The much-talked-about Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Bill, 2020, was passed in parliament yesterday to provide for death penalty as the highest punishment for rape.

Most parts of Sylhet and Sunamganj districts plunged into darkness last night after engineers failed to restore electricity supply from Kumargaon Power Plant after a fire.

The government is considering banking on the existing cold chain for storing, transporting and distributing coronavirus vaccines while some experts say the main challenge will be to manage such a large volume with the existing capacity.

Four police personnel, including the officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station in Old Dhaka, have been sued for extorting money from a trader.

Observing a rising trend in Covid-19 infections and deaths, experts in the country stressed on immediate acceleration of scientific virus curb measures to stop transmission.

The High Court yesterday upheld a government decision that declared 13,000 acres of land in Sylhet’s Jaintiapur and Gowainghat upazilas as reserved forest area.

One of the greatest icons of Bangla cinema, Soumitra Chatterjee was never short of enthusiasm for work as his magic on the silver screen kept audience enthralled for around six decades.

Twenty-one more people died from Covid-19 in past 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday, said a press release of the Directorate General of Health Services.

Mobile courts will initiate drives in Dhaka within two to three days to make sure that people wear facemasks and follow other health rules, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said yesterday.

With the high price of potatoes continuing to hurt household budgets across the board, farmers’ pockets also bear the brunt as they have to buy seed potatoes at a higher rate.

Former deputy speaker Col (retd) Shawkat Ali, who was one of the accused in the historic Agartala Conspiracy Case, passed away at the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka yesterday. He was 83.

Japan is directly communicating with Myanmar, emphasising the importance of Rohingya repatriation and accountability as it considers a long-term solution to the crisis and regional stability essential conditions for a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The country’s food reserve dropped to 8.8 lakh tonnes on Sunday, despite bumper grain production in the last fiscal year.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday told parliament that it was the BNP that carried out the recent arson attack on buses to make the election questionable and malign the government.

Almost a year after holding its 7th Congress, Jubo League announced its 201-member committee which includes controversial independent MP Mujibur Rahman Chowdhury, popularly known as Nixon Chowdhury, as a presidium member.

The death of legendary Soumitra Chatterjee yesterday brought an end to the last link of the golden era of Bangalee actors, led by the incomparable Uttam Kumar.

The government is going to make Covid-19 negative certificate mandatory for every incoming passenger from foreign countries, said Prof Khurshid Alam, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services.

The government is racing against time to print and distribute a whopping 36 crore copies of school textbooks at the upazila level on time due to severe disruptions to the massive undertaking, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman formed Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League to unite the whole nation but the idea was totally misinterpreted.

A Rajshahi University correspondent of daily Jugantor was sent to jail on Saturday in a case filed five years ago under the Information and Communication Technology Act.