Two Bangalee diplomats -- Second Secretary KM Shehabuddin and Amjadul Huq, assistant press attaché at the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi -- today announced their decision to defect from Pakistan and pledged allegiance to Bangladesh at a press conference in New Delhi.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has thanked Dhaka for making an “excellent arrangement” during his March 26-27 state visit.

Two ministries which regulate the shipbreaking industry decided earlier this year to make an Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) mandatory for shipbreakers, in phases, to stop toxic vessels sailing into Bangladesh.

India has reported a record rise in coronavirus infections, becoming only the second country after the United States to register more than 100,000 new cases in a day, as hospitals in its worst affected state are overrun by patients.

With fresh Covid-19 cases crossing 7,000-mark for the second consecutive day yesterday, Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam said they would make decision on extension of ongoing restriction in a meeting on Thursday.

The High Court has observed that restricting or interfering with citizen’s free movement because of “arbitrary or whimsical desires” of the government or state authorities is unconstitutional.

The Directorate General of Medical Education (DGME) yesterday published the results of the MBBS admission test for the academic session 2020-21.

Three teenage girls were raped in Noakhali, Jamalpur, and Sylhet. Police so far arrested two youths in these connections.

Opponents of military rule in Myanmar inscribed messages of protest on Easter eggs yesterday while thousands of others were back on the streets, denouncing a February 1 coup and facing off with the security forces who shot and killed two men.

A Dhaka court yesterday transferred a case filed under Digital Security Act against photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol to Dhaka Cyber Tribunal for trial.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday told parliament that the government wouldn’t tolerate arson and vandalism in the name of Islam.

A case was lodged with a Chattogram court accusing former NRB Global Bank managing director Prashanta Kumar Halder alias PK Halder and four others yesterday.

Aslamul Hoque, the lawmaker of Dhaka-14, breathed his last at a city hospital yesterday. He was 61.

At least eight people were killed when falling trees crushed them during nor’westers in Gaibandha yesterday afternoon.

Nasa’s Ingenuity mini-helicopter has been dropped on the surface of Mars in preparation for its first flight, the US space agency said.

New York Times reported today that Chuadanga had been designated the provisional capital of independent Bangladesh.

Shop owners and employees of New Market, Bashundhara City Shopping Mall and Sadarghat areas in Dhaka took to the streets to protest the government’s decision to keep all shops and malls closed during the seven-day restriction to contain Covid-19 surge.

The bodies of five women were recovered after a Munshiganj-bound launch, carrying over 50 passengers, capsized in the Shitalakkhya river in Narayanganj yesterday.

Faruque Hassan-led Sammilito Parishad won the biennial election to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association yesterday.

The prices of some essential commodities went up in the capital’s wholesale and retail markets yesterday, a day before the start of the government-imposed week-long restrictions.