bangladesh
International Day of Families observed
The International Day of Families-2022 was observed globally on Sunday with the theme “Families and Urbanization.”
This year’s theme, "Families and Urbanization", aimed to raise awareness on the importance of sustainable, family-friendly urban policies.
Also read: Mother’s Day returns with happiness, celebrations after two deadly pandemic years
Urbanization is one of the most important megatrends shaping our world and the life and wellbeing of families worldwide, said the United Nations.
“My thoughts are with the parents and children I have met in my recent travels whose lives have been upended by the evil of war,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres tweeted on Sunday.
He said they will never stop their efforts until all families are together again, living in peace. “I carry with me their stories of sorrow and hope.”
In 1993, the General Assembly decided in a resolution that 15 May of every year should be observed as The International Day of Families.
This day provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase the knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families.
Also read: Buddha Purnima today
On 25 September 2015, the 193 member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, a set of 17 goals aiming to eliminate poverty, discrimination, abuse and preventable deaths, address environmental destruction, and usher in an era of development for all people, everywhere.
Families and family-oriented policies and programmes are vital for the achievement of many of these goals, according to the UN.
2 cops injured in attack by accused in Chattogram
Two policemen were injured in an attack by an accused and his associates when they raided a house at Adharmanik Nalarkil in Lohagarah upazila of Chattogram district on Sunday.
The injured were Jony Khan, 30 and Shahadat, 27—two constables of Lohagarah Police Station. They are now undergoing treatment at Chattogram Medical College and Hospital.
Of them, the left hand of Jony was severed during the attack.
Also read:Two cops among 4 stabbed by drug peddlers in Lalmonirhat
Atiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Lohagarah Police Station, said a team of police led by sub-inspector Bhakta Chandra Datta raided the house of Kabir Ahmed, an accused in different cases, to arrest him in the morning.
At one stage, Kabir along with his associates attacked the police team and severed the left wrist of Jony.
“Efforts are on to arrest the attackers,” said the OC.
Yet to receive any formal info about PK Halder: Asaduzzaman
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Sunday said the government has not yet received any official information about the arrest of PK Haldar, a fugitive Bangladeshi businessperson in West Bengal.
“We came to know that PK Halder was arrested and he is a wanted accused of Bangladesh. But we have not yet received any formal information about his arrest,” he said while speaking at a seminar at the Jatiya Press Club.
Also read:Fugitive businessman PK Halder held in India
“We will take next steps as per law,” he said.
On Saturday, India's federal economic offences police arrested PK Halder and his two associates in the eastern state of West Bengal.
Halder, the former MD of NRB Global Bank, had been on the run since being charged by the Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh for money laundering and amassing ill-gotten wealth.
Manik Saha to take oath as new Tripura CM on Sunday
Dental surgeon-turned-politician and Tripura BJP President Manik Saha would be sworn-in as 12th Chief Minister of the state on Sunday, after a sudden political development saw incumbent Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb resign from his post on Saturday.
Party sources have not yet disclosed clearly whether Saha would take the oath alone or any other new minister would be sworn-in along with him, repots the Times of India
Saha, 69, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from the lone seat in Tripura on March 31, was on Saturday elected as the BJP legislative party leader following which he met Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya and staked claim to form the government with a letter of support from the party MLAs.
Father of two daughters, Saha has to be elected to the state Assembly within the next six months. After the hurriedly-called BJP legislative party meeting, Deb announced Saha's name for the top post, stating that he would extend full cooperation to the new Chief Minister.
Saha, also a professor at the Tripura Medical College and B.R. Ambedkar Memorial Teaching Hospital in Agartala, as well as the President of the Tripura Cricket Association, joined the BJP in 2015.
In 2021, Saha, a close associate of outgoing Chief Minister Deb, became the President of the Tripura BJP Pradesh Committee.
Earlier in the day, Deb, who returned here on Saturday after meeting the central party leaders in Delhi, including BJP President J.P. Nadda, immediately went to the Raj Bhavan and resigned from his post.
Tripura, since May 2019, has been witnessing waves of revolt by dissident BJP MLAs and leaders against Deb, who also subsequently announced to obtain a public manadate by calling a public meeting though the move was later cancelled following the intervention of the central leaders.
