The first consignment of 1,650 tonnes of onion from India  has arrived on Sunday (March 31) through the Darshana land port in Bangladesh. Mirza Quamrul Hasan, manager of Darshana International land port, said the first consignment of onions imported by Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has been received at around 5:30 pm.  The loaded wagons will be unloaded at night and taken to Sirajganj bazar. The imported onions it will be sold at Tk 40 per kg in Dhaka and Chattogram markets.

Somali pirates have contacted with the owning company, Kabir Group, of the Bangladeshi-flagged ship MV Abdullah, nine days after they were taken hostage from the Indian Ocean. Media Advisor of Kabir Group, Mizanul Islam, confirmed the matter on Wednesday (March 20). He said the pirates had started communicating. An atmosphere of discussion is being created. The Somali pirates established the first contact after nine days of hijacking MV Abdullah with its 23 crew members. Meanwhile, the news agency Reuters reported that the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) proposed a forceful rescue of the Bangladeshi ship and its 23 crew members. Somali police and the international navy are also preparing for the operation. However, KSRM, owned by MV Abdullah, has strongly opposed such a move. They want to resolve the crisis through negotiations.

Last year, the highest number of people died of dengue in the country's history. But before the 'peak season' of dengue this year, 20 people died in the last two and a half months. In this situation, the dengue situation is expected to worsen. According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), the number of dengue patients exceeded 1,500 from January to March 19 this year. Of these, 20 people have died during this period. Among them nine were men and 11 were women. Meanwhile, Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen held a meeting with the mayors of the two city corporations of Dhaka on Tuesday (March 19) to discuss the issues to be taken to eliminate dengue and chikungunya. The Health Minister has directed to keep all hospitals in the country ready to provide proper and timely treatment to dengue patients. 

An experiential cinema exhibition to celebrate the centenary of Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand is being set up in the Rose Garden Underpass in collaboration with National Film Archives (NFDC) and students of Chandigarh College of Architecture. For five days, films from across the world and the country will absorb Chandigarh’s film lovers, as Cinevesture International Film Festival (CIFF), the first international film festival, is all set to open here from March 27 to March 31. The festival will showcase 24 award-winning international features in the World Cinema section, 17 Indie gems in the India Unveiled, 27 shorts in Brief Encounters, a curated section of children’s films and timeless classics. Nina Lath, founder and CEO of Cinevesture, says, “The festival is envisaged as a platform for audiences and producers. Its various verticals have been designed keeping the same in mind.” Chandigarh first international film festivalThe opening film of the festival is Cannes Award-winning French film ‘The Taste of Things’ starring Juliette Binoche. For five days, films from across the world and the country will absorb Chandigarh’s film lovers, as Cinevesture International Film Festival (CIFF), the first international film festival, is all set to open here from March 27 to March 31. The festival will showcase 24 award-winning international features in the World Cinema section, 17 Indie gems in the India Unveiled, 27 shorts in Brief Encounters, a curated section of children’s films and timeless classics. Nina Lath, founder and CEO of Cinevesture, says, “The festival is envisaged as a platform for audiences and producers. Its various verticals have been designed keeping the same in mind.” VS Kundu, a retired civil servant and former head of the National Films Division of India, has come aboard as the director of the film festival and industry veteran Bina Paul is the artistic director of CIFF. According to V S Kundu, the festival is the first global-scale cinema event to ever happen in Chandigarh. An experiential cinema exhibition to celebrate the centenary of Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand is being set up in the Rose Garden Underpass in collaboration with National Film Archives (NFDC) and students of Chandigarh College of Architecture. A screening of Children’s films is open to all children from the ages of 10-17 years at 9 am each day from March 27-31 at Cinepolis Jagat. The opening film of the festival is Cannes Award-winning French film ‘The Taste of Things’ starring Juliette Binoche. The closing film is South Korea’s highest grossing film of 2024 to date — the Horror-Mystery-Thriller Exhuma (Pamyo) which premiered at 2024 Berlinale. Programming highlights include internationally acclaimed films like The Zone of Interest, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster, 2023 Academy Award-winner, The Whale, Seven Winters in Tehran, Breaking Ice, Paradise, and the animation feature Sultana’s Dreams among others. Award-winning Indian features and docs such as Marathi film Sthal, Venice Film Festival film Stolen, Rima Das’ Assamese film Tora’s Husband, Deepa Mehta’s TIFF film, I am Sirat, auteur filmmaker Gurvinder Singh’s Punjabi feature Adh Chanani Raat, Harjit Singh’s documentary on the late Punjabi painter and writer Imroz-A Walk Down The Memory Lane, Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Malayalam film Malaikottai Vaaliban, Sreemoyee Singh’s documentary, And, Towards Happy Alleys, will be screened. Source: Indian Express

