The dust from construction works of government and private development projects including metro rail project, and the black smoke emitted from brickfields and unfit vehicles are responsible for increasing air pollution in the city, he said.

The minister was talking to reporters before the intra-ministerial meeting on the remedy from air and sound pollution at the secretariat.

“Dhaka was in the third and fourth position among the world’s polluted cities several months ago but it is now number one as air pollution has increased at intolerable level in the last two or three days,” Shahab Uddin said.

Citing a statistic, he said that currently the numbers of plying vehicles on city roads are 619,654 while the numbers of vehicles were 369,000 several months earlier.

K-beauty has been an influential trend across the world, propelled by the high popularity of K-pop and Korean dramas. Korean cosmetics companies have been exporting a wide range of skincare and makeup products. Total exports reached $6.89 billion last year, according to the Korea Cosmetic Association.

The festival, held under the slogan of “ASEAN Beauty, Make up Our Dreams,” is organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, with the cooperation of related ministries, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and K-beauty companies.

The two-day festival aims to connect guests from ASEAN countries and Korea by sharing each other’s culture and beauty.

The festival venue was packed Monday with booths set up by leading K-beauty companies. The festival is separated into four sections; an SME zone, ROK-ASEAN zone, Mutual Growth zone, and K-beauty experience zone.

Varieties of facial sheet masks are on display at the festival, as sheet masks have been leading the K-beauty trend. For example, L&P Cosmetic’s Mediheal brand, promoted by K-pop juggernaut BTS, has sold over 1.7 billion sheet masks globally.

Korean cosmetics giant Amorepacific is showcasing its high-end skincare brand Sulwhasoo, inspired by Korean ginseng.

There are booths that introduce how K-beauty embraces advanced technology, including a booth that uses virtual reality to allow users to experience the locations where natural cosmetic ingredients are sourced, such as a green tea farm on Jeju Island.

3D printing technology that builds artificial skin — as a substitute for animal testing — is also showcased at the fair.

SMEs and Startups Minister Park Young-sun visited the venue Monday.

“Korea has evolved into the world’s No. 4 country in cosmetics exports thanks to the SMEs in the beauty industry that have continuously developed new products such as BB cream, air cushion foundation, mask sheets and more,” Park said in a press release.

“Starting from now, I will focus on policies that support the growth of K-beauty, supporting Korea to become the No. 3 country in cosmetics exports, in cooperation with other ministries.

The festival also featured various activities. Live recording of TV show “Get It Beauty” on OnStyle was held Monday. The beauty show, launched in 2006, is produced by entertainment mogul CJ ENM. In its 11th season, the Friday night show has been a signature program when it comes to understanding K-beauty trends.

K-beauty Trend Show will be held Tuesday, featuring 12 models on the runway, styled with local makeup and hair designs.

According to the organizers, buyers from 20 companies from four ASEAN nations are to visit the two-day festival.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent congratulatory letters respectively, which were read by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.

Wang said the establishment of a high-level consultation mechanism on people-to-people exchanges between China and Japan is an important consensus reached by the two leaders, which represents their deep expectations.

China is ready to strengthen overall planning with Japan to further expand personnel exchanges, enrich cultural exchanges, strengthen guidance and shaping of public opinion, promote exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations, and enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, so as to build a strong cultural bond and a solid public support for the long-term development of bilateral ties, he added.

Motegi called on the two sides to give full play to the role of the high-level consultation mechanism on people-to-people exchanges, actively carry out such exchanges and cooperation in culture, sports and tourism to push for greater development of people-to-people and cultural exchanges in the new era.

China, Japan ties back on track

During the meeting between the two foreign ministers on Monday, Wang said that with the political guidance of the two leaders and joint efforts of both sides, China-Japan relations have returned to the right track and have seen a sound momentum of improvement and development.

The two sides should meet each other halfway, maintain close communication, enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation and properly handle such sensitive issues as history and Taiwan, Wang said.

It is hoped and believed that with the joint efforts of both sides, the major political and diplomatic agenda of the two countries on the next stage will become a milestone for the long-term, sound and stable development of China-Japan relations, he added.

Wang pointed out that in the face of uncertainties in the international situation and the rise of unilateralism and protectionism, China and Japan should work together to safeguard multilateralism, uphold the multilateral trading system, maintain the international system with the United Nations at its core, and reject any bullying acts that violate international law.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of China-Japan-ROK (Republic of Korea) cooperation. Wang noted that China and Japan should also enhance communication and coordination on major international and regional issues, which will not only promote the development of bilateral relations, but also inject more stability into world peace and stability.

Wang said after the meeting that China and Japan should jointly push forward regional cooperation, and sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership at an early date. China also hopes to speed up the negotiation on China-Japan-ROK free trade agreement, so as to facilitate Asia’s economic integration.

Motegi said that the steady development of Japan-China relations is indispensable to regional peace and prosperity, and is of great positive significance in dealing with the current international situation full of turbulence. Japan is looking forward to Chinese President Xi’s state visit next spring.

Japan is ready to work with China to promote economic and technological cooperation with an open mind, creating a fair and equitable business environment for companies of the two countries, he said.

