The death toll in the Gaza Strip from ongoing Israeli attacks has exceeded 33,000. More than 24,000 women and children were among the dead. The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has announced in a statement that  the total death toll is about 33,037 and more than 75,668 are injured since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, reports Al Jazeera on Friday (April 5). The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) released several posts on X on the eve of the Palestinian Child Day stated, "1,000 children have lost either one or both of their legs in Gaza." Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) stated that Israel kills around four children per hour in Gaza. However, Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023. About Two million people in Gaza bocame refugee by Israeli attacks.  

A Tunisia court has sentenced four people to death over the murder of prominent political leader Chokri Belaid. His death in 2013 sparked mass protests against the country's then-ruling Islamists. A court in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, sentenced four people to death on Wednesday over the assassination of secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid. Belaid's assassination was claimed by jihadis loyal to the so-called "Islamic State" militant group. It was a severe blow to Tunisia's young democracy after the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. What we know about the case Leftist politician Belaid had been fiercely critical of the Islamist Ennahda party that led the government at the time, which he accused of appeasing Islamist violence against secularists. The 48-year-old was the leader of the Popular Front coalition.  He was shot dead in his car, leading to violent protests at an already turbulent time just after the Arab Spring in 2011. It is thought to have been the first political assassination in decades, and came just months before another leftist, Mohamed Brahmi, was also shot dead. Despite a de facto moratorium, Tunisia still announces death sentences, particularly in "terrorism" cases. However, such penalties are effectively commuted to lifetime prison terms. Belaid's family and his fellow secularist politicians accused party leaders from Ennahda of being involved in the assassination. Although Belaid had a modest political following, his criticism of Ennahda and its policies resonated with many Tunisians. They feared that religious zealots would extinguish freedoms won in the first of revolts of the Arab Spring. The political influence of Ennahda was cut short in 2021 when President Kais Saied put in motion a sweeping power grab. Elected in 2019, Saied is expected to seek a second term in a yet-to-be-scheduled election.  He launched a power grab in July 2021, dismissing the prime minister and suspending parliament. Tunisia was the first country in which protests erupted after a fruit and vegetable vendor set fire to himself in response to the confiscation of his wares and alleged harassment.

The body of a man who fell down from a hot-air balloon,was found in a suburban area in Melbourne. The balloon landed safely several miles away. Australian police are not treating the death as suspicious. A man fell from a hot-air balloon that was passing over the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, Australian news agency AAP reported on Monday. The balloon was up in the air 30 minutes before the incident occurred in the northern suburbs of the city. The balloon landed safely 5 miles (8 kilometers) away from the site of the body, the report said. After the body was found in a residential area, Victoria state police announced that they would prepare a report for the coroner.  AAP quoted police as saying that the death is not being treated as suspicious. Balloons 'designed with safety in mind' "Passengers and the pilot are understandably traumatized by this," said a joint statement by the National Commercial Hot Air Ballooning Industry and the Australian Ballooning Federation.  The pilot and passengers of the hot-air balloon have been offered psychological support, according to the statement.  "Hot-air balloon baskets are designed with safety in mind, specifically to prevent passengers from falling out accidentally or from any accidental exit," the federation added, while expressing condolences for the man's family and friend

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today expressed profound shock and sorrow at the death of her Press Secretary and former Managing Director and Chief Editor of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Ihsanul Karim. In a message of condolence, she said, "Karim had performed his duty with utmost sincerity and devotion as my Press Secretary". The premier continued: "With his sad demise, the mass media people have lost their colleague and I have lost my trusted officer".  She prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family. Ihsanul Karim breathed his last at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital at 8.00 pm today, PM's Deputy Press Secretary MM Emrul Kayas told BSS. During his long checkered carrier, he also served as Press secretary of the President of Bangladesh, she said.

Children are dying of starvation in northern Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief says. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency's visits over the weekend to the Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals were the first since early October. In a post on social media, he spoke of "grim findings". A lack of food resulted in the deaths of 10 children and "severe levels of malnutrition", while hospital buildings have been destroyed, he wrote. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reported on Sunday that at least 15 children had died from malnutrition and dehydration at the Kamal Adwan hospital. A sixteenth child died on Sunday at a hospital in the southern city of Rafah, the Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported on Monday. Dr Tedros reported "severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation, serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies, hospital buildings destroyed" in northern Gaza, where an estimated 300,000 people are living with little food or clean water. "The lack of food resulted in the deaths of 10 children," he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. The visits were the WHO's first in months "despite our efforts to gain more regular access to the north of Gaza", he wrote. "The situation at Al-Awda Hospital is particularly appalling, as one of the buildings is destroyed," he added. The UN warned last week that famine in Gaza was "almost inevitable". A senior UN aid official warned that at least 576,000 people across the Gaza Strip - one quarter of the population - faced catastrophic levels of food insecurity and one in six children under the age of two in the north were suffering from acute malnutrition. And the regional director of the UN's children's agency, Unicef, said "the child deaths we feared are here, as malnutrition ravages the Gaza Strip". "These tragic and horrific deaths are man-made, predictable and entirely preventable," Adele Khodr said in a statement on Sunday. On Saturday, the US a launched its first airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza - including more than 38,000 meals. However, aid agencies have said these drops - which have also previously been carried out by the UK, France, Egypt and Jordan - are an inefficient way of getting supplies to people. The deliveries themselves have sometimes turned deadly. Last week, at least 112 Palestinians were reportedly killed when large crowds descended on lorries carrying aid while Israeli tanks were present. Israel said the tanks fired warning shots but did not strike the lorries and that many of the dead were trampled or run over. But this has been disputed by Hamas, which said there was "undeniable" evidence of "direct firing at citizens". Some aid agencies have been facing difficulties with the authorities. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN's main human rights agency in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA, on Monday accused the Israeli government of trying to "eliminate" its presence in Gaza. Israel has long accused different branches of the United Nations, including Unrwa, of bias and even of antisemitism. Several western countries, including the UK, have paused funding to UNRWA after Israel accused some staff of roles in the 7 October attacks. Mr Lazzarini said that this was not just in response to "neutrality breaches of some of the staff" but had a wider political motive, which included plans to "eliminate the status of refugees and make sure that this is not part of a final political settlement". He added that dismantling his organisation would lead to the collapse of the entire humanitarian response on Gaza. The Israeli military launched a large-scale air and ground campaign to destroy Hamas - which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, US and others - after the group's gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on 7 October and took 253 back to Gaza as hostages. More than 30,500 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.   Source: BBC

