Director of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) Anupam Barua has said that the organization is monitoring the petroleum fuel supply situation in the country and strict action will be taken if the petrol pump owners do not call off the ongoing strike. “Strict action will be taken from tomorrow (Monday) if the filling station owners’ strike is not withdrawn and fuel supply is disrupted across the country,” said while addressing a press conference at the Boardroom of the Jamuna Oil Company, a subsidiary of the BPC, on Sunday, in the city. He said some of the demands of the petrol pump owners have been met while the rest are under consideration. “The government has taken time till September 30. So, any movement in this situation is unacceptable,” he told reporters. Meanwhile, leaders of a faction of Bangladesh Petrol Pumps Owners Association (BPPOA) has claimed that the leaders of other faction who have called strike are “nobody of the organization”. “Those leaders were expelled from the organisation for their misappropriation of funds,” said Nazmul Haque, president of the faction of BPPOA which opposed the strike. BPC incurs Tk 63 crore loss a day in petroleum sale, but experts suggest cut on import duty “Since, the government has already met one of our three demands and assured for meeting the other two within September 30, we don’t support this strike”, he said while addressing at a press conference in the Jamuna Oil’s meeting room in the city on Sunday. Earlier, the faction of the BPPOA, led by Syed Sazzadul Karim Kabul and Mizanur Rahman Ratan, president and secretary general respectively, announced the strike programme at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity on August 27. They said that the members of the organisation will begin the strike for an indefinite period at the petrol pumps from September 2 unless their demands are met by August 31. BPDB’s extra purchase order of petroleum puts BPC in trouble As a result, an indefinite strike called by fuel traders in Khulna is underway since this morning (September 03, 2023) to realise their three-point demand including hiking commission on fuel sales. Moving fuel from Padma, Jamuna and Meghna oil depots has remained suspended since 8 am.Bangladesh Tank-Lorry Owners’ Association, Bangladesh Fuel Oil Distributors Association, Khulna Divisional Tank-Lorry Workers’ Union and Padma, Meghna and Jamuna Tank-Lorry Workers’ Welfare Association are observing the strike. BPCC protests vandalisation of idols and arrest of Gouranga Their demands include raising commission on fuel sales to at least 7.5 percent, setting the tank-lorry economic life to 50 years, and issuing a gazette notification mentioning fuel traders as commission agents as per previous pledges.

An indefinite strike called by fuel traders in Khulna is underway since this morning (September 03, 2023) to realise their three-point demand including hiking commission on fuel sales. Moving fuel from Padma, Jamuna and Meghna oil depots has remained suspended since 8 am. Bangladesh Tank-Lorry Owners’ Association, Bangladesh Fuel Oil Distributors Association, Khulna Divisional Tank-Lorry Workers’ Union and Padma, Meghna and Jamuna Tank-Lorry Workers’ Welfare Association are observing the strike. Their demands include raising commission on fuel sales to at least 7.5 percent, setting the tank-lorry economic life to 50 years, and issuing a gazette notification mentioning fuel traders as commission agents as per previous pledges. Read: Khulna fuel traders threaten strike from Sept 3 if demands not met As news of the strike surfaced earlier, a huge number of motorbikes and private vehicles were seen forming queues at fuel pumps in Khulna on Saturday night. Claiming their demands as logical, Md Muraduzzaman, a leader of petrol pump owners’ association, said they were forced to start the strike from Sunday morning as their demands were not met by August 31. The strike will end when their three-point demand is met, he said. Read: Sylhet’s Osmani hospital’s intern doctors call off strike

Fuel traders in Khulna threatened to go for an indefinite strike from September 3 if their three-point demand, including raising sales commission, is not met by August 31.Abdul Gaffar Biswas, president of Khulna District Petrol Pump Owners Association made the announcement after a meeting with fuel traders in the New Market area of Khulna city on Wednesday night. Sylhet’s Osmani hospital’s intern doctors call off strikeBesides raising sales commission, the other demands are setting the tank-lorry economic life to 50 years and issuing a gazette notification as per the pledges. Ambulance owners call strike from TuesdayAbdul Gaffar said they have placed their three-point demand several times but the government did not pay heed. That’s why the fuel traders decided to go for an indefinite strike from September 3. One-Point Demand: Over 200 freedom fighters to observe hunger strike in city Monday  

