Private carrier US-Bangla Airlines will add two widebody aircraft Airbus A330 to its fleet to increase its international flights. The aircraft will be added to US-Bangla's fleet in May this year, Md Kamrul Islam, general manager (public relations) of the US-Bangla, said Monday. "Airbus A30 will be able to accommodate 436 passengers." The widebody aircraft will be used to connect Dhaka with Saudi Arabia's Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam to make things easier for Bangladeshi expatriates, Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. "Bangladesh passengers travel to different destinations of Saudi Arabia through third carriers. To help them save money and time, US-Bangla plans to operate flights to Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam from next June," Kamrul said. Read more: US-Bangla Airlines wins Best Domestic Airlines award In November last year, the private carrier added one more Boeing 737-800 aircraft to its fleet. With the addition of one Boeing 737-800, the number of US-Bangla Airlines aircraft now stands at 17, Kamrul said. Apart from operating flights on all domestic routes, US-Bangla now runs flights to Kolkata, Chennai, Male, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Guangzhou, Muscat, Doha, Dubai, and Sharjah.      

The remittance inflow moved slightly upward in the first 25 days of this August as Bangladeshi expatriates sent out more than $1.72 billion through the official banking channels, according to data submitted to the Bangladesh Bank by different banks. Bangladesh received $2.92 billion inward remittances in July, thanks to Eid-ul-Azha when Bangladeshis living abroad sent more money to families to celebrate one of the biggest festivals for Muslims. The expatriates sent $1.81 billion in remittances in August of the last fiscal year. Also read: Bangladesh receives $2.09 billion remittance in July; highest in 14 months Amid declining foreign exchange reserves due to rising import bills, many private sector banks are now bringing home more remittances than the public sector ones. Different private banks are buying dollars at a higher rate than state-owned ones, which is helping them attract more remittances. From 1 to 25 August, Islami Bank received $356.23 million, Agrani Bank $110.12 million, and City Bank 109.43 million in remittances. Pubali Bank received $5.48 million, Dutch-Bangla Bank $95.38 million, and Rupali Bank $93.53 million. Also read: Bangladesh receives $1.64 billion remittance in 21 days of July:BB Bangladesh saw its inward remittance drop by 15.12 percent to $21.03 billion year-on-year in FY22 after growing by more than 36 percent to $24.78 in FY21. It is mentionable though, that the drop is made steeper by the fact that the inward remittance figure for FY21 was an all-time record.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the expatriate Bangladeshis all over the world to invest more in Bangladesh as investment opportunities for them have increased in all sectors. “We’ll find out the barriers, if any, in this regard and I assure you all of solving those problems for your convenience to invest, which will be beneficial for all,” she said in a civic reception accorded to her by the expatriate Bangladeshis living in Scotland on Monday. The Prime Minister joined the programme virtually from her place of residence here. Hasina said the present Awami league government is very much a pro-people one as it always thinks about the development of the country and the welfare of its people. She mentioned that the government has already introduced two percent incentives for the expatriate Bangladeshis for sending money back home from abroad through a proper channel. “No one demanded for that, even no one thought about that, I myself introduced this incentive,” Hasina said. She also mentioned that the government has established a bank for the expatriate Bangladeshis. Regarding allegations made by some expatriates that they are facing problems in investing in Bangladesh, the Prime Minister said she doesn't know what kind of problems the expatriates are facing while investing in Bangladesh. Hasina also said the government has already given necessary directives to the Bangladesh Development and Investment Authority (BIDA) to remove all bottlenecks for investments. “There’ll be a roadshow in London where I’ll ask BIDA to look into the matter,” she said. Briefly describing the massive development activities of the government carried out by the present Awami League government in the last 12 years, Hasina said the government is offering special facilities for the expatriates to invest in Bangladesh. But she requested them to follow the laws of the land while investing in Bangladesh as there’re rules and regulations for investment across the globe. “I hope that you’ll do that,” she said. There are investment and premium bonds in Bangladesh and the expatriates can invest availing of that advantage, the Prime Minister said, adding that the government is setting up some 100 economic zones and the expatriates can invest there, too. READ: Bangladesh cancelled 10 coal-based power plants for climate’s sake: Hasina Referring to a government survey where it showed that only 10 upazilas out of 495 have ultra-poor people in the country, Hasina said the government is finding out why they are still in this bad shape. “I’ve already given directives to make a plan for removing this situation. Inshallah, we’ll be able to change this situation within a couple of months. So, there’ll be no ultra-poor in the country,” she said.

A large number of Bangladeshi expatriates living in Houston, Austin, and surrounding cities have received various consular services from mobile consular camps.  They received services like re-issuance of Machine-Readable Passports, NVR, and Attestation. Read:Australia to provide AUD 85mn to Brac under SPA Approximately 800 people received services from these consular camps.  The Embassy of Bangladesh in Washington, DC organised the mobile consular camps from 18 -23 June in Houston and Austin of Texas.   Bangladesh Ambassador to USA M Shahidul Islam visited the consular camps and interacted with the service seekers.  Read: First batch of purchased Chinese vaccines to arrive soon: Envoy The Bangladesh diaspora in Texas expressed their gratitude to the Ambassador for arranging mobile consular camps.  The Embassy, as part of its public diplomacy and welfare programmes, will continue hosting mobile consular camps in different cities to facilitate consular services to the Bangladesh community.

