Exclusive Stories

MNA Editorial Desk: Bangladesh on Sunday has sought strong support from China and asked to make Myanmar create conditions for Rohingya repatriation. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Sunday asked for China’s assistance regarding the matter when Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Zhang Zuo met the minister at his office. During her recent visit to Bangladesh, UN’s human rights expert on Myanmar Yanghee Lee said Myanmar is not working to create conditions for the repatriation return of Rohingyas. Instead the country is engaging in a sustained campaign of violence, intimidation and harassment, as per UNB report. Ambassador Zhang said China ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland has praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s development innovation- ‘the SDG-Tracker’ and championing women empowerment. She said, “The Commonwealth under its Innovation Hub has placed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s social innovation initiative of designing and creating ‘the SDG-Tracker’ for as a best practice for realising Agenda 2030.” Patricia said this while receiving the newly-appointed Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK and member of the Governing Board of the Commonwealth Saida Muna Tasneem at the Marlborough House recently, said the High Commission on Saturday. The Bangladesh High Commissioner briefed the Secretary-General about the social ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been named among the 100 leading Global Thinkers of the decade from 2009, a list made by Washington-based Foreign Policy magazine. She is on the list in the defense and security category. “Sheikh Hasina has responded to the greatest security challenge facing Bangladesh with a generosity that she has not always shown her opponents at home,” the magazine said about her. “Rather than turn away the approximate 700,000 Rohingya who fled persecution in Myanmar, Hasina welcomed them and allowed them to remain in her country,” it added. Though the date of the ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Wednesday said that Bishwa Ijtema will be held in February as two factions of Tabligh Jamaat reached a consensus over holding this grand congregation. The minister came up with the announcement while briefing reporters after a meeting with two factions of the Tabligh Jamaat at his secretariat office, reports UNB. “In today’s meeting it was decided that the Bishwa Ijtema will be held in Tongi in February. The two factions jointly will organize the second largest congregation of the Muslims after Hajj,” said the minister. Two factions of the Tabligh Jamaat—one ...

MNA Editorial Desk: India’s external affairs ministry has clarified the media reports of Rohingya movement towards Bangladesh. “Government is aware of media reports of alleged movement into Bangladesh by some such persons,” the ministry said on its website on Tuesday, citing an official spokesperson. “Government is not a party to such movements. We will work with our neighbors to handle such matters through mutual consultation.” The spokesperson in New Delhi was responding to a question about the presence of “Rohingya” refugees stranded on the India-Bangladesh boundary in the Tripura sector. “Government is aware of the presence of 31 persons originally ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Saudi Arabia is planning to deport 250 Rohingya men to Bangladesh. This will be the second forced deportation by Riyadh this year, an activist group has told Al Jazeera. Activists group is fearing that the deported Rohingyas could be jailed upon arrival in Bangladesh. Earlier on January 7, Riyadh sent 13 Rohingya men to Dhaka. Saudi Arabia is home to almost 300,000 Rohingya, according to Nay San Lwin, campaign coordinator for the Free Rohingya Coalition, who urged authorities to stop the deportations, adding that the men faced imprisonment in Bangladesh upon their arrival. “Majority of these Rohingya ...

MNA Editorial Desk: RAB says the militant arrested from a bus in Gazipur’s Board Bazar area has been identified as absconding Holey Artisan attack suspect Mamunur Rashid Ripon. RAB Law and Media Branch Director Mufti Mahmud Khan told: “He was arrested around 1 am on Sunday aboard a bus traveling from Haluaghat to Dhaka.” According to law enforcers, Ripon aka Rezaul Karim aka Reza is a top tier neo-JMB leader. Investigators say Ripon was responsible for supplying arms, explosives and money to the militants who carried out the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan on Jul 1, 2016. ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Warning against the dangers of widespread fear and mistrust in the planet, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday said he wants to reaffirm the UN as a platform for action to repair broken trust in a broken world. “The best-selling brand in our world today is indeed fear,” stated Guterres. “It gets ratings. It wins votes. It generates clicks,” he added, during the press conference, held at UN headquarters in New York. “I believe the biggest challenge that governments and institutions face today is to show that we care – and to mobilize solutions that ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Reaffirming her government’s tough stance against corruption, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday directed the Public Administration Ministry to issue a strong warning against graft by field-level administrations. “Your specific directives must reach the administrations at the grassroots level that tough action will be taken if anyone resorts to corruption,” she said while visiting the Public Administration Ministry in the morning. The Prime Minister wondered why there should be corrupt practices when the government enhanced the salaries, allowances and other privileges of the public servants significantly. “They must change their mindset.” She emphasised ensuring good governance and ...