Bangladesh Ambulance Owners Welfare Association has called for an indefinite nationwide strike to press home their six-point demand, including the withdrawal of taxes imposed by Bangladesh Road Transport Authority(BRTA). The strike of private ambulance owners will begin on Tuesday (July 25, 2023) if the demands are not met by today, said Gulam Mostafa, President of the Bangladesh Ambulance Owners Welfare Association on Monday. Not enough fuel allocation means no ambulance service at Faridpur General Hospital for 45 days Other demands include formation of a national policy on ambulances and the implementation of prime minister’s announced toll-free facility for ambulances. The ambulance owners also demanded parking facilities at all hospitals in the country, the facility to fill up fuel at filling stations without having to wait in lines while transporting a patient, and uninterrupted travel on roads. 4 dead, 3 injured as truck collides with ambulance in Gopalganj

The 'Shalish Samannay Committee' of Greater Jaintia's 17 Pargana announced an indefinite transport strike for all types of transport movement on Sylhet-Tamabil road from 6 am on Monday (July 10) in the wake of the death of five people in a road accident in Sylhet's Jaintapur on last Friday (July 7). The leaders of the committee took the decision at a meeting on Sunday (July 9) afternoon. Moinul Islam, president of Sylhet District Bus-Minibus Workers Union, confirmed the matter. Read more: Heavy rains may trigger short-term flood in Sylhet, Sunamganj Jaintapur Upazila Parishad Chairman and Upazila Awami League President Kamal Ahmed said, "According to the decision of the Arbitration Committee, no bus-minibus will be allowed to ply on the Sylhet-Tamabil highway from Monday. However, other vehicles will run normally."

Sunamganj District Bus, Minibus and Microbus Workers Union called an indefinite strike from May 29 in the district demanding to press-home their three-point demand. All modes of transport will stay off from Sunamganj-Sylhet road during the strike, said Nurul Islam, general secretary of Sunamganj District Bus, Minibus, and Microbus Workers Union while reading out the written statement. The demands include taking steps against extortion, physically assaulting the transport workers, vandalism and withdrawal of cases against them. Also read: Indefinite bus strike in Sunamganj from May 4 Earlier, we wanted to go for the strike from May 3 but as per the request of the local administration due to SSC examination, they stepped back from their decision. But the administration did not pay any heed to their demands, forcing the transport workers union to go for the strike.  

Sri Lankan health, railway, port and other state workers were on a daylong strike Wednesday to protest against sharp increases in income taxes and electricity charges, as the island nation awaits approval of an International Monetary Fund package to aid its bankrupt economy. Most government hospitals around the country suspended their outpatient clinics because doctors, nurses and pharmacists were on strike. The railways operated fewer trains and armed soldiers guarded carriages and train stations fearing sabotage. Trade unions say the increase in taxes and electricity charges have hit them hard amid difficulties from the country's worst economic crisis. They have threatened to extend the strike indefinitely if the government fails to address their demands. Also Read: Sri Lanka leader says IMF deal imminent after China’s pledge The government says it was compelled to raise taxes to strengthen state revenue and electricity charges to cover production costs, key prerequisites to unlocking the proposed $2.9 billion IMF package. Authorities say they managed to operate some trains and most state banks despite the strike. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said last week the fund's board will meet on March 20 to consider the final approval of Sri Lanka's bailout package after China gave crucial debt restructuring assurances. Sri Lanka announced last year it was suspending repayment of its foreign loans amid a severe foreign currency crisis that resulted in shortages of fuel, food, medicines and cooking gas, along with long power cuts. The crisis led to street protests that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, since taking over last July, has managed to end the power cuts and reduce shortages. The Central Bank has said the country's reserves have improved and Sri Lanka's rupee has started to strengthen after crashing last year. The Central Bank has wrested back control of foreign currency trade from the black market, the monetary authority says. However, critics say the strengthening of the currency might be linked to import controls and that it is bound to weaken once the country reopens for imports. Wickremesinghe told Parliament last week that difficult reforms are needed to remain on course with the IMF program. Sidestepping them, as the country has done on 16 previous occasions, could spell danger, he added, noting that any breakdown would compel Sri Lanka to repay $6-7 billion of foreign debt every year until 2029. However, he found no support from the opposition parties and the public, who say he is shielding the ousted Rajapaksa family from allegations of corruption, which they say caused the economic crisis, in return for their support for his presidency.

