News 24 Hours

  Leaders of the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance will meet Sunday evening to finalise next agitation programmes which may feature countrywide hartal (shutdown) on April 2, 8 and 9. The meeting is scheduled to begin at Gulshan office of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at 8:30pm, Abdul Mobin, chairman of Islamic Party, a constituent of the alliance, told The Daily Star. Finalising the shutdown tops the agenda of the meeting, he added. Other agitation programmes under consideration include grand rally and blockades in the capital and siege to the Dhaka city, the sources added.

  Shahbagh protesters march towards the House on Sunday to submit a mass petition signed by over 1 crore people to press home six-point demand which include banning Jamaat-Shibir politics. Photo: Palash Khan The Gonojagoron Mancha on Sunday submitted a mass petition signed by over 1 crore people to the acting Speaker of the House to press home six-point demand which include banning Jamaat-Shibir politics. Imran H Sarker, spokesperson for Gonojagoron Mancha, submitted the memorandum to acting speaker Shawkat Ali at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban around 2:00pm.

DHAKA: President of central Chhatra Shibir Delwar Hossain was arrested from capital’s Shyamoli area on Sunday afternoon. Confirming the matter to banglanews, a source in metropolitan detective branch police said, Delwar was arrested from his relative’s house.

SYLHET: At least 10 Chhatra League men were injured in a gunfight between two factions of Sylhet MC College Chhatra League unit led by Azad-Ranjit group and Babla group.Till the report was filed at 3pm, the fighting continued after chase and counter chase took place around 12:00pm on Sunday. The clash turned the college premises and adjacent area into battle field.Eyewitnesses said activists of Ranjit group chased Babla group men when they entered the campus. Babla group also chased Ranjit group at that time.

SYLHET: Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami called dawn-to-dusk hartal for Tuesday in the district in protest against attack and fire on houses of two Jamaat leaders. The party will also stage protest demonstration on Monday. Jamaat leader Fakhrul Islam confirmed the matters to banglanews on Sunday afternoon.

DHAKA: The newly appointed four judges to Appellate division of the Supreme Court were sworn in on Sunday morning.Chief Justice M Muzammel Hossain administered the oath at Judges Lounge of the Supreme Court around 10:30am, taking the number of the apex-court judges to ten.SC Registrar AKM Shamsul Islam moderated the oath taking ceremony.

CHITTAGONG: Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, also former president, on Saturday urged prime minister to sit for dialogue to bring an end the confrontation situation in the country. Meanwhile, he expressed apprehension over the country’s situation, which is turning into the same scenario of ‘1/11’. He came up with the plea in a discussion meeting held at city’s Muslim University Hall in the afternoon. Indicating Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said, “We all know who led to ‘1/11’ and who killed the people by logi-baitha. You and Khaleda Zia both were sent to jail after the incident and I lost m my chairmanship.”  He added: “More or less, we all were harmed because of it and there is no assurance that such incident will not take place again.”

NAOGAON: At least two people were killed and 25 others injured as a tornado lashed 50 villages in two upazilas of Naogaon district on Saturday afternoon. The deceased were identified as Himu, 10, son of Hamidur Rahman of Nagargola village and Mamunur Rashid of Chakatripur village of Patnitala.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Saturday said Bangladesh plans to bridge the mighty Padma with its 'own resources' and Tk 68.52 billion will be allocated for the purpose in the forthcoming budget.

  This March 23 photo shows people sift through the debris a day after a twister ravaged 20 villages of Brahmanbaria. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia left Dhaka on Saturday to visit the victims of a twister that tore through three upazilas of Brahmanbaria on March 22, killing 31 people. The BNP chief started from her Gulshan residence around 11:30am, party sources said. Party senior leaders including Selima Rahman, Sadeque Hossain Khoka and Mirza Abbas are accompanying her.

A policeman and two others sustained bullet injuries during a ‘gunbattle’ involving cops and snatchers near the capital’s Hatirjheel area in the early hours of Saturday.

Plainclothes police arrested 16 people, including four Pakistani nationals, along with eight bombs and 12.9 million Indian Rupees “while planning subversive activities in the city”. Acting on a tip-off, a team of Detective Branch of police conducted simultaneous drives in several areas of the city, including Paltan, Nikunja, Kalabagan and Bangshal, from 2:30pm Friday to 4:30am Saturday and arrested the 16 people. Contacted, Additional Deputy Commissioner Mashiur Rahman confirmed the arrest. Apart from eight bombs and the Indian currencies, several passports were recovered from the arrestees’ possession, he added.

Detective Police have nabbed a Jamaat-e-Islami leader and four Pakistanis alongwith 11 others during raids at Nikunja and Kathalbagan in the capital.

A group of United Nations independent human rights experts on Friday called for an immediate stop to violence in Bangladesh and a return to peaceful demonstrations following large-scale protests since early February. The demonstrations are largely linked to the decisions of the International Crimes Tribunal established in 2010 to try people accused of atrocities, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, during the country’s 1971 independence war.