The move marks an end to Japan's famous and long-running negative interest rate policy. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced on Tuesday the end of its negative interest rate policy and increased borrowing costs for the first time in 17 years. The negative rates were a part of Japan's aggressive monetary easing program. "The Bank will encourage the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at around 0 to 0.1%," the central bank said in a statement, moving them from their previous level of negative 0.1%, thus still keeping rates stuck around zero. It was Japan's first interest rate hike since 2007 and marks an end to a prolonged period of ultra-loose monetary policy aimed at stimulating the economy. More details regarding the decision and possible further hikes would follow BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's press conference later on Monday.  According to the Nikkei newspaper, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, "We trust the BoJ," adding that the decision "is in their hands." How significant is the interest rate rise in Japan? The rate hike has a lot of "symbolic significance," Izumi Devalier, head of Japan economics at BofA Securities, said ahead of the announcement. "But the actual impact on the economy is very small." She believed that the BOJ will likely continue keeping monetary conditions loose. Raising the rate will make loans more expensive for consumers and businesses. Following the rate hike, Japanese stocks saw fluctuations on Tuesday, and the yen dropped by 0.39% to 149.74 against the dollar. Understanding BOJ's policy  While many western central banks kept interest rates at or near zero in the roughly 15 years after the financial crash of 2007 and 2008, Japan's was already moving in that direction by the mid 1990s.  This was both as part of a bid to encourage spending and inflation in an aging society with negative population growth, and also in a bid to keep the country's debt repayments manageable, with Japan the most endebted country on the planet as a share of GDP.  In recent months, for the first time in years, inflation in Japan was approaching the Bank of Japan's 2% target level, prompting speculation in recent weeks that a rates change was likely either in March or April's BOJ meeting.   

Space One's Kairos exploded midair within seconds of its launch. The rocket was carrying a government satellite intended to temporarily replace intelligence satellites. Japanese company Space One's first attempt to make the country a contender in satellite launches ended in fire, smoke and debris after the Kairos rocket exploded shortly after its launch on Wednesday. Tokyo-based Space One's Kairos was Japan's first private-sector rocket to be launched. The 18-meter (59-foot) solid-fuel rocket blasted off from the company's own launch pad in the Wakayama region of western Japan at 11:01 a.m. (0201 GMT). Local media livestreams showed the rocket exploding midair within seconds of its launch. Hundreds of spectators had also gathered nearby to watch the launch. According to Shuhei Kishimoto, the governor of the local government, there were no injuries near the launch pad, and the fire has been extinguished. Company investigating cause The rocket was carrying a government satellite intended to temporarily replace intelligence satellites if needed. Space One said in a statement that following the launch of the first Kairos rocket, they took "a measure to abort the flight." The company further added that "details are being investigated." Katsumasa Tashima, the mayor of Kushimoto, a town in Wakayama, said he was disappointed but added that the town would support Space One and "continue to offer our help so that the first rocket will have a successful launch." Earlier, the company had to delay the inaugural launch window of Kairos — derived from an ancient Greek word meaning "the right moment" — four times, most recently on Saturday. Japan's aerospace industry scrambling to capture share of market The launch's failure is a setback for Space One, founded in 2018 by a Japanese consortium including Canon Electronics, IHI Aerospace, construction firm Shimizu and the government-owned Development Bank of Japan. Despite the explosion, Space One plans to continue its mission to provide "space courier services," with an aim to launch 20 rockets a year by the late 2020s, its president Masakazu Toyoda said. Last month, Japan's space agency JAXA successfully launched its new cost-efficient flagship rocket, the H3. This launch was also plagued with delays and two failed attempts. Although relatively small, Japan's aerospace industry is working hard to develop less expensive rockets, aiming to meet the growing demand for satellite launches from both the government and international customers.  

The Russian House in Dhaka in cooperation with the Bangladesh Astronomical Association organized the 90th birth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut. Under the initiative of the Russian House in Dhaka various arrangements were made for this event, including a rocket and aircraft model making workshop for kids; a magic show and a film show "Russia's History in Space".  The Director of the Russian House in Dhaka spoke about the life of Yuri Gagarin and his historic space mission. He congratulated and thanked the Bangladesh Astronomical Association and all the participants in the event. The President Mr. Zikrul Hasan and Chairman Mr. Moshurl Amin of the Bangladesh Astronomical Association thanked the Director of Russian House in Dhaka for organizing this event and expressed their involvement in future such events. At the end of the event the Director of Russian House in Dhaka, Mr. Pavel Dvoychenkov, handover the certificates among the participants.

