Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar and South Korea's Foreign Minister Park Jin on Friday discussed the importance of cultural and people-to-people ties in strengthening India-South Korea Special Strategic Partnership. "FM of the Republic of Korea @FMParkJin called on Hon'ble @VPIndia Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar today," the Indian Vice President tweeted on Friday. "Highlighting 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations, the leaders discussed the significance of cultural & people-to-people ties in strengthening - Special Strategic Partnership," the tweet further read. Park Jin is currently on a two-day official visit to India starting Friday. His visit to India comes as the two countries mark the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Friday welcomed Park Jin to India, said his visit will help strengthen India-South Korea Strategic Partnership. "A warm welcome to FM @FMParkJin of the Republic of Korea on his first official visit to India," Bagchi tweeted on Friday. "As India-South Korea celebrate 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year, the visit will strengthen our Special Strategic Partnership," the tweet further read. Park Jin on Friday arrived in India at the Delhi airport. Park on Friday said South Korea would like to upgrade its existing successful partnership with India and focus on trade, investment and supply chain stabilization in manufacturing sector and also critical minerals. Park said he will be holding a meeting with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar to further promote India-South Korea partnership. "Commemorating half a century of our diplomatic relationship, we would like to upgrade our existing successful partnership with India. So, I'm going to meet with my counterpart S Jaishankar, the Foreign Minister of India to discuss our efforts, joint efforts to promote our partnership and to explore possibilities in deepening and widening our cooperation," the South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister told Media.

The police arrested 3 people including 2 owners of the destroyed building at Siddikbazar area explosion in Gulistan, Dhaka. DMP's additional deputy commissioner (Media) KN Roy Niyoti confirmed the matter on Thursday, March 9.  DMP said, "They have been arrested on the basis of several complaints including construction of buildings without following the rules, construction of shops in the place of Sewarage line and not cleaning AC regularly. The arrested are: Wahidur Rahman (46) and his brother Matiur Rahman (36) and Motaleb Mintu (36).

Previously, Musk posted a poll on Twitter asking the platform's users whether he should stay on as CEO. More than 57% of the millions who voted said he should step down from his role. Elon Musk said Tuesday he will step down as chief executive of Twitter as soon as a replacement is found. "I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software and servers teams," Musk wrote on Twitter. What else has Musk said about stepping down? Earlier this week, Musk received a clear indication from Twitter users that the majority of them would like to see him step down from the job after weeks of controversy surrounding the social media platform. Around 57.5% of the 17.5 million people who took part in a poll he posted on Twitter with the question, "Should I step down as head of Twitter?" answered in the affirmative. Plumbing to new depths After months of lawsuits and the near miss of a full-blown trial, Musk finally took control of Twitter at the end of October. Just before the $44 billion (€41.45 billion) acquisition was finalized, Musk entered Twitter headquarters with a sink in his hands — tweeting the picture with the words, "Let that sink in." The ensuing two months have seen mass layoffs, rows over blue check marks, Donald Trump's account restored, several journalists banned from the platform, the prohibition of promoting other social media outlets and Twitter hemorrhaging millions of dollars per day. There have also been calls from Wall Street for Musk to step down from Twitter, which some investors see as distracting the billionaire from his work at Tesla, the electric vehicle company he also runs. 

India will cross 50 per cent power capacity from non-fossil fuel by 2030, said Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh on Wednesday. Although power demand has increased by 20 per cent in the last couple of years, India has achieved 40 per cent of the renewable energy target 9 years ahead of the target, he added. Speaking at a business event titled "India Ideas Summit," Singh also said that India's per capita emissions are among the lowest in the world. "We will cross 50 per cent power capacity from non-fossil fuels well before 2030. In fact, we have set an internal target for myself and my ministry that by 2030, we will have 65 per cent capacity from non-fossil fuels. We are among the fastest growing markets for renewables in the world," the minister said. "If you look at the total carbon load which accounts for global warming, our contribution to the total CO2 load till date is just 3.4 per cent and our population is 17.7 per cent," he added. The minister said that despite all this, India decided that its environment is important and set huge targets. "We committed accordingly in COP21 in Paris, that in 2030, 40 per cent of our capacity will come from non-fossil fuels and I am happy to tell you that today we have reached 41.5 per cent of that 9 years in advance," he added. On the green hydrogen space, Singh said that the government is committed to making India the largest green hydrogen hub in the world and pointed out that the cost of green hydrogen production is competitive in India even without a PLI scheme. Interestingly, Singh told US businesses to invest in the Indian renewable energy space, insisting that "If you are not here you are missing something." The power minister also mentioned that the government will come up with bids for green hydrogen and green ammonia. On offshore wind bids, the minister said that tenders would be out soon. Singh revealed that the Centre will soon launch a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for grid-level renewable energy storage. "The only way to bring down the cost of storage is to start manufacturing here and to add volume and that's what I am going to do. The bid...PLI, which I will come up with will only be for grid-level storage," he said. Furthermore, the power minister said that a battery energy storage system is important for better grid management, but the problem is that storage is expensive. "We are expanding in storage and have floated one of the largest bids globally with 1,000 MWh tender. That bid has been finalised. In fact, it is one of the largest bids for storage in the world, and all our bids will be the largest in the world due to our size. The rate we got is Rs 9.30 per kilowatt hour (US Cents 11-12 per unit) which is a bit expensive because my power cost from solar is Cents 2.5-2.6 per unit and my battery cost is 11 Cents per unit which is five times the cost of my energy. So the only way to bring down storage costs is to start manufacturing here and to add volumes," he elaborated. IAS officer turned politician noted that as of today, India has achieved 41.5 per cent power capacity from non-fossil fuels, which is nine years in advance of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) target. He also said India is one of the biggest markets for solar cells and modules. On the imposition of customs duty on the import of solar modules and cells from China, he explained that China was dumping solar cells and modules at very low prices trying to kill the domestic industry. Source: ANI  

