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MONDAY, MAY 19, 2025
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India restricts some imports from







Bangladesh through land ports







AFP | Dhaka, Bangladesh yarn imports from New Delhi with India. Dhaka told AFP it had not been cancelled a 2020 transshipment export cargo to third countries
through the same land routes. The textile industry would officially informed of the latest deal that allowed Bangladesh to via Indian land borders.
ndia’s commerce ministry an- The latest move is a “big be temporarily affected by the restrictions.
Inounced restrictions on some threat”, Bangladeshi conglom- move, said Rakibul Alam Chow- “We haven’t received any of-
imports from Bangladesh via its erate Pran-RFL Group, which dhury of the Bangladesh Gar- ficial copy of notification. Once Ready-made garments
land borders, prompting fears exports around $60 million of ment Manufacturers and Ex- we get the documents and then from Bangladesh cannot
for the South Asian country’s goods annually to India, told porters Association. we can come up with our deci-
export-reliant economy. AFP. “India is the largest market Bangladesh Knitwear Manu- sion after going through it,” said be imported through land
New Delhi announced late for Pran-RFL Group’s processed facturers and Exporters Asso- Ministry of Commerce advisor
Saturday that ready-made gar- foods, plastic products, furni- ciation president Mohammad Sheikh Bashir Uddin. borders, while some other
ments from Bangladesh cannot ture, and PVC-finished goods,” Hatem also denounced the Bangladesh imported around
be imported through land bor- director Kamruzzaman Kamal tit-for-tat move by New Delhi, $9 billion worth of goods from goods -- including cotton,
ders, while some other goods said. adding that border trade would India in the last 10 months of
-- including cotton, processed “With the latest restrictions, “face a blow”. the 2024 financial year, while processed foods and wooden
foods and wooden funiture -- almost every category of our However, he believed that gar- exports to India stood at $1.51
have been barred from at least products are getting affect - ment exporters “will be able to billion, according to Bangladesh funiture -- have been barred
six entry points in northeast ed. This is a big threat for the cover up the impact”. Bank and Export Promotion Bu-
India. company and the country as The government reau data. from at least six entry points
The announcement came a well,” Kamal said, urging i n At the start of April, India
month after Bangladesh banned a bilateral solution in northeast India.






















Representative picture

Elton John blasts UK government Kanye West's pro-Hitler song

gets millions of views on X
over ‘criminal’ copyright plans AFP | Washington, United

States
AFP | London, United Kingdom new song by rapper Kanye
day with Laura Kuenssberg pro- A West glorifying Nazi lead-
ritish pop legend Elton gramme. er Adolf Hitler has racked up
John branded the UK gov- “The government are just millions of views on Elon
Bernment “absolute losers” being absolute losers and I’m Musk's X platform, after it was
on Sunday over planned cop- very angry about it,” John said, banned by other sites such as
yright law changes that would blasting Technology Secretary YouTube.
hand exemptions to tech firms. Peter Kyle as a “bit of a moron”. West -- the winner of 24
In a blistering interview Prime Minister Keir Starmer Grammys over the course of
broadcast by the BBC, “Rocket has previously said the govern- his career in hip-hop -- in re-
Man” star John said he felt “in- ment needs to “get the balance cent years has made repeat-
credibly betrayed” and accused right” with copyright and AI ed anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi Twitter (now X) in 2022, he
the government of preparing while noting that the technol- statements. has allowed hate speech and
to “rob young people of their ogy represented “a huge oppor- "Heil Hitler" was released disinformation on the site, po-
legacy and their income”. tunity”. on May 8 by the 47-year-old sitioning himself as a champi-
The changes which he brand- “They have no right to sell us artist who now prefers to go on of free speech.
ed “criminal” would allow tech down the river,” John added, by Ye -- the 80th anniversary But critics say the Tesla and
firms to use creators’ content urging Starmer to “wise up” and of the defeat of Nazi Germany SpaceX chief is amplifying
freely unless the rights holders “see sense”. in World War II. those who share his political
opt out. More than 1,000 musicians in- As of Saturday, the video had beliefs.
But John, 78, who has sold cluding Kate Bush, Annie Len- been seen nearly 10 million Musk has become a close ally
over 300 million records nox and Damon Albarn released times. of President Donald Trump,
worldwide in his decades-long a silent album in February to In the clip, dozens of Black and donated $277 million to
career, said young artists protest at the proposed chang- men -- wearing animal pelts support Trump and other
did not have the resources es, saying they would legalise and masks, and standing in a Republican candidates in the
“to fight big tech”. music theft. block formation -- chant the 2024 election.
He said he was not against ar- Earlier this month, writers title of the song, as West raps X did not immediately re-
tificial intelligence (AI) but that and musicians including John about being misunderstood spond to a request for com -
when it came to music and cre- and Bush also condemned and his custody battle with ment from AFP.
ativity a line should be drawn. the proposals as a “whole - ex-wife Kim Kardashian. In February, West's X ac -
The government’s Data sale giveaway” to Silicon Val- The song ends with an ex- count was deactivated after
(Use and Access) Bill is ley in a letter to The Times tract of a speech by the Nazi a days-long rant that includ-
currently going through newspaper. dictator. ed vitriolic, anti-Semitic out-
parliament. Other signatories included NBC News cited a YouTube bursts.
The parliament’s upper house musicians Paul McCartney, Ed spokesperson as saying: "We He also repeatedly referred
supported an amendment de- Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Sting, removed the content and will to himself as a "Nazi."
signed to ensure copyright hold- and writers Kazuo Ishiguro, continue to take down reup- Also in February, the website
ers would have to give permis- Michael Morpurgo and Helen loads." of his Yeezy fashion brand was
sion over whether their work The changes which he branded Fielding. Reddit also told NBC that it taken offline after plain white
A Department for Science,
was used and, in turn, see what
elements had been taken, by “criminal” would allow tech firms Innovation and Technology would remove any versions T-shirts with a swastika went
of the song from its platform, on sale.
But on Wednesday MPs in the to use creators’ content freely focused on “unlocking the se- "Hate and anti-Semitism have out of social media platforms
who and when. spokesperson said the bill was with a spokesperson adding: The rapper had been locked
lower house, in which the La- unless the rights holders opt out. cure and effective use of data for absolutely no place on Reddit." in the past, notably when he
bour government has a huge the public interest –- boosting The song has also been re- was banned from X for near-
majority, voted down the chang- the economy by an estimated moved from streaming plat- ly eight months for violating
es. changes to copyright laws went ting theft, thievery on a high £10 billion over the course of forms Spotify and Apple Mu- rules barring incitement to
If the government’s planned ahead they would be “commit- scale”, John told the BBC’s Sun- the next 10 years”. sic. Since Musk purchased violence.
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