News in Brief

Pangashi UP office set ablaze
Our Correspondent, Pabna

Miscreants set fire to Pangashi union parishad office at Raiganj upazila in Sirajganj early yesterday.
Locals doused the fire within 15 minutes, said police, adding that some documents and furniture got damaged in the incident. Police are investigating the matter.

JCD calls indefinite strike at CU
CU Correspondent

Chittagong University unit of pro-BNP Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal yesterday called an indefinite strike at CU to realise its demands, including lifting the ban on processions, rallies and any other organisational activities on the campus, and release of JCD and BNP leaders arrested across the country.
In this regard, a press release was issued by JCD CU unit President Aminul Islam Towhid and General Secretary Saifuddin Salam Mithu in the afternoon.
The JCD also enforced a two-day strike on February 3 and 4.

26 dead migratory birds seized in Bhola
Our Correspondent, Bhola

Bangladesh Coast Guard recovered 26 dead migratory birds which poachers left behind on the Meghna river shore in Banger Char area of Bhola before fleeing on Thursday night.
A Coast Guard team was in the river for conducting drive against catching jatka when they saw some five men, holding the Bali Ducks, trying to board a boat.
The team handed over the ducks, each of which is sold for around Tk 900, almost double the price of a local duck, to Bhola Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer.

Six shops, house gutted in Jessore
Our Correspondent, Benapole

Six tin-roofed shops and a concrete house were gutted by a fire in Manirampur upazila of Jessore on Thursday night.
The fire originated from a stove at the house and soon engulfed the adjacent cosmetic and stationery shops at Rajganj Nengurhat Bazar, said fire officials.
Fire fighters doused the fire within an hour. The shop owners estimated the damage at around Tk 45 lakh.

Youth held with 7.62-bore pistol in Ctg
Staff Correspondent, Ctg

Police arrested a youth with a foreign made 7.62-bore unlicensed pistol and a bullet at his house in Patiya municipality area of Chittagong on Thursday night.
On a tip-off, a team of Patiya police held Obaidul Haque, 25, son of Fazlul Haque. A case was filed.

Indian Rs 60 lakh recovered at Shahjalal airport
Staff Correspondent             

Customs officials recovered Indian Rs 60 lakh from an abandoned bag at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital yesterday afternoon.
On information, the officials conducted a search and found the bag near lost and found section, said Kazi Md Ziauddin, joint commissioner of Airport Customs.
The bag was brought from Turkey by a Turkish Airlines flight that landed around 9:00am, he added.

Gazipur's missing schoolgirl  found dead
Our Correspondent, Gazipur

A schoolgirl, who went missing on Thursday evening, was found dead at a guava orchard in Mulaid village of Gazipur yesterday afternoon.
Sumona Akhter, 9, daughter of Ainal Hossain, went to attend a function at a nearby house and later locals found her body at the orchard, about 150 yards away from that house, said her family.
Police, who sent the body to Gazipur Medical College Hospital for autopsy, said numerous bite marks found on the body suggested that she had been raped and then murdered.

4 more BRUR strikers hospitalised
Our Correspondent, Rangpur

Two teachers and two students of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur were hospitalised, while they were observing a fast-unto-death on the campus for the sixth consecutive day yesterday demanding removal of the vice chancellor and holding of the postponed admission tests.
Assistant Prof HM Tariqul Islam, Lecturer Tabiur Rahnman Prodhan, and students Md Millat Hasan and Md Habibur Rahman were taken to Rangpur Medical College Hospital. Earlier, three strikers were hospitalised.

Cleaner dies after falling sick in water tank
Staff Correspondent             

A caretaker of a residential building died after he fell sick when cleaning the building's underground water tank in the capital's Mirpur-6 yesterday.
The deceased was Monir Hossain, 30, of Barisal.  
Sub-Inspector Abdus Selim of Pallabi Police Station said Monir began feeling sick around 9:30am. He was pulled out of the tank and taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead. The body was sent for an autopsy.

Debate on manpower export held
Staff Correspondent

A debate on manpower export through government management was organised in the capital yesterday.
Private universities -- BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology and Prime University -- debated the motion “Manpower Export through Government Management for Safe Migration”.
Debate for Democracy organised the competition at Bangladesh Film Development Corporation.  
Khandaker Md Iftekhar Haider, secretary to the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment, was present.