The Election Commission will unveil the schedule this evening for the country’s first-ever twin polls -- the national election and the July charter referendum -- to be held on the same day in mid-February.

Speakers discuss edcuation system at IID roundtable

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus yesterday described the upcoming national election as a historic opportunity to build a new Bangladesh following the mass uprising and stressed that it must be conducted in a fair and credible manner.

Following the recent earthquakes, at least 147 of the total 1,285 government primary schools in Jashore have been declared risky.

Workers and employees under the banner of Sramik-Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP) staged a red-flag procession in Chattogram yesterday, protesting the government’s move to lease out terminals at Chattogram Port to foreign companies.

Opting for divisive politics, rather than choosing a path that brings everyone together, has wasted the opportunity to strengthen the human rights situation in the country in the post-uprising period, said HRSS Adviser and rights activist Nur Khan Liton yesterday.

Chattogram Customs House has seized 4.2 tonnes of Sodium Cyclamate, a banned artificial sweetener, at Chattogram Port.

Fifty-eight of the 162 railway stations in the West Zone remain closed, causing immense hardship for commuters across Jashore, Jhenidah, Kushtia, Meherpur and Chuadanga.

Outgoing head of the UN Human Rights Office in Bangladesh, Huma Khan, expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s failure to disband the Rab and implement key institutional reforms, while also acknowledging progress on several recommendations, including the swift enactment of a law on enforced disappearances.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday ordered notices to be published in two national dailies, asking absconding accused Sajeeb Wazed Joy to appear before it by December 17 in a case over alleged crimes against humanity committed during the July uprising.

Despite a clear national consensus for the upcoming national election, the persistent public apprehension regarding the capacity to hold a credible and fair election has not been dispelled, said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, yesterday.

Democracies must be prepared to fight for freedom in order to survive, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said yesterday, in a speech delivered by her daughter during a ceremony Machado could not attend.

For in-depth reporting on judicial indepen-dence, ten journalists -- including The Daily Star’s Senior Reporter Baharam Khan -- have been honoured at the “Media Award on Judicial Independence 2025,” organised by the National Institute of Mass Communication (NIMC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Bangladesh still lacks a space where human rights can truly flourish, said rights activist Sultana Kamal yesterday. She expressed hesitation in speaking on the topic, stating that the country has lost the moral ground needed to uphold these values.

Bangladesh Navy has detained 22 alleged smugglers and seized two engine-run boats carrying 1,500 sacks of cement near Saint Martin’s Island, said a BN press release yesterday.

The University of Oxford has launched the world’s first Phase II clinical trial of a Nipah virus vaccine.

Unidentified assailants shot two activists of Jubo Dal, the youth wing of BNP, in the Uttaran Residential Area of Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday night.

An 11-month-old girl died after falling into a water-filled bucket at her home in Kalmakanda upazila of Netrakona yesterday morning.

Police recovered the bullet-hit body of a man in Lohagara upazila of Chattogram yesterday morning.

Police recovered the bullet-hit body of a man in Lohagara upazila of Chattogram yesterday morning.