Bangladesh
Husband among 3 detained over woman's death in Gazipur
Three persons have been detained in connection with the death of a 25-year-old woman in Gazipur, police said on Friday.
The deceased was identified as Ripa Akter, the wife of local factory worker Alamin (30), and a resident of the Bonmala area.
Police suspect Ripa was suffocated to death by the three suspects, including Alamin, on Thursday night over a family feud.
READ: Fire at Gazipur spinning mill warehouse
"She was rushed to Shahid Ahsan Ullah Memorial Hospital where doctors declared her dead on arrival," said Sajal, sub-inspector at Tongi south police station.
READ: Man beaten dead for 'involvement in extra-marital affair' in Gazipur
The body was sent for an autopsy, while the woman's husband, father-in-law Abul Kalam
and brother-in-law Alauddin have been detained for questioning, the officer said.
Illegal arms factory unearthed in Cox's Bazar
An illegal arms factory being run out of a dense forest area in Cox's Bazar was unearthed by Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on Thursday.
The tip-off about the factory in Pekua upazila came from an illegal arms supplier who was detained by members of the elite force earlier in the day.
The detainee has been identified as Delwar Hossain Delu, son of Ali Chan from the Gudikata area in the south of Toitong union in the upazila.
Also read: Arms seized at Ctg port: One held
In fact, a Rab-15 team conducted a drive in the Cheptamura forest area in Toitong union and first arrested Delu, Lt Colonel Khairul Islam, its commander, told reporters.
During questioning, he disclosed the location of the factory and it was raided. Five firearms and some gun-making were seized, the commander said.
An accomplice of Delu, however, managed to flee during the raid, he added. Delu was wanted in at least seven cases of murder, robbery and land grabbing.
Also read: Arms, ammo recovered from Habiganj Satchhari forest
Drug addict held for killing father in Sylhet
A man in his 30s allegedly bludgeoned his father to death in Sylhet after the latter objected to his drug addiction. He has been arrested, police said on Friday.
The accused has been identified as Jashim Uddin, son of Abdul Aziz, a 75-year-old freedom fighter from Tajpur village in Sylhet's Beanibazar upazila.
Police said Jashim attacked his father with an axe in the family house around 2 pm on Thursday in a fit of rage when the elderly man asked him to not take drugs anymore.
Locals took Aziz to the upazila health complex first and later he was transferred to MAG Osmani Medical Hospital, where he soon died during treatment.
"Within a couple of hours, Jashim was arrested from his own home in Tajpur village. We have pressed murder charges against him," said Hillol Roy, officer-in-charge of Beanibazar police station.
Global Covid cases top 442 million
The overall number of Covid cases has surged past 442 million as Omicron infections keep rising across the world.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 442,063,007 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,982,404 Friday morning.
The US has recorded 79,192,502 cases so far and 956,498 people have died from the virus in the country, the university data shows.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 42,951,262 on Thursday with 6,102 new cases registered in 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry data.
Besides, 201 more deaths from the pandemic were recorded since Tuesday morning, taking the death toll to 514,620.
Meanwhile, Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January last year, registered 28,906,214 cases as of Thursday, while its Covid death toll rose to 650,646.
Also read: France lifts Covid restrictions on Bangladesh
Covid situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh logged five more Covid-linked deaths with 657 fresh cases in 24 hours till Thursday morning.
The daily positivity rate declined to 2.91 per cent from Wednesday’s 3.22 per cent after testing 22,584 samples during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
On Wednesday, Bangladesh reported eight more Covid-linked deaths with 732 fresh cases.
The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 29,058 and the caseload to 19,45,765.
Among the new deceased, four were women and one was a man. All five deaths were reported from Dhaka division alone.
Meanwhile, the mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.49 per cent.
However, the recovery rate rose to 94.13 per cent with the recovery of 4,628 more patients during the 24-hour period.
On January 28, Bangladesh logged its earlier highest daily positivity rate at 33.37 per cent reporting 15,440 cases and 20 deaths.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 5 more deaths with 657 cases
On December 9 last year, Bangladesh logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks.
