As part of HSBC's global commitment to supporting female entrepreneurs, HSBC launched the ‘Female Entrepreneur Fund (FEF)' in Bangladesh on Thursday, in acknowledgement of the challenges that female-owned businesses face. The aim of the programme is to promote financial inclusivity for women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh through the FEF initiative by supporting: financial literacy, networking, and financing. Of HSBC's clientele base - female-led corporates, NGOs that help and promote female entrepreneurship, female-led startups and some selected non-customer groups and individuals will be eligible to participate in the programme, reads a press release.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2022/08/04/hsbcs-global-initiative-to-support-female-entrepreneurs-launched-in-bangladesh

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Gumaibeel of Rangunia, a well-known granary in Chittagong, is now abuzz with flocks of red-green parakeets. Also known as 'dhaner gola,' Gumaibeel is the country's second-largest beel after Chalan Beel. Gumaibeel is located in Rangunia in the foothills of Nischintapur Hills and spans Chandraghona, Maryam Nagar, Hosnabad, Swanirvar Rangunia, Lalanagar union and municipality wards No 7, 8 and 9. It is widely known that the crop there can provide food for the people of the country for two and a half days.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/nation/2022/12/15/gumaibeel-paradise-for-parakeets

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Thanks to Bangladesh's fast developing road infrastructure, Eid holidaymakers can expect a better experience than usual on their way to their village homes this year. Road expansion work and the building of bridges on many national highways have improved capital Dhaka's road connectivity with the country's southern districts significantly in recent years. Following the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, the highway connecting Dhaka to Sylhet is also undergoing a much-needed expansion work. Although homebound journeys are expected to be smooth, holidaymakers may face some delays due to toll booths at the Padma Bridge, Bangabandhu Bridge, Meghna-Gomoti Bridge, as well as traffic bottlenecks in some parts of Gazipur, Munshiganj, Narsindhi and Naryanganaj.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2023/04/19/road-forecast-for-eid-holidaymakers

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Ingrid Coetzee recalls what it was like to live through Cape Town's water crisis in 2018 when the taps almost ran dry and the South Africanmetropolis became the world's first major city to face the risk of running out of water. At one point, residents were limited to just 50 litres (around 13 gallons) a day. To put that in perspective, one load of laundry can use up to around 70 litres , depending on the machine. "I remember how hard it was having to live with those severe restrictions, in terms of cutting back on our daily water limits," the Cape Town-based expert on biodiversity, nature and health told DW by phone.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/world/2023/06/29/climate-change-what-can-we-do-to-tackle-drought

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Several events will be held across Bangladesh Thursday to commemorate Jail Killing Day, the day the country was robbed of its top national leaders.On November 3, 1975, four national leaders and heroes of the country's Liberation War, Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad and Captain M Mansur Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman were murdered while in state custody inside Dhaka Central Jail.At that time, the country was seeing sweeping political changes following the brutal assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family on August 15, 1975.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2022/11/03/jail-killing-day-bangladesh-remembers-mourns-four-national-leaders

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Some tourists focus on leisure and relaxation but most are after an 'experience' that helps them create 'memories to last a lifetime'. Among them are the thrill-seeking super-rich tourists who try out extremely risky adventures. Most of these adrenaline shots are activities that would otherwise require years of training and practice but are undertaken with technology serving merely as an exorbitantly expensive shortcut. Ominously called Titan, the submersible carrying five passengers to the wreck of the RMS Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean is now said to have imploded shortly after the expedition began on June 18.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/world/2023/06/29/the-hubris-of-the-titan-and-the-titanic--the-dark-side-of-the-super-rich-seeking-adventure

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The Wagner Group isn't just active in Ukraine. It also has a presence in many other countries, including Syria or Mali. And it's not the only Russian private military company either.  Over the past few years, there has been an increase in these kinds of groups, also known as PMCs, in Russia, a report from the US-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says. It is not always possible to accurately track the exact activities of the Wagner Group, headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, and other PMCs because they allegedly act independently of the Russian government and conventional military forces.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/world/2023/06/29/russias-wagner-group-where-is-it-active

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As this year's G20 summit came to a close in Bali, Indonesian President Joko Widodo formally handed over the bloc's presidency to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. New Delhi took over the G20 leadership on December 1."We have to make full use of this opportunity and focus on global good, world welfare," Modi said over the weekend."Whether it is peace or unity, sensitivity toward the environment, or sustainable development, India has solutions to challenges related to these," he added.Will India set the global agenda?Over the course of the year, and in the run-up to the leaders' summit in 2023, India is expected to host over 200 G20 working group meetings, scheduled to take place in various locations across the South Asian country.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/south-asia/2022/12/03/can-india-live-up-to-the-g20-presidency-hype

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Fyruz Education Services (FES), established in 2015, has emerged as a trailblazer among afterschool tuition providers in Dhaka. Under the visionary leadership of Fyruz Khan, a seasoned educator with 17 years of experience, FES has experienced remarkable growth over the years, solidifying its position as a leader in the field of academic support. Courtesy With a student body of 650 at the end of this academic year, FES has witnessed a significant increase in enrollment, reflecting the positive impact it has made on the lives of students.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2023/06/15/fyruz-education-services-making-giant-strides-forward

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One in 30 Europeans may have developed "long Covid" in the first three years of the pandemic, the World Health Organization's (WHO) European office said on Tuesday, warning that the coronavirus has not gone away. Since 2020, nearly 36 million people in the European region are believed to have contracted long-lasting health problems after being infected with Covid-19, the global health body said. Addressing a press conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday, WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge stressed that "long Covid remains a complex condition we still know very little about.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/world/2023/06/29/who-nearly-36-million-in-europe-suffering-from-long-covid

