Feasibility study required before financing decision, officials note

Local Govern-ment, Rural Develop-ment and Coopera-tives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday stressed the need to strengthen the institutional capacity of village courts and recruit women into the village police force to ensure justice at the grassroots level.

More than three years have passed since the death of Naogaon’s Sultana Jasmine in Rapid Action Battalion custody, but no criminal case has been filed yet.

A newly-built Tk 38 crore facility at Chowgachha Upazila Health Complex in Jashore remains largely unused for lack of approval, even as patients continue to crowd the corridors of the existing 50-bed hospital.

In remote Tipar Bazar village under Lalmonirhat’s Aditmari upazila, evenings that were once quiet and dark are now filled with poetry recitations, songs and lively discussions.

Unico Hospital yesterday organised a roundtable titled “Updates in Management of Valvular Heart Disease: Enhancing Awareness and Care”, aimed at updating healthcare professionals on the latest diagnostic approaches and treatment strategies for valvular heart disease.

BRAC has announced plans to create at least 10 lakh jobs and provide legal assistance to more than one lakh women in Bangladesh over the next five years.

The High Court, in the full text of a recently released verdict, observed that prenatal gender detection directly facilitates sex-selective abortion, discrimination against female children, demographic imbalance and violence against women.

The Election Commission (EC) is set to introduce major changes to the education section of the National Identity (NID) registration form, allowing citizens to specify madrasa qualifications as well as advanced academic degrees.

China’s Exim Bank has expressed interest in financing the Teesta river management project, Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Humaiun Kobir said yesterday.

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) forecasted heavy to very heavy rainfall in Rangpur, Mymensingh, and Sylhet divisions over the next 72 hours from 10:00am yesterday.

Irregular migration may become the key sticking point in efforts to further improve Dhaka-Delhi ties, which were under severe strain during the Yunus-led interim government rule.

Four children drowned in Hatiya and Kabirhat upazilas of Noakhali in the last two days.

Police officials last night placed a series of demands before Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, including increasing the number of emergency hotline 999 call-takers, modernising forensic laboratories, and procuring new vehicles for the force.

Police yesterday arrested a man for raping a 14-year-old speech-impaired girl in Mymensingh’s Haluaghat upazila.

Almost half of the 60 children who died from confirmed measles were below nine months of age, government data showed, meaning they were not yet eligible for routine vaccination.

Four members of a family suffered severe burn injuries after an explosion, suspected to have been caused by accumulated gas, ripped through a house in Narayanganj’s Fatullah early yesterday.

Conditions attached to the International Monetary Fund’s loan programme are not suitable for Bangladesh’s economy and its people, Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said yesterday.

A total of 51,581 Bangladeshi pilgrims have reached Saudi Arabia on 132 flights as of 10:00am yesterday, according to the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ hajj management portal.

Around 200 lawyers aligned with the Awami League -- a party whose activities are currently banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act -- have been unable to contest at least 13 bar association elections since January, according to members of lawyers’ associations across the country.