Two thousands and fifty five aspirants have submitted nomination papers for contesting in the second phase of upazila polls. Election Commission additional secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath confirmed this information on Sunday (April 21). He said, 'Today was the last day to submit nomination papers in 160 upazila polls of the second phase. In the election, 730 aspirants filled nomination papers for the post of chairman, 763 for the post of Vice-chairman and 562 for the post of vice chairman reserved for women.'  According to the second phase schedule, nomination papers will be scrutinised on April 23, appeals will be accepted from April 24 to 26, and appeals will be disposed from April 27 to 29. Last date for withdrawal of candidature is 30 April. The allocation of symbol is on May 2. Voting will be held on May 21. 

Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Pakistan's assassinated first female prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, was elected president. He is scheduled to take the oath of office on Sunday. Pakistan's lawmakers on Saturday elected Asif Ali Zardari as president of the country for the second time. Zardari is the widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He previously held the post from 2008 to 2013. Zardari received 411 votes from national and provincial legislators. His opponent, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who has the backing of the party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, had 181 votes. The presidency is a largely ceremonial role in Pakistan, but Zardari is known as a conciliator. He could help the ruling coalition partners reach a consensus to put the shattered economy on a path to stabilization before seeking a new IMF bailout. He is scheduled to take the oath of office on Sunday. Coalition's candidate Zardari was favored to win as the joint candidate of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, or PML-N, the party of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his other political allies. He has also played a key role in talks to form a coalition government after the disputed national parliamentary election on February 8. Under that deal, Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) took the presidency, while its historic rivals PML-N secured the prime minister's position for Shehbaz Sharif, who was officially sworn in on Monday. Sharif congratulated Zardari on becoming the country's new president. Zardari "will be a symbol of the strength of the federation," Sharif said in a statement. Zardari's rival, Achakzai, also congratulated him on his victory, saying the vote was free and fair. Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Zardari as well on his election, Chinese state media reported Sunday. "In his message, Xi said China and Pakistan are good neighbors, good friends, good partners and good brothers, adding that the two countries' iron-clad friendship is a choice of history and a precious treasure of the two peoples," the Xinhua news agency said. Xi addressed the two countries' close ties, especially with regards to the construction of the China-Pakistan economic corridor, part of the larger Belt and Road Initiative. In Bhutto's shadow Zardari was born in 1955 into a landowning family from the southern province of Sindh. It was his arranged marriage to PPP leader Benazir Bhutto in 1987 that catapulted him into the political limelight. Bhutto was prime minister from 1988 to 1990, the first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim country. She served again from 1993 to 1996. Bhutto was assassinated in 2007. Initially a background figure as Bhutto's husband, Zardari was tainted by a host of corruption and other allegations, including absurd kidnapping plots and the acceptance of kickbacks on hoards of jewelry. He spent 11 years behind bars before becoming president in 2008, but was never convicted and has denied any wrongdoing. Zardari has also been arrested and charged with various offenses in recent years.

The second phase of the three day Bishwa Ijtema is underway on the bank of Turag in Gazipur. Seven devotees died so far of this Ijtema of the second phase. One of them one died in a road accident and the remaining six due to old age complications. Mohammad Sayem, media coordinator of Bishwa Ijtema, confirmed this information and said that six of the dead people died due to old age complications. Another died in a road accident. Earliar, Maulana Ilyas Bin Saad begins Aam Bayan after Fajr, it was immediately translated into Bengali by Maulana Monir Bin Yusuf. More than three thousand foreign guests and hundreds of thousands of devotees from different parts of the country have arrived on the Ijtema ground.  

Chattogram Challengers beat Durdanto Dhaka by six wickets in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Monday (Jan  22). With this Chattogram Challengers has secured its second victory in three matches. Durdanto Dhaka showed a poor batting display as they were restricted to 136 runs.  Chattogram Challengers reached the target with loss of four wickets. Being asked to bat, Danushka Gunathilaka and Mohammad Naim opened the innings for Dhaka but the former had to leave the field with retired hurt. They were reduced to 4-33 as Saif Hassan (9), Mosaddek Hossain (0), Mohammad Naim (8) and Alex Ross (11) got out in quick succession.   Irfan Sukkur and Lasith Croospulle tried to rebuild the innings for Dhaka before the latter got out scoring 46 off 31. Sukkur 27, also got out as the 7th batter to Bilal Khan. Taskin Ahmed's 15 off 9 took them to 136/8 in 20 overs.   

