The newly appointed ambassadors and high commissioners of Egypt, Vatican, Sri Lanka and Pakistan visited Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi 32 in Dhaka on Thursday. The envoys paid tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman placing flower wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu. Bangladesh, Argentina sign maiden MoU for agricultural cooperation They also signed the visitors' book and took a tour of the museum. The ambassadors were presented with gifts by the museum. “Comprehensive, coordinated” response needed to address challenges faced by GBV survivors The newly appointed envoys to Bangladesh are: Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt Omar Mohie Eldin Ahmed Fahmy, Apostolic-Nuncio of Holy See-Vatican Kevin Randall , High-Commissioner of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Dharmapala Weerakkody and High-Commissioner of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Syed Ahmed Maroof. Alliance Française de Dhaka launches its revamped website

BNP had a closed-door meeting with the diplomats of the European Union (EU) countries in Bangladesh on Sunday where the party leaders told the envoys that their party will not go to the elections under the current government. “Like the people of Bangladesh, all democratic countries have been closely observing Bangladesh’s current situation and the atmosphere for the next election,” BNP standing committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury told reporters after the meeting. Replying to a question, the BNP leader said they clearly told the EU envoys that their party will not go to the elections under the current government. He said EU countries are trying to look at Bangladesh’s current democratic and human rights situation, the rule of law, human rights, freedom of speech, and media freedom. “Especially, as there is an apprehension about the next election both in the country and beyond, they (EU naturally has a view on the matter. From that point of view, we had our discussion today (Sunday).” The one and a half--hour meeting was held at ABC House in Gulshan where the ambassadors of France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Norway and the Netherlands, led by EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley, were present. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir led a four-member BNP delegation at the meeting. The other delegation members are Amir Khosru, BNP Organising Secretary Shama Obaed and Human Rights Affairs Secretary Advocate Asaduzzaman. Read more: EU delegation meets BNP leaders, discusses election issues Asked what they discussed about the next election, Khosur said they talked about how the electoral system in Bangladesh has collapsed as an 'illegal' government has been in power 'snatching' the right to vote of the country’s people. He said the foreign countries are also fearing that Bangladesh will fall into a crisis if the people of the country cannot exercise their right to vote in the next election. “From this apprehension, they (European Union) want to know how the next election is going to be held and how to make it neutral and participatory.” He said those countries of the world are closely observing Bangladesh they clearly know that the people of this country will not be able to exercise their right to vote and elect their representatives, government and parliament under the current "usurper regime". “They (EU countries) are aware of this fact and they also know the reasons behind it.” When asked whether the issue of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was discussed, Khosru replied in the negative. Read more: EU keen to send observers for upcoming general election in Bangladesh: Envoy      

Eight non-resident ambassadors and a high-commissioner presented their  credentials to President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban on Wednesday. Press Secretary Joynal Abedin briefed reporters after the meeting. Ambassador of Romania to Bangladesh, India and Nepal Daniela Sezonov Tane,  Estonian ambassador Katrin Kivi, Irish ambassador Brendan Ward, Rwanda ambassador MUKANGIRA Jacqueline, ambassador of Mauritania Mohammed Ahmed Salem Mohamed Rara, Argentine ambassador Hugo Kavier GOBBI, Kazak ambassador Nurlan Zhalgasbayev, ambassador of Dominican Republic David Emmanuel Puig Buchel and high commissioner of Nigeria Ahmed Sule presented their credentials. Welcoming the new ambassadors, President Hamid hoped that they would work for the development of their respective countries' relations with Bangladesh during their tenure. READ: Japan's emperor greets president on 50th anniversary of independence  Mentioning the main motto of Bangladesh's foreign policy, 'Friendship to all, malice to none', the president said Bangladesh attaches importance to developing relations with all countries of the world. Secretary to the President's Office Sampad Barua, Military Secretary Major General SM Salah Uddin Islam, Press Secretary Joynal Abedin  were present on the occasion. Earlier, a smartly turned out contingent of the Presidential Guard Regiment presented the Guard of Honor to the new envoys.

