News Brief

       Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned home last night from Dubai wrapping up her four-day official visit to the UAE at the invitation of its Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to join the grand opening ceremony of the five-day 16th biennial Dubai Air Show. Liberation War Affairs Minister A K M Mozammel Haque and high government officials were present at the airport to receive the Premier. Earlier, the flight took off from Dubai International Airport for Dhaka at 4:45 pm local time. Bangladesh Ambassador to the UAE Mohammad Imran saw the Premier off at the airport.

            Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury has stressed the need for putting united efforts to build a sustainable and peaceful world based on equality by establishing rule of law. The Speaker made the call while speaking at the Asia Pacific Summit-2019 at Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia yesterday. The Speaker presented a keynote paper on “addressing the critical challenges of our time, peace, reconciliation, interdependence, mutual prosperity and universal values” in the inaugural session. The Speaker termed Bangladesh’s ongoing development trend as a model of terrorism-free country by removing poverty, discrimination and disparity.

            Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has urged the transport leaders to withdraw the strike enforced in a number of southern districts, including Khulna and Satkhira, protesting the implementation of the Road Transport Act. He made the call while speaking at a rally in Gazipur city yesterday. Meanwhile, less number of public transports operated in some cities including Dhaka yesterday without any announcement from the owners, leaving the commuters suffering.

            The government through Press Information Department even issued a press-note yesterday warning stern actions against anyone spreading rumours about salt or anything else in social media. It said, a quarter is involved in spreading rumours in a planned way. The Police Headquarters requested people to dial 999 or inform their local police stations if shop owners demanded exorbitant prices for salt. The Industries Ministry has already informed the media that there is adequate stock of edible salt in country and new salt produced in the country will come to market in December. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi at a briefing said, the monthly demand for salt is 1 lakh tonnes but the country has 6.5 lakh tonnes in stock. Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader while talking to a press conference in Dhaka yesterday said, those who are plotting to hike salt price by spreading rumors would be brought to book.

            Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi while speaking at a press conference at his ministry yesterday said, the government is importing 50,000 metric tons of onions by cargo planes to contain price hike of the essential cooking ingredient. Around 12,000 MT onion started reaching the country through the sea and from the Egypt, the first consignment of onion by a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight will reach Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport via Jeddah at midnight on November 20, the Minister added. TCB will sell the onion through the vehicles and their appointed dealers, the Minister informed.

            The 16th span of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge was installed yesterday making its 2.4 kilometres out of total 6.15 kilometres visible. The construction work of the long-cherished Padma Bridge Project began in December, 2015. The first span of the bridge was installed on September 30, 2017.

            Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque while addressing at an international conference on ‘World Health Service-Achieving the SDGs 2030” in New Delhi yesterday said, Bangladesh is on the right track to achieve the SDG goals by 2030. The construction work of eight cancer hospitals in the eight divisions, hospitals for liver cirrhosis is progressing rapidly, the Minister added.

            Foreign Minister Dr A K Abdul Momen has encouraged the Bangladeshi expatriates in the United Arab Emirates to send more remittance to Bangladesh through formal channel as the government is providing lucrative incentives to the remitters. He made the call while inaugurating the smart NID card and voter enrolment services at the Bangladesh Embassy in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

            Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder while speaking at a triennial council of the Awami League at Ghatnagar Union in Naogaon yesterday said, the rice price is stable in the country as the government kept the rice distribution programme uninterrupted for 50 lakh poor people. Claiming that the farmers are now getting fair price for their products the Minister said, the country is not facing any irrigation crisis and that’s why the rice production has increased significantly.

            State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak has said, ICT Division has been implementing different projects including IDEA and women empowerment for encouraging the women to flourish their innovative ideas through entrepreneurships. Due to initiatives taken by the government, it has been possible to create over 10,500 women entrepreneurs in 21 districts in the last several years, he added. The State Minister said this while addressing at a seminar on “the role of women in creating environment for entrepreneur culture and innovation” in Dhaka yesterday.

            A gazette notification was published yesterday over the appointment of 4,443 doctors under the 39th Bangladesh Civil Service. The Ministry of Public Administration issued the notification appointing 4,203 Assistant Surgeons and 240 Assistant Dental Surgeons. The appointees have been urged to join their respective workplaces as directed by the ministry concerned on December 8.

            The High Court Division yesterday directed the government to prosecute persons and companies under the Special Powers Act 1974 for marketing and producing of adulterated medicines. The bench asked the government to ensure mentioning the names and expiry dates of medicines clearly in Bangla on their strips by December 12.

            The High Court yesterday upheld the verdict of lower court that sentenced BNP leader Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin to 13 years and his son Mir Mohammad Helaluddin to three years imprisonment in a graft case. On July 4, 2007, a Dhaka court sentenced former State Minister Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin to 13 years jail for amassing illegal wealth.

            The weeklong event of income tax fair ends today. The NBR bagged around Tk 2,016.45 crore in taxes in six days of the countrywide income tax fair.      

Surath Kumar Sarker

Principal Information Officer

 Phone -9546091