The Indian High Commission in Dhaka celebrated the 71st Republic Day of India on Sunday at Chancery premises of the High Commission.

High Commissioner Riva Ganguly Das unfurled the national flag and read out the Indian President’s address to the Nation.

The Mahar regimental band of the Indian Army, which was specially flown in for the occasion, played the Indian National Anthem.

Members of the Indian community in Dhaka joined the Republic Day celebrations in large numbers and presented a cultural programme showcasing India’s unity in diversity.

Export-import activities through the Hili land port were suspended on Sunday on the occasion of India’s 71st Republic Day.

Kamal Hossain Raj, president of C&F Agent Association of the port, said the traders took the decision as the day is a public holiday in India.

All types of export-import activities remained suspended since morning but the movement of people through the port remained uninterrupted, said immigration check post Officer-in-Charge Md Rafikuzzaman.

India has honoured former Foreign Secretary as well as Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali with the Padma Bhushan for Public Affairs (posthumous) and Professor Enamul Haque with the Padma Shri for his outstanding contribution to archaeology.

Muazzem Ali passed away last December 30 at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka, having just completed a 5-year posting in New Delhi as Bangladesh High Commissioner.

Born on July 18, 1944 in Sylhet, he joined the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1968, and retired in December 2001. While serving in the Pakistan Embassy in Washington DC in 1971, he declared his allegiance to the government of Bangladesh.

He was brought out of retirement to serve as Bangladesh High Commissioner in New Delhi from September 2014 to 2019.

India’s Padma Awards are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities - art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.

These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March or April every year. This year the President has approved conferment of 141 Padma Awards including 4 duos (when conferred on a duo, the Award is counted as one). The list comprises 7 Padma Vibhushan, 16 Padma Bhushan and 118 Padma Shri Awards.

Thirty-three of the awardees are women and the list also includes 18 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 12 Posthumous awardees.

State Secretary at Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said they expect Myanmar to fully implement the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

"Norway takes note of the order of the @CIJ_ICJ in the case against #Myanmar. We expect the provisional measures to be fully implemented," she tweeted on Saturday.

Marianne Hagen also said Myanmar must ensure "safe, voluntary and dignified" return of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

In a sweeping legal victory for members of the Rohingya Muslim minority, the United Nations' top court on Thursday ordered Myanmar take all measures in its power to prevent genocide against the Rohingya people.

The court's president, Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, said the International Court of Justice "is of the opinion that the Rohingya in Myanmar remain extremely vulnerable."

The court added that its order for so-called provisional measures intended to protect the Rohingya is binding "and creates international legal obligations" on Myanmar.

At the end of an hour-long sitting in the court's wood-paneled Great Hall of Justice, judges also ordered Myanmar to report to them in four months on what measures the country has taken to comply with the order and then to report every six months as the case moves slowly through the world court.

Rights activists immediately welcomed the unanimous decision.

Dhaka, Jan 25 (UNB) - Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing has said its officials are in regular contact with the Bangladeshi students living there to assist them following an outbreak of deadly Coronavirus.

“We already have spoken to some of the students at Hubei University in China,” Bangladesh Ambassador to China Mahbub Uz Zaman told UNB adding that the Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing opened a hotline number - + (86)-17801116005 for smooth communication round the clock.  

The official death toll from the coronavirus in China jumped on Saturday rose to 41 from 26 a day earlier.

Besides, the Deputy Director of the Chinese Foreign Ministry who is the contact and liaison officer is regularly updating the Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing about the situation.

Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) and Head of Chancery (HOC) of Bangladesh Mission have also added themselves to Wuhan We Chat Group containing 245 students in Wuhan who have apparently been confined as a result of the outbreak of Coronavirus.

Due to Chinese New Year holidays, the Embassy said, most of the Bangladeshi students are on leave and have gone home for vacation.

The Mission is regularly updating the Foreign and Health Ministries here on the situation.

There are about 300 to 400 Bangladeshi students in Wuhan, according to the Foreign Ministry here.
 

As of Saturday, no news of any infection or death caused by coronavirus to any foreigners is reported, it said.

Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing has established contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in case emergency supports were sought by the expatriates in Wuhan.

Officials at the embassy have been maintaining day-to-day contact with the ministry of that country with regard to the safety of Bangladesh expatriates in China.

In the outbreak of coronavirus in China and globally, Chinese officials have restricted transport in at least 13 cities apart from the virus epicentre, Wuhan, locking down close to 56 million nationals.

Meanwhile, some Bangladeshi students currently staying in Wuhan province in China have made a humanitarian appeal to the Bangladesh authorities to save them from the crisis created after the outbreak of Coronavirus that has already claimed over 40 lives.

On behalf of some students, Sajib Hossain, an Assistant Teacher at Yangtze University in Wuhan province, posted a letter on Facebook addressing the Foreign Ministry in which he sought assistance from the Bangladesh authorities.

Sajib said, “Wuhan city remained shut for the last three days. No car is moving in the town. No food and masks are arriving.”

China's holiday began in the shadow of a worrying new virus Saturday as the death toll surpassed 40, an unprecedented lockdown kept 36 million people from traveling and authorities canceled a host of Lunar New Year events, reports AP.

The China National Health Commission reported a jump in the number of people infected with the virus to 1,287 with 41 deaths. The latest tally comes from 29 provinces across China, including 237 patients in serious condition. All 41 deaths have been in China, including 39 in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, one in Hebei and one in Heilongjiang.

He wrote,” We cannot go out outside, we have been suffering from food crisis for the last one week and this situation will continue.”

“Over 500 Bangladeshi students are living here. We don’t know what will happen to us. Pray for us,” he added.

They provided mobile numbers bellow their names as—Sajib Hossain +86-155272131514, Naeem Hasan+86-18602736396, Reza Sultanuzzaman +86-13129915142.