United News of Bangladesh

Senior lawyer ZI Khan Panna sought an unconditional apology for his inability to represent as defence lawyer of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in two separate cases filed for crimes against humanity including enforced disappearances. Replacing ZI Khan, the International Crimes Tribunal-1, led by Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder appointed Md Amir Hossain as the state-appointed defence lawyer. On November 23, the tribunal appointed ZI Panna as state defence counsel for Hasina in the two cases. However, he later sent a letter to the tribunal registrar stating that he would not be able to represent her. After learning this, the tribunal summoned him on Wednesday. Arriving in a wheelchair with several lawyers, Panna told the tribunal that he wished to withdraw from representing Hasina due to physical illness. Chief Prosecutor of ICT Mohammad Tajul Islam began hearing in the enforced disappearance case on Wednesday. Later, the tribunal made a phone call to Panna and asked him to appear and explain his inability. After appearing before the court, Panna said, “I am physically unwell. I have already sent a letter to the registrar stating that I will not stand in this case.” Court denies bail to Latif Siddique, Panna On October 8, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 issued arrest warrants against Sheikh Hasina, her security adviser retired Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique, five former DGFI directors general and 30 others in two cases filed over crimes against humanity and enforced disappearance. On October 11, Bangladesh Army said 15 serving officers had been taken into custody. Among the 30 accused, 25 were former or current army officers—nine retired, one on LPR, and 15 serving. Later, on October 12, the Home Ministry issued a notification temporarily declaring a building inside Dhaka Cantonment as a jail.  

Five more deaths were reported from dengue in 24 hours till Wednesday morning, raising the number of fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease in Bangladesh to 391 this year. The recent fatalities occurred in the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Mymensingh Division, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). During the period, 490 more patients were hospitalised with viral fever, raising the number of confirmed cases to 96, 067 this year. Last year, dengue claimed the lives of 575 people. According to the DGHS, there were 101,214 dengue cases and 100,040 recoveries in the same year.    

The Traffic Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has filed 1,853 cases for violating traffic rules in different parts of the capital on Tuesday. During the drives, DMP filed 272 cases under Motijheel zone, 197 cases in Wari zone, 224 cases in Tejgaon zone, 351 in Gulshan zone, 232 in Uttara zone, 92 in Ramna zone, 149 in Lalbagh zone  and 336  in Mirpur zone, said deputy commissioner (media) of DMP, Talebur Rahman. Besides, a total of 426 vehicles were impounded and 211 others were towed during the drives. The DMP’s Traffic Division has vowed to continue drives to maintain discipline on Dhaka’s roads.      

Metro rail services remained suspended for about 15 minutes on Wednesday after a piece of cloth fell on an overhead electric cable between Uttara North and Uttara South stations. The train movement was stopped at 12:22 pm to remove the cloth from the overhead catenary cable and the services resumed at 12:37 pm after the obstruction was cleared, said Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) in a post on its official Facebook page. Metro service suspended after youth climbs on train roof DMTCL expressed regret for the temporary inconvenience caused to passengers. Earlier on Sunday night, metro rail operations were also stopped after a teenager climbed between two coaches of a train.

The Bangladesh Army and Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) will conduct trial landing and takeoff of helicopters on two open fields near Evercare Hospital in the capital on Thursday (December 4). The flight landing and takeoff will take place following the security protocol of the Special Security Force (SSF), according to the Chief Adviser’s press wing. Read more: Govt declares Khaleda Zia a ‘very very important person’ Authorities have requested all to avoid spreading any rumour or confusion regarding the operation. Special Security Force (SSF) protection has been deployed for former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, now undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital, after she was declared a ‘very very important person’ (VVIP). Khaleda Zia was admitted to the hospital on the night of November 23 on the advice of the medical board after being diagnosed with infections in her heart and lungs. Read more: Army, Navy, Air chiefs visit Khaleda at Evercare

Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah on Wednesday (December 03) said each voter would take an average of three minutes and 52 seconds to cast their vote but rejected increasing polling centres for the next election. Sanaullah made the remarks while addressing the inaugural session of a daylong journalist training programme at Agargaon, Dhaka ahead of the national election. Highlighting the importance of the election, he said, “The upcoming election is going to set the tone for what kind of country and democratic journey we want in the future.”   Read more: EU preparing large observer mission for Bangladesh election: Miller Seeking cooperation from all in holding an acceptable election, Sanaullah said the election system has been heavily damaged and they are trying to repair it. For the nation’s sake, he said, all must ensure a good election and everyone must responsibly play their part. To prevent fake journalists from entering polling areas with bogus cards, the election commission is going to initiate a QR‑code system, Sanaullah added.   Read more: Over 156,000 Bangladeshi expats registered so far to vote

