United News of Bangladesh

A 45-year-old man, who suffered burn injuries in a fire at a toy factory in Keraniganj on Monday, died at National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery (NIBPS) on Tuesday, raising the death toll from the incident to two. The deceased was identified as Md Manik. Dr Sultan Mahmud Shikder, resident medical officer of NIBPS, said Manik breathed his last around 12:30 am while undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the hospital. Earlier on Monday, a man was killed and three others were injured in the fire incident.  

Bangladesh and Malaysia on Tuesday began formal negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA), aiming to expand bilateral trade and investment and deepen economic partnership. The three-day first round of talks began at a hotel in the capital and the two sides signed the Terms of Reference (ToR) at the opening session, outlining the framework and scope of the negotiations. Both sides expressed their determination to finalise a modern, balanced and mutually beneficial deal by 2027. Commerce Secretary Sharaf Uddin Ahmed Choudhury said Bangladesh-Malaysia ties have been strengthened by historical friendship and shared cultural and religious values. Although bilateral trade is encouraging, he said, the vast potential for investment and trade diversification remains largely untapped. He said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim discussed concluding a sustainable and mutually beneficial FTA by 2027 during Rahman's visit to Malaysia in June.   "Today's first round of formal talks marks the start of the institutional process to deliver on that commitment," he added.   The secretary said the FTA is crucial for Bangladesh to tackle the challenges of graduating from the least developed country (LDC) category and to maintain its competitiveness in global markets. As a meeting point of South and Southeast Asia, Bangladesh is a promising destination for Malaysian investors, he said, pointing to opportunities for joint investment in the halal industry, semiconductor skills development, digital trade, logistics and special economic zones. He also thanked Malaysia for its support for Bangladesh's aspiration to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Rashidi Said, chief negotiator of Malaysia and head of its 31-member delegation, and Khadiza Nazneen, Bangladesh's chief negotiator and an additional secretary at the Commerce Ministry, were present, along with senior officials from both countries. Rashidi Said said the proposed FTA is not merely a tariff-cutting deal but a strategic initiative to build a long-term and balanced economic partnership between the two countries. Bilateral trade stood at around $2.84 billion in 2025, he said adding that the  agreement would open up new opportunities for trade expansion, industrialisation and investment once in force. He expressed hope that the negotiations would be completed by 2027 through mutual understanding, flexibility and a realistic work plan. He also said the upcoming visit of the Malaysian Prime Minister to Bangladesh would give the process further momentum. Khadiza Nazneen said the FTA would ease market access in both countries, reduce trade barriers and create new opportunities for investment and employment. It would also make trade more transparent, simple and predictable, she added. She said the talks are focusing on consensus, while safeguarding mutual interests, on key issues including trade in goods and services, rules of origin and customs procedures. Delegates from both countries reaffirmed their commitment to reaching a balanced, effective and durable agreement through constructive dialogue, mutual respect and flexibility. The first round of negotiations will continue until October 29.    

