United News of Bangladesh

A fisherman died as a trawler carrying him capsised in the Meghna River after it crashed into two anchored barges early Friday, river police said. Deceased Harun Majhi, 55, was a resident of ward No-6 under Kachia union of Sadar upazila in Bhola. Locals said Harun and his two sons went to the river for fishing with the trawler in the early morning. The trawler crashed into the barges anchored in the river when the trio was pulling fishing nets amid tides in Dhania Kathirmatha area under Sadar upazila around 5:30am, they said. Though the sons jumped into the river, the father unfortunately got stuck in it and drowned, they said. Later, the sons managed to swim ashore while the father went missing, said Md Yunus Munshi, inspector of Bhola river police station. On information, police in association with locals retrieved the body from the river shortly after the incident, he added.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday paid tributes and offered prayers at the Mausoleum of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Tungipara in Gopalganj. She paid homage by placing a floral wreath at Bangabandhu's grave in the morning. Then she joined a prayer seeking eternal peace of the departed souls of Bangabandhu and other martyrs of the August 15, 1975 carnage. Sheikh Hasina, also the eldest daughter of Bangabandhu, stood in solemn silence for some time as a show of profound respect to the memory of the architect of independent Bangladesh. Bangabandhu’s youngest daughter Sheikh Rehana and Bangababdhu’s other family members were present. Hasina, also the President of the Awami League, arrived at her ancestral home at Tungipara by road after crossing the Padma Bridge on Friday morning. The prime minister is scheduled to return to Dhaka this afternoon.

Bangladesh Navy has recovered Bangladesh Air Force’s training fighter jet Yak-130, which crashed into the Karnaphuli River in Chattogram earlier in the day, at around 10 pm on Thursday. Probe committee formed to investigate BAF fighter jet crash in Ctg Ashraful Islam, Squadron Leader of Bangladesh Air Force, confirmed the development and said that Bangladesh Navy conducted a search operation to recover the aircraft. They recovered the training fighter jet at night and handed it over to the Air Force. Pilot dies as Air Force training fighter jet crashes in Ctg Earlier in the day,  the Air Force's YAK-130 training fighter jet caught fire due to a mechanical fault and crashed into the Karnaphuli River around 11 am. The two pilots of the plane managed to eject via parachute. Air Force training fighter jet crashes in Ctg; 2 pilots rescued  One of the pilots, Squadron Leader Muhammad Asim Jawad, died while undergoing treatment at the hospital. The other pilot is in hospital with serious injuries.

Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested two people on charge of embezzling money through trading confidential information of National Identity Card (NID), birth registration certificate and Covid-19 vaccination card. The arrestees were identified as data entry operators of Election Commission Md. Jamal Uddin and Liton Mollah. Based on secret information, two separate teams of the Intelligence Analysis Division of the CTTC unit conducted raids and arrested Liton Mollah from Bagerhat and Jamal Uddin from Pabna on Tuesday. Briefing reporters at DMP Media Center on Thursday, Additional Commissioner of the DMP and also chief of the CTTC unit  Md. Asaduzzaman said CTTC detected forgery by the gangsters while monitoring social media. Their movements were monitored for a long time and their locations were identified before the arrests. After the arrest, the interrogation revealed that Md. Jamal Uddin is a data entry operator in the Election Commission. With his help Liton Mollah used to collect NID-related information from Election Commission servers, he said. The CTTC unit chief said the arrested persons used to provide fake NID, copy of lost NID, correction of NID information, digital copy of birth registration and correction of name, covid-19 vaccination card and copy of his TIN certificate in exchange of money. During preliminary interrogation, the arrested persons admitted to the police that they had given NID and other certificates online in exchange for money. He also said that in exchange for such work, they used to take up to Tk 3000 according to the importance of the work. They used to collect customers through WhatsApp groups. According to the demand of the customer, Liton, who was arrested, created these fake certificates through his own website and gave them to the customers and received money through mobile banking. In this way they admitted making crores of rupees. A case has been registered against the arrested in Ramna police station of the capital. They are currently in police custody on court orders. The investigation into the incident is continuing.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali on Thursday said money laundering is increasing due to online gambling, gaming and hundi. The minister said this in response to a question of Awami League MP M Abdul Latif from Chattogram-11. The finance minister in a written answer said that the level of transactions through Mobile Financial Services (MSS) and digital payments has increased to a large extent due to the wide spread of financial inclusion in the country. “Taking advantage of this development in technology, some unscrupulous circles have become involved in criminal activities such as online gambling/betting, gaming, forex/cryptocurrency trading and hundi,” he said.  As a result, he said that money is being smuggled out of the country and a lot of foreign currency is being lost. “Therefore, the economy is suffering," he said. Mentioning that the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and other related law enforcement agencies are working together to prevent money laundering through online gambling/betting and hundi, the minister said BFIU has so far suspended 48,586 personal MFS accounts for suspected involvement in online gambling/betting and hundi. The minister added information of 5766 agents were sent to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for taking punitive actions. Of them, 5029 MFS agentship were scrapped for their alleged involvement in hundi transactions. Besides, the minister also said that transactions of 10,666 MFS agent account have been blocked as per the instruction of BFIU for their suspected involvement in illegal hundi, gaming, betting and cryptocurrency. He said, a total of 1096 websites, 182 apps and 1002 social media pages/links (Facebook, YouTube and Instagram) related to illegal hundi gaming, betting, cryptocurrency have been identified and provided to BTRC and concerned law enforcement agencies for necessary action. Intelligence report containing information of 6 MFS distributors suspected to be involved in hundi process has been sent to CID. Out of these activities of two distributors have been closed down. Study Papers on Online Gambling, Betting, Gambling, Forex and Cryptocurrency Trading has been prepared and delivered to various stakeholders. He said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been requested to take necessary measures by the Bangladesh Embassies in the concerned countries to prevent hundi by illegally using the logos of various MFS organisations abroad.

