Dhaka, May 27 (UNB) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaves here for Tokyo on Tuesday morning on a 12-day tri-nation visit to Japan, Saudi Arabia and Finland. 

A special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage will depart Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 8:55am.

During PM’s stay in Japan, the two countries will sign the 40th ODA deal involving US$ 2.5 billion after a bilateral meeting between Sheikh Hasina and her Japanese counterpart Shinzō Abe on May 29.

Sheikh Hasina will attend an international conference on the Future of Asia on May 30.

In Saudi Arabia, the Prime Minister will attend the 14th session of the OIC’s Islamic Summit in Makkah and perform the holy Umrah on June 1 and offer Ziarat at the Rawza Mubarak of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) on June 2.

During her stay in Finland, Sheikh Hasina will have a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö on June 4.

The flight carrying the Prime Minister is scheduled to reach Haneda International Airport, Tokyo at 18:30 (local time) where Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Toshiko Abe will welcome her at the airport.

Sheikh Hasina will attend a community event at Hotel Okura on the same day.

On the morning of May 29, the Prime Minister will attend a breakfast roundtable meeting with Japanese Business leaders and CEOs at Hotel New Otani there.

After that, the Japanese family members of the Holy Artisan victims will call on her.

In the afternoon, she will have a bilateral meeting with her Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe at his office. Sheikh Hasina will be given guard of honour when she will reach the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office.

After the bilateral talks, there will be a signing ceremony and joint press statement.

Later in the evening, she will attend the official dinner to be hosted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his residence.

On May 30, Sheikh Hasina will attend the Nikkei International Conference on "The Future of Asia" at Imperial Hotel.

Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Bin Mohammad and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be the keynote speakers in the 25th International Conference on the Future Asia.

The theme of the conference is "In Search of the New Global Order Overcoming the Chaos."

Later, JICA president Shinichi Kitaoka will call on her at her place of residence.

In the evening, the Prime Minister will attend the Nikkei Conference Dinner where Japanese Prime Minister will be the keynote speaker.

On May 31, the Prime Minister will depart from Haneda International Airport at 9:25am (local time) for Jeddah to attend the 14th session of the OIC’s Islamic Summit in Makkah.

Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Toshiko Abe will see her off at the airport.

She will arrive at King Abdulaziz International Airport at 1725 (local time).

In the evening, she will attend the opening ceremony of the OIC summit.

Saudi Arabia is hosting the 14th session of the OIC’s Islamic Summit in Makkah on May 31.

The summit, titled ‘Makkah Summit: Together for the Future’, aims to develop a unified stance on events in the Islamic world.

On June 1, she will attend the first working session 1 12:30am and the second working session at 1:30am.

The Prime Minister will attend the closing session at 2:30am and then join the Suhoor Banquet at Safa Palace.

In the evening, she will perform Umrah.

On the morning of June 2, the Prime Minister will leave Jeddah for Madina by air and offer Fateha at the Rawza Mubarak (grave) of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH). In the evening, she will depart Madinah for Jeddah by air.

On the morning of June 3, she will depart Jeddah for Helsinki, Finland via Frankfurt. She will land at Helsinki at 1pm (local time).

She will call on the President of Finland at his official residence on June 4.

On June 7, the Prime Minister will leave Helsinki at 6:35pm (local time) for Dhaka by Finair.

On her way back home, Sheikh Hasina will make a stopover in New Delhi.

She will land at Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport at 6:05am (local time) on June 8. She will leave Delhi for Dhaka by a flight of Biman at 6:20pm and reach home at 9:20pm.

Dhaka, May 27 (UNB) – The High Court will hear on Tuesday a writ petition filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia challenging the government's move to hold trial in the Niko graft case against her inside the Keraniganj Central Jail.

Fixing the date, the HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Md Khairul Alam also ordered that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) be a party to the writ.

Senior lawyer AJ Mohammad Ali, Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Barrister Kaiser Kamal stood for the BNP chief while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Khurshid Alam Khan represented the state and ACC respectively.

The Law Ministry on May 13 issued separate gazette notifications about setting up a makeshift court inside Keraniganj jail and holding trial in 17 cases against Khaleda there.

The newly-constructed building-2 of the central jail was declared the makeshift court as per the sub-section 2 of section 9 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Khaleda, a former prime minister, has been in jail since February 8 last year after she was convicted of corruption. Her party claims that the cases against her are politically motivated and accuses the government of plotting to keep her out of national politics - a charge the government denies.

Dhaka, May 27 (UNB) – President Abdul Hamid will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

Modi will take oath as Indian Prime Minister for the second term on May 30 at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan in the evening.

Abdul Hamid will leave here for New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon, said President’s Press Secretary Joynal Abedin on Monday.

During the tour, the President is scheduled to meet Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, he said.

On Sunday, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen had said Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq would represent Bangladesh at the ceremony as the senior most cabinet member of the Bangladesh government.      

However, the decision was changed on Monday. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be in Japan during the swearing-in ceremony as was during previous ceremony.   

Last time, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury attended Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony.

Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi pledged to continue to raise the relationship between the two countries to an “unprecedented new height.”

They recognised the importance of rapidly completing the ongoing plans for deepening the partnership in security trade, transportation, energy and people-to-people ties.

Doing so within the next three years will have specific significance in view of the centenary of birth of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 2020 and the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s Liberation in 2021, according to a media release issued by the Indian Prime Minister’s Office.

The leaders also agreed to identify dates for a meeting at the earliest to resume work in service of the bilateral relationship.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina became one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate the Indian Prime Minister, thus reflecting the “extraordinarily close and cordial ties” between India and Bangladesh, and the excellent rapport that the two leaders enjoy, the release added.

Prime Minister Hasina spoke to Modi on Thursday to extend her congratulations on the clear mandate given by the people of India to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
 

Dhaka, May 27 (UNB) – Online news portals will be able to apply until June 30 next for government registration.

The Information Ministry issued a notice on Monday in this regard, said Senior Information Officer Mir Akram Uddin Ahmed.

The news portals will have to apply in the prescribed forms available at the Press Information Department (PID) website http://www.pressinform.govt.bd for the registration, he said. 

The forms along with other documents will be received by post, too.

The news portals that have already submitted their applications need not to apply anew, Akram said.

Dhaka, May 27 (UNB) – The government on Monday allocated Tk 169.14 crore for partially clearing the arrears and Eid bonus of workers of state-owned jute mills ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.

The workers’ wages and bonus will be disbursed through their respective accounts, said sources at the Textiles and Jute Ministry.

The Finance Ministry has allocated the money as an operation loan and it will be given for paying a portion of the arrears and Eid bonus of the striking workers, according to the sources.

Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) will pay the wages and bonus through the bank accounts of the workers.

According to a letter of the Finance Ministry, the authorities concerned will have to repay the money in 20 years with 5 percent interest in installments after every six months.

The BJMC will have to sign a loan agreement with the Finance Division in this regard.

The government allocated the money following the countrywide demonstration enforced by the jute mill workers to press home their nine-point demand, including payment of their dues, implementation of wage commission and others.

The government had been in dilemma to pay the money to the BJMC as it proved itself as a loss-making organisation.

Earlier, the government provided BJMC with Tk 7,477 crore since 2009 to bail it out of its financial crisis.