Bangladesh
Journalist Rozina walks out of jail after one week
Prothom Alo senior reporter Rozina Islam, who was sent to jail on May 18 in a case filed under the Official Secrets Act, walked out of Kashimpur Women's Central Jail on Sunday afternoon after securing interim bail from a Dhaka court.
Rozina came out of the prison around 4:15 pm, according to jail officials.
Journalists and people from different walks of life received Rozina at the jail gate with flower bouquets. Her 13 relatives, including sister and brother-in-law, reached the jail gate around 3:25 pm in two microbuses to receive her.
The bail-related documents were sent to the jail authorities online and they freed her after examining those.
Read: Journalist Rozina Islam finally gets bail until July 15
Earlier in the day, a Dhaka court granted interim bail to Rozina Islam until July 15 in the case.
Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Baki Billah granted the bail on a bond of Tk 5,000. The court also asked her to submit her passport before the court.
On Thursday, the court had fixed Sunday for passing an order after hearing her bail petition virtually.
The 42-year-old journalist, known for her investigative journalism, was detained at the Secretariat for over five hours before being handed over to police on May 17.
She allegedly clicked photos of documents related to government negotiations with pharma firms to buy Covid-19 vaccines, according to case documents.
An FIR was filed against Rozina under the Official Secrets Act and sections 379 and 411 of The Penal Code on a complaint filed by the Health Services Division with Shahbagh Police Station.
Later, on May 18, a Dhaka court sent Rozina to jail after rejecting the police's demand for her five-day remand. Rozina was taken to Kashimpur Central Women's Jail on that day only.
Read:Dr Kamal demands immediate release of journalist Rozina
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has formed a three-member probe committee to look into the allegations of the journalist's detention at the Secretariat and also her subsequent handover to the police.
Meanwhile, the case filed against Rozina was transferred to the Detective Branch of police on Wednesday.
Nationwide protests
Rozina’s harassment for hours and her subsequent arrest sparked condemnation across the country.
Journalists formed human chains and held rallies in the capital and other parts of the country on Wednesday demanding the "unconditional" release of Rozina and the punishment of those involved in harassing her at the Secretariat.
They also demanded withdrawal of the false cases filed against the journalist.
UN’s concern
The United Nations has said Rozina's arrest is obviously "something concerning”, noting that journalists need to be able to do their work free of any sort of harassment or physical threat anywhere around the world.
"Look, I've seen…we've seen the press reports on the journalist who was arrested in Bangladesh. It’s, obviously, something that we’re looking at. It’s something that's concerning," said Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, at a regular briefing on May 18.
Read:Rozina Islam: Journalism Vs the Colonial hangover of official secrecy
Amnesty’s statement
Rozina's arrest and the failure of the Bangladesh authorities to provide concrete evidence pointing to a recognisable criminal offence raise concerns that she is being targeted for her critical reporting, the Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
In the absence of such evidence, the authorities must release Rozina immediately and she should not be punished for fulfilling her professional duties as a journalist, the human rights organisation also said.
TIB’s condemnation
Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) has also strongly condemned the detention and harassment of the investigative journalist at the Ministry of Health while performing her professional duties.
In a statement issued on May 18, TIB has demanded immediate withdrawal of charges and unconditional release of Rozina. It has also urged the government to show prudence by ensuring exemplary punishment to the culprits through proper investigation into the incident.
Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 28 more deaths, 1,354 new cases
As Bangladesh battles with the Covid-19 pandemic, its health authorities recorded 28 more deaths and 1,354 cases in 24 hours until Sunday morning.
The infection rate rose to 8.90 percent from Saturday’s 8.41 percent while the mortality rate stood at 1.57 percent, said a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read:17 India returnees test positive for Covid-19
The new cases of infections were recorded after testing 15,205 samples.
With the fresh deaths during the period, the coronavirus fatalities rose to 12,376 in the country.
The total caseload now stands at 7,89,080 with the new ones, the handout added.
Lockdown extended
The government has extended the ongoing lockdown by another week until May 30 allowing public buses to run at half of their capacities considering the current coronavirus situation in the country.
The Cabinet Division issued a circular in this regard on Sunday.
All concerned, including passengers, will have to maintain health protocols like wearing masks, says the circular.
Read: Bangladesh extends lockdown until May 30
Besides, hotels and restaurants will be allowed to keep open with half of half of their capacities.
