death
2 workers electrocuted to death in N’ganj
Two people died from electrocution in Bandar upazila of Narayanganj on Friday, police said.
The deceased were identified as Hridoy ,18, son of Sheikh Sadi of Rampur village of Purbadhala upazila of Netrokona and Hanif ,20, son of Bachchu Mia.
Md Shafiq, a co-worker of the victims, said the piling work of an under-building was going on in Madanpur of Narayanganj port.
Hridoy and Hanif got a massive electric shock when they came in contact with a live wire while going to start an electric motor at the working site around 7 pm on Friday.
Read: Electrocution leaves 3 dead, 3 injured in Kishoreganj
They were rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors declared them, Shafiq said.
The bodies were kept in the hospital morgue for autopsies, Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of DMCH Police Outpost, said.
Two bikers killed as truck runs over them in Khulna
Two bikers were killed after police said a speeding truck ran over them on Radipara highway in Khulna's Fultola upazila Thursday.
The identities of the deceased could not immediately be confirmed.
The accident happened around 7.15pm when the Khulna-bound truck rammed into the motorbike and ran over the bikers who were going to Jashore, Md Illias Talukdar, officer-in-charge of Fultala Police Station, said.
The bikers died on the spot and their bodies were sent to Khulna Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsies, he added.
Aslo read: Motorcycle Accident Prevention: Tips to Reduce the Risk of a Crash
Japan police chief to resign over Abe shooting death
Japan's national police chief said Thursday he will resign to take responsibility over shortfalls in security that an investigation by his own agency showed did not adequately safeguard former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from a fatal shooting of at a campaign speech last month.
National Police Agency Chief Itaru Nakamura's announcement came as his agency released a report blaming flaws in police protection — from planning to guarding at the scene — that led to Abe’s assassination July 8 in Nara in western Japan.
Nakamura said he took the former prime minister's death seriously and that he submitted his resignation to the National Public Safety Commission earlier Thursday.
“In order to fundamentally reexamine guarding and never to let this happen, we need to have a new system,” Nakamura told a news conference as he announced his intention to step down.
Nakamura did not say when his resignation would be official. Japanese media reported that his resignation is expected to be approved at Friday's Cabinet meeting.
Also read: Japanese say final goodbye to former leader Abe at funeral
The alleged gunman, Tetsuya Yamagami, was arrested at the scene and is currently under mental evaluation until late November. Yamagami told police that he targeted Abe because of the former leader's link to the Unification Church, which he hated.
Abe sent a video message last year to a group affiliated with the church, which experts say may have infuriated the shooting suspect.
In a 54-page investigative report released Thursday, the National Police Agency concluded that the protection plan for Abe neglected potential danger coming from behind him and merely focused on risks during his movement from the site of his speech to his vehicle.
Inadequacies in the command system, communication among several key police officials, as well as their attention in areas behind Abe at the campaign site led to their lack of attention on the suspect's movement until it was too late.
Also read: Japan's ex-leader Shinzo Abe assassinated during a speech
None of the officers assigned to immediate protection of Abe caught the suspect until he was already 7 meters (yards) behind him where he took out his homemade double-barrel gun, which resembled a camera with a long lens, to blast his first shot that narrowly missed Abe. Up to that moment, none of the officers was aware of the suspect's presence, or recognized the blast as a gun shot, the report said.
In just over two seconds, the suspect was only 5.3 meters (yards) behind Abe to fatally fire the second shot.
The report called for significant strengthening in both training and staffing of Japan’s dignitary protection, as well as revising police protection guidelines for the first time in about 30 years. It said the prefectural police's Abe protection plan lacked a thorough safety evaluation and largely copied an earlier visit by another top party lawmaker.
The national police called for doubling dignitary protection staff in Tokyo, a greater supervisory role for the national police over prefectural staff, and use of digital technology and drones to bolster surveillance from above ground. The police agency also proposed bullet-proof shields that are not yet used in Japan, a country known for strict gun control.
Abe’s family paid tribute to him in a private Buddhist ritual Thursday marking the 49th day since his assassination. His younger brother and former Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, and other senior party officials and ministers reportedly attended.
About 1,000 people, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, attended an earlier private funeral at a Tokyo temple days after his death.
Kishida's government plans to hold a state funeral Sept. 27, a plan that has split public opinion amid growing criticisms over the governing party members' cozy ties with the controversial Korean church. Kishida's Cabinet is reportedly announcing a 250 million yen ($1.8 million) budget to invite 6,400 guests from in and outside Japan for the upcoming funeral.
The Unification Church, which was founded in South Korea in 1954 and came to Japan a decade later, has built close ties with a host of conservative lawmakers, many of them members of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party on their shared interests of anti-communism.
Since the 1980s, the church has faced accusations of problematic recruiting and religious sales in Japan, and the governing party’s church ties have sent support ratings of Kishida’s Cabinet into a nosedive even after its recent shuffle.
In Nara on Thursday, prefectural police chief Tomoaki Onizuka also expressed his intention to step down over Abe's assassination.
