The government, for the first time, has moved to define habitual defaulters, a development that may stop delinquent borrowers from running businesses, travelling abroad, and participating in social and political activities.

The Calcutta High Court last night stayed the bail granted by a trial court to two senior West Bengal Ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, and ruling TMC legislator Madan Mitra and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee.

Israeli jets kept pounding Gaza yesterday afternoon, as the enclave’s residents cowered indoors and the violence that has killed more than 200 people, most of them Palestinians, entered a second week.

Banks in the country saw a rapid surge of funds in certain accounts last year after the government gave the scope for legalising black money.

The Bangladesh government has signed a non-disclosure agreement with its Chinese counterpart on purchasing Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine and producing it here.

With the stock of Covid-19 vaccine depleting fast, the government’s mass inoculation programme might soon come to a screeching halt.

Prothom Alo Senior Correspondent Rozina Islam was kept confined at the health ministry for more than five hours yesterday before being handed to police. Police later said the journalist of the Bangla daily was sued under the Official Secrets Act.

Israeli strikes killed 42 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip yesterday, the worst daily toll yet in almost a week of deadly clashes, as Palestinian and Israeli leaders both appealed for support at a UN Security Council session but little action was in sight.

The government has extended the ongoing countrywide restrictions on movement and inter-district public transport until May 23 to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Thousands of people are returning to Dhaka from their homes after the Eid holidays as government and private offices reopened yesterday.

The Associated Press and Al Jazeera have vowed not to be silenced and expressed ‘shock’ after an Israeli airstrike destroyed a building housing the news agencies’ Gaza offices and those of other international news media.

Former superintendent of police Babul Akter, plaintiff in a murder case over the killing of his wife Mahmuda Khanam Mitu in 2016, will be produced before court today after being arrested in another case filed over the same incident.

With the guard against Covid-19 lowered, health officials and experts fear that the country is heading towards a grimmer health crisis.

The US has taken note of the statement of Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming that Dhaka’s relations with Beijing will “substantially get damaged” if it joined Quad, a US-led initiative meant to ensure free and open Indo-Pacific, said Ned Price, US State Department Spokesman,

Terming Chinese envoy’s recent remarks very regrettable, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday said Bangladesh maintained a non-aligned and balanced foreign policy and it would decide what to do following that principle.

An uncharacteristically indelicate exchange regarding a four-country alliance called “the Quad”, which includes India and the US, seems to have heated up the otherwise smooth Dhaka-Beijing diplomatic relations.

Investigators have brought charges against photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol in another case filed under the Digital Security Act stating that his purpose was to deteriorate law and order through aggressive intimidation and posting defamatory photos and writings on Facebook.

The ban on inter-district buses and restrictions on public movement could not stop the mad rush of homebound people, as thousands made arduous journeys yesterday to celebrate the Eid with their loved ones amid the pandemic.

The government could not spend two-thirds of its around Tk 25,000 crore cash-food support packages for the poor and vulnerable, frontline health workers and low-income farmers in the last year after its announcement.

Bangladesh’s first ever electricity train was rolled out on the tracks on a test run yesterday, signaling that the country is now one step closer to fulfil its dream of having its own metro rail.