  In this May 7, 2012 photo, BNP leaders including acting general secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir surrender before the High Court and sought bail. Star file photo A Dhaka court on Thursday deferred the trial till April 21 on an arson case against 46 opposition leaders, including BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. The case was filed with Tejgaon Police Station for torching a bus near the Prime Minister’s Office during hartal hours on April 29 last year. Metropolitan Magistrate Harun-or-Rashid deferred the trial on Thursday acting on a time petition filed by defence lawyers. In the petition, the defence said 39 accused including Fakhrul did not turned up at the court due to the opposition-called hartal.

Bangladesh cannot but be a democracy , says US ambassdor Dan Mozena .

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday asked the armed forces to stay alert against any threats to the country's democracy, insisting her government would not allow them to be used for ‘political purposes’.

Model Sumaiya Azgar Raha’s body has been exhumed for an autopsy on Thursday.

Home Minister MK Alamgir on Thursday dubbed the 36-hour shutdown ‘illogical’ and said people had rejected it.    “There is no logic behind this shutdown. People have re

Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee has appealed against his death penalty handed out by the war crimes tribunal.

  A bus burns near City College on the Mirpur Road in the capital Tuesday morning after miscreants set it ablaze on the eve of a 36-hour countrywide shutdown that begins at 6:00am Wednesday. Photo: Focus Bangla Unidentified miscreants set fire to four vehicles in different parts of the capital on Tuesday, on the eve of a 36-hour countrywide shutdown. Law enforcers also rounded up four people while they were trying to torch a bus in Farmgate area around 2:35pm, said Apurba Hasan, officer-in-charge of Tejgaon Police Station. No casualty was reported from the fire, said duty official of Fire Service and Civil Defence. The arson incidents took place near City College building, New Market area and Anti-Corruption Commission office in Segunbagicha.

  Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam speaks to the reporters after placing wreaths at the National Mausoleum in Savar on Tuesday. Photo: Focus Bangla BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is playing a ‘vicious role’ to save the war criminals, Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said on Tuesday. “Khaleda is backing Jamaat-e-Islami in the killing of law enforcers and minorities. She is trying to foil the trial of ’71 war criminals,” said Ashraf while addressing journalists after placing wreaths at the National Mausoleum in Savar on Tuesday, Prothom-Alo reported. He condemned Khaleda for her March 23 speech in Bogra, where she urged the army to intervene into the politics, governance and constitution of the country.

BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has blamed Awami League General Secretary and LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam for ‘misleading statements’ on the BNP’s standpoint about the war crimes trials.

Police fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse rampaging activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing in Dhaka’s Moghbazar area on Tuesday morning, police said. The police action came after the activists of the fundamentalist party vandalised vehicles and threw brickbats at the police who tried to stop a procession. No injuries were immediately reported in the c

DHAKA: Opposition BNP-led 18-party alliance has called 36-hour countrywide hartal from Wednesday demanding immediate release of leaders and activists of the party and protesting “genocide”. Acting Secretary General of the party Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made the announcement at a press conference at central party office at Nayapaltan in the city on Monday afternoon.

The High Court on Sunday denied the anticipatory bail petition of Narayanganj Awami League leader Shamim Osman in the murder case of Tanvir Mohammad Twaki. Advocate Abdul Baset

At least five people were killed and 20 people injured on Monday when a bus and a locally made human hauler collided head-on at Mymensingh’s Nandail Upazila, police said.  

The Jamaat-e-Islami called a dawn-to-dusk shutdown in Chittagong division for Monday protesting the death of an Islami Chhatra Shibir activists during a police raid at the house of former Jamaat lawmaker on March 13. Mainul Hossain Munna, 26, a nephew of former Jamaat lawmaker Shahjahan Chowdhury, who sustained injuries during the raid, died at Chittagong Medical College Hospital around 11:00pm Friday, reports our Chittagong correspondent.

  A Buddha Bihar found at Bojrojogini village in Bikrampur of Munshiganj for the first time. Photo: Pinaki Roy. Archaeologists have unearthed a Buddha Bihar at the birthplace of Atish Dipankar Srigyan, a child prodigy like the Lord Buddha, at Bikrampur in Munshiganj.

Bangladesh Olama Mashaek Sanghati Parishad, a platform of Islamist scholars and clerics, is holding a grand rally at Motijheel in the capital Saturday afternoon. Hundreds of Islamist scholars from different parts of the country started to converge at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel since morning demanding a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami and capital punishment for all war criminals. The rally which was scheduled for 11:00am began around 2:30pm.

  Parag Mondol. File photo Keraniganj police on Saturday submitted charge sheet against 12 people in schoolboy Parag Mondol abduction case, dropping the name of prime accused Jubo League leader Aminul Haque alias Jewel Mollah. The investigation officer of the case dropped the names of Jewel Mollah, Alfas Hossain and Rizvi Ahmed Anik as the charges brought against them were not proved. The IO also included the names of Md Akash, Md Sultan and Md Wasim in the charge sheet as their involvement with the abduction was found.

  BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia left Dhaka on Saturday for a two-day trip to Bogra and Joypurhat. The BNP chief started for Bogra from her Gulshan residence around 4:00pm, party sources said. She has been accompanied by BNP leaders Selima Rahman, Sadeque Hossain Khoka and Mirza Abbas. An advance team of BNP led by its acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is already in Bogra for taking preparation ahead of the Khaleda’s visit.