Anti Terrorism Unit (ATU) , a specialized unit of Bangladesh Police, arrested four alleged members of banned militant group “Allah’r Dal” from Dilkhula Road under Khulna Sadar thana on Wednesday night.

The arrestees are—Md Raja Mia alias Nur Alam, 31, Md Ajekul Islam, 24, Md Ahsan Ullah alias Nirob, 27, and Abdul Hamid, 35.

Based on Secret information, a team of the ATU conducted a raid at a 5-storey building of Dilkhula road at around 22:30 pm and arrested the four members of Allah’r Dal, said Superintendent of Police (SP). Mahiduzzaman, of the ATU headquarters in Dhaka.

Four mobile phone sets and various types of books on extremism and documents were recovered from their possessions.

During interrogation after the arrest, the arrestees confessed that they are members of the banned militant group Allah’r Dal. They were gathered on the ground floor of the building for holding a secret meeting  aiming to kill important people as well as to damage stagte property, the SP (Media) Mahiduzzaman said.

A case was filed with Khulna Sadar police station under Anti-Terrorism Act.

The ‘Digital Bangladesh Day’ was celebrated across the country on Thursday with the theme - ‘Verify the accuracy before sharing on the Internet’.

The Posts and Telecommunications Division arranged programmes marking the day. 

A colourful rally was brought out from the Jatiya Press Club which ended at the GPO intersection after parading through different streets.

Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar addressed a seminar at the auditorium of the division as the chief guest.

The day was observed as the National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Day on December 12, 2017.

On November 26 last year, the Cabinet renamed the day as ‘Digital Bangladesh Day’.
 

Hailing the commencement of operations of Orkin Bangladesh, State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD), Swapan Bhattacharjee MP on Thursday said effective pest control can help country’s agriculture sector from harmful pest.

He said this at a programme while speaking at launching ceremony of Orkin Bangladesh, the first global pest control firm in Bangladesh at a city hotel.

Swapan said the country is on the highway of steady economic development.

“The government wants to come forward with the plight of creating a comfortable space in this regard. I hope Orkin will do its better services here,” he added.

Acorp Limited, the local franchise owner, announced its first steps in Bangladesh through a launching ceremony here.

Managing Director of Acorp Limited Arafat A Islam said Orkin Bangladesh is an independently owned and operated franchise of Orkin LLC- the world’s largest pest management company with over 500 global outposts. 

Based in Atlanta, U.S.A, Orkiun vows to provide advanced Integrated Pest Management solutions to commercial clients all over the country.

“We are proud to represent ‘Orkin’ in Bangladesh, and excited to be the first global company to provide pest management services in the country. It is our commitment to the local stakeholders and customers to ensure the international level of pest control services,” he added.

The Director of International Training, Rollins Inc. Dr. Ronald Harrison in an exclusive presentation showed how the advanced models of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) can help the people of Bangladesh with the control of essential pests like mosquitoes thus; lower the chances of any dengue outbreak significantly.

A J M Enamul Islam, Chairman of Acorp and James Wu, the Business Development Director of Asia Pacific of Orkin LLC also spoke there.

Orkin currently provides services to 2 million customers globally in more than 60 countries including India, Pakistan, Mongolia, Indonesia, Cambodia, South Korea, China (including Hong Kong & Macau) and Guam in the Asia Pacific region.

The franchisee received the initial training at the company's award-winning Rollins Learning Center in Atlanta and will receive follow-up training in Bangladesh.

Chevron Bangladesh has launched the phase-II of ‘Uttoron- skills for better life’ project’ in association with Swisscontact to enhance the skills and employability of community youths in Sylhet and Dhaka divisions.

Labour and Employment Secretary KM Ali Azam inaugurated the new programme titled “Continuing the Momentum: Launch of Uttoron phase-II” at a function at Sonargaon Hotel in the city, said a press release.

US Ambassador Earl Miller, Chevron Bangladesh President Neil Menzies, Director Ismail Hossain Chowdhury, South Asia, Swisscontact Director Manish Pandey and Country Director Anirban Bhowmik were present on the occasion.

Chevron officials said the three-year project year will support 2,000 community youths to acquire skills on different industry-demanded occupations and position them in gainful employment. On receiving market-valued skills and rewarding jobs, the youths will have the opportunity to increase their income and improve their and families’ living standards.

The phase-I project, a three-year skills development project, commenced its journey in August 2016 with an aim to enhance employment opportunities for 1,400 community members in Sylhet, Moulvibazar and Habiganj districts.
 

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from MVCs (Most Vulnerable Countries) and LDCs (Least Developed Countries) on Thursday expressed deep concern over the disagreement of developed countries on logical issues set under the Paris Agreement. 

They came up with this apprehension at a press conference titled “LDC’s & MVC Peoples’ expectations and COP 25” held here as part of the Conference of the Parties.

Representatives of CSO criticised the frustrating negotiation process in the programme.

Sunil Acharya, LDC Negotiator-Nepal; Vidya Dinker, President, Indian Social Action Forum, India; Suporna Lahiri, Climate (Advisor-Global Forest Coalition) India; Md Shamsuddoha, Executive Director CPRD and Md Ziaul Hoque Mukta CSRL (Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihood), Bangladesh spoke in the programme. 

Md Aminul Hoque (EquityBD) from Bangladesh presented the keynote in favoor of South Asian CSOs.

Aminul Hoque said the ongoing performance and progress on COP25 negotiation is frustrating and there have no particular text and decision being finalised yet in the meeting of “Head of Delegations” already held towards implementing the Paris Agreement. 

He put four demands in favour of South Asian CSOs and called for urgent decision in the COP25. 

As per the demands developed countries must increase the GHG reduction target and scale up its implementation, no false solution would be arbitrated by developed countries, long term finance is an “Obligatory Responsibility” of rich countries and developed countries must support setting up an appropriate long term work plan with dedicated financial support for WIM.

Sunil Acharya reiterated the LTF as an extremely important and only platform within the PA and its Convention that dealt with finance at a macro level, including dealing with both the technical and political levels. 

Md Shamsuddoha said this is a key opportunity for ministers and heads of delegation to engage on loss and damage.

Souparna Lahiri said, “We can’t sell our people and their livelihood in the name of carbon trade and so-called market mechanism and international cooperation.”