Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Humayun Kabir yesterday said stronger institutional partnerships and knowledge sharing with China would be crucial for long-term development of Bangladesh.

The central and grassroots leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party (NCP) have questioned the alliance’s future after Jamaat decided to contest the local government elections on its own.

Police recovered the body of a madrasa student in Dhaka’s Shanir Akhra area yesterday afternoon.

Sakhina Begum had seen better days once upon a time. It was another life when she was part of a well-to-do family, and villagers called her Mondol-er bou. Now she has grown old and frail, and her husband has lost all his land to the ravenous Brahmaputra.

Australia has committed AUD 25.25 million ($18 million) in multi-year humanitarian assistance to help sustain life-saving support for Rohingya refugees and their host communities in Bangladesh.

Admiral Stephen Koehler, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka today for three-day official visit to discuss defence partnership and expand maritime security cooperation, US Embassy in Dhaka said in a statement yesterday.

The High Court yesterday ordered the authorities to recover the encroached land of Infectious Diseases Hospital in Mohakhali within 30 days.

Prime Minister’s Adviser Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir yesterday said the proposed Padma Barrage project could increase Bangladesh’s GDP by 0.5 to 1 percent, as per the government’s estimates.

Bangladesh must strengthen its defence capabilities and establish a national security agency to coordinate responses to emerging threats, speakers said at a dialogue in Dhaka yesterday.

Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar yesterday alleged that the government is busy creating new narratives to suppress political parties while paying little attention to soaring commodity prices and the country’s gas and electricity crises.

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed yesterday said the Awami League lacks capability to carry out sabotage surrounding August 5, which is being observed as July Mass Uprising Day.

Chief of Army Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman yesterday called for integrating modern and Islamic education, saying the separation between the two limits the role students can play in society.

The expected shift in political parties’ conduct and electoral democracy has not materialised despite the July uprising two years ago, while women’s once-visible political participation has steadily faded in the post-July period, speakers said yesterday.

Say experts; hospitals report rising admissions

At least 17 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing outside a police station in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, a rescue group and a regional police official said, as the country battles widening insurgencies.

Police recovered the body of an unidentified man from a pond in Begumganj upazila of Noakhali yesterday.

A CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver was killed and another injured in a head-on collision with a pickup on Kabirhat-Sonapur road in Kabirhat upazila, Noakhali yesterday.

A farmer was killed after being struck by lightning in Dinajpur’s Biral upazila yesterday.

Bangladesh has sought India’s cooperation to ensure that deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, or any individual associated with the Awami League, cannot use Indian territory to deliver political speeches or engage in activities aimed at creating instability in Bangladesh.

A man handed his 20-year-old son over to police after the youth was allegedly caught attempting to rape a six-year-old girl in Jashore’s Manirampur upazila on Sunday.