The strike enforced by doctors in Khulna district hospitals – protesting the attack on a fellow physician, allegedly by a police officer and others – has been postponed this morning for a week. The strike was postponed after three days, following assurance of taking measures in this regard from the authorities concerned. Soon after the postponement, the physicians joined work in respective hospitals.  Dr Baharul Alam, president of Khulna unit of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), said they postponed the strike for seven days upon assurance from Khulna City Corporation (KCC) Mayor Talukdar Abdul Khaleque and local administration of taking action, including arrest of the accused police officer.  Earlier, a tripartite meeting on the strike was held among the demonstrating physicians, the delegation of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and the local administration this morning. Awami League Organising Secretary SM Kamal was also present in the meeting. After the meeting, BMA leader Baharul came up with the declaration of the postponement around 11:40 am. Read more: 'Attack' on Khulna physician: Patients continue to suffer as doctors' strike drags into 3rd day Earlier on Friday a series of meetings between the physicians and the DGHS delegation were held but no one could reach a point to call off or postpone the strike.  The DGHS delegation led by its Additional Director General (admin) Dr Rasheda Sultana rushed to Khulna from the capital to address the issue on Friday and held several meetings with the physicians. On February 25, Dr Sheikh Nishat Abdullah, head of Burn and Plastic Surgery Department of Sheikh Abu Naser Specialised Hospital, was physically assaulted, allegedly by a patient’s relatives including ASI Naim, at a nursing home in Sheikhpara of Khulna city during surgery. Protesting the attack, BMA Khulna unit went on a 24-hour work abstention from Wednesday to Thursday morning. The physicians continued the strike for three consecutive days to press home their demand. The strike caused immense suffering to hospitalised patients and others who sought medical treatment. On Thursday, ASI Naim was attached to the police lines after withdrawal from his workplace in Satkhira when the allegation of assaulting a physician surfaced.

Sylhet District Transport Oikya Parishad has called for an indefinite strike starting from tomorrow (Monday, January 23, 2023) to demand the release of Chhatra Dal leader Ali Akbor Rajon who was arrested in a sabotage case. Mainul Islam, president of Bus-Minibus Workers' Union, confirmed the announcement on Sunday (January 22, 2023). The strike will extend throughout the division from Tuesday (January 24, 2023), he added. During the strike, the movement of all vehicles including bus, minibus, cng-run auto rickshaw, leguna and truck will remain suspended, said the transport leader. Read More: Dhaka court dismisses BNP’s complaint against DB chief, 9 others over ‘vandalising Nayapaltan office’ "Ali Akbor Rajon has been in jail for one and a half months as he was denied bail. The strike will continue until he is granted bail," Mainul added. Rajon has been involved with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and he is the joint general secretary of Sylhet District Chhatra Dal. He is also the joint general secretary of the Bus-Minibus Workers Union Committee. On 7 December, 2022, police arrested Rajon from the Surma Market area of the town in a sabotage case lodged in 2018. Read more: Sylhet fuel traders declare indefinite strike from Jan 18