The country reported first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 last year, along with 178 infections, since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.
Besides, the country registered the highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year, while the highest number of daily fatalities was 264 on August 10 last year.
10 diplomats visit Bhasan Char
A delegation of diplomats stationed in Dhaka visited Bhasan Char and witnessed the facilities there Thursday.
Ambassador of the European Union to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley and South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-keun were among the ten diplomats who visited the island in Hatiya, Noakhali.
Senior officials of Bangladesh's foreign ministry accompanied them.
"Insightful visit to Bhasan Char where 23,000 Rohingya refugees now live; good opportunity to see firsthand the infrastructure, livelihood opportunities, health and education services that are being put in place," Ambassador Whiteley tweeted.
Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Lilly Nicholls, German Ambassador Achim Tröster, Swedish envoy Alexandra Berg von Linde, Norwegian Ambassador Espen Rikter-Svendsen, Danish envoy Winnie Estrup Petersen, and US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Helen LaFave were also part of the delegation.
The diplomats were taken to Bhasan Char by a Bangladesh Air Force helicopter.
'Indo-Japan projects with Bangladesh in northeast to be game-changer'
Indo-Japan partnership projects with Bangladesh in northeast India will be a game-changer while connectivity and collaboration with Bangladesh will be key factors, experts say.
As Bangladesh moves out from least developed country (LDC) status and more interest is being generated in Japanese companies on doing business in the country.
Challenges in attracting Japanese companies to northeast India exist.
Market linkages, developing skilled human resources and ensuring security are key factors.
However, connectivity and joint projects between northeast India and Bangladesh with Japanese collaboration can be a unique selling point.
This was highlighted at the second India-Japan intellectual web dialogue "Development of India's North Eastern Region and Neighbourhood: India-Japan Collaboration for Fostering Entrepreneurship and People Connectivity" organised by Asian Confluence in partnership with the Embassy of Japan in India.
Japanese Ambassador to India Suzuki Satoshi said: "The comprehensive collaboration between India and Japan provides the landlocked North East with access to the Bay of Bengal and access to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which plays a key role in unleashing enormous potential of growth and prosperity based on better access to the Indian Ocean."
Smita Pant, joint secretary (Bangladesh, Myanmar) at India's external affairs ministry, highlighted all the initiatives underway in services – being augmented based on the hard infrastructure connectivity initiatives.
With abundant produce and strategic locational advantage, northeast India can be a major player in India's international trade with neighbours, particularly in the area of agriculture trade, she said.Yui Nakamura from Sasakawa Peace Foundation highlighted the need to build more cultural infrastructure to bring higher awareness of the diversity and cultural nuances of the region.
The Asian Confluence curated dialogue saw vibrant exchanges chaired by Asian Confluence Governing Council Member and former Chairman Asian Development Bank Rajat Nag.
Specific product ideas such as buckwheat, bamboo, spices, shitake mushroom, medicinal plants, skill development, language training courses, and matching with educational institutions were discussed.
Kazuhide Sugimoto, a leading grower of mushrooms, made a presentation at the dialogue.
KN Kumar, chairman of Meghalaya Farmers Commission, who spoke about specific initiatives on buckwheat in his area.
"The attempt in this dialogue has been to not only highlight and promote further narratives of cooperation but also matchmaking to forge concrete collaborations on specific products by connecting entrepreneurs and opinion leaders from Japan, India and our neighbours from Bangladesh," said Sabyasachi Dutta, executive director of Asian Confluence.
The dialogue had wide participation from several universities and colleges across many Indian states, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Japan and is expected to be followed up by a third round at the end of the year or early next year.
Bangladeshi expat's son 'takes up arms to defend Ukraine'
A Bangladeshi expatriate in Ukraine has reportedly taken up arms for Ukraine, against his parents' will, to fend off Russian forces.
Mohammad Taif, a university student, lives with his family, his father Habibur Rahman told UNB Thursday.