The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip from ongoing Israeli attacks has risen to 30,534, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said in a press statement on Monday (March 4). According to the statement, the Israeli army killed 124 Palestinians and wounded 210 others during the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 30,534 and injuries to 71,920 since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on October 7, 2023. It noted that some victims remain under the rubble amid heavy bombardment and a lack of civil defense and ambulance crews. Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.   Source: Shine

Only six months after the incident it was confirmed that Xia Zhenglun died in Guanyun County in September 2023. Sometimes, in present-day China, it takes months to confirm an information. This was the case with the sad story of an insurance salesman called Xia Zhenglun, who was tortured to death in Guanyun County, which is under the administration of Lianyungang prefecture-level city, in Jiangsu province. Guanyun County is where Xia was born in 1961. Reportedly, he shared the negative opinion about Falun Gong of many Chinese influenced by the government’s media until in 2012 he met some practitioners, read the movement’s literature, and changed his mind. Xia was identified as a Falun Gong practitioner by the police in 2014, when his house was raided, and spiritual literature confiscated. His detention lasted for fifteen days. He was detained again in 2015, again for fifteen days. He kept a low profile and practiced his Falun Gong quietly, which kept him out of jail for several years. According to his relatives, approaching retirement, he became more active, and the police arrested him in February 2023. He was detained at Guanyun County Detention Center In September 2023, he was transferred in emergency to Lianyungang First People’s Hospital and died shortly thereafter. It took several months for his relatives and co-religionists to investigate and collect several reports that he arrived at the hospital with the body badly bruised and swollen with edema. They insist that Xia was in good health when he was arrested. They believe Xia just joined a long list of Falun Gong practitioners and members of other banned religious movements persecuted to death in jail. Source: Bitter Winter

Today (Feb 13) remarks the 12th death anniversary of celebrated actor and theatre activist Humayun Faridi. The noted actor was born on 29 May 1952.  Faridi was one of the brightest stars in the sky of the country’s silver screen. He earnd the National Film Award in 2004, was awarded with posthumous Ekushey Padak for the year 2018. Humayun Faridi acted most popular films includes “Hulia”, “Dohon”, “Shontrash”, “Bachelor”, “JoyJatra”, “Shamolchaya”, “Ekattorer Jishu”, “Vondo”, “Mayer Odhikar” and “Bishaw Premik” earned huge response and those will keep him alive in the hearts of art-loving people. He won the hearts of millions by his work.  The celebrated actor breathed his last on 13 February in 2012.  

A Noakhali court sentenced 10 people to death including six others to life term imprisonment in a case over raping a woman in Subarnachar upazila in 2019. The judge of Noakhali Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-2, Fatema Ferdous, has delivered the judgment today (Feb 5). The court also fined the accused Tk 50,000 each. If they fail to fulfill the fine, they would have to stay in jail for two more years. 15 accused were present in court at the time of pronouncement of verdict and one accused was absconding. The assaulted woman alleged that the attack and rape happened because she did not vote for their preferred symbol. The incident was widely discussed at home and abroad.  

Three more devotees died at the Ijtema venue in Tongi, Gazipur. Taking the death toll to 10 including a Sub-Inspector The 3 deceased were identified as Nousher Ali, 65, son of Shamser Ali of Sherpur district, A Kader, 55, son of Belayet Hossain of Bhola district and Swadhin, son of Hossain Ahmed of Netrakona district. Earlier, seven people had died on the Ijtema ground. However, three died on the way to the Ijtema venue. The 7 deceased were identified as Abdus Sattar, 70, son of Abul Hossain, Ekhlas Mia, 68, son of Abdus Sobhan of Netrakona, Shah Alam, 60, son of Najir Ahmed of Bhola district, Matiur Rahman, 60 of Jamalpur district, Yunus Mia, 60 of Brahmanbaria district, Zaman Mia, 40 of Chapainawabganj and Sub-Inspector Hasan Uzzaman (30) was killed by a bus on the way to Ijtema.   Habibullah Raihan, coordinator of Biswa Ijtema media cell as well as Jahangir Alam, supervisor of Tongi Shaheed Ahsanullah Master General Hospital confirmed the deaths to reporters. The deceased were identified as Abdus Sattar, 70, son of Abul Hossain, Ekhlas Mia, 68, son of Abdus Sobhan of Netrakona, Shah Alam, 60, son of Najir Ahmed of Bhola district, Matiur Rahman, 60 of Jamalpur district, Yunus Mia, 60 of Brahmanbaria district, Zaman Mia, 40 of Chapainawabganj and Hasanuzzaman, 30, sub-inspector.