Experts and officials yesterday called for urgent steps to revive family planning services by resolving contraceptive shortages and resuming field-level activities, as the country sees a decline in the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) and a rise in the total fertility rate (TFR).

Bangladesh’s family planning gains risk being reversed as contraceptive shortages disrupt field-level services and increase unintended pregnancies and related complications, public health expert Dr Halida Hanum Akhter warned yesterday.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman held 30 formal programmes, including bilateral meetings with 11 countries, during his five-day visit to New York to attend the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, said PM’s Adviser and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Spokesperson Mahdi Amin.

East West University (EWU) celebrated its 30th founding anniversary through a daylong event held on the EWU campus in the capital’s Aftabnagar yesterday, said a press release.

Monzurul Haque, a renowned market researcher and freedom fighter, died at a private hospital in Dhaka on Friday. He was 78, said a press release.

Students of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) yesterday continued their “complete shutdown” of the campus for the fifth consecutive day, demanding cancellation of the education ministry gazette appointing Professor Sheikh Shariful Alam as vice chancellor and reinstatement of Prof Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem.

The government should strengthen protection for minority women against cyber harassment and discrimination and move ahead with legal reforms to ensure their rights, speakers said at a seminar in Dhaka yesterday.

A total of 5,823 students from 71 schools in Dhaka have been conferred awards under a book-reading programme organised by Bishwo Shahitto Kendro with support from Grameenphone.

Surface water in and around industrial areas along the Turag and the Shitalakkhya contains high concentrations of four harmful heavy metals, including lead, which was detected at up to 45 times the safe limit set by the World Health Organization, according to a new study.

Provisions on misinformation, defamation, content blocking and arrests in the proposed amendments to the Cyber Security Act could be abused to curb free expression and journalism, journalists, lawyers and rights activists warned at a seminar yesterday.

The government is considering issuing a sovereign bond of up to $1 billion to the international capital market to diversify its funding sources.

Efforts to reform the country’s judiciary appear to have stalled, with the major recommendations of the Judiciary Reform Commission still largely unimplemented despite political parties reaching consensus on some of the issues in the July charter.

The bodies of three siblings were recovered yesterday, two days after a trawler sank in the Meghna river in Narayanganj’s Sonargaon upazila.

The details of a US state department briefing from Thursday throws up a few points regarding Sheikh Hasina, Awami League and relations with Bangladesh that are noteworthy.

Edu minister says cases of candidates who remain without letters will be reviewed after verification amid protests over delayed appointments

The MoU recorded the shared position that all civil nuclear cooperation should follow the highest standards of nuclear safety, security, safeguards, and non-proliferation

Tarique holds bilateral meetings with 11 countries, discusses trade, investment, manpower exports, energy security and Rohingya crisis

The leaders agree to deepen cooperation in labour recruitment, investment and other potential sectors during bilateral talks in New York

Meetings focus on trade, investment, skilled manpower, education, technology and health

What was once a gently sloping riverbank now resembles an open wound.