An elderly woman died from smoke inhalation and two others required medical attention after a fire broke out at a residential building in the capital’s Dhanmondi area yesterday.

Sixth grader Zakaria Hasan (not his real name) suddenly lost interest in school. On different pretexts, he stayed at home. It was a new school and a new bunch of classmates, so his parents thought this could be a reason.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) issued a letter addressing Test and T20I captain Shakib Al Hasan yesterday, asking him to clarify why he had breached his contract by signing a deal with one of the country’s top mobile phone operators without informing the board.

A shipbuilder is making wooden classroom benches! No matter how weird it may appear, the former vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University in Gopalganj has actually made it possible.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged her Nepalese counterpart KP Sharma Oli to finalise the Preferential Trade Agreement between the two countries during the upcoming visit of the Bangladesh president to Nepal.

The government will provide security to the family of Nusrat Jahan Rafi, the madrasa student who was burnt to death for protesting sexual abuse in Feni, for as long as it is necessary, said Law Minister Anisul Huq.

Biman has finally got rid of the last of its two leased Boeing 777-200ER airplanes that have been causing the national flag carrier to incur huge losses for several years.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader yesterday said leaders would be elected in the upcoming party councils on the basis of their competency.

Calling upon the world community to address the Rohingya crisis, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said voluntary return of the Rohingyas to their homes in safety, security and dignity was the only solution to the crisis.

It is called “body contract”, under which you do not need to pay a dime before reaching your destination. But as soon as you are there, your family members have to make the payment.

Splash of rain, cold breeze and gloomy weather could do little to the air of festivity and splendour that fenced the capital’s International Convention City Bashundhara yesterday for the award ceremony of The Daily Star-Standard Chartered Celebrating Life’s 12th edition.

As many as 59.57 percent of the businesses in a recent government survey complained of market imperfection as the prime obstacle for them to thrive.

A number of religious leaders, including imams, in Bhola had broken their promise to the local administration of taking all necessary steps to postpone the fateful October 20 rally.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday told the BBC that they were yet to identify the person who had hacked the Facebook ID of Biplob Chandra Baidya, but Facebook authorities had given the Bangladesh government some idea, not any concrete information about the hacker.

All great things start from small beginnings, it is often said. And Bangladesh’s eight-place leap forward in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2020 index can be viewed in this light.

“…I will continue to protest against injustice until my death.”

A Feni court yesterday handed down death sentence to all the 16 accused, including a sacked madrasa principal and two expelled local Awami League leaders, over the murder of madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi in April, an incident that had shocked the entire nation.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed Swechchhasebak League General Secretary Pankaj Devnath, also a lawmaker, not to take part in any activity of the organisation’s November 16 council.

A huge number of students, who had graduated from Dhaka University years ago, are still staying at its Ziaur Rahman Hall illegally, a house tutor of the dormitory said at a meeting with top university officials yesterday.

The US has lauded Bangladesh for its socio-economic development and sheltering nearly one million Rohingyas, but remains concerned about the country’s state of political freedoms and trajectory of democracy.