United News of Bangladesh

Protesters vandalised the Jatiya Party's (JP) office in Khulna's Dakbangla area on Saturday evening. Sheikh Munir-ul-Gias, the officer-in-charge of the Khulna police station, said that a group of agitated individuals attacked the Jatiya Party office around 6pm. They hurled bricks at the building, removed two plastic chairs from inside, and set them ablaze. “We’ll see how far they’ll go to stop us”: GM Quader The identities of the attackers remain unknown, but efforts to identify them are currently underway, he added. Witnesses said that the angry mob arrived at Dakbangla intersection as part of a procession. After crossing the intersection, they broke sign boards for the Jatiya Party's district office in Khulna. The group then entered the office, vandalizing furniture including chairs and tables before taking the broken items outside to set them on fire. Later, they left the place chanting slogans against Jatiya Party leaders. Jatiya Party’s central office in Dhaka’s Kakrail set on fire Earlier on Thursday evening, unidentified miscreants set fire to the Jatiya Party (JP) central office in Dhaka's Kakrail area. According to eyewitnesses, a group of individuals—many wearing helmets and armed with sticks—entering the JP office through the main entrance. Chanting slogans, they tore down banners and festoons, vandalized furniture, and then set fire to the building's front and several rooms inside.

A 65-year-old was killed in a road accident  on the Kuril Bishwa Road flyover in Dhaka on Friday night. The identity of the deceased could not be ascertained. Shahjalal Likhan, who brought the injured man to the hospital, recounted that he was riding his motorcycle over the Kuril Bishwa Road flyover when he spotted the man lying injured. Likhan, along with others, initially took the man to Kurmitola General Hospital. From there, he was transferred to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Pangu Hospital) before finally being admitted to DMCH. Inspector Md Faruk, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College Hospital police outpost, said the body was kept at the morgue for autopsy.

Ferry services on the Aricha-Kazirhat route have been suspended due to poor navigability, leaving 300 goods-laden vehicles stranded on the river.Nasir Mohammad Chowdhury, deputy general manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) at the Aricha point, said several ferries were stuck on hidden shoals on Friday due to the poor navigability in the Padma River, forcing the authorities to halt ferry services multiple times.Finally, ferry services on the Aricha-Kazirhat route were suspended at 10 pm on Friday after a ferry got stuck on a hidden shoal in a remote area near Aricha, he said. Ferry capsize in Padma: sunken ferry, six more vehicles yet to be retrievedA total of 300 goods-laden vehicles were stranded on both the Padma River due to the suspension of ferry services.The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) started dredging work, and ferry services will resume once the work is completed.

The driver of the bus that killed a Barishal University student has been arrested from Khasherhat village in Patuakhali district. The arrestee is Jamil Hossain, 27, a driver of ‘Travels Paribahan’ Narayanganj and son of Haidar Ali of Patukhali district. A team of police arrested Jamil from a house around 11 pm on Friday, said Md Shafiqul Islam, Commissioner of Barishal Metropolitan Police. Maya Fauzia Mim, a student of Statistics Department of the univeristy, was killed when a bus hit her around 9 pm on Wednesday. The students of the university blocked Barishal-Kuakata-Barguna-Bhola regional routes after the accident. Ex-Agriculture Minister Abdus Shahid arrested: DMP Vehicular movement on the route remained suspended till 10 pm on Friday following the demonstration, said Rafiqul islam, officer-in-charge of Bandar Police Station.    

The special train which was launched to transport agricultural produce from Chapainawabganj to Dhaka at lower costs in order to curb the rising prices of essential commodities, has been suspended. Sujit Kumar Biswas, chief commercial manager of Railway East Zone, said the railway authorities informed all concerned about the matter on Friday night. The train service on Chapainawabganj-Dhaka route with agricultural products started on October 26. Probe body formed over Panchagarh Express train derailment The train was scheduled to transport agricultural items every Saturday. It was set to make stopovers at 13 stations, including Nachole and Amnura Junction, before reaching Dhaka’s Tejgaon station. On the first day, the special train departed for Dhaka from Chapainawabganj’s Rohanpur station without carrying any agricultural items. After the introduction of the special train, there was no response from farmers, said Sujit adding “They are not interested in transporting agricultural products by train, forcing the authorities to suspend it.”

Police recovered two bodies from separate places in Tanore Upazila of Rajshahi District on Thursday night and Friday morning. A teenager drowned while swimming in a pond in the Sadipur area on Friday morning, said Mizanur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Tanore police station. Woman charged in drugs case escapes from police station before court appearance The deceased was identified as Bakul Hossain, 16, son of late Mustafa Ali in the area. In another incident, a 55-year-old man named Abul Basar, son of Yunus Ali Sardar and a resident of Mundumala village, died from electrocution while trying to turn on a water pump at his market in the Mundamala Bazar area on Thursday night. Twin siblings drown in Chandpur pond A case of unnatural death (UD) has been registered at the police station regarding the two incidents, added the OC.

