Bangladesh

Saima Wazed has been elected as World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional director for South East Asia (SEARO) for the next five years. She won the election by 8-2 vote. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam confirmed the development on Wednesday. Among the candidates, Saima Wazed was nominated by Bangladesh, and Dr Shambhu Prasad Acharya was nominated by Nepal. ...

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi today jointly inaugurated the 12.24 km Akhaura-Agartala cross-border rail link, hoping to foster possibilities in trade, business, tourism and people to people contact. The two leaders jointly opened the rail link unveiling the inaugural plaque by pressing button through video conferencing, from Dhaka and New Delhi, reports BSS. At the ...

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday unveiled Bangladesh’s first ever local currency card, “TakaPay”, aiming to reduce dependency on international cards such as Visa, Mastercard as well as to save foreign currencies. The premier inaugurated the national card scheme at the launching ceremony at her official residence Ganabhaban this morning, reports BSS. Bangladesh Bank (BB), Sonali Bank, City Bank and ...

BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas and Joint Secretary General Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal were arrested from Shahjahanpur area in Dhaka on Tuesday night. Mirza Abbas was arrested at about 8:15pm from Shahidbagh area in Shahjahanpur, while Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal was arrested by the DB from the same area. Following their arrest, they were taken to the Detective Branch ...

Rejecting the proposal of dialogue with main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) outright, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked, “Who is the opposition? Those who kill people? Question doesn’t arise at all to hold dialogue with killers.” She made the remarks while addressing a press conference on the outcome of her October 24-26 visit to Belgium at her official residence ...

US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas has expressed the hope that all sides will sit for ‘dialogue’ without preconditions to de-escalate tensions and find a path toward free, fair and peaceful elections. “Political violence by any side has no place in democratic elections,” he said after meeting with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal at the Election Commission in ...

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved 37 projects worth Tk 52,612 crore, including a Tk 8556.17 crore one, to improve Chattagram-Cox’s Bazar Highway. The approval came from the ECNEC meeting with its Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. Ministers, state ministers, planning commission members, and secretaries concerned were also present at the ...

Police’s detective branch (DB) today arrested former lieutenant general Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardi, who allegedly prompted Bangladeshi US national Mian Zahidul Islam Arefy to address a BNP press briefing identifying himself as a so-called “adviser” to US President Joe Biden. “We have arrested him from Savar and brought him to our DB office for initial interrogation and subsequent legal procedures,” DB ...

A court in Dhaka on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant against BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas in a graft case filed for amassing wealth illegally. Manzurul Imam, Judge of Dhaka’s Special Judge Court-6, passed the order, said Mahmud Hossain Jahangir, public prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The hearing on the case was scheduled to be held today. But ...

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said on Tuesday that there is no option to hold polls on time as per of the constitutional obligation. “I want to make it clear that the election must be held within the mentioned time. The countrymen should not be in such confusion that the polls will not be held, if the environment ...