Pyongyang fired another 60 artillery rounds following the more than 200 fired the day before. Tensions between north and south have been escalating for months. The North Korean military fired more than 60 rounds of artillery close to a disputed maritime border with its southern neighbor on Saturday. "North Korean forces conducted artillery fire with over 60 rounds from the northwest area of Yeonpyeong Island today between approximately 16:00 and 17:00 (0700 to 0800 GMT)," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The barrage came a day after Pyongyang fired over 200 rounds of artillery in the same area. In both cases, the shells landed in a buffer zone set up between the two countries in 2018.   How did South Korea respond? Yeonpyeong and Baengyeong, which lie to the west of Seoul, have a joint population of less than 7,000 people. The islands' residents were ordered into shelters and ferries were suspended. The two consecutive days of artillery fire in the disputed region mark a further escalation on the Korean peninsula. South Korea's military said "the repeated artillery fire within the prohibited hostile act zone by North Korea poses a threat to the peace on the Korean Peninsula and escalates tensions." "In response, our military will take appropriate measures to safeguard our nation," it added. On Friday, the South Korean military responded to the artillery fire with its own rounds that were fired into the sea.   Increasing tensions Relations between Seoul and Pyongyang have reached their lowest point in decades, with the south pointing to provocations from the north. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pushed for the testing of advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles and enshrined the country's status as a nuclear power into its constitution. The launching of a North Korean spy satellite in November also led Seoul to suspend part of a 2018 agreement that had aimed to reduce tensions. The north has also reportedly been increasing its production of missile launchers, with Kim being cited by the state news agency KCNA on Friday as saying it was necessary "given the prevailing grave situation that requires the country to be more firmly prepared for a military showdown with the enemy."    

The IAEA nuclear watchdog said warm water streaming out of the light-water reactor at North Korea's Yongbyon facility suggests that the plant is operational. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found that a new nuclear reactor is apparently operational at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex, sparking concern about an additional potential source of plutonium for nuclear weapons. North Korea has so far used spent fuel from a 5-megawatt nuclear reactor at Yongbyon to meet its plutonium requirements to run its nuclear facility. However, according to the IAEA, a seemingly new discharge of warm water from a larger light-water reactor suggests that it is also operational. "The discharge of warm water is indicative the reactor has reached criticality," IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement on Thursday, meaning the nuclear chain reaction in the reactor is self-sustaining. Since October, the IAEA has observed a strong outflow of water from the light-water reactor's cooling system, indicative of ongoing employment of the reactor. The presence of warm water is one of the more recent clues, Grossi said. Concerns over expansion of North Korea's nuclear programme In 2009, North Korea expelled international investigators so the IAEA does not have access to the country. The agency now relies on satellite imagery for investigating North Korea.  Without access, the IAEA cannot confirm if the nuclear reactor is operational, Grossi said. "The LWR, like any nuclear reactor, can produce plutonium in its irradiated fuel, which can be separated during reprocessing, so this is a cause for concern," he said, adding that the advancement of North Korea's nuclear program was "deeply regrettable." A study from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) in California also concluded the reactor could be operational. It added that it may be "a significant source of nuclear material" for the nuclear weapons program, which is banned by UN Security Council resolutions. Another study by the Institute for Science and International Security estimated that the light-water reactor "could allow a surge in plutonium quantities at an estimated rate of about 20 kilograms of plutonium per year, a rate four to five times larger than that of the small adjacent reactor."

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the much-desired metro rail service from Agargaon to Motijheel. At 2.30pm, on Saturday, the second phase of project has been inaugurated. Earlier on Thursday, Managing Director of DMTCL MAN Siddique said, "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the Agargaon-Motijheel section  today from the Agargaon station. Then, she will take the metro to Motijheel for another inaugural programme at the Motijheel station." She also inaugurates the construction work of MRT Line-5 (Northern route), which will be a 20-km line from Hemayetpur to Bhatara via Gabtoli, Mirpur-10, Gulshan. The deadline for the Taka 41,239 crore project is 2028.

A second convoy of humanitarian aid trucks has begun the process of crossing into Gaza, according to multiple news agencies. A convoy of 17 aid trucks was allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt on Sunday, Egypt's state-run media reported. It was the second shipment into the territory since Israel imposed a complete siege two weeks ago. AFP news agency described how the first fuel trucks entered the Palestinian enclave Sunday since the violence unfolded two weeks ago. Six trucks with fuel to power generators at two hospitals crossed from Egypt, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and an Egyptian source told AFP. Hospital personnel in Gaza have reported that doctors have been performing procedures by the light of cellphones in recent days due to severe fuel shortages. Residents of the Palestinian territory have been under an almost total Israeli blockade, including the halting of water and power supplies, since the Islamist Hamas militant group launched a terror attack in southern Israel on October 7. Cindy McCain, the head of the UN World Food Program (WFP) told ABC's "This Week" program that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was catastrophic. She called for aid agencies to be given secure, sustainable access to the enclave, which she said was a war zone.

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, once again at the top of the list of the world's most polluted cities. The air quality of Dhaka was at 'Unhealthy' with an Air Quality Index (AQI) score of 176 on August 30 in the morning, according to the air quality and pollution (city) ranking. An AQI between 151 and 200 is considered 'unhealthy' while 201-300 is 'very unhealthy', and 301+ is considered 'hazardous', posing severe health risks to residents. Indonesia’s Jakarta, India’s Kolkata occupied the second, third spots on the list, with AQI scores of 163, 158, respectively. The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is and what associated health effects might be a concern for them. As per World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections.

Chattogram-Cox's Bazar has been halted for two days due to drowning in water for heavy to very heavy rain. At the same time Chattrogram-Bandarban highway's traffic also disrupted for the flood waters. Earlier On August 8, Due to Heavy rains and water coming down from hills in Matamuhuri river, CTG-Cox's Bazar Highway connection disrupted. Members of Bangladesh Army had deployed to deal with flood and landslides situation in Chattogram and Bandarban.