The government is taking various initiatives to address the energy crisis and aims to generate 30 percent of the country's electricity from renewable sources by 2030, Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku said on Tuesday. "The government aims to generate 30 percent of the country's electricity from renewable sources by 2030. We have enacted a special energy law to achieve the target,” he said. The minister made the remarks while inaugurating the Second Renewable Energy Fest 2026 at the Central Field of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). The event called for expanding renewable energy systems across the country to reduce carbon emissions. The three-day festival, running from October 26 to 28, is jointly organised by ActionAid Bangladesh and BUET, in collaboration with Just Energy Transition Network Bangladesh (JETnet-BD) and BUET's Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development (IESD). Tuku said the people of Bangladesh would have to bear the consequences of mismanagement in the energy sector over the past 17 years for a hundred years. He also blamed an unplanned quick-rental power policy for contributing to the energy crisis. “Under the previous government's irrational rules, power plants have to be paid capacity charges even when they do not generate electricity. Bangladesh bought LNG from the spot market at prices of up to US$30 per unit. The government has spent more than US$4 billion on the energy sector in just the past few months,” he said. The minister also highlighted problems with electricity distribution in rural areas, saying the absence of fault detectors on rural electricity lines often makes it difficult to identify technical problems. He said that although electricity lines were installed across villages to achieve 100 percent electrification, fault detectors were installed alongside them. As a result, when a fault occurs, rural electricity workers have to travel to the affected areas and search for the problem manually, a process that can take two to three days in some cases. In many villages, he said, even vehicles cannot enter, forcing workers to use vans to reach the sites. He said such technical faults often leave consumers without electricity, but the resulting outages are blamed on the government as load-shedding. “These are the practical problems I face every day, but there is no one to understand them. Because we come to power through people's votes, we are a soft target,” he said.   Referring to nuclear power, he said Bangladesh has repeatedly raised the issue of nuclear energy, but generating electricity alone would not be enough without the necessary downstream infrastructure to transmit it. He said the Power Development Board (PDB) is not ready for that task. He urged NGOs to help expand solar power systems in rural communities, saying the organisations could collect payments from households through meters and use the revenue to sustain the systems. He requested NGOs to focus on installing solar panels on sheds, noting that he had seen solar-powered sheds in many places. He said the government is working to improve the power system and urged stakeholders to pay greater attention to such initiatives. Tuku noted that solar power generation fluctuates with changes in sunlight, making a modernised electricity grid necessary to manage such variations. “Smart grids are not yet available in our country. We have to develop them, and we are trying to do so. But five years is a very short period,” he said. First Counsellor and Head of Section for Green Economy and Public Sector Investments at the EU Delegation to Bangladesh Tobias Biermann, Second Secretary at the Australian High Commission in Bangladesh Jacob de Leon, and Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh Farah Kabir attended the programme, among other distinguished guests. Representatives from the European Union, Indonesia, Australia and Pakistan also participated in the renewable energy festival. 

The maritime ports of Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Mongla and Payra have been advised to keep hoisted local cautionary signal No. 3 as the very severe cyclonic storm "Arnab” over Westcentral Bay and adjoining area moved west-northwestwards. It is now lies over the same area at 06 am on Tuesday about 1040 km southwest of Chattogram, 995 km southwest of Cox's Bazar, 895 km southwest of Mongla and 905 km southwest of Payra. It is likely to move westnorthwestwards further and cross Andhra Pradesh coasts by noon on Wednesday. Maximum sustained wind speed within 64 km of the severe cyclonic storm centre is about 120 kph rising to 140 kph in gusts or squalls. Sea will remain very high near the very severe cyclonic storm. All fishing boats and trawlers over North Bay have been advised to remain close to the coast and proceed with caution till further notice.

Power supply has been disrupted in parts of Dhaka and Chattogram due to technical glitches, the Power Division said on Tuesday. In an urgent press release in the afternoon , it said restoration work is underway on an emergency basis and electricity has already been restored in most affected areas. It expressed hope that power supply to the remaining areas would be restored shortly and apologised to consumers for the temporary inconvenience.