The authorities concerned have been asked to take necessary steps in this regard.
As coronavirus cases kept on growing at an alarming rate since mid-March, the government had imposed a ‘loose’ nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its move to contain its spread.
Later, a ‘stricter’ lockdown was announced from April 14 to 21. Then the lockdown was extended several times considering the situation.
Train services set to resume
Twenty-eight pairs of trains will run from Monday across the country following the suspension of the services for over a month as part of the government restrictions on people’s movement to stem the coronavirus transmission.
Read:Train services to resume at half capacity from Monday
The authorities concerned have been asked to keep half of the train seat vacant for ensuring a physical distance, said an official release issued by the Ministry of Railways on Sunday.
Passengers can purchase train tickets online, the release added.
Quick wickets put Bangladesh under pressure
In the first ODI of the three-match series against Sri Lanka on Sunday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Bangladesh lost four wickets within 100 runs with two wickets in consecutive two deliveries off Dhananjaya de Silva.
Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first with Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman made a comeback to the national fold after missing out on the two-match Test series against the same opponent.
Liton Das was the first batsman to get dismissed in the second over of the game for a duck. Dushmantha Chameera delivered a full-length ball outside off, and Liton tried to drive to the cover without any foot movement. He just prodded the ball of the slip cordon.
Read: Bangladesh bat first in series opener vs Sri Lanka
Shakib, who returned after missing out on two tours to New Zealand and Sri Lanka, fell for 15 to Danushka Gunathilaka. He came out down the wicket and mistimed a slower off the bowler. Shakib never looked comfortable in the middle in his 34-ball stay.
During the 23rd over, Dhananjaya removed Tamim Iqbal and Mohammad Mithun off two consecutive deliveries. Tamim moved from his regular stance and came back before the ball was delivered, which has hit his boot and he was given lbw. In the next ball, Mithun tried a lap sweep off the first ball in the wicket and missed. He was also given lbw.
Tamim fell for 52, and along the way, he completed 14 thousand international runs as the first Bangladeshi batsman. He now amassed 14025 runs in 356 matches across the formats.
Train services to resume at half capacity from Monday
Twenty eight pairs of trains will run from Monday across the country after suspension of the services for over one month as part of the government restrictions on people’s movement to stem the coronavirus transmission.
The authorities concerned have been asked to keep half of the train seat vacant for ensuring social distance, said a handout issued by Railways Ministry on Sunday.
Passengers can purchase train tickets online, it said.
Passenger train services were suspended across the country on April 5 as part of countrywide lockdown following surge in Covid infections.
Read: Bank transaction hours from 10 am to 2:30 pm until May 30
The government on Sunday extended the ongoing lockdown by another week until May 30 allowing public buses to run at half of their capacities considering the current coronavirus situation in the country.
The Cabinet Division has issued a circular in this regard.
All concerned, including passengers, will have to maintain health protocols like wearing masks, says the circular.
Besides, hotels and restaurants will be allowed to keep open with half of half of their capacities.
The authorities concerned have been asked to take necessary steps in this regard.
Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh logged 38 more coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours till Saturday morning, taking the country's fatalities to 12,348.
The daily infection rate rose to 8.41% from Friday's 7.22%, said the Directorate General of Health Services.
Meanwhile, 1,028 new cases were reported after testing 12,230 samples.
Read:Bangladesh extends lockdown until May 30
Bangladesh reported 26 deaths on Friday after logging around 30 deaths for consecutive four days.
The fatality rate rose to 1.57% after remaining static at 1.56% for six days.
The recovery rate stood at 92.65% as 759 people recovered in the last 24 hours. The overall recovery number is 729,798 till date.
Bangladesh has so far reported 787,726 coronavirus cases.
Bank transaction hours from 10 am to 2:30 pm until May 30
Banks’ transaction hours have been raised by half an hour as they will now operate from 10 am to 2:30 pm from May 24 to until May 30.
Bangladesh Bank issued a circular on Sunday for all the banks in compliance with the Cabinet Division’s latest directives on the countrywide lockdown to contain Coronavirus transmission.
The banks can keep open offices until 4 pm to do their necessary activities, said the BB circular.
Read:Bangladesh extends lockdown until May 30
Currently, banks have been operating transactions from 10 am to 2 pm while in the normal situation they operate from 10 pm to 4 pm.
The BB circular said all other instructions will remain unchanged as per the circular of April 13.
