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UN rights chief backs calls for inquiry over Gaza deaths
Eid celebration in Bangladesh, shopping in India
Today is 14th Ramadan. Eid ul Fitr, the biggest festival of Muslims will be celebrated in the country after 16 days. Keeping it ahead clothes of different colors and designs are displayed in the showrooms of markets throughout the country including Dhaka. The sellers are busy with breath taking moments in the city’s reputed markets. But most of the items they are selling are Indian goods. Showrooms are full with Indian commodities. The demand of Indian goods is greater than the local products at the moment. So the shop owners decorated their showrooms with huge collection of Indian sharees, three pieces, lehengas and gowns for the women. Sellers are saying, people celebrate Eid in Bangladesh but they make their shopping in India. They are passing their idle time like the previous year. Gathering of shoppers has decreased in the local shopping centers as India provides free visas during Eid. But they are hoping for more buyers gathering in the next few days. While visiting different shops in capital’s Basundhara City shopping mall on Thursday it was seen lesser buyers presence. There were two or three customers in some shops and some were without buyers. Anisul Haque, a seller of Better Choice showroom of Basundhara mall told Rtv online that this year the presence of customers is lesser than the other years during Eid shopping period. Indian business firms are taking away customers through different offers. People are getting India dependent for their shopping day by day. About one lakh people are now in India centering the Eid. About two lakh people will make their shopping in the Eid season. If a person makes shopping worth 10 to 20 thousand taka each than about 200 hundred crore taka will go India from the country. Sulaiman Hossain, proprietor of Arshi Collection from Basundhara city also mentioned the reason of lesser sale for providing easy visa to India for Eid shopping. He told Rtv online, Eid shopping usually begins after Shab e Barat but nothing was sold in this year. We are not charging higher rate and making a minimum profit. As getting the Indian visa is easier at the moment so people are India bound at the moment. Buyers’ presence began to decrease from the last couple of years and this year the situation is the worst. Proprietor of Style Girls of Basundhara city, Khorshed Alam said, people are Kolkata oriented for their Eid shopping as the Indian visa is within reach. Selling in the showroom has decreased by 30 percent. For easy journey and eye catching designs people are going to Kolkata. This has influenced our selling. He said, though the prices of clothes are less in Kolkata but if we make the calculation of expenditure including staying cost, travel cost and others than it certainly stays above than Bangladesh. Besides there is no scope for changing the items instantly. Another salesman of Darul Jannat told Rtv online, we sale our products by paying tax to the government. But at the moment the buyers can get their items without paying tax while coming from India. Some sellers are mentioning different fairs as a reason for sales falling. They expressed anger saying that some people are arranging fair of Indian clothes or selling through online. They do not have licenses or paying any money to the government. People are getting their goods sitting at homes by avoiding hardship of going shopping centers. AH     
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Russia expels diplomats from 23 countries as spy crisis escalates
Russia expelled diplomats from 23 countries on Friday in retaliation against the West in a spy row, in the biggest wave of tit-for-tat expulsions in recent memory. The Russian foreign ministry said it had summoned the heads of missions from 23 countries -- almost all of them European Union member states -- to tell them that some of their diplomats had to leave. The diplomats from France, Canada, Germany, Australia and other countries were earlier seen arriving at the Russian foreign ministry in flagged official cars. Germany and Poland each said that Russia was expelling four of their diplomats. Among the other countries that had similarly been told to pull their envoys were the Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland and Lithuania. Thirteen Ukrainian diplomats should also leave Russia. The moves came in retaliation for the coordinated expulsion of Russian diplomats by Britain and its allies over a nerve agent attack against former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4. The Russian foreign ministry also gave Britain a month to cut the number of diplomatic staff in Russia to the same number Russia has in Britain. In Britain, the government called the latest developments "regrettable" but remained adamant that Russia was in the wrong. Russia also said it reserved the right to respond to the recent expulsion of Russian diplomats by Belgium, Hungary, Georgia and Montenegro. In the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin presided over a meeting of the country's Security Council which discussed the most recent retaliatory steps against Britain and its allies. The Kremlin insisted it was not Russia that had started the diplomatic war with the West. Source: The Times of India. AH
Mymensingh blast death toll rises to 4
With the death of another student of Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (Kuet) at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Friday, the death toll from a blast in Mymensingh rose to four. Dipto Sarkar, 22, of Magura, who was undergoing treatment at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), succumbed to his injuries around 9:30 am, said sub-inspector Bachchu Mia of DMCH police camp. Earlier, another Kuet student Hafizur Rahman Hafiz, 24, who suffered 55 percent burn injuries in the blast, died at DMCH around 1 am. Besides, Shahin, a final year student of Kuet, succumbed to his injuries at the burn unit of the hospital around 12:30am on Wednesday. Md Towhidul Islam, 23, a final year student of Kuet, was killed and three others, including Hafiz and Dipta, received burn injuries in an explosion in a six-storey building at Masterbari in Bhaluka upazila of Mymensingh on March 25. The injured were sent to the DMCH burn unit. Against building owner Abdur Razzak, a case was filed.   FU
Fire caused by lightning on gas pipeline kills five in Sylhet