Enhancing ties in all areas  

The two sides also reached consensus in the fields such as culture, tourism, education, sports, media, film and television, local, youth and women, including designating the year of 2020 as the “China-Japan Cultural and Sports Exchange Promotion Year”; resuming and expanding two-way study tours; expanding personnel exchanges in a balanced way to exceed 15 million at an early date; promoting cooperation in cultural industries; and supporting each other in making the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics a success.

Giuliani’s dealings with the two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, are being investigated by federal prosecutors at the U.S. attorney’s office of the Southern District of New York. That office has already filed campaign finance charges against Parnas and Fruman and accused them of conspiracy and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission.

According to people familiar with the ongoing case, investigators are scrutinizing Giuliani’s consulting business and eyeing donations made to America First Action, the main pro-Trump super PAC set up by his advisers and allies after his election, as well as its affiliated nonprofit group.

As part of the probe, federal prosecutors are examining a raft of other potential crimes, including foreign lobbying registration violations, destruction or alteration of documents, aiding and abetting federal crimes and foreign contributions to U.S. candidates, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

The list of possible crimes under investigation does not mean those charges will be filed. They do, however, indicate prosecutors are casting a wide net for wrongdoing as they examine the business and legal dealings of the president’s personal lawyer and two Soviet emigre business executives who have been assisting Giuliani in the efforts to dig up damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on the president’s behalf.

Parnas and Fruman have pleaded not guilty. An attorney for Parnas declined to comment. An attorney for Fruman did not respond to a request for comment.

Giuliani, who has not been accused of any crimes, has denied any wrongdoing. He did not respond to requests for comment. His attorney declined to comment.

Kelly Sadler, a spokeswoman for America First Action, said the group reached out last month to federal prosecutors in New York, offering to cooperate voluntarily. She said the group has received no subpoenas and follows the law, declining to comment further.

A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.

The October indictment of the two men does not mention Giuliani or suggest he was connected to the alleged crimes. But in the weeks after their arrest, prosecutors issued subpoenas to a number of individuals involved with Fruman and Parnas, asking for, among other things, any documents regarding Giuliani and his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners. The Wall Street Journal first reported the interest in Giuliani’s firm.

In 2017, Giuliani’s firm was hired by Pavel Fuks, a wealthy Ukrainian developer, to help update its emergency response system, according to Giuliani. Giuliani traveled to Ukraine in November to meet with top officials, including then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Parnas has previously told The Washington Post that Giuliani is a “very good friend” whom he got to know in 2016 while fundraising for President DOnald Trump’s campaign.

Giuliani has referred to Parnas and Fruman as clients, and he has said he was paid $500,000 to help advise a financial security company started by Parnas called Fraud Guarantee.

After Parnas and Fruman were arrested, Giuliani denied any knowledge of wrongdoing on their part. In an interview, he said that he had seen the two men “quite often” and had “no reason to believe that they are anything other than decent guys.”

One person with knowledge of the investigation said there is a particular interest in interactions with three key figures in the saga of Giuliani’s pursuit of dirt on the Bidens from Ukraine: Poroshenko and former Ukrainian prosecutors Yuri Lutsenko and Viktor Shokin.

In recent days, Parnas’s attorney, Joseph Bondy, has said Parnas would be willing to testify before Congress and explain what he knows about Giuliani, provided Parnas was given accommodations to avoid incriminating himself, which would probably require immunity. His campaign has included tweeting directly at lawmakers using the hashtag #LetLevSpeak.

Generally, Congress is wary about extending immunity to people under criminal investigation, fearful that public testimony could make their prosecutions more difficult.

The federal investigation into Parnas and Fruman is also delving into their efforts to secure business deals for themselves in the historically corrupt Ukrainian energy sector while they were also assisting Giuliani’s work in that country.

Last week, federal prosecutors questioned a top executive of Ukraine’s state-owned gas company about his encounters with the pair as they pursued energy deals.

Parnas and Fruman were arrested Oct. 10 at Dulles International Airport, where they were preparing to fly to Europe.

In the months leading up to the charges, the two assisted Giuliani in efforts to pressure Ukraine to launch an investigation of Biden, the former vice president, and his son Hunter Biden over Hunter’s role while serving on the board of a Ukraine energy firm called Burisma.

Those efforts raised alarms inside the government, particularly at the State Department and National Security Council, where government officials feared the president’s lawyer was conducting a kind of shadow diplomacy to generate attacks on Trump’s political rival, according to congressional testimony.

That effortled to impeachment hearings in the House, where witnesses testified this month that Trump wanted the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to announce an investigation of the Bidens, after which Trump would host Zelensky at a White House meeting. Some officials also said they believed the Trump administration held up nearly $400 million in security assistance as part of the effort to get Zelensky to make the announcement.

The indictment filed in October against Fruman and Parnas charged that the two broke campaign finance laws amid their effort to get the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine removed from that post.