Police have arrested a housewife, accused of drowning eight puppies in a pond, from a residence in Ishwardi municipality of Pabna district early Wednesday. The accused, Nishi Rahman, 38, is the wife of Hasanur Rahman Nayon, an official of the Small Farmers Foundation under the Rural Development and Cooperative Department of Ishwardi upazila. Upazila Livestock Officer Aklima Khatun filed the case against her with Ishwardi Police Station on Tuesday night, according to ASM Abdun Noor, officer-in-charge of the station. Additional Superintendent of Police (Ishwardi Circle) Pranab Kumar said Nishi was arrested from a building near Rahimpur Girls School in Ishwardi town around 1:30 am. She will be produced before the court anytime soon. Aklima Khatun said Fisheries and Livestock Adviser Farida Akhter personally called her, expressing concern over the incident, describing it as inhumane and damaging to the country’s image. The Ministry’s Director General also instructed officials to file the case formally. The mother dog, named Tom, had recently given birth to the eight puppies. On Monday morning, she was seen desperately searching for her missing puppies near Nishi’s home. Later, Upazila Parishad staff discovered that Nishi had tied the puppies in a sack and disposed of them in the parish pond. Their bodies were recovered the next morning and subsequently buried near the Upazila Nirbahi Officer’s residence. Case filed against woman over drowning of eight puppies in Pabna Jahangir Alam, caretaker of the Upazila Nirbahi Officer’s residence, said that Nayon initially denied knowledge of the puppies, but his son revealed that his mother had placed the puppies in a sack and thrown them into the pond. The mother dog, upon finding her dead puppies, became visibly distressed and fell ill, requiring treatment from livestock department personnel. While speaking to reporters, Nishi claimed the puppies had been disturbing their home and said she left them near a tree by the pond in a market bag, insisting she had no intention of drowning them. Meanwhile, Nayon has vacated the government quarter following orders from the upazila administration.

More than 156,000 expatriate Bangladeshi voters from different countries across the world have so far registered through a mobile app, ‘Postal Vote Bd’, since November 19 last to vote in the upcoming national election and the referendum to be held in a single day in early February 2026. The Election Commission (EC) launched the ‘Postal Vote Bd’ app on November 18 last to bring expatriate voters living in 143 countries under the postal balloting system. As of 12:00 pm on Wednesday, a total of 156,712 expatriates—139,107 males and 17,605 females—had registered through the app. Among the registrants, the highest number came from Saudi Arabia (22,176), followed by the USA (18,713), Singapore (9,878), South Korea (9,421), the UK (8,973), Canada (8,915), Malaysia (8,013), Australia (7,646), Japan (6,855), the UAE (6,599), Italy (5,952), Qatar (5,478), Oman (4,838), South Africa (4,744) and Maldives (3,478). Read more: Expat registration for 7 countries likely to reopen on Friday: EC Among the registered expats, the highest 23,848 will vote in Dhaka district from abroad, while 14,820 in Cumilla, 11,701 in Chattogram, 9,929 in Sylhet, 9,718 in Noakhali,, 5,520 in Feni, 5,186 in Chandpur, 4,499 in Brahmanbaria, 4,030 in Moulvibazar and 3,966 in Lakshmipur district. In terms of constituencies, the highest 3,200 registered expats will vote in Sylhet-1, while 2,817 in Noakhali-1 constituency, 2,486 in Sylhet-6 constituency, 2,303 in Dhaka-18 constituency, 2,277 in Feni-3 constituency, 2,247 in Noakhali-3 constituency, 2,043 in Noakhali-5 constituency, 1,953 in Feni-2 constituency, 1,894 in Dhaka-10 constituency and 1,832 in Cumilla-6. The registration process for expatriates will continue till December 25 next. Besides, the app will remain open for the government officials, polling personnel, and prisoners under lawful custody for a 15-day period after the election schedule is announced. Though the postal balloting system has been in the laws for a long time, it was never practiced in the previous elections. This is the first time theElection Commission is introducing a hybrid postal balloting system, enabling expatriates, government staff, polling personnel and inmates to exercise their franchise through a combination of digital registration and manual voting. The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the next general election and referendum in the second week of December. Read more: Bangladesh election: Voter registration in KSA, 6 other countries resumes

A woman was killed and her niece was injured in an attack by miscreants at their house in Joypurhat Sadar upazila early Wednesday.   The deceased was identified as Nurunnahar Begum, 47, a resident of Chirla village under Chak Barkat union of the upazila, and her injured niece is Khatija Khatun, 16. Nurunnahar’s elder brother, Abdul Matin said one of the relatives informed them over mobile phone that a gang of robbers stormed into her house around 2am and attacked with sharp weapons, leaving the two critically injured.   Upon arrival, they found the duo unconscious and bleeding on the floor, he said, adding that they were initially rushed to Joypurhat 250-bed General Hospital. As their condition deteriorated, they were being shifted Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital in Bogura but Nurunnahar succumbed to her injuries on the way, he said. Khatija was undergoing treatment at the hospital. Officer-in-charge Nazmul Hossain of Joypurhat Sadar Police Station said that the body was sent to the hospital morgue for autopsy and efforts were underway to identify those involved in the incident.

A 75-year-old prisoner died after falling sick at Dhaka Central Jail on Tuesday night, the authorities said. The deceased was identified as Abdul Matin, son of late Mirjan Ali. Details about him are yet to be known. Prison officer Mirza Harun said Matin suddenly felt sick at night prompting them to rush him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where physicians declared him dead around 11:15pm upon arrival. Md Faruk, in-charge of the DMCH police outpost, said that the body has been kept in the morgue for autopsy. The body will be handed over to the family after legal procedures.