One-fourth, or 25 percent, of the total population will belong to the middle-class income category by 2025, thanks to greater access to education, finance and IT services, and private sector employment, a recent study found.

The fatal attack on a police checkpoint in Ashulia has exposed a lack of skill, training, professionalism and seriousness in the lower tier of police. It also shows a lack of discipline among them and their inability to react sharply to counter sudden attacks. Despite being armed with rifles and shotguns, five constables could not resist two armed attackers, who killed one of their colleagues on the outskirts of the capital on Wednesday morning.

Bangladesh and the Netherlands have agreed to work more closely for the implementation of Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 to make the delta safe and productive for its people.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein yesterday called on the government of Bangladesh to take urgent, concerted measures to ensure the protection of all those being threatened by extremists operating in the country.

Bangladesh has no place for bigotry and militancy and people here have always been non-communal and respectful to other religions, President Abdul Hamid said yesterday.

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a High Court verdict that had directed mobile phone operators to stop using the national anthem as ringtones or welcome tunes on mobile phones.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday called upon the government to take initiatives for holding a national dialogue “for the sake of the nation”.

Detective Branch of police last night arrested MA Matin in connection with the murder of Italian national Cesare Tavella, said a high official of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

A Dhaka court yesterday sent BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy to jail after he surrendered before it in an arson case following an arrest warrant issued by the court.

Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Environment Melanie Schultz van Haegen yesterday assured Bangladesh of assisting in the implementation of its Delta Plan 2100.

Aiming to bring all the poor people under a safety net by 2018, the government has formulated a new National Social Security Strategy (NSSS), which would cover every age from newborn to the elderly for their life and living.

Slain publisher Dipan's father Abul Quasem Fazlul Huq yesterday said he was feeling insecure like he had during the Liberation War in 1971.

Razia Rahman, wife of slain publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan, broke down in tears as soon as bereaved father Prof Abul Quasem Fazlul Huq entered her flat Tuesday afternoon.

When publisher Dipan was parking his car on the east side of Aziz Super Market on Saturday afternoon, a youth was caught “suspiciously moving” by a CCTV camera. About half an hour later, the same youth was seen leaving the market along with five others.

The police have been asked to keep at least one cop on standby with a loaded gun at checkpoints and open fire the moment they are under attack.

In a brutal attack, unknown assailants yesterday hacked to death a police constable and injured another critically at a checkpost on Dhaka-Tangail highway in Ashulia on the outskirts of the capital. Police said they didn't have any clue to the motive behind the attack.

The United Nations has called on Bangladesh to “fully investigate” the recent killing of a publisher and bring the perpetrators to book.

Unlike its South Asian neighbours India and Pakistan, Bangladesh is on course to meet the global targets for reducing stunting among children under five.

With no visible progress of the probe into Saturday's attacks on publishers and bloggers, which left one dead and three injured, Detective Branch of police was given the charge of the investigation yesterday.

Rafida Ahmed Bonya, widow of slain secular writer Dr Avijit Roy, has urged the international community to immediately act to save the free voice in Bangladesh.