The election to the 60-member Tripura Assembly is due in January-February next year. After resigning from the CM's post, Deb, also a former state BJP President, said that for the interest of the party and considering the Assembly elections due next year, he resigned from the Chief Minister's post.
"Whatever responsibility the party gave me, I tried to perform with utmost sincerity and honesty. Now if the party decides that I will have to work for the organisation, I will do that. During my tenure as the Chief Minister, I tried to bring justice to the people, and tried to undertake developmental and welfare works for the all-round development of Tripura," Deb told the media.
Deb became the Chief Minister on March 9, 2018 after the BJP-IPFT alliance came to power by defeating the Left Front in the Assembly elections, ending the latter's 25-year rule.
Amid open resentment by a section of the BJP MLAs and leaders, the cabinet expansion took place on August 31 last year, which saw the induction of three ministers, even as the dissident MLAs and party leaders boycotted the swearing-in-ceremony.
Since the BJP-IPFT government assumed office in 2018, three ministerial berths were lying vacant and in May 2019, former Health and Information Technology Minister Sudip Roy Barman was sacked following differences with the Chief Minister, taking the number of vacancies to four.
Amid revolt by a section of BJP MLAs and leaders, several senior central party leaders visited Tripura on a number of occasions to quell the internal disputes and also to plug the shortcomings, both in the government and the organisation.
Dissident BJP MLAs Sudip Roy Barman and Ashis Kumar Saha, who resigned from the Assembly and the party on February 7 this year, joined the Congress in New Delhi the next day.
READ: Biplab Deb quits as Tripura CM
Earlier, BJP MLA Ashish Das, after openly criticising the saffron party and its leadership, including Deb, joined the Trinamool Congress on October 31 last year following which he was disqualified from the Tripura Assembly.
Roy Barman, six other MLAs and many leaders quit the Congress in 2016 and joined Trinamool Congress and next year (2017) they joined the BJP and helped the saffron party win the elections in 2018.
Rains likely in parts of country
Eight divisions of the country may witness light to moderate rain or thundershowers in 24 hours commencing 9 am, said Met office on Sunday.
According to a Met office bulletin, “Light to moderate rain or thunder showers with intense lightning flashes and temporary gusty/squally wind is likely at many places over Rangpur, Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions; at a few places over Rajshahi, Dhaka and Chattogram divisions and at one or two places over Khulna and Barishal divisions with moderately heavy to heavy falls at places over northern part of the country.”
READ: Light to moderate rain predicted across Bangladesh
Trough of Westerly low lies over West Bengal and adjoining area with its extension to Northwest Bay.
Day and night temperature may remain nearly uncahanged over the country.
12,000 litres of edible oil seized in Chattogram
A team of Rapid Action Battalion and National Consumer Rights Protection (NCRP) in a drive seized 12,100 litres of edible oil from two warehouses at Bandartila Saltgola of Chattogram port city on Sunday.
A team of Rab and NCRP conducted a drive at Ishanmistrir Bazar in Saltgola and seized edible oil from a number of warehouses in the area, said Didar Hossain, assistant director of Chattogram, NCRP.
READ: Crackdown on hoarding: 51,956 litres of soybean oil seized in 3 districts
Later, they also slapped a fine of Tk 5 lakh on the owners of the two warehouses including Ilias Hossain for hoarding the oil illegally.
Earlier, the NCRP team seized 4500 litres of edible oil from different warehouses in Agrabad and Karnaphuli bazars on Friday and Saturday.
Perilous roads: 4 including 3 of family killed in Rajshahi
A day after a horrific road accident in Goplaganj that left nine people dead, four people including three members of a family were killed in another road crash on Rajshahi-Naogaon highway in Paba upazila on Sunday.
The deceased were identified as Aktar Hossain,35, his wife Bithi khatun,33, their daughter Mariam Jannat,4, of Niamatpur upazila and Abdul Mannan, 48 of Manda upazila in Naogaon district
Jahangir Alam, sub-inspector of Paba Police Station, said the accident occurred around 10:30 am near Aman Cold Storage when a soil-laden tractor hit two motorbikes coming from the opposite direction, leaving three people dead on the spot and another injured.
