Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is staying in Dhaka on a two-day visit.

The Emir of Qatar will hold a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the second day of his visit on Tuesday (April 23). Agreements and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) will be signed between the two countries after the meeting of the two top leaders.

Earlier on Monday (April 22) the Emir of Qatar arrived in Dhaka on a special flight around 5 pm. President Md. Shahabuddin welcomed the Emir at the airport.

It is learnt that 11 agreements and memorandum of understanding (MOUs) will be signed between the two countries during the Emir's visit. These include six agreements and five MoUs. His visit will discuss trade and investment as well as the special situation in the Middle East resulting from the Iran-Israel conflict.

The Emir of Qatar will pay a courtesy call on the President at Bangabhaban on Tuesday afternoon. He will then leave Dhaka by special flight in the evening.

Incidentally, this is the first time since 2005 that an Emir of Qatar visited Dhaka.

Monday was the last day of the 5-day International Documentary Festival titled '12th Liberation Doc Fest Bangladesh' organized by Liberation War Museum. According to the announced schedule, the selected documentary film exhibition was supposed to start at 11 am.

This reporter reached the museum premises at 11:15 am to see the exhibition in the auditorium of the Liberation War Museum in Agargaon of the capital. He found no one there except a few security personnel. However, a few hanging banners with relevant information on the walls of the museum building seemed to inform the evil of the festival.

After not getting any update regarding the festival from the security personnel, he went to the museum secretariat and spoke to a person in charge named Farhat, who is responsible for coordinating the festival. Farhat said that the documentary exhibition will start at 11 am according to the pre-determined schedule of the festival.

Walking into the auditorium, the empty auditorium was filled with only one worker testing a documentary to be shown on the projector. After sitting and waiting for a while, a documentary filmmaker from Kolkata named Mrinmoy Banerjee appeared there. He said that his documentary was selected to be screened at the festival and he was invited to attend the festival by email and phone.

A little after 11:00 am, the museum worker started showing the documentary entitled 'Those Who Brought the Flag of Revolution in Their Hands' without announcement and presence of any visitors.

After the screening of this 40-minute long documentary, Mrimmoy, who came to watch the documentary produced by himself with a well-wisher in an empty auditorium, expressed his disappointment and told Barta24.com, "If any visitor has not seen this, why should it be shown here under the name of International Documentary Film Festival?" May have importance! Was it necessary to be invited to such a festival?

The young producer said, "I received an e-mail from the organizers requesting to participate in the festival, it mentioned issuing 2 passes for my team, but when I actually attended and asked the concerned, no one could tell me anything about it." I made this documentary at my own expense out of responsibility towards history and tradition. Participation in such an event is pointless if those who are interested cannot see it.

He said, "Perhaps the organizers have failed to convey information about this festival to those interested." Despite adverse weather conditions, true fans flock to this type of event regardless of obstacles - we have seen that from past experience.''

Chest specialist Dr. Uttam Kumer Barua who came to watch the documentary of producer Mrinmoy Banerjee complained that the museum auditorium was not suitable for the exhibition and said, "After sitting in the auditorium for half an hour, I understand that the museum staff did not even clean it before the exhibition." It smelled bad, the way a theater is prepared by using air fresheners, it's not done here.'

This Chest Specialist also commented that anyone can get sick in such an auditorium.

Twenty-five volunteers can be seen chatting inside the museum after coming out of the auditorium. When asked why none of them went to the auditorium - they refused to speak. When asked about the matter from Farhat, who is coordinating the festival, he avoided the responsibility of not having visitors due to the crowd. However, he did not give any answer to the question why museum workers and volunteers related to the festival did not stay at the exhibition.

Speaking to an employee of the museum who did not want to be named, it is known that there was hardly any attendance at the opening and closing of the '12th Liberation Doc Fest Bangladesh' except for some guests and visitors. State Minister for Information Mohammad Ali Arafat inaugurated the festival on April 18 at the museum auditorium.

Indian filmmaker Nilotpal Majumder and India's national and international award-winning filmmaker Haubam Pawan Kumar were present at the inaugural function. Asaduzzaman Noor, Trustee of Liberation War Museum and Mofidul Haque, Trustee and Festival Director of Liberation War Museum also spoke on the occasion. Sara Zaker, trustee and member secretary of Liberation War Museum, gave the opening speech at the event.

In 2006, the Liberation War Museum started the Documentary Film Festival. Famous filmmakers of the world participated in this festival with their documentaries and enhanced the status of this festival. The organization has been awarding the best documentary filmmakers following the judicial process through a nationally and internationally recognized jury board. But this time, the Liberation War Museum could not maintain the rich tradition in organizing this festival - this is the complaint of the documentary filmmakers.

