Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Wearing an off-white sari, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, offered her prayers and comforted her relatives, most of whom, were in tears, as she boarded her motorcade from her Gulshan residence on way to the court set for delivering verdict in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will today call all the political parties to forge a national consensus to “restore democracy” in the country through an inclusive parliamentary election, a senior BNP leader has said.

Saturday's national executive committee meeting was a big morale boost for the BNP as it helped remove confusions and divisions within the party, say its senior leaders.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will give her party leaders a guideline today on how the party will run in her absence if she is convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case, say party insiders.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is set to instruct her party leaders and activists tomorrow to prepare for the next parliamentary elections and also to be ready for a movement in case the government tries to hold one-sided polls "again".

The BNP has planned to inform the foreign diplomats about the “weaknesses” in the graft case against party chief Khaleda Zia and convey its concern about the “government's eagerness” to convict the former premier to keep her away from elections and politics.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is now focusing on maintaining unity in the BNP and the party-led alliance at any cost, “thwarting attempts to split the party and the combine” ahead of the next parliamentary elections.

The mayoral by-polls to Dhaka North City Corporation were stayed for six months, not for three months, according to the lawyer's certificate collected by the Election Commission.

Although the first round of diphtheria vaccination is over in Cox's Bazar, new cases of infection among the Rohingyas and the locals continue to be reported in the district every day.

The locals in Cox's Bazar, who welcomed Rohingya refugees with open arms during the massive influx last year, are now visibly annoyed as prolonged stay of the Myanmar citizens is putting pressure on their livelihoods and causing environmental degradation.

The Jatiya Sangsad will elect the next president within a month as the tenure of incumbent President Abdul Hamid nears an end.

In recent years, the growth in vegetable production in Bangladesh has been the third fastest in the world according to data from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). The country now grows 3.7 million MT of vegetables a year from less than a tenth of Bangladesh's available cultivable land.

Thousands of children saw horror unfolding in their homes in Myanmar and they fled to safety in Bangladesh after walking through jungles and hills for days.

Khaleda Zia is planning to take part in the campaign for BNP-led 20-party alliance's mayor candidate in the Dhaka North City Corporation by-polls on February 26.

Before the 60's, paddy plants were taller than what we now see in the fields and it was the “Green Revolution” of that decade that dwarfed the plants and significantly enhanced the global output of Asia's most consumed staple.

With their main focus on the national election, archrivals Awami League and BNP will use the upcoming city corporation elections to gain ground. Sources in both the parties said they would employ their “full strength” in next month's Dhaka North City Corporation mayoral race to make a good start early in the election year.

The Election Commission is set to start handing over laminated NID cards this March to those who have been included in the voter list since 2013.

There has been no reported diphtheria case in Bangladesh for the last 35 years. But the highly contagious disease, long forgotten in most part of the world due to increased vaccination, has made a sudden comeback.

The Election Commission plans to hold the Dhaka North City Corporation mayoral by-polls in late February with the two major political parties expected to nominate candidates soon.

A few days ago around noon, rickshaw puller Abdus Salam dropped a passenger near Khamarbari intersection and got off his vehicle in front of a tea stall. He told the street vendor to give him a piece of bread and tea.