The Justice Department charges that Parnas and Fruman disguised the source of a $325,000 donation made in 2018 to America First by giving the money in the name of Global Energy Producers (GEP), a purported liquefied natural gas company Parnas and Fruman controlled. Federal prosecutors say GEP was a front used to disguise the funds’ true source and that the money for the political action committee came from “a private lending transaction between Fruman and third parties.”

America First Action and America First Policies, an independent big-money operation supporting Trump, has emerged as a center of gravity in Trump’s political world and a vehicle through which wealthy donors and top Trump aides have gained influence since 2017.

Trump officially gave it his imprimatur earlier this year when his campaign released a statement saying it was the “one approved” group.

Starting in early 2018, America First began hosting exclusive dinners catering to wealthy donors, giving them access to the president himself in small gatherings. Parnas and Fruman attended one such dinner in April 2018, in which they discussed the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine with Trump, The Post has reported.

Prosecutors said Parnas, a Ukrainian-born U.S. citizen, and Fruman, a Belarusian-born U.S. citizen, also schemed to exceed campaign donation limits in giving money to an unnamed U.S. congressman, at the same time that they were asking the lawmaker – identified by people close to the investigation as former congressman Pete Sessions, R-Texas – to get the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine removed from her job. Sessions has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing.

In spring 2018, Parnas met with the congressman seeking his “assistance in causing the U.S. government to remove or recall the then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine,” the indictment alleges. ” . . . Parnas’ efforts to remove the Ambassador were conducted, at least in part, at the request of one or more Ukrainian government officials.”

Parnas has previously said he and Fruman helped set up a Skype call for Giuliani in late 2018 with Shokin, who was Ukraine’s prosecutor general from 2015 to 2016, and an in-person meeting in New York this past January with Lutsenko, then Ukraine’s top prosecutor, who had urged the removal of the U.S. ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch.

According to the indictment of Parnas and Fruman, the pair began working in March 2018 “to advance their personal financial interests and the political interests of at least one Ukrainian government official with whom they were working.”

In September, 2017, Transport for London (TfL), the U.K. capital’s transportation authority, refused to issue the ride-hailing company a license to operate in London, one of the five cities that, according to Uber’s initial public offering prospectus, account for 24% of its revenue. It cited the lack of proper background checks for drivers, the company’s reluctance to report offenses allegedly committed by those drivers and its use of software that denied rides to people identified as government or law enforcement officials.

Uber went to court, but simultaneously Khosrowshahi, who’d been CEO for less than a month, appealed to the London city authorities in a tweet: “Dear London: we r far from perfect but we have 40k licensed drivers and 3.5mm Londoners depending on us. Pls work w/us to make things right.”

Both the legal appeal and the stated desire to work with regulators instead of fighting them, as Kalanick did, had beneficial effects. A London court granted Uber a 15-month license, and when it ran out, TfL extended it for two months as it waited for additional documents. Monday’s press release from TfL praised the company for interacting with the transport body “in a transparent and productive manner.”

But TfL went on to say that a change to Uber’s technology had allowed unregistered drivers to upload their photos to the Uber app and to pick up passengers as though they were the booked driver, resulting in at least 14,000 uninsured trips – some of them with drivers who didn’t have a valid license. TfL said dismissed and suspended Uber drivers were also able to use the system to pick up passengers.

Similar problems have been reported outside the U.K., too. Earlier this year, an unregistered driver taking Uber bookings reportedly raped a woman in India. Another such case received much public attention in Australia: to beat Uber’s identification system, which involves taking a selfie, the scammer simply held up the photo of a registered driver to the camera.

This is no longer about being uncooperative and treating regulators as enemies who work for traditional taxi lobbies. Khosrowshahi’s Uber isn’t like that. It has made an effort to cooperate with the London authorities, adding a clean-air fee to its fares and promising to push drivers to switch to electric vehicles by 2025. And it’s pledged to continue working with TfL even as it appeals the new license denial. Uber’s service, too, will continue during the appeal process.

TfL’s complaint this time around is about operational failures and engineering errors. The company, which booked $5.4 billion in losses in the three years through 2018 and another $2.3 billion in the first three quarters of this financial year, appears still to be focused on grabbing market share rather than on the quality of its offering or optimal customer safety.

At the same time, Uber’s expenses have stopped falling as a share of revenue – something that should be happening consistently if its breakneck global expansion is ever to pay off. Khosrowshahi has promised operational profitability by 2021, but the path there isn’t clear.

Even if the company’s London appeal is successful, it faces another legal challenge in Britain: Uber’s drivers have sued for full employee, rather than contractor, status, and have been winning so far. The final decision of the U.K. Supreme Court on worker status is expected early next year. If it’s in the drivers’ favor, Uber will need to start adding value-added tax to its fares, paying unemployment insurance and funding employee benefits, thus erasing its cost advantage over traditional taxis.

Khosrowshahi didn’t just inherit a dishonest company culture from Kalanick, he was handed a business model based on running as fast and as far as possible without looking properly at regulatory risks and technological challenges. What’s happening in the U.K. isn’t just a local challenge, it’s a test of whether Uber can operate at a real-world speed in places where regulators and workers are harder to appease than in the U.S.

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Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion’s Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.