The first round of talks aimed at stopping the fighting between Ukraine and Russia ended Monday with no agreement except to keep talking, while an increasingly isolated Moscow ran into unexpectedly fierce resistance on the ground and economic havoc at home. Five days into Russia's invasion, the Kremlin again raised the specter of nuclear war, while an embattled Ukraine moved to solidify its ties to the West by applying to join the European Union — a largely symbolic move unlikely to sit well with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long accused the U.S. of trying to pull Ukraine out of Russia’s orbit. A top Putin aide and head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said that the talks lasted nearly five hours and that the envoys “found certain points on which common positions could be foreseen.” He said they agreed to continue the discussions in the coming days. As the talks wrapped up, several blasts could be heard in Kyiv, though few details were immediately known. Russian troops, who are attacking Ukraine on multiple fronts, have been advancing slowly on the capital city of 3 nearly million people. On Monday, a 17-mile (25-kilometer) convoy consisting of hundreds of armored vehicles, tanks, artillery and support vehicles was just 17 miles (25 kilometers) from the center of Kyiv, according to satellite imagery from the Maxar company. Also read: Ukraine slows Russian advance under shadow of nuclear threat The images also captured signs of fighting outside Kyiv, including destroyed vehicles and a damaged bridge. Messages aimed at the advancing Russian soldiers popped up on billboards, bus stops and electronic traffic signs across the capital. Some used profanity to encourage Russians to leave. Others appealed to their humanity. “Russian soldier — Stop! Remember your family. Go home with a clean conscience,” one read. In the resort town of Berdyansk, on the shore of the Azov Sea, residents described the soldiers who captured their town Sunday as exhausted young conscripts. “Frightened kids, frightened looks. They want to eat,” Konstantin Maloletka, who runs a small shop, said by telephone. The soldiers went into a supermarket and grabbed canned meat, vodka and cigarettes. “They ate right in the store,” he said. “It looked like they haven’t been fed in recent days.” Also read: 16 children killed, 45 injured in Ukraine: President Zelenskyy Meanwhile, social media video from Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, showed residential areas being shelled, with apartment buildings shaken by repeated, powerful blasts. Authorities in Kharkiv said at least seven people had been killed and dozens injured. They warned that casualties could be far higher. “They wanted to have a blitzkrieg, but it failed, so they act this way,” said 83-year-old Valentin Petrovich, using just his first name and his Russian-style middle name because of fear for his safety. He described watching the shelling from his downtown apartment. The Russian military has denied targeting residential areas despite abundant evidence of shelling of homes, schools and hospitals As the invasion dragged on more slowly than many in the West expected, with the outgunned Ukrainians mounting stiff resistance, the Kremlin reported that its land, air and sea nuclear forces had been put on high alert following Putin’s weekend order. Stepping up his rhetoric, Putin denounced the U.S. and its allies as an “empire of lies.” For many, the nuclear high alert stirred up memories of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and fears that the West could be drawn into direct conflict with Russia. However, a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States had yet to see any appreciable change in Russia’s nuclear posture. As far-reaching Western sanctions on Russian banks and other institutions took hold, the ruble plummeted, and Russia’s Central Bank scrambled to shore it up, as did Putin, signing a decree restricting foreign currency. But that did little to calm Russian fears. In Moscow, people lined up to withdraw cash as the sanctions threatened to drive up prices and reduce the standard of living for millions of ordinary Russians. In yet another blow to Russia's economy, the oil giant Shell said it is pulling out of the country because of the invasion, announcing it will withdraw from its joint ventures with state-owned gas company Gazprom and other entities and end its involvement in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project between Russia and Europe. Across Ukraine, meanwhile, terrified families huddled overnight in shelters, basements or corridors. “I sit and pray for these negotiations to end successfully, so that they reach an agreement to end the slaughter, and so there is no more war,” said Alexandra Mikhailova, weeping as she clutched her cat in a makeshift shelter in the strategic southeastern port city of Mariupol. Around her, parents sought to console children and keep them warm. The U.N. human rights chief said at least 102 civilians have been killed and hundreds wounded in more than four days of fighting — warning that figure is probably a vast undercount — and Ukraine’s president said at least 16 children were among the dead. More than a half-million people have fled the country since the invasion, another U.N. official said, with many of them going to Poland, Romania and Hungary. And millions have left their homes. Among the refugees in Hungary was Maria Pavlushko, 24, an information technology project manager from Zhytomyr, a city around 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Kyiv. She said her father stayed behind to fight the Russians. “I am proud about him,” she said. “A lot of my friends, a lot of young boys are going ... to kill" Russian soldiers. In Poland, Natalia Pivniuk, a young Ukrainian refugee from the western city of Lviv, described people crowding and pushing to get on the train out of Ukraine, which she said was “very scary, and dangerous physically and dangerous mentally.” “People are under stress ... and when people are scared they become egoist and forget about everything,” she said. “People are traumatized because they were on that train.” The negotiators at Monday's talks met at a long table with the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag on one side and the Russian tricolor on the other. But while Ukraine sent its defense minister and other top officials, the Russian delegation was led by Putin’s adviser on culture — an unlikely envoy for ending the war and perhaps a sign of how seriously Moscow views the talks. It wasn’t immediately clear what Putin is seeking in the talks, or from the war itself, though Western officials believe he wants to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a regime of his own, reviving Moscow’s Cold War-era influence. Also, the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly opened its first emergency session in decades in order to deal with the Ukraine invasion, with Assembly President Abdulla Shahid calling for an immediate cease-fire, maximum restraint by all parties and "a full return to diplomacy and dialogue.” In other fighting, strategic ports in the country’s south came under assault from Russian forces. Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, is “hanging on,” said Zelenskyy adviser Oleksiy Arestovich. An oil depot was reported bombed in the eastern city of Sumy. Ukrainian protesters demonstrated against encroaching Russian troops in the port of Berdyansk. In a war being waged both on the ground and online, cyberattacks hit Ukrainian embassies around the world, and Russian media. At this stage, Ukraine is many years away from reaching the standards for achieving EU membership. An addition to the 27-nation bloc must be approved unanimously. Overall, the consensus has been that Ukraine’s deep-seated corruption could make it hard for the country to win EU acceptance. Still, in an interview with Euronews on Sunday, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said, “We want them in the European Union.”