MNA Editorial Desk: British lawmakers defeated Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit divorce deal by a crushing margin on Tuesday, triggering political chaos that could lead to a disorderly exit from the EU or even to a reversal of the 2016 decision to leave. After parliament voted 432-202 against her deal, the worst defeat in modern British history, opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn promptly called a vote of no confidence in May’s government, to be held at 1900 GMT today (Wednesday). With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, the United Kingdom is ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Myanmar’s government says it has ordered the military to “crush” rebels in the western state of Rakhine, following raids by insurgents that killed 13 police officers earlier this month. The United Nations says fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army, which recruits from among the mainly Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group, has forced about 5,000 people from their homes in the state in the past month. The latest violence underscores the complexity of the ethnic divisions that have long scarred Rakhine. In 2017 attacks on security posts in the north of the state by insurgents from the ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The United Nations urged the Myanmar government on Monday to allow ‘rapid and unimpeded’ humanitarian access to Rakhine State, where fighting between government troops and autonomy-seeking rebels has displaced thousands of people. The Rakhine State government issued a notice last week blocking non-governmental organisations and UN agencies from travelling to rural areas in five townships in the northern and central parts of the state affected by the conflict. The International Committee of the Red Cross and UN World Food Programme were exempted from the ban, it said. Myanmar’s president urged the military to “crush” the rebels of ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Reiterating her government’s farm stance against corruption, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said the government will continue its fight against corruption to keep up the country’s development spree and uphold its achievements. “Though it’s not possible for any country to root out 100 per cent corruption, it’s a responsibility of our government to check it so that it cannot impede the uplift of the country and ruin our all successes,” she said while exchanging views with senior officials of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on the first working day of her office at the PMO after ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Jatiya Oikya Front chief Kamal Hossain has admitted that the fielding of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders in the 11th parliamentary election by the opposition alliance was a mistake. “In my view, it was a mistake,” he said at a media briefing in Dhaka on Saturday, two weeks after the election. Kamal also said he would mount pressure on the BNP, a key ally of the Oikya Front, over the issue. Claiming that he did not know about the participation of 25 Jamaat candidates in the election, Kamal said, “I’ve already publicly said that no Jamaat men were in the ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Garment Workers’ Front on Wednesday held a rally in front of Jatiya Press Club demanding justice for RMG worker Sumon Mia who was shot dead allegedly by police on Tuesday in clash between them. The workers’ rally which was presided over by the organisation’s President Ahsan Habib Bulbul also demanded compensation as well as arrest of those who were responsible for the murder, according to a UNB report. Sumon Mia, 22, a worker of Anlima Textile, was killed and 30 others injured in clashes with police during demonstrations at Hemayetpur on Tuesday. Socialist Workers Front President Abdur ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Awami League President Sheikh Hasina has taken oath as prime minister of Bangladesh for an unprecedented fourth term as well as third consecutive term. President Abdul Hamid administered the oath to her followed by ministers, ministers of state and deputy ministers at his official residence Bangabhaban in Dhaka city at 3:40 pm on Monday. The term of the government that came to power in January 2014 has officially ended after the oath-taking ceremony. A 47-member new cabinet led by Hasina was announced yesterday and all of them are party fellows. Even some heavyweights were dropped from the ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The body of Public Administration Minister and former Awami League (AL) general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, who died at a hospital in Bangkok on Thursday, reached home on Saturday evening. A flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying his body reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 6.00 pm. After receiving the body by his relatives at the airport, it will be taken to his official residence on Bailey road at 7pm. Later, the body will be kept at the mortuary of Combined Military Hospital (CMH) at 9pm, BSS reports. On Sunday, the veteran politician’s first namaj-e-janaza will be ...

MNA Exclusive Desk: The newly-elected members of parliament (MPs) on Thursday took oath at Jatiya Sangsad. However, Jatiya Oikyafront MPs elect skipped the swearing programme at the oath room that began at from 11:00am, reported news agency. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury delivered the opening speech at the ceremony. The ruling party is scheduled hold a meeting of its parliamentary committee, which will select the leader of the House, who will in turn form the government. Awami League’s parliamentary committee will hold the meeting on Thursday at 12pm, at Level 9 of the Parliament Complex. Awami League President Sheikh Hasina will preside ...