“I have been almost crushed by the seriousness of my responsibility" in the former leader's death, teary Onizuka said. “We will grit our teeth and endeavor in order to regain the public trust and be helpful to the people in the prefecture and across Japan."
Up to 40,000 people die of TB every year in Bangladesh: Minister
Health Minister Zahid Malek on Wednesday said the annual death toll from tuberculosis in Bangladesh has come down to 40,000, half the figure 10 years ago.
“Ten years ago, up to 80,000 people died of tuberculosis (TB) every year. This has now come down to 40,000,” he said at a workshop on the government’s Community Right and Gender Action Plan 2021-23 for TB.
He said around 97 per cent of tuberculosis patients are getting well by taking medicines regularly.
He, however, said the death of 40,000 people by this disease is not a good sign during this era of health development.
“It means more than 100 people died of tuberculosis a day while we remain concerned about one or two deaths by the Covid-19 virus. This is very alarming. Our all ministries will have to work unitedly to bring the figure to zero level,” he said.
Read: Children aged 5-11 get Covid jabs on trial basis
He said TB is the 13th cause of death worldwide. Around one core people across the globe are infected with the disease. Nearly 15 lakh people die of TB worldwide every year. This figure is really high.
“We have controlled many diseases in Bangladesh. We freed Bangladesh from polio, cholera and diarrhoea, and tetanus. We are working to control TB also.”
Zahid said, “The only good thing about this news is that now we can identify the number of people infected and their whereabouts because we can only treat the disease if we can trace it.”
Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) ABM Khurshid Alam chaired the programme while Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad (SWACHIP) President Iqbal Arslan, DGHS additional secretary Ahmedul Kabir and TB-Leprosy Operation Plan Line Director Khurshid Alam, among others, spoke.
BGB member killed in Bhola road accident
A BGB member was killed and four others were injured when a truck rammed a CNG-run auto-rickshaw near Bhola’s Ilisha Bazar area on Tuesday.
The deceased was Md Ismail Hossain Titu, 40, son of Md Anwar Hossain of Muchakandi village under Bhola Sadar upazila.
According to locals, Ismail was coming to his house in Bhola Sadar from Khagrachhari on vacation.
The accident occurred when the truck coming from the opposite direction collided with the three-wheeler on which Ismail was riding, leaving him dead on the spot.
Read: Road accident kills soldier, injuries three others in Bandarban
The injured including the driver of the three-wheeler were admitted to Bhola Sadar Hospital.
Md Enayet Hossain, Officer In-charge of Bhola Model Police Station, said that the body has been sent to Bhola Sadar Hospital for autopsy.
“The helper of the truck has been held and the truck has been seized. A case under the Road Transport Act has been filed in this regard,” said the OC.
Former election commissioner Mahbub Talukdar no more
Former election commissioner Mahbub Talukdar passed away at a hospital in the city Wednesday afternoon. He was 80.
Sabbir Ahmed, a duty manager of United Hospital, said he was brought dead to the hospital.
His daughter Irin Talukder said her father's oxygen level fell on Wednesday morning and later he was taken to the hospital where doctors said he had suffered a massive cardiac arrest and breathed his last around 1pm.
Mahbub, also a renowned poet and juvenile writer, had been suffering from cancer for a long time.
He served as an election commissioner in the KM Nurul Huda-led five-member Election Commission from February 2017 to February 2022.
The Election Commission expressed shock at his death and expressed deep sympathy to the bereaved family.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir expressed deep shock at Mahbub's death.
In a condolence message, he described Mahbub Talukder as a brave son of this era. "Despite the hostile environment in the Election Commission, he single-handedly fought to ensure free, transparent and fair elections, but he could not achieve his desired goal due to the Commission's subservient role towards the authoritarian regime."
Mahbub also exposed the misdeeds of the Election Commission in eliminating voting, elections and voting rights at the behest of the government, the BNP leader added.
Read:Uncontested elections a concern for democracy: EC Mahbub
He prayed for the eternal peace of his departed soul and conveyed profound sympathy to the bereaved family.
Mahbub was born on 13 February 1942 in Netrakona's Purbadhala. He completed his secondary education at Nawabpur Government High School, higher secondary education at Dhaka College and higher education at Dhaka University.
In his early career, he had been engaged in journalism in the Daily Ittefaq and taught at Jagannath College, the architecture department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, and the Bangla Department of Chittagong University.
In 1971, he participated in the Liberation War and joined the Ministry of Information of the Mujibnagar government. Later, he served in various positions during his five-year government service in Bangabhaban.
On January 24, 1972, Mahbub was appointed as a special officer of President Abu Saeed Chowdhury. He then served as President Mohammadullah's public relations officer.
During the tenure of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Mahbub served as his assistant press secretary.
He also served as the director general of Shilpakala Academy and in various ministries and organisations until his retirement as an additional secretary in 1999.
Mahbub received the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 2012.