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The government is considering the introduction of a modern navigation lock system to ease the movement of rising water vessel traffic at the Mongla Port.The US expressed keen interest in funding and implementing the project during a series of recent meetings between the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Bangladesh Shipping Ministry, and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA).USACE is the authority responsible for maintaining the inland waterways of the US. The corps has significant experience building and maintaining navigation locks, including on the Mississippi River.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2022/09/03/modernizing-mongla-port-govt-mulls-state-of-the-art-navigation-lock-system

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The visual methods embedded in the Bangladesh and Indian Sundarbans seek to sketch issues of vivencia (lived experiences) representing climate change, uncertainty, and transformative actions in South Asia.Through these participatory visual action research techniques are told from the vantage points of women, youth islanders, and through children's paintings, these methods tell mundane stories of everyday incidences of locally-led adaptation experienced in the lives of the communities that are witnessing climatic uncertainty.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/tribune-climate/2022/08/04/possibilities-of-participatory-visual-research-methods

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The government is considering the introduction of a central admission test for both public and private universities from next year in order to ease the enrolment process for new students as well as the financial burden on their parents. The central entry test is likely to be similar to the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), or medical admission tests of the country, a top government official recently told Dhaka Tribune.  Cluster admission tests will continue to be held this year, the official added.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/education/2023/03/02/government-mulls-central-entry-test-for-universities-from-next-year

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As the 1971 Liberation War escalated with India operating strikes on both East and West fronts, the announcement by Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on December 6 recognizing Bangladesh as an independent nation enraged Washington.US President Richard Nixon's Assistant for National Security Affairs Henry Kissinger said that the recognition was 'long-anticipated' and decided to cut off aid to India.According to a memorandum prepared by Kissinger for the president on December 6, the significance of the move was lessened by India's 'hostilities', and Pakistani ruler General AM Yahya Khan responded by breaking diplomatic relations with India.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2022/12/06/december-6-1971-pakistan-dismayed-as-india-recognizes-bangladesh

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Had there not been the unnecessary pomp and pageantry accompanying Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle might not have exposed the world for what it is.She was beloved to her subjects, differently viewed by those that were once. The 54 nation Commonwealth, vestiges of an empire of yesteryear, was a chasm whereby, beyond niceties and diplomatic nuances, not too many shed tears.During royalty visitation shortly before her passing, offsprings were confronted by the fact that countries still swearing sovereignty with her as titular head wanted to break free.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/op-ed/2022/10/02/preamble-to-the-new-order

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Sunshine at last! Time to go out to the park or the lake. Running, swimming, sunbathing — the main thing is to make the most of the nice weather. But at some point, enough is enough and our bodies need a break. If you spend too much time in the sun, you can get heat exhaustion. And those who work hard in the heat can even suffer a heatstroke. The terms heat exhaustion and heatstroke are often confused. Rather than two distinct things, you can see them more as two different degrees of severity of your body getting hotter.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/world/2023/06/29/heat-exhaustion-or-heatstroke-what-to-do-in-an-emergency

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Ever since the news first broke of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria on February 6, which has claimed over 41,000 lives (and counting), I've been refreshing the news on a daily basis. But it struck me, horrifyingly, that beyond a desire for knowing the details, I keep coming back to one particular thing I look at: The number of deaths. Even when I sat down to write about this, the very first thing I looked up was a list of the deadliest earthquakes of the 21st century - of course measured by the number of deaths.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/op-ed/2023/02/16/ashes-to-ashes-dust-to-dust

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The longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, turns 75 on Tuesday. On her birthday, here are few pictures of her struggles and achievementsSeptember 28, 1947A star is bornBorn at Tungipara in Gopalganj district, Sheikh Hasina is the eldest of five children of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Bangamata Begum Fazilatunnesa.Sheikh Hasina with her siblings in a childhood photo Courtesy1966Education and student politicsSheikh Hasina is elected vice president of the Students' Union of Eden Girls College in 1966.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2022/09/28/prime-minister-sheikh-hasina-turns-76

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Last week, Vladimir Putin signed decrees on the introduction of a visa-free regime for Georgian nationals and the restoration of direct flights with Georgia. Direct air travel between the two countries was suspended in 2019, when Moscow unilaterally introduced a ban on the flights amid massive anti-Kremlin protests in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, sparked by the visit of Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov to the Georgian parliament. The ruling party "Georgian Dream" welcomed the Russian president's initiative and granted permission to two Russian airlines and one Georgian to operate the flights.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/europe/2023/05/20/georgia-risks-eu-candidacy-by-restoring-russia-flights

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More than 1 million refugees are expected to flee the conflict in Sudan by October, the United Nations said on Tuesday, surpassing previous projections. Already, nearly 600,000 people have fled to neighboring countries like Egypt, Chad, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. But the civil war has once again taken on an ethnic dimension in Darfur, where local rights groups and the UN say that the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary (RSF) and other ethnic Arab militias are targeting non-Arab tribes "Unfortunately, looking at the trends, looking at the situation in Darfur, we are likely to go beyond 1 million," said Raouf Mazou, an assistant high commissioner for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

https://www.dhakatribune.com/africa/2023/06/29/sudan-over-1-million-may-flee-conflict-by-october-un-says

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Bangladesh's first super specialized hospital, scheduled for opening at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University on August 28, promises to revolutionize healthcare in the country. Ahead of the inauguration, Dhaka Tribune spoke with BSMMU Vice-Chancellor Dr Md Sharfuddin Ahmed and other health experts to find out what makes the hospital unique.According to the BSMMU VC, one of the main reasons the hospital has been labelled as a super specialized hospital is that it will offer certain medical services that are not available at most general hospitals of the country, such as bone marrow and gene transplantation.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/dhaka/2022/08/03/what-makes-the-new-super-specialized-hospital-so-special

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