MNA Exclusive Desk: Chairperson of Indian Congress Parliamentary Party Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday congratulated Bangladesh Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina on securing her party’s absolute victory in the 11th parliamentary elections. ‘The Indian Congress Party leader sent a message to the prime minister greeting her, Bangladesh Awami League and the people of Bangladesh on securing her party’s landslide victory in Sunday’s national polls,’ PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said. Sonia Gandhi also wished success of the prime minister and continued peace, progress and prosperity of Bangladesh, he said.

MNA Exclusive Desk: World leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Premier Narendra Modi, have extended their heartfelt congratulations to Bangladesh Premier and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina on securing her party’s absolute majority in the 11th parliamentary elections. Other leaders who extended their greetings to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli and Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering. Besides, India’s West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb also phoned Bangladesh Premier and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Expressing her confidence about her party’s win in the 11th parliamentary election, Prime Minister and Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said victory will surely come in favor of ‘boat’. She expressed her hope after casting vote at Dhaka City College Centre at Dhanmondi in Dhaka as voting in the 11th national polls began on Sunday morning. The premier said the Awami League was ready to accept whatever the verdict comes. “I’m always confident about our victory in the elections … I trust my people and I know that they will choose us so that they ...

MNA Exclusive Desk: The returning officers have started distributing election materials, including ballot papers and ballot boxes, to polling centres throughout Bangladesh. In the capital Dhaka, materials are being distributed from Central Women’s College in the Tikatuli area to some centresfor the Dhaka 6 constituency, including electronic voting machines (EVMs).

MNA Exclusive Desk: A fire has broken out at the commercial building Jaman Tower in Dhaka’s Bijoynagar, reported news agency. Fire Service control room on-duty officer Rasel Shikder told the Dhaka Tribune the fire had broken out on the 8th floor of the building around 2:40pm Friday. Three firefighting units were working to douse the fire, he said. The building hosts the office of the opposition alliance Jatiya Oikya Front. No casualties have been reported yet. The Oikya Front office is on the third floor of the building, and the online news portal sarabangla.net is housed on the 14th floor.

MNA Exclusive Desk: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called on everyone in Bangladesh to enable a ‘peaceful, credible and inclusive poll’ ahead of the Dec 30 election, reported news agency. The secretary general’s office released a statement to the effect on Thursday. The statement called on all stakeholders to ‘ensure an environment free of violence, intimidation and coercion before, during and after the elections’. Bangladeshi citizens, including women and minorities, must feel safe and confident in their ability to exercise the right to vote, it said.

MNA Exclusive Desk: The High Court has not invalidated the candidacy of 25 Jamaat-e-Islami leaders; consequently they will not be restricted from participating in the parliamentary election, lawyers said. An HC bench, comprised of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Khairul Alam, gave the order on Thursday. Besides, the High Court has issued a ruling to discern why the Election Commission’s decision will not be declared illegal. Barrister Tania Amir was present at the hearing on behalf of the writ filed, while Advocate Yasin Khan represented the Election Commission. Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Saju represented the state at the hearing, ...

MNA Exclusive Desk: A team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has visited opposition alliance Jatiya Oikya Front’s chief, Dr Kamal Hossain, reported news agency. The DMP team, led by Deputy Commissioner (Motijheel division) Anwar Hossain, visited Dr Kamal at his Motijheel office around 1pm on Wednesday. “We came here as part of our regular duty.  We discussed Dr Kamal’s security issues,” Anwar Hossain told reporters. Earlier, on Tuesday, Dr Kamal had a heated conversation with Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda. At Tuesday’s meeting, the Oikya Front chief alleged that “savage stick-wielding police” are preventing Oikya Front’s candidates from campaigning.

MNA Exclusive Desk: Army personnel have started election duties today, Monday, to help ensure the law and order before, during and after the general election billed for 30 December. Except 18 coastal and 87 bordering upazilas, members of Bangladesh Army will perform duties in all the remaining 389 upazilas, said an ISPR release on Sunday. Bangladesh Navy members will remain in the coastal upazilas while Border Guard Bangladesh personnel in the bordering upazilas alongside other designated areas. Besides, Bangladesh Air Force will keep adequate helicopters and transport aircraft ready in case of any emergency strikes, the release, said, adding that ...