Five people in Sylhet died and 20 others injured as lightning hit a gas pipeline and caused fire at a colony in Sylhet’s Gopalganj, reports UNB. Gopalganj Police OC Fazlul Huq Shibly said the incident took place in the Club Bazar area of the Upazila’s Lakhanabanda Union around 3am on Sunday. The deceased were identified as Taskima Begum, 32, wife of Bablu Miah, hailing from Moglabazar Khalermukh village of South Surma upazila, their two-year-old son Tahmid, Sebul, 18, employee of Bablu, Jihad, 20, and Shebu Begum, 22, wife of Machhkandar Ali, hailing from Ponairchak village in the same upazila. The fire started on the gas service line riser during a thunderstorm, the police official said. It then spread to the houses in the colony. Another person was burned in the fire and taken to Sylhet’s Osmani Medical College Hospital for treatment. Fire service workers from Sylhet came and brought the blaze under control, but five died before the fire was put out. At least 20 people sustained injuries in the fire. Bablu Ahmed, a prickle vendor, was admitted to Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital while others were taken to Golapganj Upazila Health Complex.   FU
PM pays tribute to Bangabandhu
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday paid rich tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman heralding the nationwide programs on the occasion of the 99th birthday of the great leader, reports BSS. The premier paid the homage by placing a wreath at the portrait of Bangabandhu in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at historic 32 Dhanmondi Road here this morning.  After laying the wreath, she stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of profound respect to the memory of the Father of the Nation. Cabinet members, PM's advisers, parliament members and senior leaders of Bangladesh Awami League were present. Later, flanked by the central party leaders of Awami League, Sheikh Hasina laid another wreath at the portrait of Bangabandhu on behalf of her party as the president of Bangladesh Awami League.  Senior Awami League leaders Amir Hossain Amu, Begum Matia Chowdhury, Obaidul Quader, Advocate Sahara Khatun, Satish Chandra Roy, LGRD Minister Engineer Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, Food Minister Advocate Quamrul Islam, Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Jatiya Sangsad Chief Whip ASM Feroze, among others, were present.  Later, Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokan, leaders of associate bodies of Awami League and other sociocultural organisations placed wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu. The birthday of Bangabandhu is being observed across the country today as the National Children's Day.   FU  
Myanmar Shows "internal security" as Excuse for troops buildup on frontiers
Yesterday in flag meeting with Border Guard Bangladesh, Border Guard Police (BGP) showed "internal security" as an excuse for troops build up on frontiers. Yesterday afternoon after flag meeting at BGB's Ghumdhum Border Observation Post (BOP) at Naikhyangchhari frontiers, Lt. Colonel Manjurul Ahsan Khan, commander of Tombru and Ghumdhum controlling 34 Battalion (BGB), told reporters that Border Guard Police (BGP) said they deployed their forces for the sake of their “internal security”. He also said Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) immediately protested Myanmar’s troops build up violating international border law. He said that Myanmar side assured that it is ready to repatriate 6,500 Rohingyas staying on the no-man’s land. On Thursday Bangladesh Foreign Ministry summoned Lwin Oo, Myanmar Ambassador in Dhaka and protested the additional Myanmar military deployment in 150 yards along with the bordering areas of Tombru under Naikkhangchhari in Bandarban district. After that this flag meeting was held between Border Guard Police (BGP) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). In this regard Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan earlier assured that the BGB is in a state of caution. It will be impossible for anyone to enter the country and commit indiscipline. Thursday noon after the 91st concluding parade of BGB in Chittagong he told reporters this. After August 25, 2017, more than 7 lakh Rohingyas fled from Rakhine state to Ukhia and Teknaf of Cox's Bazar. After that comes more than 4 million Rohingya. Among them about 11 lakh Rohingya and 1 million 76 thousand Rohingya have already been biometrically registered FU
US hopeful of fair polls in Bangladesh: Bernicat
US Ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat on Sunday hoped that the next national election will be free, fair and participatory, and laid emphasis on creating conditions to make that happen. Reports UNB. ‘This democracy, this Bangladesh, has held free and fair elections in the past. People know what to do,’ she told a small group of reporters after her meeting at the Foreign Ministry.  The US Ambassador said Bangladeshi people do not need foreigners to mediate and it is up to the Bangladeshi people to participate and have a free and fair election. ‘So, can that (fair polls) happen? Yes. Should it happen? Absolutely,’ Ambassador Bernicat said. She said all the required conditions must be there in place for those who live in a democracy in order to have ‘free, fair, credible and inclusive elections’. ‘You live in democracy, I live in democracy. So, you need freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of assembly,’ Bernicat said. Earlier, she had a meeting with Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque and discussed various issue of mutual interest. AH
Police prove country in grip of terrible misrule: Fakhrul
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said that by attacking on BNP’s peaceful programs without any provocation police have proved that the country is in the grip of terrible misrule. He said this at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office in the capital on Saturday. Fakhrul said, the government is moving into a violent situation. Why should we take permission for all programs? BNP did not break the section 144. Leaders and workers of BNP did not go down to the streets even they did not break the section 144. Why would police attack on BNP’s peaceful programs? He said, why would we not be able to show black flags standing on footpaths? It is our fundamental rights. Then should we need permission from police to hold talks at home? The BNP Secretary General said, we sought permission to hold public meeting at Suhrawardy Udyan or Paltan on February 22 demanding release of Khaleda Zia. But police did not give permission. For this we called for the black flag demonstration program. But police attacked on our program without any notice. Many leaders and workers were injured during the attack. He said, the leaders and activists gathered in front of the party office at nearly 9:30 am. When they sat on the road there with black flags at around 10:30 am police attacked on them. Police charged upon them with baton fiercely. Color water from water canon was also sprayed upon them. He strongly condemned the attack and demanded release of detained leaders and workers of the party. Mirza Fakhrul said, police desperately charged the leaders and workers with sticks and pick them up in van forcibly. AH   
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