The shortages of experts and professionals, including pilots, have left Biman unable to realise the full potential of its modern fleet, said Biman Managing Director and CEO Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal in an interview with The Daily Star.

The deputy commissioners have asked for the power to supervise project implementation in their districts, which experts have termed “inappropriate” for mega projects.

Nearly 50 years after the constitution prescribed enacting a specific law for forming Election Commission, the government has finally approved the draft of a law to appoint the chief election commissioner and other commissioners through a search committee.

The ruling Awami League yesterday placed four proposals to President Abdul Hamid including one for enacting law to form the Election Commission in line with article 118 of the constitution.

The government has taken 180 turn on its directive regarding buses running at half capacity to curb Covid-19 transmission, bending again to the pressure from transport workers and owners.

The coronavirus transmission is galloping at such an “alarming” rate that there will be no space left in the hospitals in the next one to one-and-a-half months for Covid-19 patients, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque yesterday.

The president’s dialogue on the formation of the next Election Commission has become almost insignificant and lost its importance as multiple major political parties boycotted it one after another, said political analysts and parties.

People’s lack of experience with Electronic Voting Machines and the mismatching of fingerprints slowed down voting in several polling centres yesterday during the much-talked-about Narayanganj city corporation election.

Selina Hayat Ivy was on course to win a straight third term as the Narayanganj mayor as she was ahead of her rival by 42,054 votes in yesterday’s city corporation polls, which was largely festive and peaceful.

Narayanganj goes to polls today to pick its mayor and 36 councillors, in an election that can be expected to be a departure from the recent violence-ridden voting for Union Parishad seats.

For a second time in a month, Dhaka has sought more time to notify the US whether it would consent to the Leahy law, which was invoked at the beginning of the new year.

Hospitals in three divisions have seen a rise in the number of patients being admitted  with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, according to the health directorate.

Police yesterday recovered the body of retired Dhaka University Professor Sayeda Gaffar Khaleque from a bush in Gazipur’s Kashimpur area, three days after she was killed.

Over the last 15 years, the government has spent Tk 119 crore to upgrade Dhaka’s traffic signal system. The plan involved some ambitious experiments to modernise the capital’s traffic control system, including digitising signal lights and installing timer countdown and digital display boards in some major intersections.

Selina Hayat Ivy and Taimur Alam Khandakar have accused each other of plotting to cause violence as the campaign for the Narayanganj city polls ended midnight yesterday.

Human Rights Forum Bangladesh (HRFB) yesterday said the government should immediately instruct the police to stop harassing the families of the victims of enforced disappearance.

With the heat turned up on human rights violations in the country, police have re-established contact with families of enforced-disappearance victims.

The security forces in Bangladesh continued to commit crimes such as enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings with impunity, said Human Rights Watch in its World Report 2022.

Hundreds of vaccine seekers, not enough space for social distancing, inadequate number of attendants to organise jab recipients and confusion about whether certain doses will be administered.

A top transport association yesterday asked its members to operate their vehicles at full capacity, violating the government directive to carry only 50 percent passengers on public transports.