The state of political rights and civil liberties in Bangladesh has witnessed a decline in the last five years and the country still falls in the status of “partly free”, according to a report by Freedom House.

Shared cultural heritage is the strength of friendship between Bangladesh and India, said Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today after inaugurating the Indian Cultural Centre in the capital’s Gulshan.

The authorities of Chattogram Medical College (CMC) have imposed a ban on processions and rallies on the campus as the students locked in clashes twice within the span of a month.

Prof Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, the vice-chancellor of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur (BRUR) was declared persona non grata on campus today after he held a press conference in Dhaka.

United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has placed Bangladesh in a list of countries that require external assistance in food to brave “severe localised food insecurity”.

Sixty-six writers of Bangladesh have issued a statement demanding justice for the death of writer Mushtaq Ahmed in jail custody and abolition of Digital Security Act (DSA).

The jail authorities did not find any negligence on their part in writer Mushtaq Ahmed's death in custody, Inspector General (IG) of Prisons Brig Gen Md Mominur Rahman Mamun said today.

Former Senior Secretary of Agriculture Ministry Md Moinuddin Abdullah has been appointed as chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Police barred a procession brought out by the country’s eminent citizens -- demanding justice for writer Mushtaq Ahmed’s death in jail custody and abolition of Digital Security Act -- in front of InterContinental hotel in Dhaka’s Shahbagh area when it was moving towards the Prime Minister’s Office.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today said Bangladesh wants to work with the United States on “security issue of the Indo-Pacific” but purchasing expensive defence equipment is not the country’s priority.

The priority of the government in this Covid-19 pandemic is to ensure food and shelter for people alongside ensuring vaccine, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while approving the revised Annual Development Programme for 2020-21 fiscal during the National Economic Council meeting today.

Bangabandhu’s dynamism and farsightedness shaped the foreign policy visions of Bangladesh, said eminent speakers at a webinar as part of the celebration of Mujib Year.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has called for transparent investigation into the death of writer Mushtaq Ahmed and review of the Digital Security Act, under which he was charged.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine.

Ten banks have faced a capital shortfall of Tk 28,949 crore last year because of their high ratio of defaulted loans.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today suggested media to stop giving publicity to statements from foreign missions expressing concern over Bangladesh’s internal issues.

Theater activist Lily Chowdhury, wife of martyred intellectual Munier Chowdhury, passed away today at her Banani residence. She was 93.

Arif Khan, managing director and chief executive officer of IDLC Finance, has resigned from his position to ‘start his personal business.’

Former NRB Global Bank managing director Proshanta Kumar Halder fled the country through Jashore’s Benapole land port less than an hour before immigration police received his travel ban notice, Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik said.

Activists of left-leaning student organisations, who were demonstrating in front of the Secretariat after they were barred from besieging the home ministry, ended their protest programme for today.