Police in Chattogram arrested three persons including a staff of the local election office for allegedly helping Rohingya refugees get National Identity Cards (NIDs). The arrestees were Md Joynal Abedin, 35, office assistant of Double Mooring election office, Bijoy Das, 26, and his sister Sima Das, 24, residents of Patiya upazila. Mohammad Mohasin, officer-in-charge of Kotwali police station, said they got information from election office and police were sent to the spot.

Chattogram election officer Munir Hossain Chowdhury said they caught the three including election office assistant Joynal for helping Rohingyas get NID cards and handed them over to police. Earlier, investigators said a special laptop for inputting NID information into the Election Commission's server has been missing from the Chattogram District Election Office since 2015 and investigators believe it was used for making over 2,000 dubious entries.

The government said its measures alongside adequate market supplies would bring down onion prices locally within 24 hours, after prices shot up on the back of measures by the Indian government to restrict exports of the item. The vegetable sold between Tk 58 and Tk 70 per kilogramme in different kitchen markets in Dhaka this week whereas it was between Tk 45 and Tk 55 last month, according to the TCB.

The Commerce Ministry in a meeting on Sunday said prices in the local market increased abnormally because the Indian government fixed its own minimum export price at $850 per tonne whereas it was recently ranging between $250 and $300. India is a major source of onion in Bangladesh. "We have recommended lowering the margin for opening LCs for onion import from Myanmar," said Bangladesh Tariff Commission Member Abu Raihan Alberuni.

Rezwanul Haque Chowdhury Shovon and Golam Rabbani were removed from the posts of president and general secretary of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the ruling party's student front, after a slew of controversies snowballed into an untenable position for the duo. Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, also the prime minister, personally gave this decision on the two leaders, while addressing a meeting of the AL Central Working Committee.

Replacing the two will be Senior Vice-President Al Nahian Khan Joy and Joint General Secretary Lekhak Bhattacharjee. AL sources said Hasina became furious when Jahangirnagar University Vice-Chancellor Prof Farzana Islam recently told her that Shovon and Rabbani demanded "Four to six percent" cut from a Tk 1,445-crore development project at the university, which itself has attracted controversy and is opposed by many students and teachers at JU.

Bangladesh has a plan to procure three more Dash planes for Biman, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The country may also buy two more aircraft from Boeing, she said, while addressing the induction ceremony of the Rajhangsha -- Biman's fourth brand new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. Biman has decided to operate the Dreamliners on its recently resumed four weekly flights between Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (DAC) and London Heathrow (LHR).

"The inclusion of Rajhangsha into the Biman's fleet is another milestone for the national flag carrier," Hasina told the ceremony. She also said that Biman would start flights to Manchester on popular request. Regarding New York, where Biman remains exempt from flying, she said that as Boeing is a US company it would not look good if their own plane could not fly from Bangladesh to their country.

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