As relentless heat persists, residents in Khulna endure frequent load shedding, with power outages occurring as often as seven-eight times daily. The ongoing crisis disrupts daily life for people across five districts in Khulna and Barishal divisions, as well as the Faridpur region. Over the past two days, load shedding across 21 districts in southwestern Bangladesh has severely impacted essential activities, causing hardship for residents. Those who rely on electricity for daily tasks face acute challenges, with industrial production experiencing major disruptions. Rural areas reportedly bear the brunt of the load shedding, even more so than urban zones. The West Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDCL) manages electricity supply for 21 districts, including 10 in Khulna Division, 3 in Barishal Division, and 5 in Greater Faridpur. WZPDCL’s headquarters in Boyra, Khulna City, reports that these districts serve approximately 1.4 million electricity consumers, with around 245,000 in Khulna alone. Industrial activities are also hampered. Humayun Kabir, director of the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association, explained that frozen shrimp exporters face challenges in maintaining cold storage temperatures during load shedding, leading to increased generator costs. Mamun Haque, assistant engineer of Khulna Power Division 4, stated, “We’re doing our best to provide power to the public, but we’re helpless.” A WZPDCL official, speaking anonymously, said, “Power production has dropped due to the shutdown of several power plants. We are forced to implement load shedding to manage the shortfall, affecting not only Khulna but other districts as well.” As of Thursday at 1 pm, demand across WZPDCL’s 21-district service area reached 659 megawatts, but supply fell short at 560 megawatts, resulting in a 99-megawatt deficit. Khulna alone faced a load shedding of 45 megawatts, with other affected districts including Barishal (11 MW), Gopalganj (5 MW), Narail (2 MW), Magura (3 MW), Satkhira (2 MW), Kushtia (6 MW), Chuadanga (5 MW), Faridpur (6 MW), Rajbari (4 MW), Madaripur (4 MW), Shariatpur (2 MW), and Jhalokathi (4 MW). By nightfall, demand rose to approximately 700 megawatts across the 21 districts, with load shedding surpassing 100 megawatts. Local residents expressed their frustrations. Hajera Khatun, from Khulna’s Nirala area, shared, “For the past two days, load shedding has been happening both day and night.” Imon Sheikh, a college student from Moulvibari, Khulna, noted, “Load shedding has returned to Khulna. It’s hard to study in the heat during these outages. We hadn’t needed candles for a while, but now we do.” Sabbir Hossain from Gunari village in Dakop upazila added, “In 24 hours, electricity goes out 7 or 8 times. Even in this heat, we can’t run the fan. When the power goes, it doesn’t return for an hour.”

Chattogram Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Managing Director (MD) AKM Fazlullah has been removed his post. The removal was announced in a notification signed by Abdur Rahman, deputy secretary of the Local Government Division on Thursday. Woman charged in drugs case escapes from police station before court appearance Fazlullah has served as CWASA MD for the past 15 years under a contractual agreement during the Awami League government's administration. Fazlullah's career with WASA began in 1968 when he was appointed as an assistant engineer. He rose through the ranks, retiring as a supervising engineer in 2000. Following the Awami League's return to power, he was first appointed as the Chairman of the Chattogram WASA Board on July 6, 2009, serving a year in that capacity before continuing in various roles. Restriction on tourism in Rangamati lifted Since 2011, with the establishment of the MD position under the influence of the Awami League government, Fazlullah held the role of managing director for three months initially, followed by multiple reappointments over the last 15 years.  

Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam on Thursday said the government remains focused on all the issues including prices of essential commodities and traffic congestion as part of their continuous efforts to ease public sufferings. “We have full attention on all the issues—be it labor unrest or the prices of essential commodities. We are discussing how citizens’ sufferings can be eased. There is no deficit in terms of our efforts,” he told reporters while responding to a question at a media briefing at Foreign Service Academy. Deputy Press Secretaries Aburba Jahangir and Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad Majumder also spoke at the briefing. Regarding traffic congestion, he said this problem is certainly related to public life and they are trying their best to resolve this. Alam said Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus is talking to experts and also holding discussions within the Council of Advisers. He said there are various pressure groups as they could not go for any movement over the last 15 years, stressing that the government is listening to them. “They consider this interim government as their government. They think the government will listen to their voices. And the government is listening to them,” said the Press Secretary, adding that the government does not see any conspiracy behind this. He said almost 99 percent of RMG factories remain operational and they are trying to solve the issues peacefully where there are problems. “We are trying to make sure that there is no unrest in any factory.”  About 18,000 Bangladeshi workers who missed their deadline to enter Malaysia, Alam said the work of their verification has begun. “We have started the work of verification. We hope they will be able to go to Malaysia soon.”  The Press Secretary said a separate facility will be set up at Dhaka University (DU) to carry out administrative works of seven colleges affiliated with the DU. The representatives of the seven colleges talked to Education Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud and Youth and Sports Advisor Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan and they came up with a decision that there will be a designated place in the DU so that administrative works of the seven colleges could be conducted, he said. He said there will be separate registrar and dedicated officials, and it will be accomplished in consultation with the DU authorities and University Grants Commission (UGC). Meanwhile, all the ministries will be asked to submit the lists of vehicles being used in public entities to the government through a format and then the number of the government vehicles and their conditions can be known, he said.

A woman drug peddler, who was arrested with 84 bottles of the banned cough syrup phensedyl by Border Guard Bangladesh, escaped from Jibannagar police station in Chuadanga early Thursday morning. Her name is Monowara Begum, 30, daughter of one Shahjahan Mandal of Jalilpur village in Maheshpur upazila of Jhenaidah. Confirming the matter, the police station’s Officer-in-Charge Mamun Biswas said he along with colleagues was conducting a drive to arrest her. Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Riazul Islam said she was supposed to appear before a Chuadanga court on Thursday morning, and therefore taken to the Women and Children Desk at the Jibannagar police station.  Somehow she managed to escape dodging on-duty cops, the OC said.