These warships use a ski-jump style platform for jets to take off and do not have a catapult system. Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to build a fully modern force rivaling the United States military by 2027.

Bangladesh today (Thursday) reported no COVID-19 death for third consecutive day in the past four months as the country recorded zero coronavirus death for first time in late November last year since the pandemic began on March 8, 2020. "Zero COVID-19 death was posted for the first time on November 20, last year after the deadly virus was detected in the country," Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) sources said. The country today reported 233 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, it added. "The country reported 1.69 percent Covid-19 positive cases as 13,791 samples were tested in the past 24 hours," Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in its routine daily statement. In the past 24 hours, the combined figure of coronavirus in Dhaka city and upazilas of the district is 161 while no Covid-19 death was reported during the period. The official tally showed that the virus killed 29,112 people and infected 19,50,357 so far, the statement added. The recovery count rose to 18,67,161 after another 1,561 patients were discharged from the dedicated hospitals during the past one day. From the beginning of the pandemic, 95.73 percent Covid-19 patients recovered among the infected people while 1.49 percent died, the DGHS statistics showed. As of March 16 data, among the total 29,112 fatalities, 12,791 occurred in Dhaka division, 5,861 in Chattogram, 2,141 in Rajshahi, 3,716 in Khulna, 982 in Barishal, 1,326 in Sylhet, 1,416 in Rangpur and 879 in Mymensingh divisions. Source: BSS AH