The gatekeeper of Joypurhat’s Puranpoil level crossing failed to lower the gate on time as he was either sleeping or drowsy, causing the accident that left 12 people dead and eight others injured, a railway probe found.

With the government finalising the Covid vaccine deployment plan, a number of speakers yesterday warned that there may be chaos if the plan is not consistent with field-level reality.

Thirty-eight people have died in the country from Covid-19 in the 24 hours ending at 8:00am yesterday, according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Multiple agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed during a virtual summit between Bangladesh and India on December 17. Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, who was busy with the developments, was in cheerful mood. The Daily Star made a phone call to have a discussion with the minister.

Although Bangladesh achieved food security and improved access to food, eight percent of the households where the urban poor live still go to sleep with empty stomachs, reveals a government survey.

Claiming that the questions were too hard, some candidates of the written test of Bangladesh Bar Council enrollment exam yesterday went berserk in different exam centres, preventing others from taking the test and burning their answer scripts.

At least 12 people were killed and eight others injured as a train hit a bus on a level crossing near Joypurhat town yesterday morning.

Today marks a year since the development sector’s lighthouse had gone out.

Forty-two distinguished citizens have urged the president to constitute Supreme Judicial Council to investigate allegations of corruption and other misconduct against the Election Commission.

In a major development, 19 public universities announced the minimum requirement for appearing in the admission test and question patterns for what officials said would be the first-ever uniform admission test.

Experts and researchers from six Asian countries have called for implementing agrarian and social security reforms to protect farmers from the adverse impacts of Covid-19.

The government has extended the closure of all educational institutions, which remain closed since March, until January 16 amid a steady rise in the number of infections and deaths from Covid-19.

“Do you want to earn Tk 20,000 per month working from home for only two hours a day?”

When Covid-19 infections and deaths were rising in mid-June, about 16,000 people used to get tested every day at the 49 laboratories.

Thirty-six people, including Mamunul Haque, a top Hefajat leader, were sued yesterday over “killing” the former chief of the Islamist outfit Shah Ahmad Shafi.

The High Court yesterday wanted to know specifically the names and addresses of Bangladeshi nationals who have laundered money abroad and purchased houses in foreign countries, including Canada, Singapore, and Malaysia.

To stop narcotics smuggling through national and international courier services, the Department of Narcotics Control has recommended National Identity Card server access for couriers.

Drug traffickers smuggled four to five stashes of yaba pills in luggages or shipping boxes out of the country through the airports every month in the last two years.

After photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol was “found” near the Indian border in the middle of the night 53 days after his disappearance, his family thought he would be coming home soon.

India promised to promptly and effectively deliver to Bangladesh the Covid-19 vaccines it is producing and developing as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi held a virtual summit yesterday.