Amar Ekushey book fair has always been a manifestation of people’s love for their mother tongue. On the eve of Ekushey, the fair has been buzzing with people, many of them interested in learning from books on the Language Movement.

Four-year-old Junayed still waits for his father to return home with a bag full of chips and toys, a promise he was given a year ago.“He still complains to his mother why his father was not coming back with chips... ‘Why is abbu [dad] still taking so much time to come home from downstairs?’ he asks,” said Junayed’s mother Shirin Aktar yesterday, in a choked-up voice.

Sajiba Khatun, mother of Mostafa Kamal, president of Dhaka Sangbadpatra Hawkers Bahumukhi Somobay Samity Ltd, passed away yesterday at her residence at Kalshi, Mirpur. She was 105 years old.

At least 3,950 bottles of Phensedyl were seized from a warehouse for spice and salt in Badarganj upazila of Rangpur yesterday.

Foodpanda, an online food delivery service, is going to launch its Bangla app today, says a press release.

The High Court yesterday directed authorities concerned to suspend Md Durul Huda, a teacher of Rajshahi University School and College, who allegedly sexually harassed a student in October last year.

A fourth-grade employee of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University in Dinajpur allegedly made a derogatory remark against the vice chancellor (VC).

Around 3,000 RMG workers and staff members of two factories in Savar blocked a road for four hours in two phases yesterday, demanding arrears.

Members of a local gang beat up a man and looted his house in Savar, according to a complaint.

BNP will declare its mayoral candidate for Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) polls on February 24. Party insiders, however, said unlike Awami League, which chose a surprise candidate, their leadership will not make such a move.

Central Women’s University Vice-chancellor Professor Dr Perween Hasan has been elected chairperson of the trustee board of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) detains a Bangladesh national on Khalisakothal border in Kurigram’s Phulbari upazila.

Cox’s Bazar Civil Society and NGO Forum (CCNF) demands that the government make the relief management for Rohingya refugees transparent and form an authority regarding the matter.

A mass signature programme is held in Dhaka’s Chawkbazar area demanding compensation for the families of the 71 victims of the devastating Chawkbazar fire.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has distributed the prestigious Ekushey Padak-2020 among 20 eminent personalities and an organisation in recognition of their contributions to various fields.

A group of Khulna University scientists yesterday said the government should properly identify the peak breeding season of mud crabs based on scientific evidence, to protect mother crabs and halt the industry’s decline.

In this era of connectivity, digital technology has a deep impact on book publishing and the way people read.

Vendors encroaching footpaths, garbage lying around, self-promoting posters on the wall and haphazard parking -- residents of Dhaka are all too used to these sights, and to a large extent have accepted these nuisances and eyesores.

Awami League leaders gave a warm reception to mayoral candidate Rezaul Karim Chowdhury at Chattogram railway station yesterday, as he reached there from Dhaka after receiving the party’s nomination for the mayoral election to Chattogram City Corporation.

The operator of a payloader lost control of the equipment yesterday in Cumilla and rammed it into two battery-run auto-rickshaws, and two stationary rickshaw vans. One person was killed in the accident while four were injured.