A total of 174 undocumented Bangladeshi nationals voluntarily returned home from Libya early Tuesday. They arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 5:40am on a Buraq Airlines flight from Tripoli. The return was facilitated by the Libyan government and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in coordination with Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment and the Bangladesh Embassy in Libya. Most of the returnees reportedly entered Libya after being lured by human traffickers, intending to travel to Europe illegally by sea. Many of them allegedly experienced kidnapping and torture at different times while in Libya. Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant ministries, along with representatives of IOM, welcomed the returnees at the airport. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested the returnees to share their harrowing experiences with others to raise public awareness about the risks of irregular migration. IOM provided each returnee with travel expenses, some food items, primary healthcare and temporary accommodation, if necessary. The ministries, the Bangladesh mission in Tripoli and the IOM are working together to ensure the safe repatriation of Bangladeshi nationals detained at various detention centres in Libya.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman attended a state luncheon hosted in honour of Bangladesh's head of government in Tokyo on Tuesday. The luncheon followed the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office, known as the Kantei, said Prime Minister’s Deputy Press Secretary Shahadat Hossain Shadhin. “The official luncheon was hosted in honour of Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. His wife Dr Zubaida Rahman and members of the delegation also attended it,” he said. Sanae Takaichi greeted Zubaida Rahman as she arrived at the luncheon and exchanged pleasantries with her. Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Prime Minister's Finance and Planning Adviser Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit, Prime Minister's Adviser on Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Rehan Asif Asad, Invest Bangladesh Authority Executive Chairman Ashik Chowdhury, Bangladesh Bank Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman, Prime Minister's Special Assistant for Overseas Employment in the Asia-Pacific Region Dr Shakirul Islam Khan, Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam, Secretary Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury, Secretary of the Economic Relations Division Shahriar Kader Siddiky and Prime Minister’s Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Rumon, among others, attended the luncheon.

Mia Sattar, a Bangladesh-born Russian businessman and head of National Group, has been appointed chairman of the newly established Russia-Bangladesh Business Council. The organisational meeting of the council was recently held at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation in Moscow, the Russian Embassy in Dhaka said on Monday. The council will serve as an aide to the Russia-Bangladesh Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. Its main tasks will include analysing the market, identifying promising areas of cooperation and finding barriers to market entry. Vladimir Padalko, vice president of the chamber, chaired the meeting. Mohammad Nazrul Islam, Ambassador of Bangladesh to Russia, along with representatives of Russia's Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Economic Development, attended the event. 

The government has changed the Bangla name of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs to ‘Nari O Shishu Bishoyok Montronaloy’ (Ministry of Women and Children Affairs). The Ministry of Public Administration issued a notification on Monday (October 26), formally changing the ministry’s Bangla name. The notification was subsequently published in the gazette. According to the notification, the ministry’s Bangla name has been changed to ‘Nari O Shishu Bishoyok Montronaloy’, while its English name, ‘Ministry of Women and Children Affairs’, remains unchanged. Earlier, the Cabinet approved the proposal to change the ministry’s Bangla name at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on October 18.

To meet the surging demand of travellers eager to visit the world's longest unbroken sea beach, Bangladesh Railway (BR) on Monday officially launched the operation of a third pair of trains on the Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar route by extending the journey of the Mohanagar Express up to the coastal tourism hub. Railways, Road Transport and Bridges, and Shipping Minister Sheikh Rabiul Alam inaugurated the extended service of the Mohanagar Express from the Dhaka Railway Station in Kamalapur. Prior to this addition, two train pairs—the Cox's Bazar Express and the Tourist Express—were operating on the 467.83-kilometer route since its inauguration in December 2023. The opening ceremony was attended by State Minister Habibur Rashid, Railways Ministry Secretary Md. Fahimul Islam, BR Director General Md. Afzal Hossain, and other senior officials. According to railway officials, unlike the existing trains, the Mohanagar Express will make stops at 12 stations along its route via Chattogram. Aside from the terminal stations of Dhaka and Cox's Bazar, the train will stop at Airport, Narsingdi, Bhairab Bazar, Ashuganj, Brahmanbaria, Akhaura, Kasba, Comilla, Laksam, Nangalkot, Feni, and Chattogram. The previous halt at Kumira Station has been discontinued with the route extension. Schedule and Operations: · Departure from Dhaka: 8:30 PM, arriving in Cox's Bazar at 6:00 AM. · Return Journey: Departs Cox's Bazar at 9:00 AM, arriving in Dhaka at 6:30 PM. · Travel Time: Approximately 9 hours and 30 minutes in both directions. · Weekly Off-Day: The service will remain suspended on Sundays. · Maintenance Depot: Cox’s Bazar will serve as the rake base and depot for cleaning and watering services. BR authorities stated that the third service was introduced to accommodate surging passenger demand and fulfill the government’s election manifesto commitments regarding the expansion of intercity rail networks.