The High Court has granted bail to Tanya Khondokar, wife of Syed Ashfaqul Haque, former executive editor of the Daily Star, in the case of 'negligent death' of a domestic worker. Besides, the rule has been issued asking why Ashfaqul Haque will not be granted bail.

On Monday (April 22) a bench of the High Court division consisting of Rezaul Hasan and Justice Fahmida Quader gave this order.

Senior lawyer Md. Khurshid Alam Khan argued in favor of the bail petition. Attorney General Abu Mohammad (AM) represented the state.

After the hearing, Khurshid Alam told the media that it is a bailable offence. The ruling was issued seeking why Ashfaqul Haque should not be granted bail and Tania Khondokar was granted interim bail.

Earlier on March 21, the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Mohammad Assams Jaglul Hossain did not grant them bail.

On February 6, a teenage domestic worker died after falling from the ninth floor of a residential building in Mohammadpur of the capital. The 15-year-old girl named Preeti Oran used to work at the house of Syed Ashfaqul Haque, the former executive editor of the Daily Star, a resident of that building.

The case was filed against Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tanya Khondokar on January 7 by Lukesh Oran, the father of domestic help Preeti.

The suit alleges wrongful death under Section 304(a). Then they were arrested on January 6. On January 7, the court rejected the remand and bail pleas of the accused and ordered them to be sent to jail. The court ordered them to be interrogated at the jail gate for three days. Then on February 13, in view of the 10-day remand application, the court granted them a four-day remand. They were sent to jail after being remanded on February 18.

Syed Ashfaqul Haque was dismissed from the Daily Star on April 2 due to the incident.

The Boeing 787 'Dream liner', the world's most advanced airliner, is said to have a manufacturing defect and has been recommended grounding of all aircraft of this model.

Former Boeing engineer Sam Sahel pour recently said this, and the world has started an uproar.

The engineer complained that the Boeing 777 was built too quickly without the Boeing 878 Dream liner. As the age of all aircraft increases, their risk has reached an alarming level.

Sam also said, "I have never seen an aircraft in such dire condition." So, never let my family members board the Boeing Dreamliner.

After this incident, Aviation and Tourism Minister Farooq Khan directed the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Biman to look into the matter.

After that, Biman's Managing Director Shafiul Azim said that Biman is in constant communication with Boeing. I will inform the minister if I get any update on this.

Later, the Minister said, as the 'Dream liner' aircraft in Biman's fleet are new, there is nothing to panic about technical problems for the time being. However, thinking about the future and in the interest of ensuring passenger safety, the issue needs to be clarified by talking to Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, about the technical issues because, the safety of passengers is the main issue for the Bangladesh government and Biman.

How new is the Dream liner?

Aviation Minister Farooq Khan issued urgent instructions on Boeing's lapses. As much as it is appreciated, he said, there is nothing to panic about the technical defects of the Dream liner as its planes are new.

It has been found that the first Dream liner landed in the country in August 2018. Then, one by one, the "Dream liner" aircrafts started joining the fleet. Finally, the 'Dream liner' was added to the fleet in September 2019. As such, these aircraft are not entirely new.

The accident does not leave Boeing behind

The opening of the doors of the Boeing 737 Max plane of Alaska Airlines in mid-air caused uproar around the world. After this incident, the same company's 'Dream liner' model aircrafts came into discussion about safety.

After the 'MAX' incident, a Nippon Airways flight took off from Japan's Toyama Airport and quickly returned to the airport after a Boeing 787-800 had a cracked window. In both cases, two planes escaped major accidents. In the wake of this incident, a Boeing 747 aircraft caught fire in mid-air in Miami, USA.

Why is the Dream liner’s windshield cracked?

Boeing's plane crash hit the plane too. In January last, Biman's Boeing 787-9 suffered a crack in the windshield.

The Dammam-bound flight returned to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after flying for two hours. The pilot of the Boeing was Captain Tanya Reza. The aircraft was able to land again in Dhaka with 285 passengers.

Earlier in February 2022, the Boeing 737 aircraft made an emergency landing after arriving at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur airport from Dhaka. The plane's windshield was also cracked though it was not the airline's own aircraft. It was leased.

Regarding windshield cracks, a pilot said, windshield cracks don't happen very often. A windshield crack in midair is definitely scary. A broken windshield can cause an imbalance in the pressure inside the aircraft and cause a major accident.

Air Commodore Moazzem Hossain, director of the Directorate of Engineering, said that after four years, such an incident should not normally happen in an aircraft.

What do the experts say?

In this regard, former member of Biman's board of directors and aviation expert Kazi Wahidul Alam said that after the 'Boeing Max' accident, questions were raised about Boeing's safety defects. This time again the issue of safety of 'Dream liner' came to the fore. Hence, it should address the issue raised with utmost importance.