The government is set to sign a 30-year agreement next week with APM Terminals BV, a Dutch subsidiary of the AP Moller-Maersk Group, to develop and operate Laldia Container Terminal at the Chattogram Port under a public-private partnership (PPP) framework.

BNP acting chairperson Tarique Rahman yesterday questioned the logic of holding a referendum now, given that the country faces serious issues such as unemployment, unfair prices for farmers, and a failing education system.

The government is considering holding the national election and the referendum on the same day

Political parties must ensure that children are never used as tools in protests or politics, emphasised speakers at an event yesterday. They called for the protection of children’s rights to remain a priority above all political divisions.

The High Court yesterday directed the authorities concerned to properly preserve and protect all the playgrounds of Dhaka University.

The Supreme Court chamber judge yesterday upheld for a time being a High Court verdict that declared illegal the Election Commission’s gazette notification which reduced the number of parliamentary seats in Bagerhat from four to three and increased the number of seats of Gazipur from five to six.

The Election Commission is set to begin its electoral dialogues with registered political parties today.

The Supreme Court chamber judge yesterday stayed the High Court verdict that granted bail to former Narayanganj City Corporation mayor Selina Hayat Ivy in five separate cases.

The investigation into corruption allegations against the former APS and PO of two government advisers appears to have stalled.

With about three dozen doctors set to contest the upcoming national election, doctors appear to constitute one of the largest groups of professionals vying for seats in the parliament.

Police recovered the slit-throat bodies of a man and his daughter from a house in Haluaghat upazila of Mymensingh early yestedray.

Residents of several parts of Jurain have been enduring an acute water crisis for the past four days, as a Wasa pump failure has halted water supply through its pipelines.

Twenty-one High Court judges, out of 22 whose services were regularised, took their oath yesterday.

Five dengue patients died, while 1,139 others were hospitalised, in the 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday.

Police yesterday detained seven youths at the home of former education minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel in Sholoshohor of Chattogram.

UK Minister for Interna-tional Develop-ment Jenny Chapman is set to arrive in Dhaka today on a two-day visit to Bangladesh.

After three and a half months of treatment at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, twin sisters Sarina Jahan Sayra and Saiba Jahan Sayma, students of Milestone School and College, have finally returned home.

Shubhechcha Ghosh, from the Askar Dighir Par area of Chattogram city, brought her five-year-old son, who had a fever and cough, to a doctor, who prescribed a course of antibiotics after examination. The worried mother said her child had caught a cold even though winter had not yet set in.

VP Shadik Kayem says decision to confer lifetime membership was unconstitutional and undemocratic

Locals catch two men, hand them over to police