3 of family die from electrocution in Cumilla
Three members of a family including a child were electrocuted in Muradnagar upazila of Cumilla on Saturday.
The deceased were identified as Hosne Ara Begum,60, her son Tara Mia,30 and her grandson Rifat Hossain, 8, said Jashim Uddin, a local UP member.
Rifat went to collect some vegetabls from a land beside their house at Elkhal village.
He got electrocuted when a electric wire connecting Doulatpur with Elakhal fell on him from a pole around 1:30 pm.
As his uncle Tara Mia and grandmother Hosne Ara rushed to save him they got electrocuted too, said UP member Jashim Uddin.
Read: Father, son die from electrocution in B’baria
Later locals informed Doulatpur power office to cut the power connection but they died in the meantime, he said.
Kamruzzaman Talukder, officer-in-Charge of Bangra Bazar police station, said the bodies were recovered and legal action will be taken in this regard.
Crane operator electrocuted to death in Bogura
A crane operator was electrocuted to death and his helper sustained injuries while installing an electric pole in the Khamarbari area of Bogura’s Adamdighi upazila on Friday.
The deceased was identified as Nazim Uddin, 36, son of Taju Mia from Nemshikali village of Kutubdia upazila under Cox’s Bazar district.
According to locals, a group of workers hired by contractor company Nesco Limited had been installing electric poles in various villages of the upazila for a long time.
“The accident happened when the crane that Nazim and helper Harunur Rashid were operating came in contact with a live wire during the installation of a pole," said Rezaul Karim, officer-in-charge of Adamdighi police station.
Both of them were rushed to Adamdighi Upazila Health Complex where Nazim died of his injuries a little later, he added. "Harun is currently undergoing treatment at the health complex."
Read: Father, son die from electrocution in B’baria
WHO: World coronavirus cases fall 24%; deaths rise in Asia
New coronavirus cases reported globally dropped nearly a quarter in the last week while deaths fell 6% but were still higher in parts of Asia, according to a report Thursday on the pandemic by the World Health Organization.
The U.N. health agency said there were 5.4 million new COVID-19 cases reported last week, a decline of 24% from the previous week. Infections fell everywhere in the world, including by nearly 40% in Africa and Europe and by a third in the Middle East. COVID deaths rose in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia by 31% and 12% respectively, but fell or remained stable everywhere else.
At a press briefing Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said reported coronavirus deaths over the past month have surged 35%, and noted there had been 15,000 deaths in the past week.
“15,000 deaths a week is completely unacceptable, when we have all the tools to prevent infections and save lives,” Tedros said. He said the number of virus sequences shared every week has plummeted 90%, making it extremely difficult for scientists to monitor how COVID-19 might be mutating.
Read: Covid-19 vaccine consignment for kids arrive in Dhaka
“But none of us is helpless,” Tedros said. “Please get vaccinated if you are not, and if you need a booster, get one.”
On Thursday, WHO’s vaccine advisory group recommended for the first time that people most vulnerable to COVID-19, including older people, those with underlying health conditions and health workers, get a second booster shot. Numerous other health agencies and countries made the same recommendation months ago.
The expert group also said it had evaluated data from the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for younger people and said children and teenagers were in the lowest priority group for vaccination, since they are far less likely to get severe disease.
Joachim Hombach, who sits on WHO’s vaccine expert group, said it was also uncertain whether the experts would endorse widespread boosters for the general population or new combination vaccines that target the omicron variant.
“We need to see what the data will tell us and we need to see actually (what) will be the advantage of these vaccines that comprise an (omicron) strain,” he said.
Dr. Alejandro Cravioto, the expert group’s chair, said that unless vaccines were proven to stop transmission, their widespread use would be “a waste of the vaccine and a waste of time.”
Earlier this week, British authorities authorized an updated version of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine that targets omicron and the U.K. government announced it would be offered to people over 50 beginning next month.
Two killed in Bogura road crash
Two people were killed and four others injured when a speeding bus hit a CNG-run auto-rickshaw on Dhaka-Bogura highway in Hamchayapur area of Bogura’s Sherpur upazila Thursday noon.
One of the deceased was identified as driver of the three-wheeler Abdul Based, 30, son of Shahar Uddin from Birail village of Sherpur upazila’s Mirzapur union.
Identity of the other deceased couldn’t be known immediately, said Shahadat Hossain, Sub-Inspector (SI) of Sherpur Highway Police Outpost.
He said the accident occurred when the bus rammed into the three-wheeler while giving side to a motorcycle coming from the wrong direction.
The collision left six people travelling the three-wheeler critically injured.
All of them were taken to Sherpur Upazila Health Complex for treatment where one of the injured died upon arrival.
Read: Journo killed in Bogura road crash
The rest were transferred to Shahid Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital (SZMC) where another person breathed his last a while later.
The remaining four are currently undergoing treatment at the hospital.
Although the bus driver and his helper managed to flee, police seized the bus, said AKM Baniul Anam, In-charge of Sherpur Highway Police Outpost.