READ: Unidentified youth killed in train Accident
“Abdul Mannan, one of the bike riders and Mariam, Bithi pillion of another bike died on the spot. Mariam’s father Aktar was taken to Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries later around 5 pm,” said the SI
The family was heading towards Rajshahi to attend a wedding ceremony. The bodies will be handed over to family after autopsy,” he said.
Earlier, on Saturday, Nine people, including three couple, were killed and 30 others injured when a bus hit a car and then ploughed into a bike and a couple operating a paddy-cutting machine on a farm land along the Dhaka-Khulna highway in Gopalganj district
Road accidents in Bangladesh continue to claim hundreds of lives every year.
As many as 543 people, including 81 children, were killed and 612 others injured in 427 road accidents in April, the Road Safety Foundation said in its latest report, released on May 7.
The non-government organisation said 206 lives were lost in 189 motorcycle accidents, which is 37.93% of the total deaths. Also, 116 pedestrians and 87 drivers and their assistants were killed in March accidents.
On the other hand, accidents on waterways claimed at least eight lives while 23 were killed and five injured in train accidents across Bangladesh last month.
Female UP member ‘raped’ in Rajshahi: 5 held
A 47-year-old female UP member (reserved seat) has reportedly been raped by another UP member for two days in Mohonpur upazila of Rajshahi district.
The female UP member, mother of three children, lodged a complaint against five people including UP member Mojibor Rahman with Mohonpur Police on Friday, said officer-in-charge of the police station Touhidul Islam.
According to the complaint, Mojibur developed an extramarital relationship with the female UP member and took her to a house on Wednesday with a promise to marry her where he raped her for two days.
On Friday, Mojibor fled the house keeping the woman alone there.
READ: 3 arrested in Ctg over gang rape of girl who escaped from Cumilla
Later, Mojibor’s relatives drive her out of the house.
She then made a phone call to the national emergency help line 999. Later police took her to one stop crisis centre of Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital.
Police also arrested five people in this connection.
Efforts are on to arrest the accused, said the OC.
Dhaka's air quality improves remarkably
Dhaka's air quality continued to be in the ‘moderate’ zone on Sunday, mainly owing to rains in different parts of the country.
With an air quality index (AQI) score of 72 at 10.29am, the city ranked 23rd in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.
When the AQI remains between 51 and 100, the air quality is acceptable. However, there may be a risk for some people, particularly those who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.
India’s Delhi, the United Arab Emirates' Dubai and Indonesia’s Jakarta occupied the first three spots in the list, with AQI scores of 242, 186 and 162 respectively.
An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered 'unhealthy', particularly for sensitive groups.
Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be 'poor', while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered 'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents.
AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, is used by government agencies to inform people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.
In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants -- Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.
READ: Dhaka's air quality remains 'moderate'
Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.
A report by the Department of Environment (DoE) and the World Bank in March 2019 pointed out that the three main sources of air pollution in Dhaka "are brick kilns, fumes from vehicles and dust from construction sites".
With the advent of winter, the city’s air quality starts deteriorating sharply due to the massive discharge of pollutant particles from construction work, rundown roads, brick kilns and other sources.
Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.
Buddha Purnima today
Buddha Purnima, the biggest religious festival of the Buddhist community, is being celebrated across the country today (Sunday).
Buddha Purnima marks the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha. On this day in 563 BC, Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama in Kopilabostu at the foothill of the Himalayas.
He attained supreme enlightenment at the age of 35 and finally departed into 'nirvana' at the age of 80 in 483 BC.
President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages greeting the Buddhist community on the occasion.
President Hamid said, “Buddhist civilization and its culture have been deeply intertwined with the people of Bengal since ancient times. Paharpur and Mainamati Shalban Bihar are its shining examples.”
He urged the members of Buddhist community to celebrate Buddha Purnima maintaining health guidelines to prevent future spread of Covid-19.
READ: Buddha Purnima to be celebrated on Sunday
The Prime Minister urged all to work generously to further strengthen the practice and bond of harmony in Bangladesh in future.
“I hope that by upholding and nurturing the ideals of Gautam Buddha, everyone will play a role in building Bangladesh as a peaceful country,” she said.