In that circular it said banks can keep one non-AD branch open within 2km radius in the city corporation areas and at upazila level one branch of each bank can remain open on Thursday, Sunday and Tuesday.
Banks have to take measures to provide transport facilities for the staff during the period.
The BB circular said during the banking transaction hours, banks have to ensure different kinds of services including clearing of cheques, withdrawal and deposits of money, money transfer, the release of remittance, encashment of different instruments and also receipt of the payments of bills of different utilities.
BB said banks have to continue services like disbursement of loans, incentives, payment of salaries of different industries and also the purchase of export bills, loan sanction and distribution.
Read:Bank-Company (Amendment) Bill 2021 draft gets Cabinet nod
Banks have to follow instructions in keeping the branches located in the port areas in discussion with the local administration and other authorities, as per the circular issued on August 5 last year, it said.
Banks have to operate with limited staff under a roster system.
They have to ensure operation of ATM booths to facilitate transaction through cards by supplying adequate cash in the machines while the evening banking and weekly holiday banking activities will remain closed until further order, said the circular issued on April 13.
17 India returnees test positive for Covid-19
Seventeen Bangladeshis, who returned home from India through Benapole land port from April 26 to May 22, have tested positive for Covid-19.
Some 3,444 Bangladeshis have returned home from India from April 26 to May 22 after obtaining a 'no-objection certificate' from the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh.
Earlier, the government closed border with India keeping only movement of cargoes uninterrupted amid worsening Covid situation in India.
Read: 3,350 Bangladeshis return through Benapole since Apr 26; 17 test Covid positive
Many Bangladeshi citizens are returning home through the Benapole land port with special permission.
Of them, 17 returnees tested positive for Covid-19.
Dr Utpala Roy, Medical officer of Benapole Immigration, said on Saturday 94 Bangladeshis returned home from India and they have been kept at Jashore Gazir Darga Madrasha and other different quarantine centres for 14-day mandatory quarantine.
If they test negative for Covid-19 they will be released later, he said.
Read: 206 India returnees put in 14-day quarantine in Cumilla
However, those who have tested positive have been kept at the red zone of Corona Unit.
According to the World Health Organisation, the Indian variant has already spread to 60 countries across the world.
The Bangladeshi citizens currently travelling to India for treatment and having visas with validity for less than 15 days could enter Bangladesh only through Benapole, Akhaura and Burimari after taking permission from Bangladesh diplomatic missions in New Delhi, Kolkata, and Agartala and with a mandatory Covid-negative certificates done through PCR test within 72 hours of entry.
Bangladesh bat first in series opener vs Sri Lanka
Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal won the toss and opted to bat first in the three-match ODI series opener against Sri Lanka on Sunday at Mirpur.
Hours before the match takes the field, the Sri Lanka squad went through a Covid-19 scare. Three members of the Lankan squad tested positive for Covid-19 including two cricketers but the latest PCR test revealed only one of them is positive.
Read:Sri Lankan player Shiran Fernando tests positive for Covid-19 in latest test
This series is a part of the World Cup Super League. Bangladesh has already played six matches of this event and won three of them. The top seven teams of this event will get a direct qualification to the World Cup 2023.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, played three matches of the World Cup Super League and lost all.
With this series, Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman are back to the Bangladesh side after missing out on the Sri Lanka tour for a two-match Test series.
The remaining matches will take place on May 25 and 28 respectively at the same venue.
Read:Bangladesh and Sri Lanka all set to face off in an ODI Series
Bangladesh playing XI: Tamim Iqbal (c), Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (w), Mohammad Mithun, Mhamudullah Riyad, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mohammad Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman
Sri Lanka playing XI: Kusal Perera(w/c), Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Ashen Bandara, Wanindu Hasaranga, Isuru Udana, Lakshan Sandakan, Dushmantha Chameera
Another cyclone coming, alerts PM Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday urged all to remain alert as cyclone ‘Yaas’ may hit Bangladesh in a couple of days.
"Another cyclone is coming, it’s just forming now (in the bay)," she said.
The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating as well as laying the foundation stones of 225 facilities of the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry.
Read:Cyclone Yash: Thrice the usual number of shelters being prepared due to Covid
The programme was held at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium and the Prime Minister joined it virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban.
Of the total facilities, 110 are Multipurpose Cyclone Shelters, 30 Flood Shelters, 30 District Relief and Disaster Management Information Centers and 5 Mujib Killas.