Tahseen Bahar Shuchona, daughter of local MP AKM Bahauddin Bahar, has won in the Comilla City Corporation (COCC) mayoral by-election. Returning officer Farhad Hossain announced the result from Cumilla Zilla School on Saturday (March 9) night. Tahseen Bahar contested in the polls with the bus symbol and secured 48,890 votes, Her nearest rival  Monirul Haque Sakku (Table Clock symbol) got 26, 897 votes. Besides, Nizam Uddin Kaiser (Horse symbol) got 13,155 votes. Noor ur Rahman Mahmud Tanim who contested in the by-polls under the elephant symbol got 5,173 votes. The total number of voters in the city was 2,42,458. Of these, 94,115 voters exercised their voting rights. The voter turnout was 38.82 percent. There are 118,282 male and about 124,278 female voters in the city, and two third-gender voters. Of these, 94,115 voters exercised their voting rights. The voter turnout was 38.82 percent.

On actor Janhvi Kapoor's 27th birthday, NTR Arts unveiled her first look from Kortala Siva's upcoming action film Devara: Part 1, starring Jr NTR. Janhvi Kapoor's birthday has brought with it many gifts for her fans. After the announcement that she'll star opposite Ram Charan in an upcoming film, her first look from her Telugu debut has been unveiled. She'll be seen as the leading lady opposite Jr NTR in Kortala Siva's action epic Devara: Part 1.  Janhvi's first look The official X handle of NTR Arts shared the first look of Janhvi from Devara. In the picture, she's seen in a beautiful golden sari with a green border. She also sports a necklace and jhumkis, completing her look with a bindi on her forehead and a smile on her face. The production house captioned the post, “Wishing our beloved Thangam, #JanhviKapoor a happy and joyous birthday! (sparkle emoji)” Sharing the post on her Instagram, Janhvi wrote, “Can't wait to be back on set (red heart emoji).” The release of Devara: Part 1 has been delayed by six months and the Jr NTR-starrer will now hit the screens on October 10. Billed as an high-octane action drama set in the forgotten coastal lands of India, the two-part film was earlier set to be released on April 5.

JCI Dhaka Premier proudly hosted its first General Member's Meeting of 2024, marking the beginning of a dynamic year filled with impactful initiatives and community engagement.  The meeting, held on Saturday (March 2), brought together members from across the region to discuss upcoming projects and opportunities for collaboration. The event was graced by the presence of esteemed guests, including Imran Kadir, the National President of JCI Bangladesh, and Ashabus Safa, the Local President of JCI Dhaka Premier. Their participation underscored the importance of community involvement and the commitment to fostering positive change. Additionally, the board of Dhaka Premier were present including Executive Vice President Gazi Nayeem Manzoor,  Vice Presidents Md. Asifur Rahman and Syed Ziaul Ahsan. Secretary General Gazi Shahriar Islam Mridul and Treasurer Md. Shahinur Rashid were also present. To add more light to the board, Local Directors including Syed Moinul Ahsan, Mosharraf Hossain Saikat were present.  Last but not the least, Local Committee Chairs namely Ariana Afrin, Ayman Nasim and Md.Shoeb shared the floor and represented the Dhaka Premier Board of Directors 2024. During the meeting, general members also had the opportunity to share their ideas and insights on various community projects and initiatives. About 80% of the General Members were present during the meeting. Discussions ranged from youth empowerment programs to environmental sustainability efforts, highlighting the diverse interests and passions of the JCI Dhaka Premier community. "I am delighted to see the enthusiasm and dedication of our members at our first General Member's Meeting of 2024," said Ashabus Safa, Local President of JCI Dhaka Premier. "Together, we are poised to make a meaningful impact in our community and inspire positive change." Imran Kadir, National President of JCI Bangladesh, commended the efforts of JCI Dhaka Premier in driving forward the organization's mission of creating positive change. "It is inspiring to see the passion and dedication of the members of JCI Dhaka Premier," said Kadir. "I look forward to seeing the incredible work that will emerge from this dynamic group." The first General Member's Meeting of 2024 was a resounding success, setting the stage for a year of collaboration, innovation, and service within the JCI Dhaka Premier community.