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Wednesday) said her government has been establishing high-tech parks across the country mainly to flourish the digital economy with a target of earning 5 billion dollars by 2025. "We have decided to set up high-tech parks aimed at flourishing the digital economy. Sajeeb Wazed Joy was behind the decision making," she said while addressing the second meeting of the Bangladesh High-Tech Park Authority board of governors. She joined the meeting virtually held at the conference room of the ICT Division from her official Ganobhaban residence in the capital. Comparing the current earnings from digital market with that 13 years back, the Prime Minister said: "The size of the digital market was only 26 million (US) dollars 13 years back and now it stands at 1.4 billion (US) dollars and its export will surpass 5 billion (US) dollars by 2025 while employments will be generated for 30 lakh people." To fulfill the target, she said, her government has been establishing ITC infrastructures and preparing skilled manpower alongside creating scopes to flourish the hidden talents of the young generation. "Our country will march ahead to prosperity if we are able to flourish the hidden talents of the young generation and utilise those accordingly," she opined. The Prime Minister said her government is out to pursue making digital devices a major source of the country's export earnings replacing the readymade garments. "I think digital devices can be the most exportable items in the future. We'll have to take different steps and work accordingly to this end," she added. The premier said she wants digital devices with the tag of 'Made in Bangladesh' to be exported across the globe like the garment products. The Digital Bangladesh Taskforce meeting was held in 2015, she said, adding that it had given priority to production of digital products to diversify the export items to reduce dependency on single items. PM's ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak and PM's Senior Secretary Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah were present at the Ganobhaban end while Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Posts and Telecommunication Division Minister Mustafa Jabbar and other board members of the Bangladesh High-Tech Park were present at the ICT division during the meeting, PMO Press Wing sources said. Sheikh Hasina said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had a target of giving the people a better and improved life by building a developed and prosperous country free from hunger and poverty.    To fulfill the target, the Prime Minister said, "We have to cope with the pace of the world. So, the government has taken various measures to educate the people on modern technology, create awareness among them about technology and establish communication to this end at the global level."    She said her government has made Bangladesh digitised in accordance with the Awami League's election manifesto of 2008.    "We want our country to march ahead. We have already attached the most importance to technological education and its expansion," she added.   The premier said her government is constructing 92 high-tech parks, software technology parks and IT Training and Incubator Centres across the country to prepare efficient working forces to face the challenges of the 4th industrial revolution. Of them, the construction works of nine parks have already been completed, she said.   She added that her government has introduced computer education at the school level.    The Prime Minister asked all the members of the board of governance of Bangladesh High-tech Park Authority to focus on building a modern and technology based developed country by 2041.    "We have been taking various timely measures to take Bangladesh towards prosperity, maintaining the status of a developing country. Science and technology can create the scope for us," she said.    The premier stressed the need for research on science and technology to pursue the move towards becoming a developed country.    She said the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war have slowed the pace of Bangladesh's economy and other economies of the world, adding that food crisis has been prevailing in many countries around the globe.    Referring to the increasing trend of fuel price globally, she said the developed countries are now facing difficulties to produce electricity, "We have to be economical in using electricity. We are giving special attention so that we can reduce the use of energy and keep the country's economy rolling by limiting the use of power."   The Prime Minister said her government has given importance to increasing food production to ensure food security, reiterating her call to the countrymen to bring every inch of land under cultivation.  Source: BSS AH