Bangladesh Olympic Association held their yearly member meeting down in Cox's Bazar and picked a fresh lineup for the committee. General Waker-Uz-Zaman kept his spot running things as president, and they locked in a 28 crore taka budget for next year. The group also let the Squash Rackets Federation join the Olympic crew and gave shoutouts to medal winners from some youth competitions.
The voting pulled 76 people out of 92 possible voters. Mahbubur Rahman Shaheen from the Swimming Federation crushed it with 70 votes, while the Boxing Federation's M. A. Quddus grabbed 67. Zobaidur Rahman landed the general secretary job, and Saiful Islam got treasurer duties.
Metro Rail in Dhaka got shut down after two guys climbed onto a train in sketchy spots between the coaches. Md Ahsan Ullah Sharifi from the transit project said one person made it to the roof at Secretariat Metro Station, and security had to break out a ladder to try grabbing him.
They found one of the dudes still hanging around the train, but the other one bailed and started running down the tracks. The whole system went dark around 8:05 at night while crews tried hunting down the runner.
Two veteran Bangladesh cricketers finally got picked up after nobody wanted them at first. Mahmudullah Riyad went to Rangpur Riders, and Mushfiqur Rahim signed with Rajshahi Warriors for their original asking price of 35 lakh taka. Both teams decided to keep them in Category B instead of bumping them down to a lower tier, which was basically a respect move for these old-school players.
The auction rules normally drop unsold guys from B to C, but the Rangpur CEO asked the league not to do that. Mohammad Naim Sheikh became the priciest local signing when Chattogram Royals dropped 1.1 crore on the left-handed opener.
The Bangladesh Community in France gave out awards to 30 students at their yearly event in Paris. Khondker M Talha, who reps Bangladesh at UNESCO and works as ambassador to France, showed up as the main guest. The ceremony recognized 10 kids who finished their French Baccalauréat, 3 undergrads, 16 postgrad students, and one doctor.
Talha got a special award for becoming president of UNESCO's 43rd General Conference. He told everyone that getting educated helps Bangladeshi expats do better abroad and makes Bangladesh look good. The group also gave props to a French NGO that helps out Gonoshasthaya Kendra back in Bangladesh.
BCF launched their yearly magazine and put on performances with artists from both countries. A French-Bangladeshi...
An investigation panel dropped their findings about the 2009 border guard bloodbath that killed 73 people and basically said Sheikh Hasina ran the whole thing with help from India. The commission chair pointed fingers at the ousted prime minister plus a bunch of top Awami League politicians and security bosses who apparently planned everything out starting back in 2008.
Investigators claim former Dhaka South mayor Taposh coordinated the actual executions while around 900 Indian citizens showed up right when everything went down at the Pilkhana headquarters. Witnesses said they heard people speaking Hindi during the attacks, and RAB forces got blocked from stepping in even though they were stationed like 30 meters away from where...
Bangladesh's foreign affairs guy said his government wants Sheikh Hasina sent back from India after she got convicted, but he doesn't think the extradition drama will mess up other bilateral stuff between the two countries. Touhid Hossain mentioned they're still pushing for the Teesta water agreement and trying to stop border shootings, and none of that depends on whether India hands over the former prime minister.
India confirmed it got the extradition paperwork and are looking it over right after an international tribunal sentenced Hasina to death for crimes against humanity during last year's mass protests. The adviser pointed out that the previous administration couldn't fix major issues with New Delhi despite having tight...
Pakistan's government basically told the UN human rights boss to kick rocks after he complained about giving their top military guy lifetime legal protection from any prosecution. The foreign ministry clapped back saying they're totally committed to constitutional freedoms and that the UN dude doesn't understand what's actually happening on the ground there.
Field Marshal Asim Munir got shielded from the courts through a recent parliamentary amendment that also set up a whole new federal constitutional court and stripped power away from the Supreme Court. Volker Turk from the UN warned this could wreck democracy and judicial independence since the changes let politicians mess with judges, but Islamabad called his statement completely...
Bangladesh's election chief met with government department heads to lock down logistics for the upcoming national vote and constitutional referendum happening at the same time. Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told reporters the commission wants two voting booths per room since both ballots are getting processed together, and they bumped up worker pay to stop politicians from bribing poll staff with free meals.
Around 100,000 overseas citizens have signed up to cast ballots already, and trial runs showed existing centers can handle the load without adding more locations. Ahmed said security looks pretty stable across the country heading into what he called next year's biggest democratic exercise, though some random problems might pop up here and...
Some engineering students at SUST dropped a presentation about their water filter contraption that runs off solar power and apparently won them 45,000 taka in startup cash. The thing called HydroHope can supposedly turn saltwater into drinkable stuff without needing electricity or chemicals, which the team thinks could help coastal people who have trouble getting clean water.
Habibur Rahman, Fariha Sanjida, and Nazmus Sakib built the device from cheap materials that anyone can grab locally. Bashundhara Shuvosangho hosted the whole event where the researchers showed off how their gadget works and talked about maybe selling it commercially down the road. A bunch of student org officers showed up to check out the demo and hear about...