"I did not want my son to go to war. Yet he has gone to the battlefield, which is about 150 kilometres away from Kyiv, and started fighting for Ukraine," Habibur, from Gazipur's Kapasia, said.
"Although Taif is frequently speaking with us over the phone from the battlefield, we are worried about him and are having sleepless nights."
"The whole city has come under heavy attack and we are having a food crisis," Habibur said.
Maqbool Hossain Mukul, member of Kapasia Sadar union's ward-4, said Habibur has been living in Ukraine for almost 30 years and he heard that one of his sons went to war.
Ordinary citizens all over Kyiv are taking up arms in the fight against Russian forces.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation."
As Russian forces started making their way toward Kyiv, the Ukrainian government called on all citizens to take up arms in defence of the country.
"We will give weapons to anyone who wants to defend the country. Be ready to support Ukraine in the squares of our cities," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a tweet.
In a video address to the nation Thursday, Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to keep up their resistance as the war raged on for the eighth day.
France lifts Covid restrictions on Bangladesh
France has lifted Covid-19 restrictions on Bangladesh, considering it one of the "green-listed" countries.
The decision will be effective from Thursday, said the French Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Interior.
The measures on arrival in France (test, isolation) are lifted when they come from countries like Bangladesh which are on the green list.
Following the latest decision by the French government, travellers from Bangladesh who are vaccinated with vaccines of BioNTech-Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca (Vaxevria / Covishield), and Johnson & Johnson will not be required to take tests to arrive in France and to depart from the country.
Proof of a complete vaccination schedule will be sufficient to arrive in France from Bangladesh.
However, unvaccinated travellers from Bangladesh will have to show a negative RT-PCR test result to travel to France.
The western European country considers those countries as "green" which have a negligible or moderate circulation of the virus and absence of an emerging variant of concern.
The "orange-listed" countries are those, which are experiencing active circulation of the virus, in the absence of an emerging variant of concern, and showing no vaccine or immune escape, said Bangladesh's foreign ministry Thursday.
The Bangladesh Embassy in Paris had been in talks with the concerned French authorities to delist Bangladesh from the restricted countries given a satisfactory improvement in its Covid-19 situation.
MPO for new educational institutions to be announced this month: Dipu Moni
Education Minister Dipu Moni said that the announcement of monthly pay order (MPO) registration will be published this month.
She made the remarks at a view exchange meeting with the leaders of Education Reporters Association, Bangladesh (ERAB) at her residence in the capital on Thursday.
Earlier, the online application for MPO registration began on October 10, 2021.
A total of 90,000 teachers and employees of 8500 institutions are waiting for MPO registration.
After receiving the application, it was sent to the Upazila Nirbahi Officer through the Deputy Commissioner for verification and selection. They have completed the verification after checking the documents.
IRAB President Nizamul Haque and General Secretary Shariful Alam Sumon were also present at the meeting.
3 sentenced to life in absentia for 2015 murder in Chandpur
A Chandpur court on Thursday served life sentences to three persons in a case filed over beating a man to death at Shahpur village in Faridganj upazila in the district,
The lifers are Bulu Begum, 45, her son Md Emran Hossain, 27, and Abdul Momin, 32, all residents of the Shahapur village.
Chandpur District and Session Court Judge SM Ziaur Rahman passed the verdict while the three convicts remained absconding, said Moktar Ahamed Ovi, Assistant Public Prosecutor of the court.
According to the case complaint, on October 17, 2015, the accused attacked Abdul Hannan, 55, in his house with locally made arms over an earlier dispute regarding property.
Hannan and his wife Shamsunnahar, 37, suffered severe injuries during the attack and were taken to Faridganj Upazila Health Complex. The duty doctor there announced Hannan dead on arrival.
A murder case was filed in this regard at Faridganj police station following a complaint lodged by Hannan’s wife accusing eight people and four more anonymous.
On November 29, 2015, Muhammad Humayun Kabir, investigation officer in the case and then Sub-Inspector of Faridganj police station submitted the charge sheet in the case.