Ukrainian emergency crews on Monday sifted through what was left of a Dnipro apartment building destroyed by a Russian missile, placing bodies from one of the war’s deadliest single attacks in months in black bags and gingerly carrying them across steep piles of rubble. Authorities said the death toll from Saturday’s strike rose to 40 and that 30 people remained missing Monday. Tall cranes swung across the jagged gaps in a row of residential towers, the engines growling as residents of one of Ukraine’s largest cities watched largely in silence under a gray sky. About 1,700 people lived in the multistory building, and search and rescue crews have worked nonstop since the missile strike to locate victims and survivors in the wreckage. The regional administration said 39 people have been rescued and at least 75 were wounded. The reported death toll put it among the deadliest attacks on Ukrainian civilians since before the summer, according to The Associated Press-Frontline War Crimes Watch project. Residents said the apartment tower did not house any military facilities. Oleksander Anyskevych said he was in his apartment when the missile struck. “Boom — and that’s it. We saw that we were alive and that’s all,” Anyskevych said Monday as he went to the site to see his wrecked apartment. He told The Associated Press that he knew people who died under the rubble. One of his son’s classmates lost her parents. Read more: Death toll in Russian strike on Ukrainian building up to 35 Dnipro residents took flowers, candles and toys to the ruins. “All of us could be in that place,” local resident Iryna Skrypnyk said. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, called the strike, and others like it, “inhumane aggression” because it directly targeted civilians. “There will be no impunity for these crimes,” he said in a tweet Sunday. Asked about the strike Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military doesn’t target residential buildings and suggested the Dnipro building was hit as a result of Ukrainian air defense actions. The strike on the building came amid a wider barrage of Russian cruise missiles across Ukraine. The Ukrainian military said Sunday that it did not have the means to intercept the type of Russian missile that hit the residential building in Dnipro. Fierce fighting continued to rage Monday in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province, where military analysts have said both sides are likely suffering heavy troop casualties. No independent verification of developments was possible. Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk province make up the Donbas, an expansive industrial region bordering Russia that Russian President Vladimir Putin identified as a focus from the war’s outset. Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Kyiv’s forces there since 2014. The Russian and Belarusian air forces began a joint exercise Monday in Belarus, which borders Ukraine and served as a staging ground for Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.The drills are set to run through Feb. 1, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said. Russia has sent its warplanes to Belarus for the drills. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, reported signs of the Kremlin taking steps to turn its Ukraine invasion into “a major conventional war” after months of embarrassing military reversals. What Moscow calls “a special military operation” aimed to capture the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, within weeks and to install a Kremlin-friendly regime there, but Russian forces ultimately withdrew from around Kyiv, the think tank said. Then came a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in recent months before the onset of winter slowed military advances. “The Kremlin is likely preparing to conduct a decisive strategic action in the next six months intended to regain the initiative and end Ukraine’s current string of operational successes,” the Institute for the Study of War said in a report late Sunday. It noted reports indicating the Russian military command was in “serious preparations” for an expanded mobilization effort, conserving mobilized personnel for future use, while seeking to boost military industrial production and reshuffling its command structure. That means Ukraine’s Western allies “will need to continue supporting Ukraine in the long run,” the think tank said. Read more: Deaths from strike on Ukraine apartment building rise to 29 NATO member nations have sought in recent days to reassure Ukraine that they will stay the course. The United Kingdom has pledged tanks and the U.S. military’s new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday. Poland’s prime minister urged the German government to supply a wide range of weapons to Kyiv and voiced hope that Berlin would soon approve a transfer of battle tanks. Other developments on Monday: — Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson and the Kherson region, killing three people and wounding 14 others over the last 24 hours, regional Gov. Yaroslav Yanushevych said. In the city of Kherson, the shelling damaged a hospital, a children disability center, a shipyard, critical infrastructure and apartment buildings. — Russian forces struck the city of Zaporizhzhia, damaging industrial infrastructure and wounding five people, two of them children, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko reported. — Russian air defenses downed 10 drones Monday over the Black Sea near the port of Sevastopol in annexed Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed head of Sevastopol, reported.