Around 77% of the returnee migrants in Bangladesh were struggling to find jobs between April and November last year because of Covid-19 pandemic, says a study. Among the migrant households with returnees, 61% had at least one member who lost a job or earning opportunity during the pandemic. More than three-fourth (77%) of the marriages that took place in households during surveyed period had brides who were under the age of 18, which is 26% higher than the national rate of child marriage (51%) in 2018. Child marriages were found to be more prevalent in rural areas (81%) than in urban locations (70%). Read Bahrain urged to take back Bangladeshi expats These are the outcomes of a research jointly conducted by BRAC, UN WOMEN Bangladesh and the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. The research looks into the changes in demographic, economic, and social environments in secondary towns, peri-urban (upazila), and rural areas brought on by the reverse migrations during the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings of the research titled “Demographic and socio-economic changes induced by the Covid-19 pandemic: Challenges of new circumstances” was unveiled at a virtual policy dialogue on Saturday. A panel of distinguished experts, academics, policymakers, and development professionals shared their valuable insights at the dialogue. Also read: 70pc Bangladeshi returnee migrants struggling to find jobs: IOM They also discussed the policy priority areas identified by the study findings and way forward. Dr. Shamsul Alam, Member (Senior Secretary), General Economics Division, Planning Commission, attended the dialogue as the chief guest. Representatives from the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM), Dhaka University, the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, UN Women Bangladesh Office, UNDP Bangladesh, and BRAC joined as discussants. A survey was conducted with 6,370 households during 10-25 December 2020 as part of the study that applied both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Read Also: IOM supports Bangladesh's efforts at entry points to fight COVID-19 The survey considered April-November 2020 as a reference period. The study calls attention specifically to the impact of the Covid-19 on internal and international migration, including returnee migrants who were forced to return to their places of origin due to various circumstances during the pandemic. One-fourth (25%) of returnee migrant households are concerned over repaying their outstanding migration loans, which amount to an average of BDT 76,000 (around USD 900), and a maximum of BDT 700,000 (around USD 8300), the study found. Around 44% reported that they could not find any income-generating work and some of them are managing expenses by withdrawing from savings or using rent from assets. Read Govt to expats: Don't come during lockdown, except for emergencies

Nearly 48% of the Bangladeshi migrant workers, who were forced to return home last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, are now dependent on loans and relatives' support in the absence of any regular source of income, says a Brac survey. Many of them returned due to fear of getting infected, some lost jobs as companies closed operations, some returned permanently, while others returned on leave. Also read: 70pc Bangladeshi returnee migrants struggling to find jobs: IOM Many of them could not get back to their old jobs or migrate again to find a new job because of global lockdown. This has left 98% of such returnees with severe anxiety, depression, and psychological disorders.  Read WB approves $200 million to help Dhaka support urban poor, migrants The other 52% have started small businesses or are working as day labourers to make a living, said the Brac Migration Program survey titled "Searching and Analysing the Socio-economic Status of Returnees." Brac surveyed 417 Bangladeshi returnees across seven divisions from March to April 2021 to explore and analyse their socio-economic and psycho-social situation, one year after their return to Bangladesh amid the pandemic. Also read: MoU signed for helping returnee migrants The majority of the respondents were returnees from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and others returned from Italy, the UK, and Malaysia. Around 19% of the respondents said they had returned to Bangladesh after losing their job, whereas 16% were forced to return, 16% returned due to the fear of Covid-19, 12% returned permanently, 2% returned due to illness, and 35% returned on leave. Some 28% of the respondents claimed to be already in debt. Also read: Over half of returnee migrants in need of financial aid now: Brac Nearly 5 lakh people had to return to Bangladesh from their host countries due to the pandemic which has been raging since the end of 2019, the study says. More than 10 million Bangladeshi expatriates are working across the globe now. The country’s remittance inflow reached $22 billion last year despite the virus outbreak, the highest on record. Read Govt to expats: Don’t come during lockdown, except for emergencies

Two brothers, children of Bangladeshi expatriates, who killed four of their family members before killing themselves on Saturday, wrote in an Instagram post that they had been suffering from depression. The murder-suicide also exposed how easy it is to obtain firearms in the USA. They said the gun control was “a joke”, reports the New York Post. In a 12-page note initially linked to his Instagram page, Farhan Towhid, 19, said that he and his 21-year-old brother, Tanvir Towhid, thought that getting guns would be the most challenging part of the murder-suicide plot. But they found “gun control in the US is a joke”, Farhan wrote in the note. He said all his brother had to do was go to a shop “say something about wanting a gun for home defense, sign some forms, and that was it”. There was a question if he had any mental illnesses “but he lied”, Farhan wrote. “He literally just said no. They didn’t ask for proof or if he was taking any medication (he was).”

The Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday night launched a digital platform called ‘BanglaTiger Digital.'

Five Bangladeshi workers have been killed and five others injured in a road accident in Duqm of Oman.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday asked the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry and recruiting agencies to take care of Bangladeshi expatriates.