The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of 50 Mujib Killas across the country.
Sheikh Hasina said: "We’ve already started taking adequate precautionary measures [to face the cyclone]. Inshallah, we’ll remain cautious, we’ll be able to reduce risks."
According to the meteorological office, a low-pressure area is brewing over the north Andaman Sea and the adjoining east-central Bay of Bengal, which could intensify into a cyclonic storm.
The storm is then likely to move north-westwards and reach the Odisha-West Bengal-Khulna coast around May 26 (Wednesday), according to the weather department.
Read:PM to inaugurate 140 cyclone and flood centres on Sunday, says minister
Meanwhile, the government has prepared cyclone centres three times more than what was required in compliance with health guidelines, keeping in mind the coronavirus situation, to provide shelter to coastal people if Cyclone Yaas hits Bangladesh.
The Prime Minister said Bangladesh has to face various types of natural calamities like cyclone and flood due to its geographical location. "Sometimes manmade disasters also hit Bangladesh. We’ve to move on tackling all this. We’re moving one and we’ll keep on moving.”
Hasina said the government had taken numerous steps to face difficulties during every calamity and put emphasis on averting any possible loss of human lives.
Regarding deaths in thunderbolt strikes, the Prime Minister said once people used to plant palm-trees near their houses and that saved human lives naturally from thunderbolts.
"Once people had forgotten that. Now that sense of necessity (planting palm trees) has returned," she said, mentioning that the government has taken all-out efforts to save people from any calamity.
Read: Cyclone brewing over Andaman Sea 'may hit Bangladesh coast'
Talking about the future generations, she said the government has taken the Delta Plan 2100 to make Bangladesh a developed country from the developing one.
A video on the contributions of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was also screened at the programme.
State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Mohammad Enamur Rahman, Secretary of the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry Mohammad Mohsin also spoke at the programme.
Bangladesh extends lockdown until May 30
The government has extended the ongoing lockdown by another week until May 30 allowing public buses to run at half of their capacities considering the current coronavirus situation in the country.
The Cabinet Division issued a circular in this regard on Sunday.
All concerned, including passengers, will have to maintain health protocols like wearing masks, says the circular.
Besides, hotels and restaurants will be allowed to keep open with half of half of their capacities.
Read:Strict lockdown imposed in Teknaf and five Rohingya camps
The authorities concerned have been asked to take necessary steps in this regard.
As coronavirus cases kept growing at an alarming rate since mid-March, the government had imposed a ‘loose’ nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its move to contain its spread.
Later, a ‘stricter’ lockdown was announced from April 14 to 21. Then the lockdown was extended several times considering the situation.
On April 23, the Cabinet Division issued a notice allowing shops and shopping malls to operate from April 25 (10am-5pm) on a condition that they would maintain safety protocols properly.
Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh logged 38 more coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours till Saturday morning, taking the country's fatalities to 12,348.
The daily infection rate rose to 8.41% from Friday's 7.22%, said the Directorate General of Health Services.
Meanwhile, 1,028 new cases were reported after testing 12,230 samples.
Read: 3,350 Bangladeshis return through Benapole since Apr 26; 17 test Covid positive
Bangladesh reported 26 deaths on Friday after logging around 30 deaths for consecutive four days.
The fatality rate rose to 1.57% after remaining static at 1.56% for six days.
The recovery rate stood at 92.65% as 759 people recovered in the last 24 hours. The overall recovery number is 729,798 till date.
Bangladesh has so far reported 787,726 coronavirus cases.
Sri Lankan player Shiran Fernando tests positive for Covid-19 in latest test
In a latest Covid-19 Test, Sri Lankan cricketer Shiran Fernando tested positive for Covid-19 while Isuru Udana and Chaminda Vaas, who tested positive earlier, returned negative.
Jalal Younus, the chair of the media and communication committee of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), confirmed that the series will go on as per the schedule.
Read:Bangladesh and Sri Lanka all set to face off in an ODI Series
Along with these three, Bangladesh’s media manager Rabeed Imam also tested positive in the second latest test but returned negative in the latest test.
“The series is on and everything will go as per the schedule,” Jalal told the media. “There is no doubt about the series. Who returned positive will remain in isolation now.”
The first ODI of the series is set to begin at 1pm today while the others are scheduled to take place on May 25 and 28 respectively.