The pilot, Mohammad Asim Jawad, who lived only 32 years, one month 20 days on this earth, did many things for the country. Asim Jawad, son of Dr. Md Aman Ullah and Nilufa Akhtar Khanam, was born on 20th March 1992 in Gopalpur village under Saturia thana in Manikganj district. After completing his HSC from Savar Cantonment Public College in 2009, he joined the Bangladesh Air Force on 10 January 2010 and was commissioned in the GD (P) wing on 01 December 2011 with the Sword of Honour, the highest award for cadets. Probe committee formed to investigate BAF fighter jet crash in Ctg Later, he completed his BSc from Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) in 2012. During his services, he held important positions in various bases and units of the Air Force. He received 'Mofiz Trophy', 'Chief of Air Force Trophy' and Chief of Air Staff's Certificate in recognition of his professional skills and achievements. He also received the 'Chief of Air Staff's Trophy for Best in Flying (Indian Air Force)' in recognition of his success by attending courses in the Indian Air Force. He also participated in various professional courses at home and abroad and completed them successfully. Pilot dies as Air Force training fighter jet crashes in Ctg The pilot, Mohammad Asim Jawad, suffered serious injuries after a training fighter jet of Bangladesh Air Force crashed into the Karnaphuli River in Chattogram on Thursday around 10:25am. Later, he succumbed to his injuries around 12:30pm while undergoing treatment at BNS Issa Khan Hospital in Patenga. He left behind his wife, a daughter, a son and a host of well-wishers to mourn his death.  

The second session of the 12th Parliament that started on May 2 was prorogued after six working days. Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury read out the prorogation of the President at 8:55pm. PM Hasina urges inclusion of public companies in capital market The 'Village Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2024' was passed in this session while four bills were placed. A total of 38 questions were received for the Prime Minister while she answered 15 questions.  The session received 902 questions for different ministries while the number of the answered questions was 364. Junior finance minister gets coy over keeping provision for whitening black money in next budget Under the call attention notice, some 242 notices were submitted while six were taken and four notices were discussed in Parliament.  Some 64 notices were given scopes for two minutes discussion.

State Minister for Finance Waseqa Ayesha Khan on Thursday said there would have been a possibility of keeping the provision for whitening black money in the next budget (for 2024-25 fiscal) if it was there in the budget for the current, outgoing fiscal ((2023-24). “If this provision is there in the previous budget (current fiscal), there is a possibility of keeping this provision in the next budget as well,” she said. The State Minister said this while responding to a supplementary question of Sohrab Uddin MP in Parliament,  he absence of Finance Minister AH Mahmood Ali. She said that the budget for the next fiscal year is at the formulation stage and she does not know whether this option of legalising undisclosed money is in the proposed budget till now. “I cannot say at the moment whether it is in the proposed budget. It is not possible to say at this moment. The budget proposal is still being finalised. If there was an opportunity to legalise undisclosed money in the one budget, there is that possibility in the next budget as well,” she said. The provision was left out of the budget or the current fiscal. Currently, the undisclosed money can be legalised by paying extra taxes on top of the regular tax rate.

Referring to those who are paying tax, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is imposing more tax on them, the Prime Minister's Private Industry and Investment Advisor Salman Fazlur Rahman said those who have TIN certificates all should be brought under the tax net. "We need to widen the tax net and lower the tax rates; this is the only way to increase revenue," he was talking to journalists after the inaugural ceremony of 29th Annual US Trade Show at the InterContinental Hotel on Thursday. The countries around the world that have reduced tax rates and increased tax nets have seen revenue rise, he added. He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, many people are doing good business in the upazila and even in the rural areas. So, he urged authorities concerned to bring them under tax. Regarding dollar price, he said there was no alternative to increasing the price of the dollar to face the economic challenges. A rise in the value of the dollar will have a huge impact on the country's exports. As a result, remittance income and export-oriented industries will benefit, he said. The pressure on the dollar will de if the currencies of the countries from which we import more are traded, he stated. Expressing concern over inflation, the PM's advisor said increasing the price of the dollar will not put any pressure on the country's economy because the country is doing very well in the agricultural sector.

A three-day exhibition on the overall healthcare and food industries began at International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB), in Dhaka on Thursday. The expo, organised by CEMS-Global USA, an event management company, will showcase healthcare equipment, health tourism, food and agro machineries. Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder inaugurated the ceremony as the chief guest. According to organisers, the exhibitions are showcasing medical equipment, surgical and dental instruments, healthcare, hospital equipment and supplies from across 150 companies representing over 15 countries including Bangladesh, India, China, Singapore, Germany, Turkiye, Thailand, and South Korea. The individuals considering healthcare options abroad are open to consult directly with international hospitals and consultants to explore advanced healthcare solutions through the expo. The Food and Agro is a leading international exhibition on food and beverage products, packaging, food and agricultural equipment and machinery from more than 10 countries represented by over 100 companies. The countries include India, China, Germany, Turkiye, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, and Sri Lanka. A number of seminars are lined out during the exhibition within the Expo premises in Hall 4, Noboratri. CEMS-Global and Exportable Mango Production Project (Department of Agricultural Extension) organised a seminar titled “Strategies & Challenges for Exporting Mangoes from Bangladesh” on 9 May. Another seminar titled “The Future of Food and Agriculture in Bangladesh” will be held on 10 May while “The Journey of Dynamic Growth” and “Driving Business Growth Through Digital Transformation” will be organized on 11 May.